But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:4-9.
You made men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water, yet You brought us out into a wealthy place of abundance. Psalm 66:12.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
I have raised you up with Christ and seated you with Him in Heaven in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7. And this is yours by faith alone. Ephesians 2:8-9. But I want you to think about this. What does it mean in your life now? Do you make use of it or do you leave your seat vacant most of the time? Are you praying from below or from above? This is very different, one is the prayer of a beggar with no intimacy, the other is the prayer of a believer who knows who they are and where they are in Christ—the prayer of faith is effective indeed.
I also tell you that besides seating you there in Christ Jesus, and when you believe in Him and receive Him as Lord you are sealed in Christ by My Holy Spirit of promise, that I have done something else in the same realm. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3. So I have not only seated you there with Me in Him but I have also freely given you EVERY spiritual blessing. You will note this is in the past tense. They are already in your account, you don’t have to beg for them, you own them already in Christ, you just have to take them and receive them. 1 Peter 1:3-5; Philippians 4:17.
So I have not only seated you with Me, I have also seated you in a place of abundance. Remember, Christ came so you could have life and have it more abundantly, until it overflows. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 2 Corinthians 8:9. And of His fullness you have all received, grace on top of grace. John 1:16. “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 2 Corinthians 9:8.
You may be wondering how you will get all these blessings down from the heaven to bless your life on earth. Well, first I will ask you, how did you get seated there? By grace. It is by grace you have been saved. But that does not finish the process of your taking it from Heaven to earth. The grace is there for everyone for Jesus paid the ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6 But not all have accepted that ransom and are still in their own sins. So read on in the passage in the letter of Paul to the Ephesians to find the answer: “By grace you have been saved through faith.” Ephesians 1:8-9. How then will you access your blessings? By faith. Faith is the channel by which you access what grace has freely given you. Faith is the connector between My power and your life upon the earth. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-2.
How does faith work? “What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.” Romans 4:3-5.
Faith is believing My Words, My promises, but it has another element to. It is doing what I tell you to do by faith. “Receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:21-25.
The obedience of faith. What is the obedience of faith? Let us start to define it by looking at the two passages where it is mentioned in My Word: “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-5. And the second mention, “Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen.” Romans 16:25-27.
The obedience of faith. I tell you that if you are willing and obey My Words that you will have the good of the land. And when you obey My Words out of faith in them, and not fear, but knowing My goodness and love that makes all My magnificent promises as many as they be “YES” to you in Christ Jesus, then signs and wonders manifest.
Faith operates in certain ways that it is important for you to understand because the righteous (and you are in Christ) shall live by faith. There is the Law but there is also the law of faith. There is the law of sin and death, but there is also the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And just as the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death, so the law of faith sets you free from the works of the Law. You do not earn your own righteousness, this is impossible for man in his fallen state, but you take Mine by faith in Jesus. “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. or we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” Romans 3:27-28.
Faith is a law and laws work by rules that work the same for all. So faith works the same for whoever follows its laws. Faith has works, it does not stay by itself alone. The fundamental law of the spirit of faith is that you believe My Word in your heart and you speak it with your mouth. It takes focus, meditation, declaration, and corresponding actions. And it pulls others into the process. Listen to what I tell you through My prophet Habakkuk about the work of faith: “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what the LORD will speak to me.” So when you have a need or a problem that needs an answer, or you just want to find out what it is I have to share with you, you come into prayer and you station yourself in the secret place and focus on Me and what I will reveal to you by My Word. “Then the LORD answered me and said, ‘Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:1-4.
You see what passage from the Bible I will give to you and in what manner I direct you in revelation of that Word as applied to your situation, need, or your life in general, you write it down, you read it later and you ponder it, and then you begin to do what I have told you to do and you involve others whom I send until the plan becomes a reality. Like when I gave Moses all the plans for the tabernacle, My dwelling place, on Mt. Sinai. He wrote them down, shared them with the people, and they all ran with it.
I told My prophet Haggai about the rebuilding of My temple that had been burned down in Jerusalem by the attacking Babylonian army and he gave the vision to the people. I had already supplied the funds to build it and he told the people what I had said to him, “All you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’” Haggai 2:4-5.
My servant James told you that faith without works is dead. Faith makes you generous to help others because you know that I have told you that by the measure you give, you receive and more besides, and you know I give many wonderful promises for helping the poor and giving to the work of the ministry.
Now, if you are seeking a financial blessing, and many are, I must talk to you about how to access the heavenly blessings by faith therein. The law of faith in the area of tithes and offerings. Oh yes, this is faith not Law. Tithing and offering started from the beginning, not with the law of Moses. Have you never read, “By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks.” Hebrews 11:4. The tithe is a work of faith that still speaks for him. Jesus testifies about your offerings. Remember the widow who put her offering into the money collection box in the temple and He praised that she put in more than all the rest by faith? And I tell you that your tithe is made in faith to Jesus even though you give it to your church, “In this case mortal men receive tithes, but in that case one receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives on.” Hebrews 7:8.
Now, here is the promise that faith takes that involves a work of faith to obtain it, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not OPEN FOR YOU THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT FOR YOU A BLESSING UNTIL IT OVERFLOWS.” Malachi 3:10. Sounds like accessing the spiritual blessings I have blessed you with in Heaven in Christ Jesus. Sounds like the way to access your heavenly account and bring it down in abundance to you on earth. You will note that I promise I will open FOR YOU the windows of Heaven and pour out FOR YOU a Blessing until there is not room enough to contain it. And in that same passage I go on to promise that also because of your tithes and offerings, “Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 3:11.
My apostle Paul also understood how this law of faith for financial blessing works. In making a collection for an offering to help the believers in the church in Jerusalem, he wrote by My Spirit, “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-8. And he continues: “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” 2 Corinthians 9:10-15. The obedience of faith (your confession of the gospel of Christ).
It takes faith to give, the law of giving and receiving is a law of faith. Philippians 4:15. And Paul has more to tell you on the subject: “You yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Philippians 4:15-20.
Tithing and making offerings is a “work” of faith that still speaks for Abel. And it will testify for you. And I will multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything. I will open for you the windows of Heaven. Floodgates.
So faith does not mean you do nothing, it means you actively take what you already have by prayer, meditation, declaration, writing down the vision I give you, reading it, and beginning corresponding actions. When Paul saw the crippled man had faith to be healed, it took one more step on the part of the man with the faith, he had to attempt to get up, “In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. This man was listening to the words of Paul, who looked intently at him and saw that he had faith to be healed. In a loud voice Paul called out, “Stand up on your feet!” And the man jumped up and began to walk.” Acts 14:8-10. Corresponding action. It is one thing to believe in healing, it is another level to jump up and walk. You may be believing and declaring but you still have to walk it out. Like the Israelites crossing the Red Sea.
I love you. Believe, receive, and walk it out. It is yours already. Do not go without it.