Over the past month or so, God has helped me understand the importance of living by faith in Him alone for righteousness.
Nothing I could ever do could make me righteous. Being morally sound won't save me either. Nor even going to church or reading the bible, although He talks to me through the written word. I used to think that as long as I at least read it, that was sufficient enough to be considered as "spending time with God" and maybe get "a word from Him". But you know, there was something else that was missing.
Trusting God was a decision I had to make, in spite of everything I was doing that was good. I recall how I sat in a van one day, driving some employees back to work and He talked to me about this: all I have to do is believe. The finished work that Christ already did is enough. With all the requests I've made to Him, all I have to do is believe and it shall come to pass.
I sat there just in awe! I was like "Fer real?! Its that simple? All I have to do is just believe you? I don't have to do...stuff?"
Even now, it still amazes me. Its amazing that nothing I do will save me. But the only thing that will is faith. Because without it, its impossible to please God. Those who come to Him must believe that He IS and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
But listen, trusting God isn't just about you getting what you want. Its about you knowing that God is who He says He is and that He always keeps His word. He never breaks any of His promises nor is He slow about them. God is love and is faithful even we are faithless. And He never fails at anything. Because God cannot deny Himself, neither will He deny me (He even told that to me, personally! I heard Him plain as day!).
So faith isn't based on who or what we are and what we can get. Faith is based on who God is.
I've said before that genuine faith in God can't be dead to morality or barren to good works. That doesn't automatically mean one should go out and do all kinds of good things, such as donating money to charities, feeding homeless people, going to every single church service possible, tithing (please don't argue/debate about tithing cuz that's not the point of this OP), doing missionary work, not cussing, not lieing or cheating or stealing, not sleeping around, not extorting and oppressing people for your own personal gain, not going to bars/clubs, having good behavior or any of that stuff. Though choosing to do or not do them is good, that's not what faith is.
Genuine faith in God means that because you know who God is and your standing with Him, you're not going to go out of your way to live like hell. After all, no one who is born of God sins...habitually... because His seed is in him/her.
So now, rather than me trying to be righteous by my own works (which are absolutely nothing compared to the finished work of Christ on the cross, who lives to always make intercession for us), I live by faith in Christ now. It is written that the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38).
Nothing I could ever do could make me righteous. Being morally sound won't save me either. Nor even going to church or reading the bible, although He talks to me through the written word. I used to think that as long as I at least read it, that was sufficient enough to be considered as "spending time with God" and maybe get "a word from Him". But you know, there was something else that was missing.
Trusting God was a decision I had to make, in spite of everything I was doing that was good. I recall how I sat in a van one day, driving some employees back to work and He talked to me about this: all I have to do is believe. The finished work that Christ already did is enough. With all the requests I've made to Him, all I have to do is believe and it shall come to pass.
I sat there just in awe! I was like "Fer real?! Its that simple? All I have to do is just believe you? I don't have to do...stuff?"
Even now, it still amazes me. Its amazing that nothing I do will save me.
But the only thing that will is faith. Because without it, its impossible to please God. Those who come to Him must believe that He IS and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. But listen, trusting God isn't just about you getting what you want. Its about you knowing that God is who He says He is and that He always keeps His word. He never breaks any of His promises nor is He slow about them. God is love and is faithful even we are faithless. And He never fails at anything. Because God cannot deny Himself, neither will He deny me (He even told that to me, personally! I heard Him plain as day!).
So faith isn't based on who or what we are and what we can get. Faith is based on who God is.
I've said before that genuine faith in God can't be dead to morality or barren to good works. That doesn't automatically mean one should go out and do all kinds of good things, such as donating money to charities, feeding homeless people, going to every single church service possible, tithing (please don't argue/debate about tithing cuz that's not the point of this OP), doing missionary work, not cussing, not lieing or cheating or stealing, not sleeping around, not extorting and oppressing people for your own personal gain, not going to bars/clubs, having good behavior or any of that stuff. Though choosing to do or not do them is good, that's not what faith is.
Genuine faith in God means that because you know who God is and your standing with Him, you're not going to go out of your way to live like hell. After all, no one who is born of God sins...habitually... because His seed is in him/her.
So now, rather than me trying to be righteous by my own works (which are absolutely nothing compared to the finished work of Christ on the cross, who lives to always make intercession for us), I live by faith in Christ now. It is written that the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38).
