Strengthen Your Faith with His Power

Faith comes when He speaks directly to our hearts.

Romans 10:17 (NASB95) says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

The Greek word used in this verse for word is rhema, which means “spoken word.” So then faith comes from hearing and hearing through the spoken word. In sitting with the Lord and experiencing the power of hearing Him inside my soul, I realized the true meaning of Hebrews 12:2:

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…(NLT).

Jesus initiates or authors our faith when we hear Him speak and faith comes supernaturally in that moment! We have real access to His thoughts about us, our situations and our destinies.

When we spend time with Him, we discover He is not indifferent but involved in every detail of our lives. This is not the end of His promise to us. He is the author, initiator, perfector and the developer of our faith.

Connect that back to Romans 10:17 once again and the meaning becomes so clear: Faith is born in us by hearing His spoken Word, and it is developed and perfected as we hear Him speak again and again. Pause and think about this for a minute! This is the life-changing definition of the Good Shepherd. As Jesus develops our faith, we have the power and courage to keep walking forward, holding onto what He says about us and what He’s promised to us.

One more golden nugget to add here is found in Hebrews 6:17-20 (NLT).

God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

With every word of promise God speaks to us, He’s bound Himself with an oath, and it is impossible for Him to lie! (Numbers 23:19).

Do you see the power of hearing His promises spoken directly to your heart? He is bound by His own Word that He cannot lie. We’ve had a promise and an oath from almighty God all this time, and yet, we’ve been trudging along, trying to walk out our Christian life without His hand-holding. It reminds me of trying to keep my children from breaking our handhold in a crowded amusement park. How many times do we pull away, trying to figure out which way to go when He is there to lead us faithfully through?

Recently, when He showed me this truth, I was pressing into a promise He had given me. I realized I had an oath to go along with the promise when He said, “I am your Shepherd. Hold one hand like it’s My promise and the other like it’s My oath.” I could so picture Him walking me to the manifestation of what He had promised me.

The Table

When you and I stop “adulting” with Jesus, He can be our Good Shepherd, provider, peace and whatever-we-need Savior. Oh how wonderful to be a simple sheep! This is truly the power of Psalm

23. We have heard this beautiful scripture as a word of peace, which it is, but let’s acknowledge the mighty power it represents in these promises to those who will follow Him. He will make us lie down in a new pasture filled with the words we need every day, a new daily bread for each day’s challenges and blessings! He will hold us and guide us through the specter of death and trouble with His rod of correction and rescue. If He is truly our Shepherd, we shall not want for any good thing! He restores our very life and makes our soul new again.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over (Psalm 23:5 NKJV).

I think we are divinely tired of spending our existence seeking ways to satisfy those wants. Some wants are obvious—those connected to relationships, finances, health, joy, peace, quality of life and comfort. We go about life working, living and seeking entertainment as we try to make ourselves and those around us happy. Other less obvious motives like acceptance, value, validation, power and relief from unseen hurts or trauma prevent us from fulfilling our core desire, which is simply to belong.

You were like sheep that continually wandered away, but now you have returned to the true Shepherd of your lives—the kind Guardian who lovingly watches over your souls (1 Peter 2:25 TPT).

He has prepared a table for us, a covenant table in the presence of our enemies. Could our enemies be the lies Satan has planted in our souls? Yes! Jesus will expose and destroy those enemies at this covenant table until His anointing fills us and overflows out of us. He surrounds us with His mercy and unfailing love, forever assuring us that we indeed belong to Him.

Revelation 3:20 (TPT) talks about this table:

Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me.

We are living in the days of Revelation 1-3, the glorious unveiling of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation opens with the expression of who Jesus is and was and is to come. Then, we receive the invitation to hear the love and correction Jesus speaks to us, the Church. I love this invitation to not only respond to His knocking and open the door of our hearts to Him but also to invite Him to come in and sit down, allowing Him to sift through our hearts.

Revelation 2:23b (TPT) says:

…I am the one who thoroughly searches the most secret thought and the innermost being….

In essence, after searching the heart condition of the churches, Jesus gives them a diagnosis. He says to them, “I love this about you but not that; I put this other great truth in you, and I am lighting it on fire if you will let me burn the other out.” Maybe this is a simplistic view of this Revelation given to John, but it has helped me to not only see an open seat at the table but also to sit down and let Him search my heart. As He has slowly sifted through, He’s healed my heart, all the while inflaming my love for Him, my passion for the Kingdom and my love for others. Out of previously barren ground, He has brought fruit, and I am beginning to know Him as the Vine Keeper that He describes in John 15.

I feel confident in saying that in your conversations with Jesus, He will bring needed correction to you as He did so lovingly with me. I pray you will realize that His great love is the backdrop that unfolds as He prunes away the dark places in your life.

Romans 1 tells us that God is at war with every form of sin. He is not at war with us but with the sin in our hearts that causes evil actions. Jesus has come to free us! Hear His love as He works to rid you of your troubles—inside and out. He doesn’t expect you to rid yourself of sin so you can enter His presence. This is not true in the least! He welcomes you to come as you are! He invites you to come with your burdens as the song “Just as I Am” says:

Just as I am, without one plea

But that Thy blood was shed for me

And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee

Oh, Lamb of God, I come, I come.

You’ve worked too hard for too long, and it’s time to accept His invitation to sit at the table in the empty chair reserved for you. He will tell you who you are—that you are valuable and you already belong. I know He will do this because it’s His actual job and destiny as the Son of God. He came as the perfect expression of the Father’s love for you.