The True Demonstration Of Faith
The True Demonstration Of Faith
1 Corinthians 2:4,5,13,14.
key verse: 1 Corinthians 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
True faith in God is that which is based on the enabling grace of God. This faith refers to our absolute conviction of the person, power, and sovereignty of Christ. No man can come to this place of absolute conviction without the drawing and calling of God- John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
The life of faith is the ordained pathway for every believer- Habakkuk 2:4b but the just shall live by his faith.
Many people only know God through the lens of others and depend wholly on what they are being told about who God is. This gives room for human loyalty and worship and may end up in ultimate disapproval from God. Our faith in God is an individualized realization that is born through an encounter with God at the cross. Skipping the blood-washing experience to launch into living like a “believer” may last for a while, but eventually, the “cracks will show” and the result is unpalatable- Matthew 7:21-23.
The lifestyle of faith is the only way that God can be known and shown forth to others to draw them closer to the Master. Any other pathways will fall short of the requirement of pleasing Him- Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. We must carefully ensure that our lives daily meet this expectation of living by faith in God. It must reflect in our conversation and profession, our choices, our goals and aspirations, our attitudes and altitudes, and in our hope of the afterlife- Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me
Meditation
1 O for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.
2 That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chastening rod,
But, in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God;
3 A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without:
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt;
4 That bears, unmoved, the world’s dread frown,
Nor heeds the scornful smile;
That seas of trouble cannot drown,
Nor Satan’s arts beguile;
5 A faith that keeps the narrow way
Till life’s last hour is fled,
And with a pure and heavenly ray
Illumes up a dying bed:
6 Lord, give us such a faith as this;
And then, what e’er may come,
I’ll taste, e’en now, the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.
