For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Romans 1:16-18, KJV.
We all have heard our text many times throughout our Christian Walk, but what does walking by faith mean? Let's read it in the New Century Version to see it a little clearer:
I am not ashamed of the Good News, because it is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and then to save non-Jews. The Good News shows how God makes people right with himself—that it begins and ends with faith. As the Scripture says, "But those who are right with God will live by faith."
Walking by faith requires us to have faith before we begin to walk. That faith begins with our acceptance of Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Romans 12: 3, "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."
So what does this word faith mean?
Strong's Concordance gives this definition:
Pistis (pē'-stēs) = moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:—assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
After we invite Him in, we immediately start walking in our newness of life. At this point our faith is over blown, we are filled with excitement and zeal to tell others of Him and win them into His Kingdom.
But soon it seems that we are walking about this new life in our own strength. Our faith begins to flag and without an infusion of His faith it will falter and eventually disappear. When our faith begins to flag, fear begins to seep in were only faith should dwell.
Jesus often told His followers that they had little or no faith at all; we see this throughout the Gospels. In some instances they allowed their fear to all but obliterate their faith.
What Happens to our faith?
When we are faithless, we have allowed fear to enter and reside in our hearts where our faith should be. Now we ae walking by fear and not faith.
But God didn't give us that fear. 2 Timothy 1:6-8, "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;"
The Meaning of Fear:
Using the Strong's Concordance I found the word fear comes from the Greek word deilia; it is a noun with the following meanings:
· Timidity – shyness, bashfulness, quiet and reserved.
· Fearfulness – afraid, apprehension, distress, panic, horror, fright, terror, dread.
· Cowardice – fear, faintheartedness, cold feet, mousiness, wimpiness, fearfulness.
None of these things are attributes that Jesus would place in our lives, but Satan, the enemy of our souls, counts them as valuable tools for our destruction. C.S. Lewis wrote of one of the ways that our enemy, the devil, uses fear in us. He wrote;
"…he (mankind*) should accept with patience the tribulation which has actually been dealt out to him—the present anxiety and suspense. It is about this that he is to say 'Thy will be done', and for the daily task of bearing this that the daily bread will be provided. It is your business to see that the patient never thinks of the present fear as his appointed cross, but only of the things he is afraid of. Let him regard them as his crosses ..." (*word added for clarity).
Satan uses fear in our lives to break down our faith. His followers use many different methods to do this for him. They know us better than we know ourselves. They use that knowledge to inject that fear into our lives when and where we are weakest to make us ineffective for the Lord.
But faith never totally crumbles. What Jesus places into our lives, Satan can't remove, he can shake it, but never take it.
Building Faith
If we work with the Lord to build our faith on a regular basis, then the enemy of our souls can't us his weapon of fear to break down our faith … to lead us away from the Lord and His heavenly Kingdom. So how do we build up our faith? The key to building our faith is found in these scriptures:
Jude 1:20-23a NCV; 'But dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up, praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the Lord Jesus Christ with his mercy to give you life forever. Show mercy to some people who have doubts. Take others out of the fire, and save them.'
Colossians 1:5-7 NCV, You have this faith and love because of your hope, and what you hope for is kept safe for you in heaven. You learned about this hope when you heard the message about the truth, the Good News that was told to you. Everywhere in the world that Good News is bringing blessings and is growing. This has happened with you, too, since you heard the Good News and understood the truth about the grace of God. You learned about God's grace from Epaphras, whom we love. He works together with us and is a faithful servant of Christ for us.
Ephesians 4:11-13 NCV; 'And Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God's people. Christ gave those gifts to prepare God's holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God. We must become like a mature person, growing until we become like Christ and have his perfection.'
2 Peter 2:17-18 NCV; 'Dear friends, since you already know about this, be careful. Do not let those evil people lead you away by the wrong they do. Be careful so you will not fall from your strong faith. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him now and forever! Amen.'
Hebrews 8:14-16 NIV; 'Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son.'
Philippians 1:25-28; 'Since I am sure of this, I know I will stay with you to help you grow and have joy in your faith. You will be very happy in Christ Jesus when I am with you again. Only one thing concerns me: Be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. Then whether I come and visit you or am away from you, I will hear that you are standing strong with one purpose, that you work together as one for the faith of the Good News, and that you are not afraid of those who are against you. All of this is proof that your enemies will be destroyed but that you will be saved by God.'
So our list of Faith Building Blocks consists of (but may not be limited to):
· Praying in the Spirit
· Remaining in God's Love
· Show Mercy
· Bring Salvation to others
· Dwell on His Word – learning to understand it.
· Continue spreading the Gospel and discipling believers
· Live in peace
· Be NOT afraid
· Pull out roots of bitterness
· Unity of believers
· Avoid ALL sexual sin
· Embrace godliness in all things
These building blocks are not toys … no they are the tools the Lord uses to bring us into maturity, into the perfection of faith in Jesus.
So, quit allowing Fear to walk with you. Use your Spiritual Building Blocks … Grow your faith and become like more and more like Jesus every day!
Sincerely,
Aleita J. 'Leigh' Morton
No comments:
Post a Comment