Over the last several episodes we have been talking about the different ways in which we can hear from God. The Holy Spirit of God is able to reveal Himself in the following ways: Show More
- Through the illumination of the Word – this is when the Holy Spirit “lights up” a passage of scripture to you and makes it understandable and relevant for you.
- Through personal revelation that is when the Holy Spirit reveals a truth about Jesus and the Word of God.
- Through the Rhema Word, the Holy Spirit brings back to memory a scripture that is relevant for a decision or direction to follow in.
- Through circumstances and opportunities, God can open and close doors as a means of directing your path.
- Through the “still quiet voice” when God speaks to you either audibly or in your mind giving you direction for or encouragement.
Hearing God, then what?
As God reveals His will or plan to us, what are we to do with what we know? The simple answer is to “just do it”! In the late ’80s and early ’90s, a well-known slogan for Nike Sneakers was used to almost triple their sales for Nike sneakers. It was, “JUST DO IT!”. In other words, don’t just think about it or talk about it… Just Do It!
When it comes to the things of God many people live in the place of “let’s think about this and see if it really makes sense! If you are waiting for things to make sense you are missing the point of what Faith is! Because faith is spiritual, faith will not necessarily make intellectual sense or make sense in our minds. You see, God is able to see the whole picture you can only see a part. The central issue of faith is, “do you trust God to do what He says He will do”!
Faith is one of those seemingly simple words that gets “thrown around” by Christians. Statements like a measure of faith, get more faith, faith moves mountains, faith as a mustard seed, and finally, faith pleases God. All these statements are scriptural and therefore true and yet it is important that we understand that faith isn’t something you can generate or muster-up in an emergency or on-demand! Faith is an outcome of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
To understand faith fully we need to recognize that faith has deep spiritual roots into spiritual terms like righteousness, justification, works, and grace!
When you made your commitment to Jesus Christ there were two spiritual transactions that took place.
- You believed that Jesus died for your sins and you are now totally forgiven of ALL your sins, most importantly the “sin” of not believing in Jesus, to begin with.
- You also believed that although Jesus died on the cross, He rose again and sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.
At the moment you believed you were “Justified” and therefore made “righteous”. Justified in simple terms means that there is no charge against you. You have been found innocent in God’s eyes. Let me explain, as a result of this justification, which by the way is the opposite of condemnation. Before Christ you were condemned now you’ve been justified. The Holy Spirit came to live in you. The third person of the Godhead is called the “Holy” Spirit because since He is God, He is holy, pure and undefiled. Because of this fact He is able to live in you because you are now a holy place a temple of God.
Let me express this a different way. Justification is a legal term and means that as far as God is concerned it is as if you never sinned at all. (“Just-if-ied” never sinned). This state of justification means that you are “righteous”. This righteousness, or being right before God, is not of your own effort, but God’s. The moment you believed Grace was in operation, which means that your salvation is a gift of God and that’s what grace means… it is a gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8-10. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
There are three takeaways that we need to be careful that we don’t miss from Ephesians.
- We are saved by grace and grace is a gift of God.
- It is through faith that this grace becomes effective.
- God has plans for you that He wants you to walk in.
The kind of faith we are talking about is “saving faith” it is the faith by which you became saved. As a result of this salvation, you are justified and not condemned to Hell. This justification also means that you are righteous in God’s eyes, the Holy Spirit living in you.
Now let’s look at Faith in the context of everyday living as a Christian.
In human history, God has always wanted a people that He could call His own. As in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, He wanted a people that He could fellowship with and a people that would obey Him. In the Old Testament, it was the Jews of Israel; in the New Testament, it was the believers in Jesus Christ. We know that both the Old and New Testaments are 2 separate covenants with God.
Old Testament Covenant– it’s all about the Law. The Law was passed from Moses to the people of Israel and an important point to keep in mind is that the people of Israel agreed to abide by the Law. They agreed to the Ten Commandments and all of the regulations that Moses received from God when Moses was on Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb in Deuteronomy).
The Hebrew Bible is called the Tanakh. It is composed of three parts; the Law or Torah (the first five books of the Bible [Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), the Prophets (of which there are 5 major and 12 minor writings), and the rest of the books of the Tanakh which were called the Writings. So, you have the Torah or Law, the Prophets, and the Writings. The entire Christian Old Testament Bible and Hebrew Tanakh, which are the same but in different order of books, are about the Law or Law of Moses.
The Hebrew Law was how the Jewish people could enter into and maintain their righteous relationship with God. Observance of the Law justified the Jew. This observance of the Law meant that there were many things that Jews could do or not do- these were acts or actions and could be described as “works of the Law”. When one of the commandments of the Law was broken an elaborate system of sacrifices was instituted to restore the right relationship with God.
Here is an interesting thought, was it the strict observance of the Law, the “letter of the Law “so to speak, or the “spirit of the Law that God was looking for? The letter of the Law was by works or the effort of the individual, the spirit of the Law was to walk by faith. You see even the Mosaic Law was intended by God to promote faith in God.
New Testament Covenant
The New Testament Covenant is referred to in the book of Hebrews as the “better covenant”. It is better on so many levels as chapters 8,9 and 10 of Hebrews points out.
The New Testament points out that what the Law, under the old covenant, was incapable of producing righteousness. All the Law showed was mankind’s inability to keep the Law perfectly and the sacrificial system introduced by the Levites was unable to produce the kind of change that was permanent and pleasing to God. The Apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear that “we are justified by faith”, and not the Law.
The weakness of the Law was that it was based upon “works” the human ability to observe the Law. Paul makes it clear in the book of Romans that it is by Grace that we can draw close to God. Works just makes us aware of our inability to keep the Law, in Paul’s words, the Law simply made us aware of how sinful a person was.
The gift of Jesus Christ to humanity was part of God’s unfolding plan, love and grace to mankind. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (justified)” John 3:16-17.
We are saved when we believe in Jesus, that is God’s gift. What ties us to Jesus is our faith in Him. Faith in what He accomplished on the cross of Calvary and what He accomplished when He rose again, three days later. Forgiveness of all of our sins, that is we have been justified and made righteous. When Jesus ascended from the grave, the Holy Spirit descended to live in the Believer.
Our faith is in Jesus and Him alone. What Jesus promised through the Father he will fulfill. Be careful now, our faith is not in the promise, but in the one who makes the promise. It is always about relationship, not cold religion. That is what separates the followers of the Law from the followers of Grace. The Law resulted in Legalism, true Grace results in freedom.
Faith
For some Christians, faith is seen as something to employ in order to get God’s attention. We may have a need, desire or some impending health crisis. Don’t get me wrong when we have needs, we should bring them to the Lord. We are encouraged in the Word to bring our issues to the Lord. But faith is not something we turn to only when we are in trouble.
Faith is the continual manifestation of our righteousness before God. In other words, I am trying to live in a way that is pleasing to God and therefore I know that I have access to Him.
It is because of my fellowship or intimacy with God that I am confident, sure that He hears me and will answer me in my time of need. He is my help as I walk by faith in Jesus. “Paul says in Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure”.
As in the Garden of Eden, before the Fall, God wants to walk with you and fellowship with you. As you see your relationship with Him in this manner… you will find that your faith will grow and all of the promises that faith brings will be yours.
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