Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus left no one in doubt as to His purpose on earth. He seized every opportunity to demonstrate the love of God to all people. He came that we may have life to the full (John 10:10). This was the purpose for which He lived, died and was raised back to life.
The life of Jesus while He walked this earth showed us a practical example of how to live as the light of God to our world today. His life was solely dedicated to fulfilling His God-given purpose and assignment. In John 4:34, He said to His disciples “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work”; He thus underlined the work of God as His all-consuming passion. So, as Christians and ambassadors of Christ in this world (2 Corinthians 5:20), we have the responsibility and God-ordained purpose to illuminate our world—our sphere of contact—and manifest the glory of God. This is our calling.
Romans 8:19 says, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Jesus said in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” It’s your responsibility to make your light shine; you’re to make the personal decision and commitment to manifest the glory of God and be a blessing to your world.
It’s not enough to be passively preoccupied with the blessings and advantages that Christianity offers. You’re to be passionate about God’s work and see to it that His Kingdom is established in your home, street, place of work, school and in your sphere of contact. You’re to impact your world with the Gospel! You’re to light up your world with the fire of God that’s in you and manifest His glory to everyone around you.

Pastor Chris

The Bible says “faith is the substance of things hoped for,” and therein lies the difference between faith and hope. Faith has substance: it is the proof or evidence that what you hoped for has become yours, but hope has no substance! Hope is futuristic: faith is for now. Hope is looking over a wall at something you desire, praying that one day it’ll become yours. But faith either climbs that wall and takes a hold of that thing, or gets the necessary documents to take ownership of that thing even though from a distance. So, while the hoper says, “I am going to have it,” faith says, “I have it now!” The Bible never said the just should live by hope but by faith (Hebrews 10:38). Faith is the evidence of unseen realities; as far as faith is concerned, whatever you were hoping for is yours now, thus you act as though you've already gotten it. Now, when I say “act” I don't mean you pretend that you've gotten it or ‘try to act like you've gotten it so you can really get it.’ No. You act like you've gotten it because you know you’ve gotten it in your spirit! But the hoper doesn't understand this. He's still waiting and praying to get it. He's still counting on God to fight his battles for him, not realizing that God has already done all that’s necessary to usher us into the glory-life. But the one who’s in faith says, “Thank you Lord; you've made all things ready for me and given me all that I require for life and godliness. I claim every blessing that's in your word for me, in Jesus’ Name!” While hope puts things in the sweet by-and-by, faith is in the now; faith is for today! Faith takes possession now. It's faith that catapults you into your inheritance in Christ, not hope. For you to reign in life as the king that you are, your hope must be converted to faith by accepting what God has said about you, and speaking the same thing in agreement, irrespective of contrary circumstances. 

Pastor Anita

For we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7,).

Christianity is a walk of faith. Faith is the lifestyle of the believer. All through the New Testament, with particular reference to the Epistles, there's not a single place where the Christian is asked to have faith. Rather, the scriptures let us know that we already have faith as Christians: …according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). God wouldn't ask us to walk by faith if we didn't already have faith. A man can either walk by faith or by his senses. The Bible says, “They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God” (Romans 9:8). The children of the flesh are those who are ruled by their senses. Instead of walking by faith, they walk by sensory perceptions. What does it mean to walk by sensory perceptions? It simply means to walk by your senses-by what you can see, hear, touch, taste or smell. Man is a spirit who has a soul and lives in a body. 2 Corinthians 5:6 says, “Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.” Your body is not you; it's the place of your abode while you're here on earth. That’s why the Bible says, “...we are absent from the Lord” because we're not in Heaven but here on earth. We don't behold the Lord face to face every hour the way people in Heaven do. So how do we know He's with us? He has told us in His word that He's with us always (Matthew 28:20).
Therefore, we don't have to wait to feel His presence because whether or not we feel it, He's there with us. Have you ever felt forsaken of God? Some people feel that way and say “Oh I don't feel the presence of God anymore.” They are moved by their feelings, instead of relying on the Word of God. Don't live your life on the basis of your senses; live by faith. Don't say “I have a headache,” because you feel some discomfort in your head; refuse to accept and endorse such information! Instead, say “Though I feel a headache, I refuse to accommodate it, for I’m the healed of the Lord!” Do the same for your finances; don't say, “I'm broke” just because there's no money in your pocket or bank account. Instead, say, “I refuse to lack because I’m a child of God, and a joint heir with Christ.”

