Reflecting on the church
and looking at the charismatic movement in particular, you would agree with me
that the knowledge of the word of God has greatly increased. It is as the
scripture says in Hab. 2:14 for
the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the
waters cover the sea.
However, in reality
there seem to be a gap between the spread of the word of God, and the vital
manifestation in the life of believers. What then could be responsible for this
gap? Well, we understand from studies in the word of God that as Christians, we
have both legal and vital realities. When you read God’s word and you get a
revelation, you immediately come into contact with your legal realities. But it
doesn’t end there, these legal realities must translate into vital realities
for the cycle to be complete. It is the failure to bridge that gap between our
legal and vital realities that makes it seem as though the word of God is of no effect in our lives, thereby making our impact less felt
in our communities.
The next thing on your
mind will then be how we bridge the gap to make those legal realities vital in
our lives. It is simply by faith. In application, faith is believing that God’s
word is your reality, accepting and acting on that word so that it can vitally
manifest in your life. Faith is that bridge between the two realities, it
handles the transition process to translate you into the vital reality of what
the legal document (God’s word) has declared concerning you. The implication is
that if you refuse to develop in faith you will not be able to vitally enjoy
those documented realities that are yours in God’s word.
This is like saying that
God has blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, but for
you to enjoy the manifestations of the blessing, they must first be translated
into the earth realm where you are now, and that will require faith. Otherwise,
you will have loads of blessing in heavenly places but suffer lack here on
earth.
A typical example is
that the word of God declares that you have been made rich because Jesus was
made poor on your behalf, but this is only a legal statement, and that
statement alone by itself does not guarantee that you will be rich (abundantly
supplied). But when you choose to act on that statement by first admitting that
the statement is addressed to you, and then take positive steps to appropriate
it to yourself, then it can move from being just your legal reality to your
vital reality.
Let us try to illustrate
better with something that you can easily relate with. Suppose that someone had
taken possession of your house, you then approached a judge with the case and
the judge ruled in your favour that the house rightfully belongs to you. That judgment
is only a legal reality until you take steps to evict the occupant of the house
for you to move in. When you evict the occupant and move in, the judgment isn’t
just a legal reality anymore, it has become your vital reality. Now, suppose
that you had the court judgment in your hands and you haven’t read the details
of the judgment and so you weren’t sure if the judgment was in your favour or
not, then you will have no confidence to approach the current occupant of the
house, unfortunately this is where many believers are. Many don’t know what is
written concerning them in the word, some others are not sure if God actually
meant some of the things He said in His word concerning them, and because of
this lack of knowledge and uncertainty they are unable to appropriate the word
to themselves - Faith begins where the will of God is known.
Again, some are quick to
celebrate their legal realities and this is a good thing, but unfortunately for
many, that is where it all ends. They enjoy hearing powerful messages
describing their legal realities, but they themselves never make any concrete
attempt to make those realities vital in their lives. This is just like
throwing a party to celebrate the court judgment that was given in your favour,
but after all the celebration you still go to put up with one of your friends
with all the legal documents you need to take over your house in your
possession. While it is good to celebrate your legal realities, you must take
further steps to appropriate those realities to yourself otherwise your
celebration of the legal realities would be in vain.
It is only after you have
taken steps to appropriate these realities to yourself that you truly justify
the finished work of Christ on your behalf. I believe that as you take positive
steps in bridging the gap between your legal and vital realities as a believer, you will be more impactful on your community and by extension your nation.
Shalom!
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