Where do we start?....The Truth.
In order to believe something, you need to know the truth about it first. So what is truth? Truth is a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle or the like. (Source: Dictionary.com) Jesus speaks about the truth in John 8:31-32.
John 8:31-32
So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
Once we know the Truth of God's love for us. The Truth of God's amazing redemption plan that He used to save us. The Truth that God wants us to be healthy and prosperous right now in this lifetime. And once we know Jesus who is THE Truth . . . It is that knowledge and faith in Him that will set us free. When we know and understand who we are in Christ, what is rightfully ours and we know the life that God intends for us to live, it will change our beliefs. Our beliefs will then change the way we think and act which will start to change our situation.
How Do We Learn The Truth?
God's Word is the Truth for every situation so we need to study it closely so that it begins to change our beliefs and our thinking. It is not a book of stories or teachings that were relevant only for people in previous generations. It is a road map for our generation provided by God to lead us into complete wholeness in every area.
Have you ever heard the term "shalom?" This means nothing missing nothing broken. God doesn't want us to have success in just one area such as finance but still be sick in our bodies. He wants us to be prosperous in ALL areas and that includes our health, our families, our relationships, our jobs, our churches, our businesses and our finances.
Proverbs 4:20-23
My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us that what we put into our hearts will come out. We need to be so full of God's Word that it is that Truth that comes out of our mouth when situations arise. We need to be so full of God's Word that it is bigger to us than any problem. We aren't denying the facts, the symptoms or the doctors report. But what we are saying is that we believe that God's Word is more powerful than those temporary facts that we see right now.
II Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
As Christians we are supposed to walk by faith and not by sight. (II Corinthians 5:7) This means that we no longer say "I'll believe it when I see it." Rather, we believe first and because of our faith we will see results.
Does the Truth Have Power? Did you know that the Word of God has power?
Hebrews 4:12 (The Amplified Bible)
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (The Message Bible)
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it�no matter what.
We see in Hebrews 4:12 that God's Word is alive today to work on your behalf. It can cut away the calluses that may have been built up around your hearts from past hurts. It can free you from bondages and addictions. It has power to defeat the enemy and take back the happiness, joy, peace, success, health and prosperity that has been stolen from you. Perhaps most exciting is that Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God's Word cannot fail. It has to produce what is promised. If you can find it in God's Word, you can stand on it and claim it as yours.
Isaiah 55:11
So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
What's Important About Knowing?
Remember in John 8:32 where Jesus told us that we will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free? The word "know" in that verse is referring to an intimate knowledge and understanding. It's not just something you know in your head. It's something that is rooted deep in your heart so that you "know that you know" it's true. There is no doubt. It's a deep seeded trust and assurance. That deep knowing is often referred to as revelation knowledge. It's only when God's Word goes from head knowledge to heart knowledge (i.e. revelation knowledge) will it start to make a change in your life.
So how do we get revelation knowledge? In John 14:16 Jesus tells us that the Father would send the Holy Spirit who would have many roles. One role was to counsel or teach us.
John 14:16-1 7
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever� The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.
Each time we read the Bible, we should ask the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes to see God's Truth and open our hearts to accept and receive it. He is the one that will reveal to us the promises that God has prepared for us in this lifetime and in the eternal life to come.
John 16:13-15
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. 14He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. 15Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.
Ephesians 1: 13-14
13In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit. 14That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it--to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:17-21
17[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, 18By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), 19And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, 20Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], 21Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.
John 8:31-32
So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples. And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.
Once we know the Truth of God's love for us. The Truth of God's amazing redemption plan that He used to save us. The Truth that God wants us to be healthy and prosperous right now in this lifetime. And once we know Jesus who is THE Truth . . . It is that knowledge and faith in Him that will set us free. When we know and understand who we are in Christ, what is rightfully ours and we know the life that God intends for us to live, it will change our beliefs. Our beliefs will then change the way we think and act which will start to change our situation.
How Do We Learn The Truth?
God's Word is the Truth for every situation so we need to study it closely so that it begins to change our beliefs and our thinking. It is not a book of stories or teachings that were relevant only for people in previous generations. It is a road map for our generation provided by God to lead us into complete wholeness in every area.
Have you ever heard the term "shalom?" This means nothing missing nothing broken. God doesn't want us to have success in just one area such as finance but still be sick in our bodies. He wants us to be prosperous in ALL areas and that includes our health, our families, our relationships, our jobs, our churches, our businesses and our finances.
Proverbs 4:20-23
My son, attend to my words; consent and submit to my sayings. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, healing and health to all their flesh. Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us that what we put into our hearts will come out. We need to be so full of God's Word that it is that Truth that comes out of our mouth when situations arise. We need to be so full of God's Word that it is bigger to us than any problem. We aren't denying the facts, the symptoms or the doctors report. But what we are saying is that we believe that God's Word is more powerful than those temporary facts that we see right now.
II Corinthians 4:17-18
For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory [beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!], Since we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting.
As Christians we are supposed to walk by faith and not by sight. (II Corinthians 5:7) This means that we no longer say "I'll believe it when I see it." Rather, we believe first and because of our faith we will see results.
Does the Truth Have Power? Did you know that the Word of God has power?
Hebrews 4:12 (The Amplified Bible)
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (The Message Bible)
God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon's scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one is impervious to God's Word. We can't get away from it�no matter what.
We see in Hebrews 4:12 that God's Word is alive today to work on your behalf. It can cut away the calluses that may have been built up around your hearts from past hurts. It can free you from bondages and addictions. It has power to defeat the enemy and take back the happiness, joy, peace, success, health and prosperity that has been stolen from you. Perhaps most exciting is that Isaiah 55:11 tells us that God's Word cannot fail. It has to produce what is promised. If you can find it in God's Word, you can stand on it and claim it as yours.
Isaiah 55:11
So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
What's Important About Knowing?
Remember in John 8:32 where Jesus told us that we will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free? The word "know" in that verse is referring to an intimate knowledge and understanding. It's not just something you know in your head. It's something that is rooted deep in your heart so that you "know that you know" it's true. There is no doubt. It's a deep seeded trust and assurance. That deep knowing is often referred to as revelation knowledge. It's only when God's Word goes from head knowledge to heart knowledge (i.e. revelation knowledge) will it start to make a change in your life.
So how do we get revelation knowledge? In John 14:16 Jesus tells us that the Father would send the Holy Spirit who would have many roles. One role was to counsel or teach us.
John 14:16-1 7
And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever� The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you.
Each time we read the Bible, we should ask the Holy Spirit to open our spiritual eyes to see God's Truth and open our hearts to accept and receive it. He is the one that will reveal to us the promises that God has prepared for us in this lifetime and in the eternal life to come.
John 16:13-15
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future]. 14He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you. 15Everything that the Father has is Mine. That is what I meant when I said that He [the Spirit] will take the things that are Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.
Ephesians 1: 13-14
13In Him you also who have heard the Word of Truth, the glad tidings (Gospel) of your salvation, and have believed in and adhered to and relied on Him, were stamped with the seal of the long-promised Holy Spirit. 14That [Spirit] is the guarantee of our inheritance [the firstfruits, the pledge and foretaste, the down payment on our heritage], in anticipation of its full redemption and our acquiring [complete] possession of it--to the praise of His glory.
Ephesians 1:17-21
17[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him, 18By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), 19And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, 20Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], 21Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.