The Power Of Faith

Matthew 17: 19 – 20, Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. NKJV

When Christians activate their faith through the Word of God, it gives them the power to see the miraculous take place in the physical realm. Paul tells us in Romans 12: 3 that God has given the measure of faith to everyone. All we have to do is learn how to release or activate our faith so that it works in our lives, especially when we face a difficult or seemingly impossible situation.

In the scripture for today’s word, Jesus teaches us how to release our faith so that it can work on our behalf to bring about the things that we need. Jesus told the disciples that if they had faith, they could say what they wanted to see come to pass, and then they would have it. This means that we are to speak those things that we have the faith for; and then we should expect to receive what we have spoken. Our mouths have the ability to create… this is especially true when we confess with our mouth based on what we believe in our heart.

Another example of this same principle is given by Paul in Roman 10: 9. Paul says, “…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.” We see that he agrees with what Jesus told His disciples in Mark 11. We must declare from our mouth those things that we believe are in accordance with God’s Word so that we can receive the promises of God.

It’s amazing to me how faith can be so tiny, and yet be so powerful that if it is used effectively can move something as massive as a mountain. Nevertheless, that is exactly what Jesus said, and He didn’t exaggerate. This tells us that faith is powerful. Therefore, when we declare those things that we need to happen in our lives, we must stand in faith.

Furthermore, when we choose to respond to a negative report or a bad situation in faith, we are empowered to move forward to victory over the enemy that has attacked us. In other words, faith will help us walk “out of” problems that might otherwise try to hold us captive. Instead of accepting an evil report as the final word for this season of our lives, we must choose to stand on God’s Word in faith and trust in God’s plan to bring us through victoriously.

If you’ve hit a seemingly impossible situation, and everything in your soul is telling you that it won’t pass, then make a conscious decision to stand by faith. Many Christians are living in bondage to past situations simply because they don’t know how to “choose to respond” by faith and walk out of the pit of hopelessness. Personally, I have experienced many setbacks and hardships, and the enemy has tried to use them to hold me back in ministry; however, the Holy Spirit has repeatedly shown me how to keep moving forward by faith until the victory has been won.

Do you need to walk out of a pit today? If so, get in God’s Word and find a promise that “fits” your particular battle. Then stand on that promise as the only option and the final word for your life until your faith becomes sight. Use your faith to help you keep a good attitude and a right-perspective on the battle that you’re facing. If you believe you’re a grasshopper, then you’ll see yourself as a grasshopper. However, if you see yourself as more than a conqueror through Christ, you will be more than a conqueror. Faith works, but you have to work it!

Releasing the Power of Faith,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Our Only Hope

1 Timothy 1: 1, Paul, a missionary of Jesus Christ, sent out by the direct command of God our Savior and by Jesus Christ our Lord-our only hope. TLB

I can remember when our sons were babies and learning to stand up on their own. They would crawl over to the coffee table or a piece of furniture and raise themselves up. The furniture gave them the confidence that they needed to take a step without being fearful of falling. Likewise, all of us from our earliest stages of life have learned how to depend on and place our hope in “things” to keep us safe.

We use the life lessons that we have learned, and we place our confidence and hope in natural elements for security. After a while, we begin to rely on those objects and people to support us to the point that we become totally comfortable and at rest. Unfortunately, there are times when we discover that not everything we rely on is trustworthy. Objects break, and people will fail us, causing our faith to be violated and our hope to be lost.

Let me share a scenario with you that will demonstrate a principle about hope. Life is a lot like taking a cruise on a ship. Because of its strong structure and enormous size, it gives us a sense of safety while it’s heading out into the deep. Consequently, the longer we are on the ship the more comfortable we become with its ability to keep us safe. We begin to relax and enjoy the comforts that the cruise liner offers its passengers.

However, suddenly we realize that the ship is headed directly into a horrific storm. As the ship becomes tossed by the large waves and strong winds, the furniture that we took rest in has now become a flying object. We begin to grab onto anything that is firmly attached to the ship for stability. As the ship is tossed to and fro, we begin to lose our grip, and we are thrown around like a rag doll.

Now the confidence and the hope that we once rested in has all but disappeared, and we begin to fear for our very lives. The more the storm intensifies, the greater our desperation becomes about our survival. In a panic-stricken moment, we realize that everything we have placed our trust and hope in has turned against us.

