What Furniture is in Your House?

In your house (faith), what furniture (character qualities) do you showcase to others when they visit?

Our house of faith should have the furniture of goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, Godliness, brotherly affection, and love (2 Peter 1:3-11 Complete Jewish Bible, NIV, NLT).

Reference book used: Foundations for Faith by Kenneth E. Hagin, Faith Volume 1. 

Listen in and glean from Tammy Toney-Butler, Healing Evangelist, as she unpacks the qualities needed as we walk as mirrors (reflections) of Christ in the world. A Holy-Spirit-inspired Podcast that will leave you longing for more!

Text-To-Give
Text 1-855-575-7888 and Enter Code 800028. Click on the Reflective Spaces Ministry Link.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Welcome to the Reflective Spaces Ministry Podcast. I'm Tammy Toney-Butler, Healing Evangelist and your host. But we all know who the host of this podcast is, and that's Christ. Holy Spirit, come have your way in this time together that we share. May they hear you and not me. May they see you and not me. May they have that spiritual eyesight, that vision to see past their circumstances

and walk instead by faith. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Today's message is about what furniture is in your house. What furniture is in your house? What does your furniture say about you when people visit your house? And if we look at the house, your house as your faith, and we look at the furniture in your house as the your character, your your your character qualities, then we can answer those questions. We're going to be diving into scripture in a minute. 2 Peter 1 3-11. But we're going to start with the foundation of faith. And we look at Kenneth E. Hagen's book, Foundations for Faith. Kenneth E. Hagen. We're going to start on page 15 where it says lesson four. Faith sees the answer. the central truth by continually looking at the word faith sees the answer. And he gives us Bible text, Proverbs 4:20-22, Hebrews 13 5-6, 4-14, and Mark 11:23. So, I just want to read a little bit of this. He just talks about in our past lessons we have learned that faith is not something we have as much as it is something we do. We have seen that faith is not hoping that we will see the answer in the future. Faith is believing that we have the answer now. The eyes of faith see the answer as having already happened. Proverbs 4:20-22, "My son, attend to my words. Incline thy ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they, my words, are life unto those that find them in health to all their flesh." Notice that this scripture says, "Let them my words not depart from thine eyes." Many people fail because they see themselves as failing. If they are sick, they think of themselves as dying. God's word says himself, Jesus, took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses. Matthew 8:17. If that word does not depart from before your eyes, you are bound to see yourself without sickness and without disease, you will see yourself as well. If however you do not see yourself as without sickness, then that word has departed from before your eyes. And even though God wants to make health a reality in your life, he cannot because you're not acting on his word. He goes on to say, notice also the 22nd verse, for they my words are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh. The Hebrew word translated health here is also the word for medicine. In other words, my words are medicine to all their flesh. And we're going to continue reading on page 16. The first two verses of this passage tell us the directions for taking this medicine. What are these directions? Attend to or study God's word and keep them in the midst of thine heart or obey his word or this word. And what is God's medicine? My words are life unto those that find them and medicine to all their flesh. But the medicine has to be taken according to the directions in order to work. And one of the directions is let them my words not depart from thine eyes. Keep looking at what the word says. Too many people pray and pray but they never see themselves with the answer. They just see everything getting worse. They keep looking at the wrong thing, at the symptoms, at the conditions, at the circumstances, um at themselves, and so they walk in unbelief and destroy the effects of their praying. Get your mind on the answer. See yourself as having received. constantly affirm even in the face of contradictory evidence that God has heard your prayer because the word said so. That's when you'll get results. You have to believe you've got it before you can receive it. What things soever you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Mark 11:24. The believing comes before the receiving. There are those who say, "I'm not going to believe anything I can't see." But in the natural, we believe a lot of things we can't see. The whole world became alarmed when atomic bombs were being exploded, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere. You can't see it or feel it, but it is a destructive power nevertheless. Now, Kennethy Hagen in his his book again that I'm reading out of Foundations for Faith goes on on continuing on page 16, faith contradict circumstances. Hebrews 13:5-6. For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Are we boldly saying that the Lord is our helper? That is what we should be saying. Well, you all pray for me. I feel as if the Lord has forsaken me, cried one poor sister. I don't know if I can make it or not. I hope I can pray for me that I'll hold out faithful to the end. This is a familiar request in prayer and testimony meetings. But that is not what God told us to say. Too many people are boldly saying, "I'm whipped. I'm defeated. The devil's got me bound." But nowhere in the Bible do we find where God said to boldly say that. God said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." So that we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper." Let's quit saying the wrong thing and start