Wednesday, June 6, 2012

fighting for faith with the promises of God

      True Faith in the promises of God is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.  And this Holy Spirit is actually in me because I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and my Savior!  I am at war against unbelief and really desire to kill the lies my flesh, the Enemy, and the world that constantly come into my thought life.  I know that the battle for faith in God really is a mental battle and must fight it with the Word of God (the Sword of the Spirit).  
      There are tons of examples of people's faith in Scripture and just came across again the account of Abraham's faith in God.  He hoped against all odds that the God who made everything is the God who keeps His promises.  Wow.  This is the same God of today, I can trust 100% of His promises in His Word and bank on them with all my heart that He will complete the work He has started in me (Phil.1:6) because of the finished work Jesus completed on the Cross.  This is the Living God and He has given me Living Hope through Jesus Christ. 
      The chapter below in Romans is such a helpful reminder that my sins are forgiven based on my faith and not my works!  For faith is a gift from the Lord (Eph. 2:8-9) Therefore, there is no boasting in my flesh! This example of the Lord's faithfulness to Abraham is so helpful to me.  He didn't let the fact that he was old or that his wife was barren get in the way of what the Lord had promised him.  He decided that he would hope against hope and believe what God had said and wait for the Lord to bring about this promise.  He trusted the character of God verse the external things.      
      There are thousands of promises listed throughout Scripture that are a guarantee for the Christian.  Though my circumstantial desires that are not fulfilled and can tend to tempt me to despair and grow weak in faith, I have trustworthy promises that are mine in Christ Jesus and will be answered in the Lord's due time.  I want to focus on those truths and cast my cares on the Lord that He knows my heart's desires and will give me the grace to wait in hope.  And in waiting seeing that it can be a season of worship to my King.  I want to fill my mind with the promises of God and 'hope against hope' that He has my best and His glory at hand.  Let us press on to maturity like Abraham, even when 'hope deferred makes the heart grow sick' (Prov.13:12a) We have a new heart given to us with eternal glory that far outweighs any earthly sorrow/blessing.  Praise the Lord that my inheritance is not of things of this world, but is found in Jesus alone!

Romans 4
1. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
2. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
5. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
6. just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8. blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
9. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.
10. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
11. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well,
12. and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Promise Realized Through Faith
13. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.
14. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

16. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
17.as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
18. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
19. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 
20 .No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
21. fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
22.That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”
23. But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 
24. but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 
25.who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.



1 comment:

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