Out of hopelessness, we look up to heaven and turn our focus on the Lord. Why... because He is the anchor for our soul. When this life begins to unravel and fall apart, God is our Rock in whom we can rely and know of a surety that He won’t fail us. The writer of Hebrews tells us that He is a very present help in a time of trouble. Nothing in this life is eternal. Everything and everyone at one point or another will fail us. Only Jesus will be there for us when this world and the people in it fail us and break our trust.

When we think of storms, we tend to think about them only in a negative connotation because we’ve seen what they can do to human life and property. Nevertheless, there are some good things that the storms of life can produce. Whether they’re natural, emotional, relational, or spiritual storms can break us of placing our eternal trust in temporal things and relationships. Storms can teach us that only God is the TRUE ANCHOR for our souls.

If you have been broken because a job, a spouse, or a possession failed you don’t despair; there is still hope after the storm. Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. When the world walks out on you, you can turn to Him, and He will walk in and pick you up. He is the blessed assurance that can never fail you. He will be faithful and go with you, even to the end.

What could you be trusting in today that might be gone tomorrow and leave you devastated? Everything on this earth has been built by man has a breaking point. Even so, the Lord upholds the universe; and He will hold you when your world crumbles. Jesus is our only hope for eternal life. Are your faith and your hope in Him today?

My Hope Is in the Lord,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Hope For America And Canada

Acts 4 : 8 – 12, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'  Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." NKJV

 A man who has been mightily anointed and who has been used by the Lord for many decades to preach the gospel around the world was born on this day 95 years ago. Therefore, today is a very special day in the history of America because in celebration of Dr. Billy Graham’s birthday, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) will be conducting what could be the largest crusade that Dr. Graham has ever held. The purpose of this crusade is to reach America and Canada with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is called MyHope with Billy Graham and will be aired on television (check your local listings) as well as on the Internet. Dr. Graham will preach a brief message entitled “The Cross.” The BGEA is working closely with thousands of churches in America and Canada to reach millions of souls with the life-changing message of hope in Christ.

America is in desperate need of a move of God that will sweep our land. This is your opportunity to be a part of what could be Dr. Graham’s final crusade. If you know someone in your family, work, gym, or at school that doesn’t know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord won’t you prayerfully consider inviting them to watch this powerful message? Don’t worry that you may not have enough time because the message is available online to view at your convenience.

Another way that you can participate in this massive soul winning outreach is through prayer. Please take the time throughout the day and tonight to lift up Dr. Graham and the souls that his message will touch for the glory of God. Let’s agree together that this is God’s answer to the many prayers Christians have lifted to God for our great country and for Canada to be saved. If you would like to learn more about the crusade or about Dr. Graham’s ministry, you can click on the link MyHope with Billy Graham. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It’s time for America and Canada to call on the Lord.

Praying for the Lost to Be Saved,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Born Again

2 Corinthians 5 : 14 - 17, For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV

I’m grateful that God gave Paul these revelations about the difference between our old nature and our new nature. Paul is a wonderful example of how powerful the grace of God is toward sinners who humble themselves before the Lord. Paul was once called Saul of Tarsus. As Saul, he killed and imprisoned many followers of Christ because of their faith. Therefore, if anyone could write about the spiritual transformation that occurs in the hearts of believers when they come to Christ, Paul could. He was able to write from his own experience of Christ’s power to change the coldest, hardest heart and make it new again; Paul was changed so much that he was no longer known by his old ways.

You may not remember when you were born, but one thing is certain. From the moment you were born and took your first breath, you had a sin nature. Even though you were innocent in your conscience concerning sin, no one had to teach you how to sin. “It comes natural to all of us.”

Just as you must be conceived/born in order to exist in this physical world, you must be born again, if you desire to see and enter into the kingdom of God. Whenever you received Christ by faith, God sent His Holy Spirit to make His abode in your spirit. From the very moment that the Holy Spirit made your dead spirit alive, you became a brand-new person before God. Therefore, God tells us through Paul that we are a new creature in Christ, and the old things are passed away.

The old things are passed away because our old nature is dead. Now that we’re alive unto God, we must live the kind of life that is pleasing to Him. The old man and our old identity are also done away with through the blood of Jesus and the Holy Spirit who lives in our spirit (inner man). Once we become born again, we don’t have to live in guilt and fear about our past; neither do we have to live any longer in bondage to sin because the old nature is dead. If the Son has made you free, then you are free, indeed.