saying the right thing. Say, "The Lord is your helper." Say that the Lord is your healer. Say that the Lord took your infirmities and bore your sicknesses. Keep talking about the right thing. Keep believing the right thing. Wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong talking will defeat you. The devil can't defeat you because Jesus already has defeated the devil for you. Satan doesn't defeat you, you defeat yourself. Or if he does, you permit him to do so. It is a consent of ignorance. God has given us his word to direct us so our believing will be right. If our thinking is right and our believing is right, our talking will be right. The Lord is my helper. The Lord is my tr my strength. Faith says the answer. As we conclude uh reading out of Kenneth Ehagen's uh foundations for hate uh for faith uh book on page 17. Faith says the answer. Real faith in the word says that if God says it is so, it's so. If he says by whose stripes you were healed, 1 Peter 2:24, we are healed. If he says, "My God shall supply all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19, he just does it. If the word says, "The Lord is the strength of my life." Psalm 27:1, he is. In other words, real faith in God simply says about oneself what the word says. We have what the word says we have. We are what the word says we are. If God says we are strong, we are. If he says we are healed, we are. If he says he cares for me, he does. Hebrews 4:14. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the son of God, lets us hold fast our profession. Because Jesus is our high priest and sits on at the right hand of God in heaven making intercession for us. We can have the answers to our posi petitions now. Wow. Wow. Wow. Let me finish reading um the last of this because it's so powerful. Looking up the Greek word translated profession, I learned that it should read, "Let us hold fast to saying the same things." Jesus is in heaven representing us at the throne of God. He is saying, "I took their place. I died for them as their substitute." Jesus didn't die for himself. He didn't need to redeem himself because he wasn't lost. He died for us. He became our substitute. He took our sins. He bore our sicknesses and carried our diseases. He died for us. A rose from the dead for us and ascended on high for us. He is up there now saying, I did that for them. And we are to hold fast to saying the same things down here. Mark 11:23. Whoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast unto the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he say shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. It isn't just a matter of faith going out of your heart toward God without your saying anything. That won't work. Nowhere in the Bible do we read that we should do that. Faith kept only in your heart never will bring healing to your body, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, or an answer to prayer. But faith in your heart released through your lips will bring results. Memory text. Let them my words not depart from thy eyes. Proverbs 4:21. And again I was reading out of the foundations for faith by Kenneth he ehaged Bible faith simplified. And this is from his spiritual growth series for individual or group study which I highly recommend. So when we look at when I asked you the question of what furniture is in your house, when we look at our house as being our faith and we look at the furniture in our house a a as being um the character qualities that that we you know demonstrate to others u because we are to mirror or reflect Christ to others. Um and and we know that character qualities are distinctive characteristics or attributes or personality traits. They shape a person's behavior, actions, and how others perceive them. So we are to absolutely make sure that we in our actions are showing that that our house of faith is built on such a strong foundation and our our qualities our character should reflect that to others. The furniture in our house and what is some of the furniture in our house? Well, we're going to read second Peter uh 1. We're going to read like 3 to 11. And we're going to look at those qualities of goodness, of knowledge, of self-control, of perseverance, of godliness, of brotherly affection, of love. And that's how we know what's in our house of faith, and and what furniture are we putting in our house. Are we putting the right furniture in our house? So, as I read um starting with second uh Peter 1 and I go 3-11 and I'm going to read out of the complete Jewish Bible first. God's power has given us everything we need for life and godliness. Through our knowing the one who called us to his own glory and goodness, by these he has given us valuable and superlative great promises, so that through them you might come to share in God's nature and escape the corruption which evil desires have brought unto the world. For this very reason, try your hardest to furnish your faith, your to furnish your house of faith. Now I'm adding that house part with goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with perseverance, perseverance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if you have these qualities in abundance that keep you from being barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Indeed, whoever lacks them is blind, so short-sighted that he forgets that his past sins have been washed away. Therefore, brothers, try it even harder to make your being called and chosen a certainty. For if you keep doing this, you will never stumble. Thus, you will be generously supplied with everything you need to enter the eternal kingdom of our Lord and deliverer Yeshua the Messiah. And that is what it said in the complete Jewish Bible. Now, when we go over and look at it in the NLT, the New Living Translation, the section is is titled Growing by Faith. By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence and moral excellence with knowledge and knowledge with self-control and self-control with patient endurance and patient endurance with godliness and godliness with brother affection and brotherly affection with love for everyone. Let's keep reading just a little bit more. