MIND OF CHRIST MINISTRIES, INC.
PASTOR THOMAS E. OGLESBY
P.O. BOX 85
NUTLEY, NEW JERSEY 07110
Website Address: mindofchristministries.net
E-mail:mindofchrist@verizon.net
Phone Number 973-818-2750
January 2021
“The just shall live by faith”
Dear Believer(s):
Praise the Lord! God has allowed us to enter into another year. Let us give Praises and Thanks unto Him.
Please join me in prayer. “Dear God, we thank you for your goodness and love. We ask that Your Spirit lead and guide us in all situations and problems that we encounter. Teach us to love you and to love our neighbor. We pray in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!”
Who are the Just? We are! The Just are the righteous, those who love God, those who are children of God, and the saved or those who are born-again.
There has never been a time where we as Christians must live by faith. Look at all the trouble God brought us through in 2020. Look at all of the trouble and trials we now face in 2021. The only way for us to live and face all of the attacks of the devil today is by having faith in God. Christians must have faith in God. There is no other way to live in a world that’s lost and without direction. As a saved or born-again Christian, we must live by faith in God.
I repeat, once we become saved or born-again, we must live by faith in God. The Bible tells us in Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” (An unlimited amount)
God has given us what we need to live each day. God has given us faith to live by, and it will help us keep what God gives us. The Bible tells us “The just shall live by faith. “ (Habakkuk 2:4)
Faith is very practical. It is not difficult to understand. No matter what situation we may be facing, our faith can turn it around. Remember, our faith can be the key to turning a curse into a blessing. Why? Because we are trusting in God.
We make a choice everyday to live by faith and believe in the invisible things of God or to live by our senses and trust in the natural realm of what we see, smell touch, hear, and feel. Faith in God is not living in the natural realm nor living in, our soulish realm. (Mind, will, emotions or intelligent) Faith is not limiting God by our five senses. Faith finds a way. Faith knows, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13) The Just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17) Walking in the Spirit of God is different in many ways, even opposed to the natural mind or carnal. This is why it is so important to ask daily in prayer for God to allow our spirit man to supersede or overrule our natural mind. Romans 8:7 says, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
We do not lose our salvation, healing, or the spiritual or material blessings that God gives to us. But if we do not understand how to keep what God gives us by applying the principles of faith, we allow them to slip away or be stolen. Everything we receive from God we receive by faith. And we keep it the same way we receive it-by faith.
Is there something precious that God did in your life that you have allowed to slip away? Maybe it is your peace, it could be your joy or your healing. It could be a God given dream. No Matter what you may be facing right now, because you are in Christ, you have access to His power to overcome all things through your faith in Him. We must remember that we are saved by faith. We are healed by faith. We receive spiritual and material blessings by faith.
Let’s look at some principles of faith
Faith enables us to receive substance: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”(Hebrews 11:1) Faith is not was or will be. It is present tense. If faith is not in the present, it is not faith. Hope is mental but faith is spiritual. Hope is a product of the mind, while faith is birthed in the heart. Faith brings that which is of the spirit into our material world and gives it substance.
Now faith allows us to receive evidence: “Now faith is the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) When we live by faith, we become so empowered by the invisible world that it is evidenced in our daily walk with God. We are no longer controlled by the visible, but we are influenced by the spiritual. Our actions are not motivated by what we see with our physical eyes because faith operates beyond the natural senses. We see things from a different perspective because we view everything through the “eyes of faith.”
Faith enables us to obtain a good report in the sight of God: “For by it the elders obtained a good report.” Hebrews 11:2) How does God view our life? That is all that really counts. Like the Old Testament elders, when we live by faith, we obtain a good report in God’s sight.
Faith enables us to understand spiritual things: “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)
“Through faith we understand”-this means faith gives understanding. We cannot explain how healing happens. We receive healing by faith, and we keep it by faith, not by understanding.
Faith enables us to offer God a more excellent sacrifice:
“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” (Hebrews 11:4)
Faith enables us to offer God a sacrifice of praise that is not dependent on our emotional and mental state. The Word of God says, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10) So faith is an exercise of the heart, not the mind or emotions. If praise is mental or emotional, it is not true praise. We must praise Him from our heart. Our circumstances may not be the greatest, but we can still use our “eyes of faith” and praise Him for things unseen.
Faith enables us to be translated from the natural world to the spiritual world:
When we are faced with a difficult problem or situation, we can rise above the natural into the spirit. The spirit tells us we can make it.
“By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; was not found, because God had translated him.” (Hebrews 11:5)
God is more interested in our spiritual growth than our comfort. He permits problems in our life so we will continue to grow in faith and “through much tribulations enter into the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22)
God knows if our focus remains on the visible, our attention will not be on the spiritual. God wants to deliver us out of our mess into the miracle He has for us-and this happens by faith. Faith translates us from darkness to light, from bondage to liberty, from the world we are in to the one where we ought to be.
Faith enables us to please God:
“By faith Enoch was translated for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Hebrews 11:5)
Faith enables us to please God, “but without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
How do we receive these revelations?-By faith!
So it is important that we develop our faith. God gives us the measure of faith, but we must increase it. (Romans 12:3) Faith is essential, for Scripture says that we cannot please God without faith, so we must develop it.
Faith works. We can use our faith twenty-four hours a day (24), three hundred sixty five (365) days a year like we breathe.
‘The Just shall live by faith.” (Galatians 3:11)
With Love & Faith,
Pastor Thomas Oglesby
Pastor Thomas Oglesby