Pastor Chris

Whenever you take a hold of the Word of God, negative forces rampage and try to steal the Word from your heart, for Satan knows that without the Word, you'll be vulnerable to his attacks.
Remember the parable of the sower; the Bible says as he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, which the birds of the air came to pick up. Jesus said the seeds that fell by the way side are those that hear the Word of God and don’t understand it. Then Satan comes immediately to steal it because it didn’t get into the soil of their hearts. The first time the Word of God came to Jesus openly, Satan attempted to make that word of none effect by questioning the veracity of the Word. God said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) and soon enough, Satan came too and said “If thou be the Son of Cod, command that these stones be made bread” (Matthew 4:3). He challenged the Word that came to Jesus, but Jesus repelled him by using the shield of faith. He refused to give in to the wiles of the enemy by standing firm on God's Word.
The devil attacks your faith by throwing darts at you like missiles. For instance, he may say, ‘if indeed you're a new creation, repel that pain.” You may actually be feeling weak all over and think you need to lie down. But no At that point, you ought to take out your shield of faith and quench that fiery dart the devil is throwing at you. You ought to get up and shout, ‘I've got the life of God in me! Sickness has no place in my body! I walk in strength!” Glory to God!
Look at the scripture again: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darns of the wicked.” In order words, you won't need to cry to God to help you do it; the ability to repel the darts of the enemy is in you.

…I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (Luke 7:9).

 

When the other disciples told Thomas they had seen Jesus, he said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25). When Jesus showed up, He said to Thomas, ‘Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27). Thomas was “faithless” meaning he had “zero faith”: he had to see the Lord first with his physical eyes, and touch Him with His hands before he could believe the Lord had risen from the dead. Thomas exhibited faithlessness—”zero faith,” which in reality is no faith at all because faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). When Jesus came walking on the water to His disciples, Peter asked Him “...Lord, if it be thou, bid rune come unto thee on the water...” and Jesus said to Him “come” (Matthew 14:28)! Peter came walking on the water, until he saw the winds and waves and began to sink. The Bible says immediately, “Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, 0 thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? (Matthew 14:31). That’s another category of faith—little faith. Little faith is the result of insufficient information from God's Word. The less of God's Word you hear, the less faith you'll have. Little faith exhibits fear and doubt. Little faith may get the job started but chickens out in the face of adversity. However, the Lord wants you to be like the centurion, of whom Jesus said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Luke 7:9). The centurion had said to Jesus, “Master, you don’t have to come to my house; stay where you are and speak the word, and my servant will be healed” (Luke 7:7-8). He had absolute confidence in the Word of 1he Master; that’s great faith. Great faith is the result of more accurate information from God's Word. So, don't be discouraged if your faith has been little. What you need do is to grow your faith through the Word! You can place orders for teaching tapes, DVDs, books and other materials we have on faith, that’ll help build your faith strong, log on to www.christembassyonlinestore.org.

Jesus was in the ship with His disciples one day when a violent storm arose. He was sleeping while His disciples battled the strong waves that threatened to sink the ship. After trying all they could to no avail, they rushed to the Master and shook Him awake, shouting, “...Teacher, don't you care that we're about to drown?” (Mark 4:38 CEV).
When Jesus woke up, He was unruffled. He didn't jump up in fear. He simply rebuked the winds and the sea, saying, “Peace, be still,” and there was a great calm! Then He turned to His disciples and said to them. “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matthew 8:26). Faith and fear don't go together. Fear hinders faith, but faith destroys fear. When your faith is little, you’ll be oppressed and tormented by fear, hence your faith will not work. Little faith is the result of insufficient information. Hosea 4:6 says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge....” God said His children are destroyed, that is, they suffer, are impoverished, punished, brought down, crushed and perish because they lack the knowledge of His Word. However, the more of God’s word you hear, the more knowledge you have, and faith comes to you in the Word. The less of God’s word you hear, the less faith you have.
Fear is a spirit that always tries to attack your faith. The next time it tries to attack you, go on your knees before the Lord and put your Bible right in front of you! Don't only read or meditate on the scriptures, but also quote them out openly until you're fully saturated. The Bible says, when the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves, (Ecclesiastes 11:3). Before long, you'll begin to roar, "l refuse to fear!"