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.”
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”.
Bottom line, ‘New Covenant faith’ is given, then activated by God, by the Word of God, and the Word of God alone, it is ALWAYS accompanied by hope, peace and joy! Anything else is either presumption, or foolishness.
The Lord designed 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 man, and then activates FAITH, hope, peace and joy in believing. When FAITH arises in our hearts, we step out and ‘DO’ according to our faith! When we live like this, it pleases the Lord.
Many believers hear the Word, but before they step out and ‘walk on water’ by faith, they get into their heads with logical thinking. 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 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 never experience the stepping out in faith life.
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, and taking scriptures out of context, or manipulating what the bible says to justify doing what the flesh wants.
If you are in the Word, and trusting the Lord to lead you, if faith is activated by the Word, and is accompanied by anointed hope, peace and joy,excitement, then it is true FAITH.
Selah.