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sin. See that? They're shortsighted or blind. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So we need to make sure that we have spiritual eyesight so that we can make sure that that that we know the hope of our calling that we we know what what Christ did on the cross and that we draw from that and speak that truth over our lives instead of the falsehood um that Satan uh the great deceiver wants to bring. And when we look at um uh life the life application study Bible the King James version that's this section that we've been in it it it actually it talks about sec second Peter 1. This is guidance for growing Christians and it starts with know Peter greeting us and then the section I read is character qualities to develop in life. So that's the furniture that you want in your house of faith. So that when people come to your house and and they see your house, then they then they see that you mirror Christ um in action and in deed. So let's read. And beside this giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lackth these things is blind and cannot see a far off and have forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. We must have those eyes of faith and the eyes of faith that Kenneth Ehagen talks about and that even pastor talked about um last night at the service uh pastor Branson at the well church. Um we've got to to to know and and have that that faith and and we've got to have those characteristics. Our our our house has to be built on that strong foundation of faith. And I just want to read a little bit of the commentary here uh about uh second Peter uh 1. First Peter was written just before the time that the Roman emperor Nero began his persecution of Christians. Second Peter was written two or three years later uh between AD66 and 68 after persecution had intensified. First Peter was a letter of encouragement to the Christians who suffered. But second Peter focuses on the church's internal problems, especially the false teachers who were causing people to doubt and turn away from Christianity. Second, Peter combats their heresies by denouncing the evil motives of the false teachers in reaffirming Christianity's truths, the authority of scripture, the prime prophecy of faith, and the certainty of Christ's return. Many believers want more of God's kindness, grace, and peace, but they are unwilling to put forth the effort to get to know him better through Bible study and prayer. To enjoy the privileges God offers us freely, we must grow in our knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. And that is so powerful. So as we look at our house of faith and we ask ourselves what furniture is in our house, what does your furniture say about you when people visit your house? Will they find goodness? Will they find knowledge? Will they find self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly affection, love, love for your neighbor? Will they find love? Do you love yourself? Are these what they will find? And that is what we tried to unpack in this episode of the Reflective Spaces podcast. And I'm Tammy Tony Butler, Healing Evangelist. So, make sure you know what furniture is in your house. And you make sure you furnish you furnish it, God's house, that house of faith with all those characteristics. And the way you do it is by getting in the word, getting the word in you, knowing who your God is, what Jesus did for you on the cross, and making him Lord and Savior of your life. And if there's anyone here that doesn't know Jesus as their savior, if there's anyone here that doesn't know that Jesus, that Jesus that died so you could live, then I want you to say this prayer with me. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Lord Jesus, I repent of all my sins. I repent of all my sins. I profess you as Lord and Savior of my life. I know you died and rose again and are coming back for me. I know that. I know that. I know by your stripes I was healed. I know by the blood you shed on Calvary, I've been healed. Come be Lord and Savior of my life and and let your Holy Spirit, your spirit of truth, dwell inside of me and make me a new creature so that I can have this faith and grow in this faith and and get more of you on the inside of me so that I can have that spiritual eyesight.

no longer under condemnation, but walking in eternal light and life, walking in truth. If you said that prayer and you made him Lord and Savior of your life, don't hesitate to reach out to me at info@reflectivespacesministry.com. We have information that we can send out to you. Don't hesitate to reach out. Don't hesitate. Oh Lord Jesus, be with them and keep them this day as they strive to build their house, their faith on the solid foundation of your word, oh God, as they study your word and they they grow and they put new furniture in their house. the characteristics, the quality that faith in you brings as we live a transformed life, renewed heart, renewed mind in Christ Jesus. That is my prayer for them. That they will see you and know you as the deliverer, as the redeemer, and have that spiritual sight that they so need. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray and declare all things. Amen. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. Glory be to Jesus. And that concludes this episode. Remember to like and subscribe. Remember to go to www.reflectivespacespodcast.com

www.reflectivehour.com and look at all of our previous podcasts and teachings and like and share. Thank you for following us. Thank you for believing in us. Thank you for trusting in us because as you know the Holy Spirit guides this broadcast, guides everything we do. Jesus is in us and working through us. And we want you to see him and not us as we mirror and reflect him to a world. It's only and can always only be about Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

God Bless You and Keep You!