Obedience by the Spirit 2
(week 12/01)
Olubi Johnson
In our last article, we saw that it takes deliberate, daily, diligent operation of faith to do the Word of God by the Spirit. In this article we will see how to operate divine creative faith for obedience deliberately and diligently.
Operating Divine Creative faith for Obedience
This is the same principle that God used in creation as recorded in Genesis chapter 1.
God made the heavens and the earth by faith: releasing the power of His Spirit by believing in His heart and then speaking with His mouth to create the physical reality of what He had pictured in His heart to create.
Hebrews 11:3 (KJV):
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. (KJV)
Genesis 1:1-3 (KJV): In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 2:7 (KJV): And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Notice 3 things in operation here:
1. The moving of the Holy Spirit
2. The speaking of the Word of God
3. God forming man from the dust of the earth: a physical action.
As Christians, being born of the Spirit of God, we have same creative faith in our hearts:
2 Corinthians 4:13 (KJV): We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
So we do the Word of God by the Spirit through faith by:
Praying in the Spirit for at least an hour each day to cause the moving of the Spirit in our hearts, bodies and circumstances to enable us obey God and not fall in the time of temptation by the weakness of the flesh:
Matthew 26:40-41 (KJV): And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Romans 8:11-13 (NIV): And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation– but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live,
We speak or proclaim or confess the Word of God we want to do by faith: consciously releasing the power of the Holy Spirit as we speak:
the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth… (Deut.30:14).
For instance, if you want to be slow to speak, swift to hear and slow to wrath letting your words be few, speaking only what God permits; theneach day you say by faith:
“I’m slow to speak, swift to hear and slow to wrath and I let my words be few.” (James 1:19, Eccl. 5:2, Jn.8:26)
Remember faith calls what is not as if it is and it will become a reality after some time by the power of God.
Romans 4:17 (KJV): (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, andcalleth those things which be not as though they were.
Just like it took Abraham about a year of speaking his new name: “Father of many nations” every day by faith before Sarah then conceived and gave birth to Isaac:
Genesis 17:5 (KJV): Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
Genesis 17:21 (KJV): But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
It will take us time of speaking the Word of obedience in faith everyday before gradually that obedience becomes a reality in our conduct supernaturally by the power of God:
Mark 4:26-29 (KJV): And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, andthe seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
Furthermore, as we speak the Word of God with our mouths, we meditate on it in our hearts:and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. (Deut. 30:14).
When we meditate the Word in our hearts we ‘see’ or imagine ourselves in the reality of the situation of doing the Word and so make the determination in our hearts to do it: ‚…as a man thinketh in his heart so is he..(Prov. 23:7)
The word of God we speak or confess and meditate daily is like a seed that we plant and water everyday that will gradually produce the fruit of obedience in our lives by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit:
Psalms 1:1-3 (KJV): But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
We add corresponding physical actions to our prayers and confessions or proclamations of God’s Word:
James 2:17-18 (KJV): Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
When we attempt to do God’s Word without this background of prayer and faith on a daily (Luke 9:23: If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me) basis, we do the Word only by the flesh: natural human effort without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit released through prayer and faith.
In our next article, we will see how to practically use our faith daily for obedience and in different areas of our lives using the keys of the Kingdom.
