By Jarvis J. Ross

September, 2024

12:00 NOON

© 2024 By Jarvis J Ross @ www.jjplanter.com

All rights reserved.

YOU CAN FIND ALL MY YOUTUBE AND TIKTOK SHORT VIDEOS ON MY WEBSITE HOME PAGE UNDER “Follow Me On My YouTube & TikTok: https://jjplanter.com

Introduction: Good day and welcome to “The New Conversation” on this balmy overcast day where I live. So, I’d like to simulate a fireside chat with you. So relax because I’m pretty sure that you haven’t heard a teaching or sermon quite like this before. Well, this isn’t your typical theological approach. Rather, it is a pragmatic approach and pragmatism comes down to common ground where we live, work, and play. The life lesson today is Tracking the Path of How Faith Works.

These are life lessons because Scripture is the living word and they are not from the top of my head. I’ve experienced everything I write about from day one of my life as a disciple of the Lord fifty years ago, but it would take a book to write about it. Now let’s get into part one….

Part One: Put your thinking cap on and follow me as I connect the dots from Scripture to Scripture…Pragmatically, relative to our everyday life experiences, I’ve established how “kingdom concepts” (Higher spiritual truth taken from the depth of the sacred text of Scripture–original languages.) become “empowering thoughts” (on common ground in everyday life experiences) by connecting the dots of Scripture. It means that Scripture interprets itself according to Isaiah 28:10-13, line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, and as it states in 2 Peter 1:20-21 Scripture is of no private interpretation. From there, kingdom concepts and empowering thoughts link together as the “living word,” in us or the Rhema Word according to Matthew 4:4…meaning the Spirit of God breathes the written word (The Logos) into our human spirit or God-consciousness as the Rhema Word and God’s Word comes alive in us.

Now, let’s continue connecting the dots from there…From our God-consciousness, God’s Word can become a reality in our lives as a “life lesson.” When God’s Word comes alive in us, it is manifested by inner convictions or prodding of the Spirit. For you to get that, let me compare it to Scripture. Inner convictions and prodding of the Spirit are synonymous with being “led by the Spirit” as recorded in Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:18…But for most people, it’s usually ambiguously unclear because they think it’s like verbal commands. Now, granted, God can speak to us verbally but most times, being led by the Spirit is by inner convictions of the heart that we should follow. The question is, what is God saying individually to us; not generally what God’s Word says in Scripture or to someone else, but what is God’s Word saying directly to us? That’s the pragmatic application that becomes the convictions of our hearts that we should follow.

Part Two: I’ll reiterate the final question from Part One…Let’s continue connecting the dots in light of John 15:7...My emphasis is on “what you will.” Contextually, it means that when our will marries God’s Will and becomes one with God’s Will, or is absorbed into God’s Will, we conceive the promise of God’s blessing for us individually and personally in our human spirit…Essentially, coming from Psalms 37:4, it means when we delightin the Lord, our desires become God’s desires and we will desire His Will above our will. And because God is one with His Word and His Word is one with His Will, God will honor your petition with an answer just for you.

Let’s conclude here: Now conceptualize that in the context of what I mentioned previously about whatever dominates your thoughts, you will eventually say and do. In the words of our Lord, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks and out of the abundance of the heart come certain behaviors…” Likewise, if God’s conceived promise dominates your thoughts, you will say it and do it and it will come to fruition. Again, that becomes conviction and it’s a simple matter of following the convictions of your heart…I’m not saying this off the top of my head. From day one with the Lord, I’ve experienced this, but it would take a book to write about it. Neither is it like the quasi-magic faith of “name it, claim it, it’s yours”…It means you have to work for it to happen because “faith without works is dead.” Let me add that there is no contradiction between Paul’s “saved by grace” and James's “saved by works.” It means if we are saved by grace it will be demonstrated by our works…So, we have a personal responsibility for God’s Word coming to fruition in our lives.

Conclusion: Now, conception is just the beginning of your blessing. Like an impregnated woman, you must carry that conception to delivery and birth. That’s a scenario of the trials, tribulations, temptations, and tests that you will go through before that blessed promise is birthed because your faith is being tested. 1 Peter 1:7…Unfortunately, many of us shrink from going through those falsely perceived crises because of the fear of an emotionally painful experience. We see an example of that in John 16:21…Next, we will segue or transition into “Access is Better than Excess.”