Bible study: "Changing the Seen & Shaping the Unseen" (By Charles Capps)
Chapter: (3)
Subject: Changing the Seen
Prayer:
Father God, we have been studying Your Word, so that we can show ourselves approval unto You, and so we can have a life of faith in You and in Your Word. Help us to utilize Your Word every day. Please bring these studies to our remembrance so we can be what You desire in us today. Help us to use everything we learn for Your glory, and only for Your glory as we grow in faith in You, and in Your Word. AMEN.
Study:
Well, so far I have enjoyed this study. I hope and pray others are enjoying it too. This study and my book reading "The Prayer of Jabez" have really blessed me.
Our subject for this lesson is "Changing the Seen."
Before I post our book study, I want to say this, Abraham is our father by faith, and by faith we can call those things which are not as though they were. We can call those things in to existence, and we are not lying, but believing by faith, and speaking God's truth. And, that is why we as Gentiles are called the children of God, the chosen generation by faith, the royal priesthood, an holy nation (the nation that God called to be), a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light; which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God; which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That is God's chosen people! That is deep revelation, but some don't understand and don't want to believe it either. I am the chosen people of God by my faith; Yes, the Jews are His first chosen, but when Jesus came He brought us to God, and we must confess to become the chosen people as spoke of in (I Peter 2:9-10).
Let's continue reading:
An excellent example of changing the seen and shaping the unseen is shown in the life of Abraham. Yes, I was just talking about him. A great one! Great example for us in this study now.
Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Romans 4:16, 17
Notice, it is God and Abraham who are calling things that are not as though they were. God said, I have made thee a father of many nations. Abraham didn't have a child at that time, but the Bible says he believed God, and it was accounted unto him for Changing the Seen and Shaping the Unseen righteousness. (v. 22.)
This is the way you begin to change the seen and shape the unseen. Abraham called things which were not manifest in the natural realm as though they were—until they were!
Abraham was the man who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken (v. 18). He was 99 years old, and his wife was 90; but he was not weak in faith (v. 19). He would not consider anything that contradicted what God had spoken.
Let's look at what God did to bring about what He had said.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Genesis 17:5, 15
God had promised Abraham something that was absolutely impossible in the natural. Abraham was too old, Sarah was too old; and God does not violate His laws.
So God changed their names! Abraham means "father of nations" and Sarah means "mother of nations." Every time Sarah stuck her head out the tent door and called Abraham! he didn't hear Abraham!—he heard Father of Nations!
The Bible says, Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). God changed the seen and shaped the unseen for Abraham and Sarah by using their own voices!
When Abraham said, "My name is Abraham," he was saying, "I am the Father of Nations." Every time Abraham said Sarah, she didn't hear Sarah; she heard Mother of Nations.
Every time she said, "My name is Sarah," she was saying, "My name is Mother of Nations." She was changing the seen and shaping the unseen with her very own voice.
God's way of changing the seen and establishing the unseen is with words. Words produce images in your spirit and in your mind.
The Bible says Sarah received faith to conceive seed. She did it by hearing God's Word for her. When anyone said Abraham or Sarah, they were saying, Thus saith the Lord.
God said, "I have made thee (past tense) the father of many nations." The Word says that Abraham believed God, and he went about calling things that were not as though they were. This is the way you begin to shape the unseen.
Faith Always Sees
Abraham did not see with his physical eye that he was the father of many nations. When I talk about shaping the unseen, I'm not talking about something that is unseen in your spirit. You can see things in your spirit as well as with the natural eye.
I totally agree with this!
Sometimes people say, "That fellow just had blind faith." But there's no such thing as blind faith. Faith always sees. Faith always knows.
You don't see these things with the natural eye, but you perceive them in your spirit by discerning the Word of God by the Spirit of God within you.
Abraham called things that were not (manifest in the natural realm) as though they were (manifest in the natural realm) until they were (manifest in the natural realm). And the Word says that God did the same thing: He called things that were not as though they were.
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken ... (v. 18).
Notice: according to that which was spoken. Abraham believed in hope when there was no hope.
Abraham could have said, "Here I am—99 years old. My hundredth birthday is not far away, and my wife is 90." He could have begun to look at what was seen and said, "Oh, no! That could never come to pass. That'll never happen. That must not have been God talking to me. That was just my flesh." (It couldn't have been his flesh because the carnal mind doesn't think that way.) Abraham believed in hope when there was no hope.
Abraham Considered Not His Own Body
"And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead" ... (v. 19).
If you want to change the seen, the first thing you need to do is consider not. Don't consider what you can see to be eternal. Don't consider what you can see to be established because the Word of God says things which are seen are temporal: They are subject to change by the Word of God and your faith.
Abraham believed God: And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He cast down imaginations and brought them into obedience to the Word of God. Love that!
Sometimes you have to cast down your imagination. (2 Cor. 10:5.) The devil will use your imagination if you let him.
Several years ago my daughter Annette was out late one night. As I was lying there in bed, I began to think. Immediately, the negative began to form in my mind.
The enemy, through my carnal mind, said, "She's had a wreck. There's been a big rain. She ran off in a ditch and turned over. You've seen her alive for the last time."
As those ideas came forth, I saw a mental vision: I saw the car go off the road and turn over in a ditch of water. Then I saw the water come up over the car. That's the devil's way of coming as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14.)
I said, "No! In the name of Jesus, that doesn't agree with the Word of God. My children are taught of the Lord, and great is the peace of my children!" (Is. 54:13.)
About that time, I heard the door slam as she came in.
You must cast down imaginations and bring them into obedience to God's Word.
