Faith XXX
08/05/09 16:46
Romans 1:17 “The righteous will live by faith.”
If we have received Jesus Christ into our lives, then we are righteous. We have right standing with God. We are no longer on the outside looking in and trying to find a way home. We are home in God, no longer strangers and aliens, but welcome children. We are set right with our Father through faith.
Therefore, having begun in faith, why would we not continue in faith? Often there is an adverse reaction in Christian circles to people who talk about believing God to provide or change things. The language used is: “Oh, you’re one of those faith people!” It sounds likes you have a contagious disease. If they hang around you they may catch it and then they will be just as off the wall as you are. Their reaction confuses me. Didn’t they start in faith like I did? Doesn’t everyone that says they are saved have to have faith? Oh, I see, I have hyper-faith. That explains it! But the bible says the just shall live by faith.
Paul in the letter to Galatians asks why having started in faith are you living by the law? Galatians 3:5 “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” Why do we go back under the law? The law based on human effort was to bring us to an end of our self-effort and point us to grace received through faith. Why go back?
You may have heard it said if you want to have an answer to prayer ask a new believer to pray and you’ll get the answer. Why? Cause they have faith. What about the older believer? What has happened to them? They have gone back to earning God’s favour through good works that they are doing. You will never get anything by trying to earn God’s favour. The answer is faith. God approves faith. He is impressed when we believe in Him and believe that He rewards us if we earnestly seek Him.
The excuse in their minds for not moving in faith is due to the “so-called” abuse by some “faith” preachers. We have to be careful how we judge another and whether their use of faith is abusive or not. If they are abusing faith, God will deal with them. But why let someone else steal the reality of faith from you. If someone has a car accident is that reason enough to not drive a car. The car is rarely the fault, the failure of the driver usually is.
Jesus affirmed people over and over again for their use of faith. In fact in Luke 18:8 Jesus asks: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” If faith is what He is looking for, then it must be important for believers to live by faith.
If we have received Jesus Christ into our lives, then we are righteous. We have right standing with God. We are no longer on the outside looking in and trying to find a way home. We are home in God, no longer strangers and aliens, but welcome children. We are set right with our Father through faith.
Therefore, having begun in faith, why would we not continue in faith? Often there is an adverse reaction in Christian circles to people who talk about believing God to provide or change things. The language used is: “Oh, you’re one of those faith people!” It sounds likes you have a contagious disease. If they hang around you they may catch it and then they will be just as off the wall as you are. Their reaction confuses me. Didn’t they start in faith like I did? Doesn’t everyone that says they are saved have to have faith? Oh, I see, I have hyper-faith. That explains it! But the bible says the just shall live by faith.
Paul in the letter to Galatians asks why having started in faith are you living by the law? Galatians 3:5 “Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?” Why do we go back under the law? The law based on human effort was to bring us to an end of our self-effort and point us to grace received through faith. Why go back?
You may have heard it said if you want to have an answer to prayer ask a new believer to pray and you’ll get the answer. Why? Cause they have faith. What about the older believer? What has happened to them? They have gone back to earning God’s favour through good works that they are doing. You will never get anything by trying to earn God’s favour. The answer is faith. God approves faith. He is impressed when we believe in Him and believe that He rewards us if we earnestly seek Him.
The excuse in their minds for not moving in faith is due to the “so-called” abuse by some “faith” preachers. We have to be careful how we judge another and whether their use of faith is abusive or not. If they are abusing faith, God will deal with them. But why let someone else steal the reality of faith from you. If someone has a car accident is that reason enough to not drive a car. The car is rarely the fault, the failure of the driver usually is.
Jesus affirmed people over and over again for their use of faith. In fact in Luke 18:8 Jesus asks: “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” If faith is what He is looking for, then it must be important for believers to live by faith.