...Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard
them not.  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them,
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.   --John 8:6, 7

"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone."  I am sure that this is not the response they wanted or expected from Jesus.  If they knew He was going to turn it back around and focus on their walk with God, they would never have brought this woman to Him.  Many times putting others down is done just to bring you up.  This is because, really deep inside, you are ashamed of your performance in the things of God, but you feel better if someone else is doing worse than you.  Christianity is not a race or a competition.  It is your personal relationship with the Father by the Holy Spirit.  Focus on your relationship with God.  Allow Him to finish the work He began in you.  Out of that relationship you will be able to build others up rather than tear them down.  The closer you get to Him, the farther away from stone-throwing you will get.

...according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. --  Romans 12:3b

For God to command you to live by faith and then to not give you faith would be an injustice.  But God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.  God has given to every one who is born again the measure of faith.  He has given you what you need to live by, what you need to please Him, and what you need to live in victory.  He has given you “the measure.”  That measure which He freely gave you can be increased and used, or ignored and left dormant.  Many Christians are fooled into thinking that they do not have faith, so they spend countless hours praying and asking God for faith.  “Lord, give me faith; please, God, give me faith.”  They do not realize that He has given them the measure of faith.  Until you know that you already have faith, you will never attempt to use faith.  You will not use something you do not believe you have!  You have been given the measure of faith.  When you use that measure, it will grow and increase.  You can have little faith, great faith, common faith, shipwrecked faith.  You can be full of faith or full of fear.  All will depend on what you do with the measure that you have been given.  Use your faith in every situation. Talk God’s Word, not the problem–-believe God’s Word in every circumstance.  Sit under the teaching of the Word, listen to teachings on CD’s, MP3's, and podcasts, and your measure of faith will change to become great faith.

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: --  Ephesians 2:6

We have learned that when Jesus was crucified, our old man was crucified; when Jesus died, our old man died, and when Jesus was buried, our old man was buried.  We are no longer the same person we used to be.  The old man has passed away, and we must associate and identify with his death.  But in this verse we discover that the burial of the old man was not the end; there was also a raising-up of a new you, a new spiritual species of being, when Christ was raised from the dead.  When He was raised, you were raised, when He was seated at the right hand of the Father, you were seated at the right hand of the Father.  Everything that Jesus did, He did for mankind–-He did for you!  His life, death, and resurrection were to benefit fallen mankind, to bring us out of the bondage and up from under the curse that Adam had placed on us.  God did not need the cross, the angels did not need it, but mankind had to be killed and then reborn spiritually into a place of dominion and rulership.  God’s original plan of making us in His image and likeness has never changed.  His plan of man having authority and dominion has never changed.  It was man who sinned and fell out of God’s perfect will for him.  So God sent Jesus to die, be buried–-but also to be raised and seated–-so you could be raised and seated with Him!

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come     -- Ephesians 1:21 (Also read Eph. 1:19-23)

Once a year we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.  We are excited to know that Jesus is alive, and that He has been raised with all authority and power.  We see Him, even before the resurrection, healing leprosy, rebuking fever, ruling over the laws of nature--the wind and the sea—victorious, as well, over demons and death.  Many at Easter tell their friends “Jesus is alive!” and “He is risen!” but few realize what the resurrection means to them.  When He was raised, He was raised far above all principalities, powers, might, and dominion.  He has been seated in a place of total authority and rulership.  He went to the cross and became a victim, but He arose a victor.  He went to the cross and was made the tail, but He arose the head.  He went to the cross and became the curse so He could be raised blessed.  He went to the cross and was made sin, sickness, disease, and subject to the devil and demons so He could be raised and seated far above all sin, sickness, disease, the devil and demons.  But wait a minute–-before the cross He was the head, before the cross He was a victor.  Before the cross, He was blessed and was ruling over sin, sickness, disease, the devil and demons.  So why go to the cross?  To get what He already had?  No!  He went so that you could be raised!  So that you could be seated.  So that your new position is far above all principality, all power, all might, and all dominion.  Not only was He made alive–-you were made alive with Him (Eph. 2:5), alive and raised and seated in a position “far above all.”