The more we know and understand that our past, as well as the old nature, is dead and buried through the work of Christ, the more liberty we will walk in as new converts. Nevertheless, if we continue to see ourselves as just “an old sinner,” who is saved by grace, then we won’t experience the liberty of Christ to its fullest. If the Word of God says that the old man is dead, how can we continue to live in bondage to sin, unless we refuse to believe the Word, or unless we’ve been taught something other than the truth?

If you believe in Jesus as the Son of God and have confessed that He is your personal Savior and Lord, then you are free from sin and your sin-stained past. You have been made a “NEW CREATION” in Christ. You now have “the power and the right” to live for God and to bring glory to His name by living holy; nevertheless, you must still choose to live a righteous life.

It DOES matter what we believe when it comes to our salvation in Christ. If we don’t take the Word of God for what it says, then we won’t be able to experience the freedom that comes with Christ. However, if we simply believe it as it is written, we will experience total liberty from the guilt and bondage associated with the old man.

If you have lived your “saved life” in bondage to a belief that won’t allow you to be totally separated from the guilt and sin of your old nature, then I invite you to taste and see that the Lord is good. Take God at His Word; walk in His love and experience the liberating power of God’s grace.

Free to Live in Christ,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Time

Psalms 69: 13 – 18, But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, hear me in the truth of Your salvation. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the floodwater overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up; and let not the pit shut its mouth on me. Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. And do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in trouble; hear me speedily. Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; deliver me because of my enemies. NKJV

Are you waiting on the Lord to bring you out of a difficult season in your life? Throughout scripture, we can see that God works within predetermined time frames; and today, the Holy Spirit has instructed me to write about “time.”

For instance, God told Abraham that his descendants would be in bondage to Egypt for four-hundred years; however, when their time of captivity was over, He would bring them victoriously out of that land. Another example was when Paul and Silas were thrown into prison for ministering the gospel. Even so, that evening, they began to sing and praise God; and at midnight, God caused the prison to be shaken and the doors to be opened.

Another illustration is when Jesus sent His disciples out on the lake, and He departed to the mountains to pray during the night. As His disciples were crossing over, a storm arose and threatened their lives. Nevertheless, at the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the water and saved them.

In the scripture for today, David is praying unto the Lord that He would deliver him from his troubles. Even though David asked God to deliver him speedily, David also acknowledged that it was in God’s timing and not his own. It’s interesting to me how David knew God had an acceptable time in which to hear his plea, yet he still prayed for God to hasten His reply. Are you asking the Lord to bring you out of a pit or a hard situation, but in your spirit, you sense that God’s time of deliverance has not yet come?

Know this; God won’t allow you to stay in any adverse situation one moment longer than necessary. Therefore, the key is to trust in the Lord’s timing and wisdom, and to wait on Him to bring you out in victory. Consequently, you must choose to have peace and exercise patience and longsuffering as you wait on God’s acceptable time. Remember, those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. You don’t have to submit to the adversity; however, if you submit to God’s will and time of deliverance, then He will give you the grace (strength) to endure until the breakthrough comes.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that we see through a glass dimly, but when that which is perfect has come, we will see clearly. We don’t always know why God allows us to go through hard seasons and trials. Nonetheless, if we simply trust His heart and Word, then we have been promised that He would work it for our good. Ecclesiastes tells us that God makes all things beautiful in IT’S TIME.

Timing Is Everything,
Pastor Asa Dockery  

Off Limits

Genesis 2 : 9, And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. NKJV

There are some things in the Word of God that on the surface seem contradictory. However, we’re commanded in scripture to study the Word and learn how to divide the truth rightly so that we won’t be put to shame. Have you ever had someone take something you have said out of context and twist it to make you look bad? If you have, then you’re in very good company. People often take scriptures out of context in order to make them fit either their beliefs or their lifestyles. Some have even attempted to defame God by using certain scriptures that seem to contradict other scriptures. Nevertheless, they, too, are taking the Holy Scriptures out of context.

I would like to pose a couple of questions to you. When God created the tree of knowledge, did He create evil? If we read Genesis 1: 12, we find that God has finished creating the trees which bear fruit…, and He calls them good. Later, in verse 31 of that same chapter, God looks at EVERYTHING that He had created, and He said it was very good. Therefore, if God created the tree of knowledge and included it with all the other trees that were created was He calling evil good? Let’s take this discussion even deeper. Jesus said in Matthew 15: 11, “It’s not what enters a person’s mouth that defiles them, but that which comes out of the mouth which defiles a person. Even though Jesus made this statement, God is recorded in Genesis 2 telling Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge. Therefore, is this a contradiction?

