LIVING IN FAITH

Wednesday, 13 June 2007

LIVING  IN  FAITH A believer’s life is based upon faith, “ Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him ‘ ( Heb 11: 6 ). Have you wondered why God places a high priority on Faith ?  Why it is so important to God ? Why has He based His plan of salvation on faith ? Why does He say that “ everything that does not come from faith is sin ? ( Romans 14: 23 ). To understand this reason, we must look again the origin of mankind’s problem. When Adam sinned, a number of things happened; He stepped out of God-focus into a self focus, consciousness into a self consciousness, self centered and self dependence . Only faith in God reverse this condition. Faith presupposes total dependence on God which expressed in every steps of faith. Faith means having trust, assurance, or confidence in another person or that person’s words. Having faith in God involves an exchange of trust from self to Him. “ Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” ( Heb 11: 1 ). Faith is not just positive thinking, what a lot of people call faith is simply faith in themselves, with God added in for good measure. Faith requires a focus and that focus should be in God. Life with God was never designed to be comfortable. God has purposed that your walk with Him be continually energized by Faith and its means being pushed to the living edges with God. The people refer to as “ blind faith “. NO it is not the blind faith “ with eyes wide open “ faith. It is seeing through the eyes of faith something that most people don’t see. The bible declares that by Faith, you are saved ( Eph 2; 8 ), you are declared righteous ( Phil 3; 9 ), you are raised with Christ ( Col 2: 12 ), you have eternal life ( John 3: 36 ). Also mention Living in Faith, “ The just shall live by faith “ ( Romans 1; 17 ). Faith is the whole foundation of Christian life and the “ obedience that comes from faith “ ( Romans 1; 5 ). And promises that one who believes “ will never be thirsty “ ( John 6: 35 ), “ will have stream of water “ flowing out from him ( John 7: 38-39 )., “ will have light ( John 12: 46 ), “ will have life “ ( John 11: 25 ), “ will do the works of Jesus “ ( John 14 : 12 ), “ will be able to approach God with confidence “ ( Eph 3; 12 ), “ will have access to incomparably great power “ ( Eph 1; 19 ). Abraham is the father of faith in the bible because he firmly founded on three aspects of God’s nature, God promise ( Romans 4: 20 ), God’s character ( Heb 11: 11 ), God’s power ( Romans 4: 21 ). Abraham knew that God cannot change ( Malachi 3: 6 ), God cannot lie ( Titus 1: 2 ), God cannot fail ( Job 42: 2 ). Jesus Christ become the source of our faith in God. His death and resurrection provides the foundation for our faith, which is the basic for our believing. It is the finished work of the cross that our faith is now untainted by impurities of self effort and striving. Faith is the gift from God and activated by the word of God and that faith in turn activates God’s word to do a deep work in your life. ( 1Thess 2; 13 ). God has designed faith to be a life style of every believer in Christ. But true faith is an enduring faith.  For faith to operate in your life, you must obey the word of God. Faith is active not passive, God’s promises are conditional, He will do His part, if you respond in faith to His word. There is a crisis of faith in your life which is the testing period, everything that happens appears contrary to what God has said ( Psalm 105: 17-19 ). At this point your faith should rest completely on God’s word which is the faith in action. The end result of a trial faith is victory on the part of believer, bringing glory to God. God is looking for our faith in each trial we face. Many times we have faith, believing God for something, healing, provision, an answer of something, and then wonder why God does not respond immediately. But God is doing a deep work in our lives. Even though He has promised to answer, He will sometimes delay the answer to give opportunity for our faith to rally work. Once the answer comes, we don’t need faith any more. Faith itself produces something in our hearts which has greater eternal value than even the answer we are believing for. Faith itself is the victory, even while you are going through a trial of faith, with the answer not yet in sight, your faith is the very victory that sustains you. You are shielded by faith until the time when God’s answer comes. Faith is the foundation for the whole Christian life from first to last, “ THE  RIGHTEOUS  WILL LIVE  BY  FAITH “ ( Romans 1: 17 ). Dr John Than

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 June 2007 )

 

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