The Gift of Faith!

(Ephesians 2:8) “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”

Faith is such a wonderful gift, it removes all doubt! It is a loyalty that one has to God and His ability to accomplish all that He has set out to achieve, His will, come what may! “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Where the interpretation of the gift of faith becomes unstable is where it is not understood correctly! Or it is misapplied into a circumstance of desperation and then the person misapplying it is in danger of entering into the realm of idolatry. One becomes so desperate to achieve ones objective that those entering into such practises would look no different to the prophets of Baal in the days of Elijah. This is why it is so important to understand the will of God! When we align ourselves with His will and His purposes, nothing can overcome us, it is impossible! For God has determined it and it will come to pass! I am beginning to understand the importance of correct teaching more than ever as it will bring about correct living. This is why I use the example of faith to illustrate my point. I accept that I have a rebellious nature and it may have taken me twenty-two years to begin to scratch the surface of this truth.

How then do I submit an application to God and be sure that I will not only be heard but my prayer will be answered? It is simple, I must side myself with His will! Firstly I must be given life from above, I must be born again, if not, I will not be able to even see heaven, let alone the will of God. Salvation is not by the will of man but by the will of God, scripture teaches this with an absolute assurance and it is only a rebellious fortitude that looks to argue this truth! I must confess, I once thought like this until God in His mercy through God the Holy Spirit corrected my understanding by His word.

(2Timothy 3:16) “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Wherever I may find myself along the Celestial road to heaven, irrespective of how long I have been saved, when the person of God the Holy Spirit by the Word corrects me I must find grace to accept the error of my ways. If not I will continue to walk in circles! Remember the children of Israel; they took forty years to get to the Promised Land when it could have only taken weeks. We are no different to them when we reason with their attitude!

May God have mercy on all His children who oppose His correct teaching in and through His Word! Having made such a bold statement we must also remember to apply the following instruction to our deliberation;

(2Timothy 2:24-25) “And the Lord's servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing, in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth.” Once again it is God who gives repentance unto the knowledge of the truth. It begins with Him and it ends with Him, but I am convinced of this truth that God will resist the proud but give grace to the humble. Father pleases keep me in a state of humility always seeking out your precision for your glory.

Let us look at Abraham’s example and then draw some parallels from his life into ours. He did not weaken in faith when old age was against him;

(Romans 4:19-20) “He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.” He believed God, why did He believe Him? He simply understood the promise of God! God said that he would have a son and although he was and his wife according to their biological clock could no longer have children that meant nothing to Abraham, he knew that God had resolved it and that it would come to pass. There were no ifs! He was fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. Joshua and Caleb also understood the gift of faith and understood the validity of the promises of God. Moses sent out twelve spies into the land of Canaan, I will remind you that there was one person from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. But only two of them brought back a good report, saying that God would give them the land, the other ten doubted God’s ability to give it to them. We will find ourselves in one of two camps, the camp of faith or the camp of doubt! When we understand that Caleb and Joshua had a different spirit, they believed God and the others doubted God. Faith must and will always believe God, so as long as God has commissioned something it will come to pass. Do you believe this? If you say you do, then you must always believe His promises. So when Jehovah says, (Hebrews 13:5) “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." That is exactly what He means, you must then believe Him; if not then you walk as the ten that doubted and not like Joshua and Caleb. Faith believes God’s ability to accomplish His purposes, so when I pray for something that is against His plan how then will it ever be blessed by Him, it cannot nor ever will be! So let us forget to hanker after our own wills and let us therefore remember to study Gods Word with a diligence so that we may be accurate with it, so that we may learn to pray in accordance to His will.

When God promises something even if our puny brains have difficulty processing it, be sure it will come to pass!

Signing off

Tyrone