We are now at a place where the Spirit of Truth must come into the scenario. God didn’t just give us His Word and leave the interpretation up to us. In his epistle, Peter warns us against forming personal interpretations from the Word. Now let’s answer those questions. Did God create evil? No, He didn’t. James tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from God. He also teaches us that God doesn’t tempt man with evil. However, we are tempted by our own evil lusts. The tree of knowledge of good and evil wasn’t evil. Nevertheless, it was off-limits to mankind because God forbade them to eat of it. A physical tree took on spiritual connotations because God had set boundaries in man’s heart concerning the tree.

Consequently, when Adam and Eve ate of the tree, it was a sin to them because they chose to break God’s commandment… not because the tree was evil. What seemed confusing about Jesus’ statement is now clarified because He, too, said that it is that which proceeds from the heart of man that defiles them. In Genesis 3, we learn that Eve said to herself (from her heart) that the tree was desirable and could make them wise. She acted in disobedience to God’s command in her heart before she ate of the fruit with her mouth.

We see another illustration in Acts 10 when God lowers some food down on a cloth for Peter to eat. When Peter saw what types of food were on the cloth, he told God that he had never eaten anything that was common or unclean. God told Peter that He had made it clean. Consequently, he should no longer call it unclean.

You can’t live life to yourself, and you won’t die unto yourself. We will all answer to God for the life that we have chosen to live on earth. Therefore, we should consider God and His Word when making decisions that will affect our lives, but more importantly, our souls. If you’re saved, then you have the Holy Spirit living within you. Allow Him to guide you through this life so that your soul will live. He will show you what is right for your life, and He will also reveal to your heart what is off limits.

Looking Unto Jesus,
Pastor Asa Dockery

Receive The Holy Spirit

John 20 : 19 – 22, Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. NKJV

Sharing this scripture is like watching the final scene from a movie first. We know how it ends, but what has transpired up to this point? Go with me back in time to about forty-two months before Jesus began His earthly ministry, and before He called each of these men, who gathered in this room because they were afraid of the Jews, to be His disciples.

As we’re reading through the gospels, we can watch the spiritual growth of the disciples and even see glimpses of strong faith. If you have ever lost a job or stepped out in faith to begin a new career, you can relate to the faith and courage it must have taken for these men to leave their occupations and their families to follow Christ when He called them into the ministry.

It was as if they had no doubts about Jesus’ call; they all decided to leave their old lives behind. Nevertheless, there are far more occasions that we can read in the gospels where the disciples became fearful, worried, or hardened their hearts because they found themselves in adverse circumstances. At one moment, Peter was walking on water; however, in the next moment this professional fisherman, who could swim, was about to drown and was consumed with fear.

There was a man who brought his son to the disciples and asked them to heal the boy because he had a tormenting spirit. The disciples tried to set the boy free, but failed. I’m sure they struggled at times with thoughts and feelings of frustration and failure when they tried doing all that Jesus did; nonetheless, their efforts fell short of the set goal.

Over the years, I’ve wondered why the disciples seemed to be on an emotional roller coaster. Some days they were strong men of faith, and other days Jesus had to rebuke them for their unbelief and teach them about the error of their ways. Recently, the Lord showed me why the disciples seemed to be double- minded at times.

The disciples did not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their spirit. All they had was their faith in Jesus, and their faith wavered from time to time. I share this with you today to let you know how vitally important it is for believers in Christ to rely completely upon the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we don’t vacillate from one day to the next in our faith walk.

The Holy Spirit gives us power to become children of God and to live the “life of Christ” daily. He gives us power to do what Jesus did while He walked on the earth. Jesus said that we (the body of Christ) would do greater works than He. After Jesus breathed on the disciples and commanded them to receive the Holy Spirit, we never read of any of them denying Jesus again. We don’t see them fail Jesus or bring shame to His name any more after they received the Spirit of God in their lives.

If you believe in Jesus as the Son of God, then you have the Holy Spirit living within your spirit as well. Now, you have the power to become all that God has called you to be and to do in Christ. It’s time for the church to come out of hiding because of the fear of man and to receive a fresh breath from the Holy Spirit of God. We need to be about our Father’s business, instead of worrying about upsetting the religious world. There is a world that is dying without Christ, and they need to see us (Jesus’ disciples) walking in the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit.

Let’s Reach this World for Christ,
Pastor Asa Dockery