WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT FAITH
For many years the Lord has emphasized to me:
|
"The righteous will live by faith."
Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38 (NIV) |
and,
|
"So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ."
Romans 10:17 (NASB) |
This is the foundation for how I walk daily with Jesus.
He calls us to live by faith, and our faith is birthed out of what He speaks to us. Also, the flip-side of "The righteous will live by faith." is,
He calls us to live by faith, and our faith is birthed out of what He speaks to us. Also, the flip-side of "The righteous will live by faith." is,
|
"and everything that does not come from faith is sin." Romans 14:23b (NIV)
|
So we are to live simply by hearing His voice and believing Him, which is the way of righteousness ("The righteous will live by faith"). The alternatives are to seek not God's voice, and instead to live by our own wisdom and desires and the conventions and ways of the World – not to mention ways of demons – all of which are sin. It is one thing or the other, faith or sin.
Hebrews chapter 11 gives us several examples to teach us about faith. Regarding Enoch -
Hebrews chapter 11 gives us several examples to teach us about faith. Regarding Enoch -
|
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6 And 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. Hebrews 11:5-6 (NIV)
|
In the Genesis 5 chronicle of the Patriarchs, the Lord repeats that one after another "lived"; but when He comes to Enoch, He makes the distinction that Enoch "walked with God". Enoch communed with God; he heard the voice of the Lord and walked together with the Lord. Just as Jesus says, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
John 10:27 (NIV)
John 10:27 (NIV)
Hebrews 11:6 also tells us -
|
(faith) "believe(s) that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
|
We must believe that God is real – He is the Living God -- and that He is lovingly interested and powerfully involved in every detail of our lives, and that He will not disappoint us if we earnestly seek Him. Unbelief charges that if we devote ourselves to seeking God, we will just sit there in mysticism and get nothing accomplished. That attitude in fact denies that "He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him."
Rather, we are assured that God promises -
|
You will seek me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
|
And when we find Him we will walk with Him and be doing what He is doing.
To find Him, our hearts must cry out,
To find Him, our hearts must cry out,
|
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42:2 (NIV) |
Hebrews 11 also approves of Noah and Abraham as great historical examples of Faith. Their remarkable testimony is that they heard the voice of the Lord and believed – as evidenced by their obedience to the extraordinary things the Lord said to them.
Does God speak to His children? He has always spoken to His people in the past. Just read the Old Testament. Jesus is named "The Word". His very nature is to communicate.
How much more will He speak to us today having:
Does God speak to His children? He has always spoken to His people in the past. Just read the Old Testament. Jesus is named "The Word". His very nature is to communicate.
How much more will He speak to us today having:
|
There is a lie amongst many claiming to be born again that despite all of the above, God has now become mute. The lie says
|
He, having paid the ultimate price and sacrifice in order to restore us to fellowship with Him, does not speak to us one-to-one any longer. It is sufficient for Him and for us that He has given us a book - the Bible. It says that even though God spoke to people when they were His enemies and alienated from Him; He does not speak today to us, His redeemed children.
|
That God has gone to the greatest lengths to become as personal with us as He possibly can - He resides in us - precludes the lie that He will not speak to us. Instead, He is constantly there saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:21)
How is it that we “are led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:14) unless He is speaking to us?
Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 warn and exhort us repeatedly,
How is it that we “are led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:14) unless He is speaking to us?
Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 warn and exhort us repeatedly,
|
"Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts |
So we are to hear God's voice and obey.
As Jesus says many times,
As Jesus says many times,
|
”He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
|
How Do We Live By Faith?
This idea of "hearing God's voice" is foreign to us, and everything about it is contrary to our flesh. In fact, hearing God requires death to the flesh.
This idea of "hearing God's voice" is foreign to us, and everything about it is contrary to our flesh. In fact, hearing God requires death to the flesh.
|
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) |
This must be the beginning. Until the Lordship issue is resolved we can go no further. I do not mean we must be perfect in the practice of Jesus' Lordship, but we must have reached an honest determination in our heart that that is our deepest desire. Offering our bodies as living sacrifices – laying aside our own will, desires, plans, wisdom, and self-determination – and submitting all to God is the first key to opening the door.
Next, we need to abandon all preconceptions, attitudes, logic, predispositions and wisdom which we have learned from the World. This is not too harsh a position considering
Next, we need to abandon all preconceptions, attitudes, logic, predispositions and wisdom which we have learned from the World. This is not too harsh a position considering
|
You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4 (NIV)
|
and
|
18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. John 15:18-19 (NIV)
|
We must no longer be worldly-minded. Instead, we must become God-minded. His ways are not our ways unless we gladly surrender ourselves to His grace to conform us to His image.
|
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 (NIV) |
His wisdom is based on seeing from the beginning of creation to the very end of time. He knows all things.
Incredibly, He wishes for us to have His wisdom:
Incredibly, He wishes for us to have His wisdom:
|
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:5 (NIV)
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26 (NIV) As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit -- just as it has taught you, remain in Him. 1 John 2:27 (NIV) But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16:13 (NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV) 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 (NIV) Jesus answered, "It is written: `Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " Matthew 4:4 (NIV) |
Remember, though, the Lord says,
|
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)
|
This is not a casual seeking or a seeking of our convenience. “All your heart” bespeaks a seeking that affects our whole life. The Lord is not our lackey. He will be found when He will be found, and He tells us when that is. We cannot come to Him in any pride, presumption, or arrogance and hope to hear a thing. “All your heart” requires humility and honesty; as well as earnestness, determination, and dedication.
The last key to opening the door of living by faith is; having heard what God has said, we are to stand and act on it in obedience.
Although you can substantiate almost any proposition by some Scripture, that is presumption, not faith. But if God has spoken it to you, it is truth; real and alive. He has breathed life into it and you can truly have faith. You must stand on it and act accordingly. The balance of the James 1 teaching becomes very important:
The last key to opening the door of living by faith is; having heard what God has said, we are to stand and act on it in obedience.
Although you can substantiate almost any proposition by some Scripture, that is presumption, not faith. But if God has spoken it to you, it is truth; real and alive. He has breathed life into it and you can truly have faith. You must stand on it and act accordingly. The balance of the James 1 teaching becomes very important:
|
6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:6-8, 22 (NIV) |
We need to always remember and act on what the Lord has said about something, otherwise we open ourselves up to deception. If we hear His word and then doubt, confusion comes in. We need to stand on what He has said regardless of appearances and circumstances to the contrary. That is the way of faith.
|
We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NIV)
|
So all day every day we must be aware that:
|
"The righteous will live by faith."
"So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." "and everything that does not come from faith is sin." |
That is how we walk with our Lord, Jesus Christ; and He gives grace to do it!
I give a couple of examples of God working with faith in my life:
from about 30 years ago -- 3 a.m.
and from last week -- breeze-come.html
Remembering what we read in Hebrews 11:6 - "And without faith it is impossible to please God", let's seek Him with all our hearts, hear His voice, and walk with Him in faith.
Blessings,
Duncan
August 1, 2018
(first published December 17, 1998)
I give a couple of examples of God working with faith in my life:
from about 30 years ago -- 3 a.m.
and from last week -- breeze-come.html
Remembering what we read in Hebrews 11:6 - "And without faith it is impossible to please God", let's seek Him with all our hearts, hear His voice, and walk with Him in faith.
Blessings,
Duncan
August 1, 2018
(first published December 17, 1998)