Living By Faith

By: Paul Beamon

Romans 1:17

"The just shall live by faith"

To live by faith is a far surer and happier thing than to live by feelings or works. Believers are called to live by faith. There is much turmoil for the soul who would live by feelings, and great is the burden for the soul who is laden with works.

We are called to cling to the finished work of the Lord Jesus, for He has done it all. This work is complete for the believing soul. Dear reader, do you struggle and strive to please your Lord? Do you carry with you a continuing sense of failure ? If you do, I have good news for you. You can be rid of these feelings and live a life full of joy that only faith can bring.

To live by faith is to enter into soul rest and to enjoy Godly pleasures from a benevolent God. Jesus said, "come to me you who are wearied and heavy laden and I will give you rest". The believer is not called to over bearing toil but to rest.

Am I saying then, we have no works? No, for we are saved unto good works. In other words once we have faith we are ready for works. Not works of toil but works of faith. These kinds of works bring joy and blessing, and store up for us rewards in heaven.

We are by nature a works driven people. You see this in society all the time. For example, there are the men and women carving out their careers in the corporate world. If there is no toil and striving there is no advancement. These people have to strive for promotion, and if they under perform it could be mean their job. Christians involved in church work are often put under unnecessary pressure to perform which leads to toil and burn out. There are numerous examples which I'm sure you already are aware, so we won't get bogged down with them here. My point is faith must be first, and out of faith come works of joy.

Faith then is the key ingredient for the Christian life. The eye of faith sees the eternal immovable things, whilst our earthly eye only those things which are temporal.

Jesus said in Mark 11:22-23

"Have faith in God ( or the faith of God) for verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things which he sayeth shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them, and when ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any."

Here we have God's word that when we desire something and that desire is a Godly one, whatever we may pray for will be given to us. What trouble are you facing today? Do you desire it to be removed? Or perhaps to grow through the experience? You need only to ask God for He will give it you, for you have His word . This is faith, believing His word rather than what you see or feel. Remember that which is seen is temporal, that which is not seen is eternal. God's word reveals the eternal for us to see.

So how do we get faith? We received a measure of faith when we first got saved, and its there whether we feel it or not. It is this faith which can grow over time as we read, pray and meditate in God's word. Romans 10:17 says"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word"

One of the biggest break throughs I've ever had in my Christian life was discovering that I had been made righteous by Christ's death and resurrection. Up to and before that time I struggled with condemnation. I never felt good enough in God's sight. Because of this condemnation I was never really able to pray effectively. But one day a Christian brother gave me a sermon on video tape about being righteous through Christ.

It was hearing this word preached that caused my faith to grow, and as it grew condemnation began to diminish until one day soon after I was completely free from it. Faith came to me by hearing the word preached. From that moment on I was in love with the word of God because God through it had set me free.

So then the first way faith comes is by hearing it preached. The second way I find that faith comes is to read and meditate the word. What I mean by that is reading it slowly, stopping every now and then and pondering what you're reading. God uses our reading time to speak to us. But if the reading is rushed you will not hear Him. It is better to read slowly and when something from His word grabs you, or seems to stand out, stop a moment and think about it, this is meditating the word, this is God showing you something, this is faith coming.

Scripture also says that faith with out works is dead. Its important that we don't get confused here. If we say we have faith but no good works follow, then our faith is in question because good works will follow genuine faith. Good works do not produce faith, rather faith produces good works, and these good works bring joy.

Notice verse 25 of mark chapter 11, Jesus says " and when you stand praying forgive". This is one of our primary good works, many others follow, but disobedience here will hinder prayer and strangle faith, and the enemy will have the upper hand in the affairs of believers. We must forgive for we are commanded by Jesus Himself.

So you can see in this scripture how good works follows faith. Forgiving someone is not always easy, but for the believer who lives by faith its a necessity and a command. Jesus dose not give us commands that are a heavy burden to us, for He says His yoke is easy and His burden light.

Dear reader if you struggle to forgive then ask Him for help, He will give it if you believe Him for it.

Faith is extremely important for the believer as its the very basis of our relationship with God. Hebrews 6:12 says that "he who comes to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." God wants His people to believe whether they feel His presence or not. He wants His children to believe He hears them even when the heavens seem as brass. There is a real sense of peace when a you choose to believe no matter what your feelings are telling you.

There was time when I based my whole relationship with God on experiences. If I didn't get my daily "touch" from Him I became distressed and thought I had somehow displeased Him. I would then spend the next few days and sometimes weeks fretting over what I had done to be in His bad books. I had no rest, no peace, and my Christian life was generally a miserable affair. This is not how God wants His children to live. He never intended it to be this way, rather His plan has always been for His people to live by faith, for this is where the Christian will find rest for his soul and peace for his mind.

Jesus said to doubting Thomas in John 20:24-29 " blessed is he who has not seen yet believes"

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the twelve was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him. "We have seen the Lord". But he said to them, " Unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe it." A week later the disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to Him "My Lord and my God." Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Now I don't know about you, but when you think about it that would have been an awesome thing to experience. Here Thomas comes face to face with Jesus and is invited to look and touch his saviour. God in His mercy granted Thomas an encounter with the risen Christ, what a blessing! Yet Jesus told him that it is more blessed to believe when you have not seen. God will at times grant His people a divine experience with Him (praise God for that!), but there comes a time when He expects us to grow up and live by faith. What this means for the Christian is that we are to believe God is always there for us, ready to answer our prayers; ready to work deliverance; ready to bless, whether we feel Him or not.

There have been many times I have experienced His presence, and just as many times when I have not. Its at these times I need to remember I'm called to live by faith. I have prayed many times not feeling His presence at all, but during those times I had a certain level of confidence because I was praying by and through faith. What a joy it is to pray this way.

Lets make it our aim to please our heavenly Father by believing He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com

Paul Bemon www.life-is-for-living.com

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