Weekly Wisdom

God has given us, His children, the power and authority to change things. Jesus told us in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say. This is thrilling to know that Jesus, my Creator, has given me the right to change my circumstances and the circumstances of others. If you don’t know the events of Mark 11, let me tell you what was taking place with Jesus and His disciples during the time Jesus made the profound statement that 'you can have what you say.'

Jesus and His disciples were going to the temple in Jerusalem when Jesus saw a fig tree. As He came to the tree, He saw that it had no fruit on it. He said unto it, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever" (v. 14). He and His disciples traveled on to Jerusalem to the temple and looked about on what was going on in the temple. That evening they left Jerusalem and went back to Samaria. The next day as they were going back to Jerusalem they came to the place where the fig tree had been. Peter called out in amazement saying, “Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away”(v.21). Jesus made an outstanding statement then in Mark 11:22; He said, “Have faith in God.” The original Greek translation says, “Have the God kind of faith.” Jesus said in Mark 11:23,

“Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”

Peter was amazed because Jesus spoke to the tree, and it died. Jesus immediately told him that whosoever had the God kind of faith could speak to things, and the things would obey him. Jesus was letting the disciples in on the greatest mystery that man could discover…the secret of changing things. Let’s break this verse down and find out how to change things that we need changed.

#1 Who can change things? Jesus said, “whosoever”, and you are a whosoever!

#2 With what can you change things? You can change things with God’s faith and by believing what you say will come to pass.

You may think that you don’t have enough faith. Romans 10:17 says,

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

We can see that if we are ever going to change things with faith, we need to receive faith. Every person who is born again has received the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). However, just because we have received the measure of faith, that measure needs to be developed. When a baby is born, he has a brain, ears, eyes, legs, feet, arms and hands; but he lies in a baby bed without much ability to do anything except eat, sleep and cry. That baby has to develop what he has before he will be productive. In order to develop spiritually so that you can say to circumstances, “Change!” and they change, you have to eat the Word of God. A natural baby is only able to eat, sleep and cry because he doesn’t know how to do anything else. If you are a baby Christian, don’t get upset because it doesn’t seem like you are doing much spiritually. If you are praying, reading the Bible, listening to preaching and teaching, you are growing up! As God inspires you to do something, do it. Just as a natural baby takes his first steps before he has a lifestyle of walking, you need to take steps of faith. You may fall at times, but you need to get up and try again. Before long, you will have a lifestyle of faith. You will be speaking to circumstances all of the time, and your faith (mixed with the Holy Ghost) will change those circumstances.

Keep in mind, however, that there is a difference between the natural baby and the spiritual baby. The natural baby doesn’t have a life before he was born and the spiritual baby does. We as Christians have to remove the words satan has taught us during our former life and replace them with God’s Word.

Here are some guidelines to help you start speaking faith from your new life instead of unbelief from your old life.

#1 Never say “I can’t!” The Bible says you can do all things through Christ which strengthens you (Philippians 4:13).

#2 Never say “I’m sick.” The Bible says that by Jesus’ stripes you are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5). You can say that the enemy is trying to put sickness on you, but always end by saying, “But God says in James 4:7 to resist the devil and he will flee.”

#3 Never say “I’m afraid.” In II Timothy 1:7, God says He hasn’t give you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

#4 Never speak words of death. You need to remove from your vocabulary statements like "I’m just dying to go"; "My feet are killing me”; or “That scared me to death.”

#5 Never speak words of failure, defeat, judgmentalism, complaints or self-degradation. Remember, the lifestyle of speaking faith words to change circumstances will not come to you overnight. However, if you will demand yourself to speak God’s words instead of this world’s words, it will come a lot faster.

Remember, I am praying for you; and I love you!

As we read the life story of Jesus in the New Testament, we can see God in the form of man. God’s Son became a man. Jesus showed us what we should be like when we become children of God. I know many Christians do not really believe that they can be like Jesus. That is why they live so far below what they could really live. Today, I want to challenge you to look at the life of Jesus, and see yourself living in Him. The first thing we must do to live like Jesus is to identify with our new heritage. In Galatians 4:4-7 we read,

“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

In these verses we see God’s desire being brought to pass. God wanted to bring man to Himself when He lost man in the garden. He had a plan to get man back. His plan was to become a man. Jesus is God’s Son, but Jesus is also God. When God’s Son became a man, God became a man. The reason God became a man was to start all over again.

In I Corinthians 15:45, we read about the first Adam and the last Adam. God called Jesus the last Adam. The word Adam in this context means beginnings. In Colossians 1:18-19 we read,

“And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence (or the first place). For it pleased the Father that in him (Jesus) should all fullness dwell.”

We can see that God sent His Son to start all over again. When we identify with the last Adam completely, we go free from the first Adam curse. There is a song that I used to sing a long time ago called "To Be Like Jesus". When I grew up in church, people would sing this song; and while they were singing it, they would be mad at other people. They would be singing the song "To Be Like Jesus", and at the same time, be holding unforgiveness in their hearts. The sad thing about it is that I believe people really want to be like Jesus, but do not know how. When we identify with our first-Adam heritage, we live out that life. When we identify with our last-Adam heritage, we live out His life.

The first Adam gave us the heritage of sin, and the end is death. The last Adam gave us the heritage of righteousness and holiness, and the end is life. All of the first-Adam life can be destroyed by meditation on the death of the first and the resurrection of the second. Let me give you scripture to back it up. In Philippians 3:10-11 Paul said,

“That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”

Paul truly wanted to live out his life here on the earth completely controlled by the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus lived out His life. I believe the dream of many believers today can be fulfilled through identification with Jesus, and that is to be like Jesus.