The Faith of the Son of God

How can we live by the faith of the Son of God? First and foremost, we live by faith through the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His provision for us of regeneration and resurrection (Galatians 2:20; Titus 3:5).

Prior to Christ's appearing, Believers lived imprisoned under the law, our tutor to bring us to faith in Him. Now that Christ paid the penalty for our sins, we are freed from bondage to the law (Galatians 3:23). We obey through love instead.

We stand firm on our faith in the Rock of Christ throughout the issues of life (2 Corinthians 1:24). We are justified by this solid trust in Calvary's saving grace (Romans 3:30).

Faith has little to do with hope, trust or claiming God’s Word. It has everything to do with Christ who abides within us. If we did not have the faith of Christ within us, we could not have faith in Christ and His redemptive work for us on Calvary’s cross (Ephesians 1:7).

Through faith, we realize that God chose us as His children in Christ (Galatians 3:26). As God's righteous, we live by faith, and hold on to it with a clear conscience (Romans 1:17; 1 Timothy 1:19).

We live in God’s righteousness, not by keeping rules and regulations, but by the faith of Christ to us all (Romans 3:21-22.) We demonstrate our faith through our thoughts, words and deeds (James 2:18).

If we say we trust God, yet never step out in obedience to His will for our life, then what good is our faith? (James 2:14) Faith inspires our actions. Faith and obedience working together are complete (James 2:22).

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for vanquishing our doubts and increasing our faith in Your faithfulness (Romans 14:23). We find our health and strength in the name of Jesus (Acts 3:16). We obey Your direction in our life because of the faith of Christ within us (Hebrews 11:7).

Help us to be examples of sincere faith in You to future generations, so that they too will please You (Hebrews 11:6), grow in their faith, (2 Timothy 1:5) and live blessed lives (Galatians 3:9).

Thought for the Day:

Our genuine faith in God's faithfulness is of much greater eternal value than anything this temporal world has to offer. - 1 Peter 1:7

Praying up a Storm

 

If we allow our thoughts to randomly flit through our mind, we run the chance of making decisions that do not honor God and that will tend to bring us hardship and shame. Satan and God both influenced our thoughts (1 Timothy 4:1). Our thoughts, even our subconscious thoughts that we are not aware of at the time, influence our feelings. Our heart is deceitful and wicked, and we should submit both our thoughts and our emotions to God at all times (Jeremiah 17:9). We can control our thoughts by using them to pray each moment of the day. We control our emotions by sharing them honestly and kindly before they build up and explode.

We start in a place of aloneness (all-one-ness) with God. God has the perfect formula for prayer. Vain repetition in prayer does not honor God nor does it help us in any way (Matthew 6:7). Quoting scripture to God in an attempt to force His hand to provide what we want is useless and insulting to Him. We can use Bible verses in our prayers, but not to twist God’s arm to do our will. Sit in a very still and quiet place with your journal. Submit all of your thoughts and emotions to the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:5).

As you do, jot them down in your journal. You can even write out your prayers in your journal. Pray for everyone the Lord brings to your mind, issues in your life about which you need His wisdom, besetting sins that trouble you, negative emotions that crowd out His joy in your life, world news, unreached people groups, the persecuted church, government officials, etc. Whatever the Spirit brings to your mind. Another way to pray is when you see someone who reminds you of someone you know, pray for that person you see, as well as the person you know.

When you hear an emergency vehicle siren, pray for the people impacted by that emergency: for God to meet their needs and to reveal Himself to them. As you travel in the car, pray for the people with Christian symbols or bumper stickers on their car; if they are bold enough to display their faith, they could use your prayers. When someone dials the wrong number and they get you instead, tell them the reason they called is for you to tell them that God loves them and has a perfect plan for their life. Then, pray for that person as the Lord brings them to your mind.

We do not pray in order to force God’s hand to do our will, but we follow Jesus’ example and pray according to His will (Luke 22:42). As we seek God’s will, our thoughts and heart become one with His. We are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3-4). It is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. We do not have to summon our faith, because we are filled with the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20). Obedience to God’s will is the common denominator of all people of faith in the Bible. Their example gives us a peek into the life of people of prayer.

Prayer:

Father God, we all long to hear Your voice. You are our Abba Father and You desire nothing more than to commune with Your Body each moment of our day. Remind us to listen more and to talk less throughout the day; so that we can be led by Your Spirit to accomplish the works, which You prepared for us even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 2:9-10). Help us to discern Your Spirit from the voice of the flesh, the world and Satan, which all try to negatively influence our thinking and behavior. As we read Your living Word, allow the verses to penetrate our heart and to sanctify our soul (Hebrews 4:12).

Thought for the Day:

We have confidence that God hears us in our prayers when we ask according to His will. - 1 John 5:14-15