Author: Pastor Carroll Parish

Too many of us have very poor and/or limited vision about what is happening around us. While we live in a predominately physical world, that is not all that exists. Consider the following: human beings are composed of three parts – spirit, soul, and body. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 says, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice these three things are mentioned in order of how they should dominate our life. Yet many of us have gotten them totally out of order and therefore experience things in this life that we should not have to experience.

Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden every person born has been born with a propensity to sin. They are born with a spirit that has no divine life and light in it. Their will & emotions are bent toward doing what they want to do regardless of the fact that it may be contrary to what God wants. Their mind too often thinks along lines that are not best for success or happiness in this life. And the body is subject to death, sickness, and soon wears out after a few decades.

The Apostle Paul tells us that there is a life and reality that cannot be seen with the natural eyes nor comprehended with an unrenewed mind. He said in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, “Therefore we do not lose heart, even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” This was addressed to born-again believers in Jesus Christ.

Those who have made Jesus their Lord have His life within their spirit. Their mind is being renewed by the written word of God – the Bible. Their body can experience divine healing and life-sustaining power to live out their days with overflowing strength.

They now have the ability to see what is happening in the natural realm and the supernatural ability to see and comprehend what is beyond the natural realm. What they see in the spirit realm gives them strength, wisdom, authority, and power to live victoriously in a world that is headed the wrong way and allows them to be light and salt to it!

God has made many promises, provisions, and benefits for us. Yet, there are many of us who do not know how to get them to work in our life. There are several passages of Scripture that we could look at, but I will only share a few with us today.

Three words come to mind to illustrate my point. They are: Know, Believe, and Declare.

KNOW

Before we can activate anything we need to know about it. Suppose someone puts millions of dollars into your bank account. Those dollars would not be beneficial until you found out about them. So it is with the promises of God. How do we find them? Go to a Bible-believing church where the Word of God is preached. Read the Bible for yourself, specifically, the New Testament. There are at least 168 things in the New Testament that tell us what Jesus has provided and promised to us.

BELIEVE

After you discover what those promises are you must believe them enough to depend upon them and Jesus who made them possible. Romans 10:14 says, “How shall they call on Him to whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” You first hear, then you believe. This belief is more than mental assent, it is being convinced of the truthfulness of what is said enough to trust one’s whole life, for time and eternity, to the One who made the promise. Jesus said in John 5:24, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

DECLARE

Now you need to start declaring what you believe. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Notice, you are confessing with your mouth what you believe in your heart (the deepest part of your being) that the Gospel message presents. You are declaring openly, publicly that Jesus is your Lord. As you are doing these things, the salvation of God (the new birth) occurs in your human spirit (John 3:6). This same principle works in all areas of life!

Mark 11:23-24 says, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

These three things are used in every area where Jesus has provided something for us. By doing them, we will be appropriating those provisions into daily life.