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Divine Blueprint for Faith
Part One
by Pastor John Hamel
“And from Jesus Christ, who ... hath made us kings and priests
unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Amen." (Revelation 1:5,6)
Please notice in this verse that the Apostle John said Jesus has
made each of us Kings and Priests unto God. Did you realize that you
are a King and a Priest? Every Born Again
human being, male or female, is a New Testament Priest. (Galatians
3:28)
Under the Old Covenant only the High Priest was allowed to come
directly into the presence of Almighty God. Only the High Priest
could enter the Holy of Holies where God dwelt. Before entering in,
the High Priest had a prescribed order of actions that he was to follow.
You could call it a Divine Blueprint.
If the High Priest refused to follow the Divine Blueprint while
in the Holy of Holies, he died while he was in there. Actually, he
had bells attached to the bottom of his garment and a rope tied to his
leg. If the bells stopped tinkling it was a sign that he had dropped
dead as a result of his disobedience. The other Priests pulled on the
rope, dragging him out of there. Then they would call down to the
Union Hall, so to speak, to get another High Priest up there right
away. One who would do it right this time, hopefully.
Under the New Covenant, we, as New Testament Priests, also have
a prescribed order of action we are to follow if we expect God to answer
our prayers. I call it the "Divine Blueprint for
Faith."
Everybody knows what a blueprint is. It is a detailed
plan or outline used by architects, engineers and contractors to construct
a building. It is normally on blue paper with white print. Only
by following the blueprint very closely is the builder guaranteed to
construct a building that will not collapse under pressure and use.
Every New Testament Priest who desires to build a structure
that will not collapse must follow God's Divine Blueprint. It is the
key to seeing God's power flow. Whether it be
sickness, debt, poverty, marriage, family, work, ministry, etc., if the
blueprint is followed, it will produce mightily. This is why the
Bible says that all things must be done decently and in good order.
(1Corinthians 14:40)
The steps we will be sharing in the next two lessons will work
for anyone at anytime regardless of how
overwhelming your circumstances may be. This is because
they were outlined by the Most High God. When He is drawing the
blueprints, you can be sure something big and beautiful is going up and
that it will stand eternally.
Identify What Your
Real Problem Is
This might seem like a pretty obvious place to start, but it is
amazing how many people are looking for the solution to a problem they have
not yet identified.
Isolate the problem area. Is it financial? Is it
physical? Is it demonic? Etc.? Isolate the problem area
and be honest about it with yourself. Do not be ashamed.
Everyone has problems. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God. (Romans 6:23) Admit exactly what your problem is. You
can't quit what you won't admit. You know what it is. Here is
how the Lord once said it to me, "Don't be looking for the needle in
the haystack. Look for the elephant in the breadbox." Look
for the obvious.
Make a Decision to
Conquer Your Problem
Once you have pinpointed your problem, make up your mind to be
victorious over it.
"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore,
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may
live." (Deuteronomy 30:19)
Too many people choose the curse by
choosing to live with their problems. God said you can choose life
and defeat your problems. You can be wishy-washy and wimpy, or you
can be a New Testament Priest and move into the place of victory. You must
say within yourself, "I'm coming out of this by the power of God's
Word, and God have mercy on anyone who tries to stop me."
Alexander the Great was asked, "Al, how did you manage to
conquer the entire world?" His answer, "By not
delaying."
Find God's Promise
to Help You
Once you have made your decision to defeat your problem, you
need to get to your Bible and find out what God has agreed to do about
it. Your Bible is your Covenant with God. Everything God has agreed
to do for you is in there. Find out what He
has agreed to do about your problem or you have no grounds for approaching
Him concerning it.
"Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare
thou that thou mayest be justified." (Isaiah
43:26)
How are you going to remind God of what He's agreed to do in
the Bible if you do not know what He's agreed to do in the Bible?
Good question, huh? There is a promise in the Bible for anything you
could possibly encounter. Find the promise that
addresses your problem. Praying without the Bible promise
that addresses your problem is not praying in faith. That is praying
in presumption. Actually, going to God without His promise to help
you is overstepping your bounds and taking Him for granted. Not a
good move. One that you will want to correct immediately. Ask
Him to forgive you if you have been doing that. He'll do as you ask. (1John 1:9)
Don't know how to find the Bible promises yet? Ask your Pastor for help. If it is
something he hasn't studied yet, e-mail us here at JHM.
We'll do all we can to help you to find God's promise.
Meditate on God's
Promise to Help You
You cannot just flippantly pull a promise out of the Bible and
say, "Okay, I found it, God. Now do it, in Jesus'
Name." It does not work that way. That's
disrespectful. You have got to spend a little time getting familiar
with that promise by reading it, even memorizing it and speaking it softly
to yourself over and over. That is how faith comes.
Faith does not come by praying for more
faith. Grace comes by praying. The ability to do things you
could never do before comes by praying. Faith comes only by hearing,
not by praying. That means you have got to hear yourself softly speak
God's promise to yourself for a little while in order for faith to rise up
within you. (Romans 10:17; Mark 5:25; Matthew 9:29) Look at something
Moses passed on to his successor, Joshua, about this.
"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth;
but thou shalt meditate therein day and night ...
Then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then
thou shalt have good success." (Joshua 1:8)
When Moses said, "This book ... shall not depart out of
thy mouth" he meant, "Joshua, don't stop speaking the promises to
yourself."
When Moses said, "...thou shalt
meditate therein day and night" he meant, "Joshua, ponder and
speak the promises softly to yourself constantly
and faith will come for the promises."
When Moses said, "Then thou shalt
make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good
success" he meant, "Joshua, keep speaking the promises until
faith comes, then prosperity and success will follow. The miracle you need is
right in your mouth."
It is real important to hear what others are preaching and
teaching about the same promise you are standing on. Browse through
our Faith Building Bible Study Centre and see what we're
teaching about it. Go to "More Links for More Life" on our Home
Page and see what other reputable Ministers are teaching about
your promise. Learn all you can about that promise. Hearing it
over and over is your responsibility and your guarantee to good
success. You must put yourself in position to keep hearing about the
solution over and over until the solution becomes bigger than the problem
in your thinking.
Whatever it is, sickness, divorce, poverty, etc., get the Word
of God into your heart concerning it. You will be amazed by what
follows.
Once you have taken these initial steps, you are halfway
home.
In part two of this study, we will examine the final steps for
moving away from the problem and into the solution. In the meantime,
remember, faith is empowered by love. (Galatians
5:6) Refusing to walk in love towards others while standing in faith
is like trying to drive from Boston to
Los Angeles by faith and
refusing to fill up with gas. You are going to end up on the side of
the road all angry with God when God didn’t do it to you. You did it to yourself.
You can walk in love towards others. You have been given
a supernatural ability to do so. (Romans 5:5) Make up your mind that
you are going to yield to that supernatural ability.
See you over there in part two of
this study.
Be
blessed ... John and Barbara Hamel
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