Faith. So many things have been said about faith and so many mistakes have been made concerning faith. For years, we've been in pursuit of this somewhat hard to find quality in our lives.
What is faith? Where does it come from? Who has faith? How do you obtain faith? Does faith always work? How important is faith in the life of a believer? Do you need faith in order to be a Christian? Is there any other way to reach God without faith?
Many of these questions have plagued the Church for numerous years and seem to be unobtainable to many. Some have felt like they don't have enough faith to function in the full capacity of the Christian life. Some have simply given up trying to reach the desired walk with our Father because they feel as though they have enough faith to reach this great goal.
To begin our study on faith, let's find out what it is. Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) says that without faith it is impossible to please God. So those wishing to please the Father must know how, why, where,when and seek knowledge about faith.
Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified) also says that, "Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things (we) hope for, being the proof of the (things) we do not see and the conviction of their reality (faith, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses)." According to the Word of God, Hebrews 11:6 is the true definition of what faith really is.
It's not some weird thing that can be conjured up by certain persons. It's not something you need to pray for. It is a gift of God given to every man, woman and child who was ever born into this world. Romans 12:3 KJV says,"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, accordingly as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
Some seemingly oppose faith (by thinking of themselves more highly than they should) by continuing to act like they haven't been completely cleansed of sin from their past. It almost sounds like they believe that it wasn't enough for Jesus to die for our sins. And, it almost sounds backwards, doesn't it? We can actually oppose faith by false pride and false humility and make faith of no avail. We can act like we're still sinners and contain faith to this one place in our lives.
If we still feel condemned and guilty over our past, then faith hasn't been able to do it's perfect work. After all, Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified)says that if we still feel condemned in His presence, then we're not in complete faith concerning the cross and this is not pleasing to the Father.
Yesterday's Blog contained Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified) which says, "We are saved by grace, through faith, this not of ourselves but is the gift of God." What is the gift of God? The grace or the faith to receive grace? I believe that both are free gift of God. The only way we can accept this mighty gift of His free grace is by faith.
So what is faith? It's what I always wanted...to be pleasing to God, to be able to walk with Him, to fellowship with Him and to be in a place where when I pray I have the assurance that He hears me. In Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), my faith is the assurance of all these things I've hoped for.
How can I make such a statement about myself being pleasing to God? By faith in God's Word and the sacrifice of Jesus. Is it based on my good works? No. It's based on faith in Him. If it's works, then it's not faith. If it's not faith, then it's not pleasing to God (Hebrews 11:6).
How do I understand this faith God gave me? Romans 10:17 (Amplified) says, "So faith comes by hearing (what is told) and what is heard comes by the preaching (of the message that came from the lips) of Christ (the Messiah Himself)." So, the more I hear the Word of grace and truth preached, the greater my faith in Jesus will increase. Romans 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For in the Gospel a righteousness which God ascribes is revealed, both springing from faith and leading to faith (disclosed through the faith and leading to faith that arouses to more faith) as it is written, The man who through faith is just and upright shall live by faith.
Everything in the new covenant is, and must be, received through and by faith. Works are dead, sacrifice is done, pride is excluded and only faith will prevail for the fullness of the cross. We have believed and received a portion of what Jesus went to the cross for, but we've let our faith fail in many other areas of our Christian life. We've struggled trying to have faith for so many promises of God.
Ou faith is to be placed in and only in Jesus. The more we learn about what Jesus did on our behalf, the more faith we will have in our covenant with God. We don't set our faith in healing, but faith in the fact that Jesus bore our sickness and disease. This is a truth in our covenant that only faith can obtain.
We don't try to find formulas that work and rituals that are pleasing to the flesh and make us feel like we've done our part. Our part is simply to believe and have faith in the truth that Jesus did it all. The only way to have faith in the fullness of our covenant of grace, is to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us. Man-made doctrines got us saved (allowed us to get to heaven when we leave here), but have excluded the benefits of grace while we are here.
Jesus has made us righteous (if we will accept it) by faith in His Sacrifice. There's only one thing that can make us righteous and that's faith in Him according to Romans 3:22 (Amplified).
No comments:
Post a Comment