"Faith"

Victory Can Be Yours!

Article #24 – “Faith”

Why is it so difficult to live a full and complete spiritual life?  Why is it so much of a struggle?  I believe it is because our faith is not strong enough.  We do not allow God to have control in our lives.  We do not have the confidence that He will help us in our day to day living.  Jesus told us not to be anxious about anything, that our heavenly Father will provide all of our needs. (Matt. 6:25-34)  He knows before we do what our needs are.  It is a weak faith that causes us to worry.  We do not spend enough time studying His word so our faith can be adequately strengthened.  Where does our faith come from?  “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Rom. 10:17) 

We are not the only ones, and certainly not the first, to struggle with insufficient faith.  We need only to look at some of the past Biblical heroes.  Look at Abraham and how he made mistakes because of his lack of faith.  He and Sarah couldn’t wait for God to provide the promised son.  Look at Elijah and how he ran from Jezebel after God had helped him destroy all of those prophets of Baal. Many of our strongest Bible characters had issues like ours with insufficient faith to live our daily live fruitfully.  But, you can read Hebrews chapter 13 to see how they came to trust God with a fervent faith.

            What does the word say about the gospel?  “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” (Rom. 1:17)  This means to me, that it is through faith in Jesus Christ by which we are saved, and it is by a continuing and growing faith that we must live.  We must remain in His word to grow into maturity in our spiritual lives.  It is only by listening to Him through His written word that we can grow strong enough in our faith to live a life with total trust in Him.  When we have the trust that He will sustain us in all circumstances, then we can quit worrying about tomorrow and concentrate on serving Him and others, today.  Much of our valuable time is spent in worrying about tomorrow.  When we find ourselves worrying about the future, we should review the passage found in Matthew 6:25-34. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34)   

We must come to realize what a fantastically great and living God we have.  He loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son that we might have eternal life through Him.  And, He loves us enough to provide even the smallest details in our daily life, if we will allow Him to have a part in it.  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.” (Eph. 3:20, 21) (Emphasis mine)

            You, too, can have victory in Jesus!  More to follow.

Lowell Parrish