Our lives are constantly being effected by civil laws, natural laws, and spiritual laws. Some laws will take precedence over others. We might establish a civil law that says it’s perfectly legal to drive 55 MPH on a curvy road, but if the road becomes covered with ice, the natural law of centrifugal force will take precedence and your vehicle will slide off the road. The natural law of gravity is very powerful and is always at work; however, the law of aerodynamics supercedes the law of gravity, and that is why an airplane is able to fly.
I want to suggest to you that spiritual laws are laws of the highest order. There have been times that very godly people have had to violate civil laws, because of the supremacy of a spiritual law. There have been times that natural laws were suspended, because God allowed a spiritual law to step in and supercede them, as in the case of Jesus walking on the water.
Proper submission to spiritual laws can change physical circumstances.
First, consider the law of love.
In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, the law of love says that nothing else has any real long-term effectiveness, if you are not submitted to the law of love. This is commitment love. People who don’t know anything about the Greek language know the word for this kind of love. It’s agape, and it means a long-suffering, unselfish, sacrificial kind of love. It is the kind of love that God has for us, and it is the kind He puts in our hearts for others. Romans 5:5 says, “...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.”
The law of love is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind, and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. We are told in 1John 4:7-11 that a very real test of whether or not we really know God, is whether or not we really love our brethren.
The law of love will cause you to be a giver and a forgiver, because that is two of the most godly things you can ever do. Have you ever really thought about why giving money to the Lord’s work and to help other people is so important? There’s the surface reasons of meeting apparent needs, but there is a much deeper reason. It is a demonstration of your love.
When God gave Moses the sacrificial system of the old covenant, He established different kinds of offerings for different occasions. There was the sin offering and the thank offering, where an animal was sacrificed, and the people and the priests ate part of the animal. But, then there was “the whole burnt offering,” where the entire animal was burned on the sacrifice, and nobody ate any of it. This was an offering designed to just say, “I love you, Lord.” Look at 1 Kings 3:4-5, where Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings to the Lord! Only one was customary, but Solomon was a wealthy man, and one just really didn’t represent much a sacrifice, and it really didn’t make much of a statement about his love for the Lord, so he offered a thousand. That’s when the Lord said, “You ask Me whatever you want, and I’m going to give it to you.”
I know that many of you are living under the law of love, and you are bringing great blessings down your life, as a result.
Then, there is the law of faith.
The law of faith says that you can’t receive anything from God without it, but with it, all things are possible. Now, think about that statement for just a moment. If that’s true, and it is, faith is of the greatest importance.
Not only is it important for a person to have faith, it is important that faith be properly placed. Adrian Rogers said, “Some people have strong faith in thin ice!” Our faith is really based on our level of understanding. People in remote areas of the world may put their faith in a skull on a pole, and they do it because it corresponds with their level of understanding. Faith that is properly placed comes from hearing the word of God.
Faith is described in Hebrews 11:1 as “...the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” The best way I can describe that verse is that faith is the starting point of something that is very real, eventhough you do not see it yet. Faith calls things that are not, as though they were. Romans 4:17 says that is exactly what God does.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith, it’s impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” When we submit ourselves to the law of faith, we take God at His word, and we believe it against all odds. We believe it more than what we see, feel, or experience. We act like it is already accomplished.
The law of sight says, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” but the law of faith says, “Believe it and you’ll see it.”
Finally, there is the law of confession.
Confession is a compound word that means to “say together with.” In other words, to say what God says. It is not to simply think it, but to say it. I know that God looks on the heart, and that He knows what we have need of, before we ask, but I’m telling you, what you say nails it down.
You are always confessing something. You are ultimately either confessing faith, or you are confessing fear. If you are a Christian, why not just confess faith? God is still on the throne of heaven, and all the promises of the Bible are still there. I know if He has ever been good, He’s still good now. Psalm 56:3 says, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee (the Lord).” As Christians, we need to refuse to be in fear, and we need to practice not saying words of fear. We need to practice saying words of faith.
What we say is so important that Jesus said in Matthew 12:37, “By your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.” For those of us who are saved, according to Romans 8:1, we are now under no condemnation, but I believe there is a present day application of Matthew 12:37 for us, and that is we are blessed, or not blessed, by what we say.
God created by using words. He spoke it, and it happened. Our words are creative forces that nail down the thought processes of our minds. That’s why Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Now, I want you to notice something about these spiritual laws: The law of confession operates under the law of faith; the law of faith operates under the law of love; and they all are inside the bubble of the law of sowing and reaping. Everything in life is under this law of sowing and reaping. You sow love, and you reap blessings. You sow faith, and you reap blessings. You sow a confession of faith, and you reap blessings.
God sowed a seed in a virgin’s womb and reaped the Christ upon this earth, who could live a sinless life and die a substitutionary death. God sowed His Only Begotten Son on the Cross of Calvary and reaped the resurrected King of kings and Lord of lords, who is now the “first born among many brethren.” God sowed the Holy Spirit in the hearts of believers and reaped the salt of the earth and the light of the world, as we go forth in obedience to Him. God sowed gospel preaching into a sinful world and is reaping the whoever wills into His family.
Now, it’s your day to sow. This invitation is a time of sowing. I’m inviting you to come and sow your love for God, your faith in what Jesus did on the Cross, and your confession of faith in Him.
