The Secrets of Increase and Breakthrough (2)
Pastor Bankie
FAITH AND TRANSFORMATION
The thing that marks out Christianity is faith. Many sceptics think that faith means to believe that which is not real but which is only imaginary. I actually heard an American public figure describing Jesus as an imaginary friend, implying that Christians are people who have refused to outgrow a childhood trait of believing in the imaginary. Another man replied to a question by saying truth does not really matter, that it only matters what you believe.
No; they misunderstand faith.
Faith implies that I know that there is more to life than the eyes see or what the other four physical senses perceive. Faith is a description for the knowledge of the spiritual realm. Being a man of faith I know that the things that control what I can see are actually in themselves invisible.
By faith we understand that… what is seen was not made out of things which are visible Heb 11:3 NASB
Faith does not mean I believe anything I like and I call it ‘my faith;’ what it really means is that I have come to know that which is true and I’m now living by it.
I know that God, though not seen, is real.
I know that moral laws are real, as being founded upon the word of God.
I know that worship is necessary because the invisible God actually holds the whole of life, my own life included, in His hands.
I know that Jesus indeed died for me, the power of His blood is real and has a very current and active cleansing power.
That is what faith is—the knowledge of truth, even though invisible.
Now having re-introduced the subject to faith to us let me bring it to bear on our subject at hand.
The secret of increase and breakthrough is not in the physical things that people do but rather is in the things that are invisible to the looking eyes.
I have read quite a few biographies and my spiritual understanding tells me that when those biographies are written by people observing from outside, they almost never capture the truth about the success of the people being written about. The fact is that what a man is doing is not what you are seeing him do; what he is really doing is in his mind. Outward actions are products of mind actions.
The secret of increase is in spiritual preparation. What controls the events outside are spiritual, and the main control of spiritual things – the generating set of spiritual power – is in the human heart. It is what you allow the word of God do in your heart that actually is the secret to increase and breakthrough. Our main goals about life must of a necessity be set concerning the interactions of the word of God with our hearts.
The state of your heart is what determines what life gives to you. I mentioned that the generating set of spiritual power is in the heart; as a matter of fact, the heart radiates energy into the air around you and this determines what you attract and what you repel. In common language, and in mystical sciences, it is called aura. If you ever saw the movie, Pretty Woman, you may recollect that the Vivian woman said her mother used to call her a ‘bum-magnet,’ in that she only attracted useless men. It’s the spiritual force around her. Many people only attract bad business; some men haven’t married because they only attract bad girlfriends and so they call now every woman bad. No, it is not the women; it is the problem in their hearts and it cannot be cured by simple prayer of what we often call deliverance.
I have seen books in which people are taught how to develop a strong and positive aura. The main thing taught is that they are to meditate and concentrate on increasing the aura. Well, though the basic concept is true but it is not that we are to try to develop a strong aura. No. The aura is just a natural product and effect of the state of heart. It is like the magnetic field around a magnetized metal or electric coil. The focus should not be the aura itself but the state of the heart.
A strong and positive aura is a product of righteousness.
Righteousness means to be in agreement with God. A righteous heart attracts good while an unrighteous one attracts negative things. Increase and breakthrough are good things and they are attracted toward you in greater measure as you align your heart with the heart of God.
Righteousness is being right. Right or wrong is defined according to a standard. What is right in Nigeria may be wrong in America. The true righteousness of life is defined with God as the standard. A heart which learns and imbibes the ways of God is the heart of righteousness. It attracts good.
Righteousness has two levels, and we must strive to attain it in both levels as part of our secrets of increase and breakthrough.
The first level is defined by faith in Christ Jesus (Rom 1:16,17). When we give our lives to Christ by a simple prayer and act of repentance in committing our ways to Him, we attain the general righteousness of God.
After that is the second level.
In the second we learn the ways of God in every situation. That was what Jesus meant when he said to seek God’s righteousness (Matt 6:33). There is a righteousness of God in every situation, and this describes what God says is right to do in that area.
There is the righteousness of God in marriage relationships.
There is the righteousness of God in business.
There is the righteousness of God in Christian ministry.
There is the righteousness of God in carrier building.
This second level of righteousness is attained in thoughts and attitudes first, and then it spills over into actions.
As we change our hearts into the heart of God’s righteousness we begin to develop the strong and positive spiritual aura that attracts good things our way, and repel evil things and people.
The goal for the person desirous of business success must be, "I must learn what God’s righteousness is in my business this year."
The real secret of increase and breakthrough is to be changed in heart, in thoughts and actions into the ways that God says is right.
Let me summarize this way: A secret of Increase and Breakthrough is transformation into the righteousness of God.