Renew Your Mind
To get rid of the seen, or what seems to be, you must get your mind and spirit so programmed with the Word of God that you will reject all the devil has to offer. Your spirit will scream, Reject! Reject! It doesn't agree with God's Word! Hallelujah!
Then you begin to shape the unseen by God's Word. Someone said, "Why should we walk in defeat and in despair when God's Word has been spoken?"
God has already had His say on the subject. The problem is that some don't know what He has said, and that enables the devil to take advantage of them.
We see in Romans 4:20-22 that Abraham wouldn't consider anything except what God said:
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
And being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he was able also to perform,
And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
The word righteousness is an Old English word that means right standing. Abraham's faith was considered or imputed to him for right standing with God.
Some might say, "I don't understand it. I don't have any trouble believing God for finances, but I do have trouble believing Him for healing," or vice versa. The same problem may exist in other areas.
Let's talk about healing now; because in these days people believe the doctor more than they believe God's Word.
Every morning, I mean every morning I read a devotional that teaches me to believe God for my healing, as well as for my finance and family needs. This book is called "365 Days of Healing" by Mark Brazee. Great book to read!
Let me share one of my devotions before we continue………………
Confess, Believe, And Receive:
Scripture: (Romans 10:9)That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thin heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
My devotional book encouraged me even more this morning when I read it. It teaches about confessing, believing, and receiving from God. How awesome that is to know that you can go to the Father and receive from Him! Listen to this, If getting saved is the biggest miracle and yet, by the way, my devotional book is "Prescription For A Miracle) by Mark Brazee: Good book! I have been reading it for eight years now. I read it over and over again. It's that good to me. Well, if getting saved is the biggest miracle and yet the easiest thing you ever did, would a lesser miracle, such as healing, be more difficult to receive?
No, we receive salvation and healing the same way. They are both part of God's redemption plan. You'd be amazed at your results if you simply received healing by faith the same way you once received your salvation. Just say, "Lord, I know in my heart that by Jesus' stripes I was healed. I receive You as my healer now. Thank God, it's done!"
Now, don't check to see if you feel healed. You aren't healed because you feel better. You're healed because the BIBLE says you're healed. And if you hold fast to your faith, your healing will come to pass! Remember Isaiah said in (Isaiah 53:5) "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Therefore, we are healed when we pray, confess, believe, then we receive.
My confession for today:
I confess from a believing heart that Jesus is my Savior. I also confess from a believing heart that Jesus is my Healer. Thank God, I received my healing. Amen
My Prayer:
Father, I pray that I continue to confess, believe, and receive whatever I need from You just as I received my salvation from You too, Amen
Ok, now let's continue where we left off………………….
When you get your mind renewed to the Word of God concerning prosperity—and realize that it is God's will for you to prosper—then you can operate in that faith. But you can't believe any further than you have knowledge.
You have to get yourself in line with the Word of God in the other areas, too. If you have been taught that healing went out with the apostles and that God doesn't do miracles anymore, then you're inhibited in that area. You're not in right standing with God concerning miracles.
You may be right with God; you may make it to heaven. But in one or more areas you might not be in right standing. It's not imputed to you for right standing because you are believing wrong. You are talking wrong and thinking wrong, because you have been taught wrong. Faith comes by hearing God's Word. (Rom. 10:17.)
Shape the UnseenYour words are shaping the unseen—daily.
That is why God told Joshua:
This book of the law (the Word of God) shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Joshua 1:8
The word meditate is interesting. Meditate means "to mutter; to speak to one's self."
In other words, this is saying, "As you confess what God said about your situation, you will make your way prosperous and do wisely in all the affairs of life."
Who was going to make Joshua's way prosperous? Joshua.
How? By shaping the unseen with the words of his mouth.
David's Sword Was In His Mouth:
Wow! It was in his mouth. That is awesome!
The 17th chapter of 1 Samuel describes David's encounter with Goliath, the giant sent from the Philistines to defeat the men of Israel.
I love these stories!
David walked out where the battle was supposed to be; but no one was fighting. They were all afraid! He said, "Is there not a cause?"
This was not a man of war; he was a shepherd boy; but he had learned to change the seen and shape the unseen. When he saw the giant, he said, "I'll go fight him. Who is this uncircumcised Philistine? Who does he think he is to defy the armies of the Living God?"
He just filled himself with God's Word until he couldn't see anything but success. To David, that giant was defeat going somewhere to happen because he was defying the armies of the Living God.
Five times before David did anything, he said what he was going to do to the giant!
What was he doing? He was shaping the unseen.
He could have said, "As big as that guy is, just one swish with that sword and I'll be in two pieces!" He could have thought about all the "what-if's." (Have you ever had a bad case of the what-if's? "What if it doesn't work?")
But David didn't get the what-if's. He only spoke what was in agreement with God's Word. He was shaping the unseen. The only sword that he had was the one in his mouth—the two-edged sword of God's Word.
I pray others are enjoying this study with me. We have more questions in this study.
Questions:1 Where do you begin changing the seen and shaping the unseen?
2 What was Abraham's attitude toward his situation?
3 How did God change their situation?
4 What is the basis of faith?
5 Is there anything you would like to call into existence in your life?
6 What is the first thing to do when you want to change the seen?
7 How do you cast down imaginations?
8 How do we receive faith?
9 Who was going to make Joshua's way prosperous, and how?
10 How do you shape the unseen?
11 Have you experienced anything during this study that you would like to share?
Ending Prayer:Father God, thank You for the blessing to be able to study Your Word with others, and most of all, in my personal time. Help us to utilize what we learn, so we can be a witness for Your Word and glory. We give You praise always in Jesus' name. AMEN!
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