“And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19, NKJV)
Up until the teaching of Day 957 we were discussing the difference between psychological therapy and spiritual therapy. The one big factor the two have in common is that they both teach that you need to take control of your thoughts, and focus on constructive thoughts, consciously removing negative ones.
As part of the spiritual impact on believers we’ve spent the last three teachings discussing a spiritual principle which is of immense help in the healing process, namely that “the word of God … effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). We then went on a legitimate detour to teach our readers how to get the Word IN your inner being, so that it can work WITHIN you.
This is however a spiritual principle that counts for all believers, even those who do not have psychological or spiritual problems to deal with. It unlocks the immense riches of who God is WITHIN us. Phil. 4:19 explains that through this God “shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”.
This spiritual principle does however have a twin. Its twin is a spiritual principle that walks along with it, namely the working of grace. Like the first principle asks nothing of you but that you allow the Word to live within you, this principle also asks nothing of you but faith. Thus – what allows the first principle to work within you is the willingness to accommodate the Word within you, to ponder it and to integrate it with your thought processes. What allows the second principle to work is faith.
But let us first deal with these two concepts: ‘grace’ and ‘faith’. These are so often and so widely used in an inaccurate way that it is absolutely necessary to first figure out what they actually mean.
Let us start with the concept ‘faith’. Most people misunderstand the Bible’s primary definition of faith in Heb. 11:1, because from most translations it seems as if I can just randomly hope on anything and that God will use my faith to get me what I want. See for instance the NLT-translation: “the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen”. I call this blind faith, and this is NOT what the Bible means by faith. Hope has specific determinations, especially in the light of James 4:3 – “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” The Message paraphrases verse 4 and states it very clearly: “And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.”
In the next teaching we will get to God’s definition of grace, faith and hope.
- Selah: Try to find a definition of grace, faith and hope.
- Read: 30-31
- Memorise: 31:25
