Today’s New Covenant nugget is from Romans 15:13 (AMP)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in His promises.
The New King James Bible says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
I love the way The Amplified Bible and the New King James Bible defines faith in this passage, “JOY and PEACE in BELIEVING.” Faith operates by love (Romans 5:6,) and is identified as New Covenant faith, in that it is always accompanied by JOY, HOPE and PEACE.
The Passion Translation says, “Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable JOY and PEACE as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with HOPE!”
Each believer is freely given a ‘God portion’ (a measure) of faith… this faith grows, is sustained, and is activated by hearing the Word that you speak, as well as by the anointed Word of God that you hear others speak. Faith is more than hearing, or believing, it is ACTING on what you believe according to the Word. As you step out in FAITH and ACT upon your FAITH, the anointing of JOY, PEACE and HOPE will flood you… the bible calls this “joy and peace in believing”.
I just re-read the amazing book by Fredrick K C Price, “Faith, Foolishness, or Presumption”. I highly recommend this classic book to all. Bottom line, ‘New Covenant faith’ is given, and then activated by God by the Word of God and the Word of God alone, and it is ALWAYS accompanied by hope, peace and joy! Anything else is either presumption, or foolishness.
The Lord wants every believer to LIVE BY FAITH… He wants every believer to wait upon Him until the Word speaks to them, comes alive in their spirit’s, and then activates FAITH, hope, peace and joy in believing. When FAITH arises in our hearts, we need to immediately step out and ‘DO’ according to our faith! When we live like this, it pleases the Lord.
Some believers hear the Word, faith rises up in their hearts, but before the step out and ‘walk on water’ by faith, they get into their heads (I’m talking about the un-renewed, logic centered mind of the flesh). They consider all of the ‘what if’s’, and ‘what abouts’, and before they know it, they draw back, and stay in the safety of the boat. The Lord speaks His Word to His children all of the time… He speaks regarding sowing large financial seeds, stepping out and doing things for Him, stepping out and blessing ourselves with the desires of our hearts, and many other things. Some ‘get in faith’, step out, and witness miracles, others draw back into carnal thinking, pour water on their faith, and then continue their mundane lives.
Many never step out in faith in fear that it may be foolishness, or presumption… let me be clear… New Covenant FAITH comes from the New Covenant Word, and is ALWAYS accompanied by ANOINTED hope, anointed peace, and anointed joy… presumption and foolishness come from a person’s carnal mind… they are always based upon carnal, worldly logic, fleshly lusts, and taking scriptures out of context as well as manipulating what the bible says to justify doing what the flesh wants.
If you are in the Word, in the anointing and trusting the Lord to lead you… if faith is activated by the Word and is accompanied by anointed hope, peace and joy, it is true FAITH; not foolishness or presumption, no matter how illogical it may seem!
In His amazing love, Nick
