belief – ThrivingBranch

Faith and the Fig Tree (How to Move Your Mountain)

September 19, 2021August 1, 2021Leave a Comment

Last week, we studied about faith and belief. We examined what faith and belief are, and how they work together for tangible results; the kind of results that you can see, feel, experience and enjoy now on this earth. That’s what people need and want, and that’s what Jesus gave during His ministry.

Today, we will continue along this theme, by exploring more about how faith works, by looking at the example of the fig tree, and how Jesus taught us to move our mountains.

One Simple Secret for Unshakable Faith

September 12, 2021July 21, 2021Leave a Comment

Faith is one of those things in Christianity that gets a lot of attention. Many believers are trying to conjure up more and more faith because they think that faith is what’s lacking in their Christian life.

Often, when people speak of faith, they actually mean belief. The idea being that if they could just believe hard enough, that would enable them to receive whatever they are believing for.

As with most elements of the Gospel, human nature tends to complicate what God has made simple. So today I would like to share with you one simple secret to give you unshakable faith and belief.

How Jesus Conquered Your Sin (#4): Total Salvation

May 23, 2021April 5, 2021Leave a Comment

Welcome back to part four of our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. In the previous three parts, we’ve seen what sin is, and how it goes deeper than outward actions. We Laos saw how Jesus changes our spiritual identity through His sacrifice and the indwelling of His Spirit.

Then, last week, we saw how the Holy Spirit convinces us of our righteousness in Christ, confirming the status of our cleansed conscience— and that in Christ our conscience is free from the guilt, shame and condemnation of our old identity, and rightly focused on Jesus Christ.

Now, today, we will be focusing on the most crucial aspect of Jesus conquering sin, the Salvation, and what it means from a practical standpoint of daily life.

The Key to Powerful Belief (part 2)

February 28, 2021December 20, 2020Leave a Comment

Welcome back to the second part of our study on belief. In part one, we began looking at some of the challenges that we often face when it comes to believing, and the prophetic report of Isaiah, outlining the sacrifice of Jesus, and the redemption that He brought.

Today we will continue this discussion by seeing more of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us, and how to allow Him to increase our faith and belief as we look directly at Him.

The Key to Powerful Belief (part 1)

February 21, 2021December 20, 2020Leave a Comment

The last couple of weeks, we’ve been examining perspectives and how we see Jesus from a practical standpoint. We’ve seen the importance of looking at Jesus with the proper spiritual lenses, with a proper understanding of what He has accomplished, and your spiritual identity in Him.

Today, we will be transitioning into a tangental, but equally essential topic of belief — specifically belief on Jesus, and how to have truly powerful belief that leads to spiritual victory.

Join me today, as I’m excited to share this topic with you!

Change Your Lenses, Change Your Life (part 3)

August 16, 2020August 16, 2020Leave a Comment

Welcome back to part three of our discussion about perceptions; where we are exploring how the lenses that we see ourselves and the world around us by, can have a powerful and dramatic effect on our entire life. And not surprisingly, the scriptures have quite a bit to teach us about our lenses.

Last week, we paused after seeing how the Israelites failed to enter the Promise Land, by allowing their circumstances and their skewed lenses speak louder to them than the multiple promises of God that they had already been given. This is a scenario that plays out today as well, in the lives of a great number of believers, and it keeps people wandering in the “spiritual wilderness”, continually lost, weak and defeated, when in fact they have countless unclaimed promises of victory right in-front of them.

I also mentioned last week, at the end of our study right before we paused, that even if that picture resembles you today, that there was no need to despair, because there is a way out of the wilderness, thee is an answer, and we will find out what that answer is today in this study. So join me now, as we continue our discussion about changing our lenses, and changing our life.

Healing is Easier Than You Think

July 26, 2020January 31, 2020Leave a Comment

Throughout my years in the ministry, I’ve had a lot of conversations with people regarding healing. Healing and finances are actually the two most popular topics – and we have numerous resources on both because of it.

What I have experienced in my time, is that people place healing on a strange pedestal, as if it were somehow more difficult to receive than other blessings, or even more difficult than receiving salvation itself!

This is another classic example of our human mind, reasoning and theology complicating what God has made simple. Healing is not as complicated as we make it out to be; and it’s actually easier than we think!

Join me today, as we explore, how to easily receive healing, as a gift from God, in Christ Jesus.

Your Healing is Unstoppable! (part 4)

March 15, 2020March 15, 2020Leave a Comment

Welcome to the fourth part of our series of studies on how because of the finished work of Christ, your healing is unstoppable.
So far, we’ve already seen some things that that have greatly strengthened both our faith and our belief:
In part one, we saw how sinful deeds cannot stop our healing, and we destroyed a big stronghold for a lot of people regarding this common false belief that sin can stop or block our healing.
Next, in part two, we continued this theme by seeing how living in a sinful world also cannot stop our healing, which is another common false belief, closely related to the first one.

Then in part three we moved to a more internal level, as we examined how our new identity in Christ is a fundamental principle of why our healing is unstoppable.

Now today in this fourth part, we are going to examine another popular idea… what about having not enough faith? Can having a lack of faith stop healing? Join me today, as we answer this important question.

How to Respond When the Situation Looks Grim

August 11, 2019August 11, 2019Leave a Comment

Over the years I have had a number of people ask me: James, things just aren’t working. Things just don’t look good. What am I supposed to do?

And I can understand how these people feel. I can understand their heart. We have all of these promises which God has given to us; what is the proper way to respond if what we are currently seeing doesn’t seem to line-up with what was promised?

Well, today we are going to answer those questions.

And the answers will strengthen our understanding of what is actually going on, as well as to enhance our perspective of God’s Grace and goodness, even when the situation looks bleak.

Understanding the Sheep and the Goats

June 2, 2019June 2, 2019Leave a Comment

The sheep and the goats is one of the most striking and the most controversial statements made by Jesus regarding the final judgment. It is a time when the genuine believers (the sheep) will be separated from the non-believers (the goats).

Now over the years, this has caused a lot of fear and confusion, as I have heard people express to me their fear that they might be a goat and not know it. After all, what exactly is a goat, and how do we tell a goat from a sheep in the spiritual sense? There are some who say that a genuine sheep will be the hardest worker for God, while a goat will slack-off on their spiritual duties and responsibilities.

Is that true?
If so, how do we know when we’ve worked hard enough to merit sheep-hood? And afterwards, can we fall back to being a goat?

In order to have any real assurance and security, these questions must be answered – and thankfully, God hasn’t left us wondering about the answers; Jesus spoke plainly about them.
This is what we will be examining today in this study, and by seeing this, you will not need to be confused or afraid about the sheep and the goats any longer.