Go with the Word

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. —Acts 19:18–20

There was a revival in Ephesus. They were burning demonic books, demons were manifesting, and miracles were performed. Why? Did God send revival? Did God release power from heaven? No! The Word grew and prevailed in their lives. Where did the Word grow? In the hearts and minds of men and women. The Word prevailed over the old, sense knowledge thinking and believing. The Word of God, a faith mind, must prevail over the old, natural mind. The Bible tells you to be “renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23), so you will be able to prove the will of God. The results will be a life of victory and revival—heaven on earth. We are called to fight the fight of allowing the Word of God to prevail over our natural thinking, which is the fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). We are to lay hold of . . . get a hold of . . . grab on to . . . eternal life. Eternal life is the spiritual, supernatural life of God. It is the kingdom of God that is in you. We are to lay hold of the supernatural life of God through faith in His Word. There is a fight to keep you out of faith and keep you in the sense realm. Sense knowledge will never take you beyond things that are seen, felt, or heard. God’s Word deals with spiritual realities. Heaven is real, but it is foolish to the sense-ruled mind. God, angels, and demons are realities, but they are absurd to a sense-ruled mind. Unless a sense-ruled person can see it or feel it, it does not exist to them. Miracles and healings are ridiculous to the senses. Your only weapon against sense knowledge is the Word of God. The Word will take you beyond the natural. Know that sense knowledge is not bad. The senses are necessary to deal with natural situations. We need to see the car coming; we must be able to feel that the stove burner is hot. But when sense knowledge contra- dicts the Word of God, you must go with the Word instead.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Is the Word Enough?

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me.
And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?
—Matthew 14:30–31

We may stumble at times and sin. We are told in 1 John 1:9 to confess our sin and the Lord will forgive us. So we sin and repent (change our minds and turn away from the sin). But a little voice then says that God did not forgive us. We feel guilty and condemned, so we repent again. Once again, we feel guilty. We think, When I stop feeling guilty, I will believe that He forgave me. But if you will only believe that He forgave you (according to His Word), you will stop feeling guilty. Sense knowledge will only believe it is forgiven when it feels forgiven. Instead, the power of simply believing the Word will drive guilt out of your life. The Word says that you have an anointing (1 John 2:20, 27). The devil tells you that the pastor does, but you certainly don’t. But the Word says you do! The devil asks if you have ever seen results of the anointing. You think, No, I haven’t, so I must not be anointed. A sense-ruled mind is always waging war against the Word of God. It will keep you double-minded. Sense knowledge is the worst enemy of the believer. It will never give the Word first place in your life. Sense-knowledge people must see the power to believe in the power. They must feel the anointing to believe in the anointing. We must move out of the sense boat into the Word of God realm. The Word must be enough; it must be given lordship in your life for you to live in the kingdom of God effectively.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Sense Knowledge

Read Matthew 14:26–29.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. —Matthew 14:28–29

Those in mental assent claim and say, “I believe Jesus bore my sicknesses on the cross, and I am healed! I feel great today!” But when the symptom hits, when the pain comes, they fail to resist. They put more faith in the symptom and the pain than in the stripes. Their faith is in what they know from their senses. Mental assent knows what the Word says but does not act on what it says. Those in mental assent claim to believe in loving others; they believe love never fails. But when the rumor starts, when criticism begins, they immediately get hurt and offended. They fail to forgive and walk in love. There is no power in sense knowledge or in mental assent. They claim to believe the Word, but they turn to sense knowledge in the time of attack. They will leave the Word when they need the Word the most. When you were born into the kingdom of God, you were still mentally living in a sense knowledge boat. Jesus (the Word) will start to call you into the Spirit and out of the natural. The Word will tell you that you are healed, you are blessed, you are anointed, you are forgiven, and you have peace and joy. The Word calls you out, and you take a step. You believe the Word. You decide, I am healed, I am blessed, I am forgiven and anointed. But here come the wind and the waves. Sense knowledge comes to contradict the Word (symptoms come, feelings come, circumstances come). Sense knowledge is not evidence of a spiritual reality. The Word is your spirit-evidence.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Mental Assent

For we walk by faith, not by sight. —2 Corinthians 5:7

There are two ways to walk, two ways to live: either by faith or by sight. There is a daily battle in your life between God’s promises and sense knowledge, the natural and the spiritual. Sense knowledge is information that we receive from the five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. If you live by your senses (what you see and feel), they will hook you up to the natural realm with little God influence. But a faith-life pleases God. Why? He desires to be involved in your life, and He wants to help you. Living in the natural, believing only what you see and feel, is displeasing to God and to you (Galatians 3:11). The person who is just will believe God’s Word over any natural evidence. He believes God is real even if he doesn’t see Him. He believes the Holy Spirit is in him even when he doesn’t feel Him. He believes God loves him even though his situation seems to contra- dict His love. Sense knowledge agrees with the Word, agrees with the preacher while hearing the Word, but when the natural evidence comes that is opposite of the Word, it believes the natural. It believes the symptom over the healing, the bank account over “my needs are met,” the feelings over the truth. Mental assent also claims to believe the promise; it can quote the Word, but when the attack comes, it fails to act on the Word. It tells others “I know that,” but it does not resist the devil. It does not rebuke the symptom. It does not love uncon- ditionally. Peter told Jesus that he would never leave Him, that he would die with Him, but when the pressure came, he denied knowing Jesus three times. People may have good intentions; they love God, but they fail when the opposition comes. Anybody can live by faith, quote the Word, and praise God in good times. If all days were good days without opposition, there would be no need for faith! Faith will take you above the bad days.

Pastor Tom Kehres