Faith not works

Good morning readers. I've been pondering for a few days about what it is that I would like to talk about today. As I was in my bible study this morning I read in Romans chapters 3 and 4 what it is to have genuine faith, a faith that stems from believing in Jesus Christ alone. I loved the examples that Paul used. I was reminded of how liberating salvation can be when looked at through the eyes of true faith. Romans 1:17 says For in the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Many times our faith is in our works or our own abilities and we become self dependent, and defeated excluding the power of Jesus Christ. Today I want to give a refresher of what true faith is.


Romans 4:11 says And he ( Abraham) received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in that righteousness might be credited to them. This verse stood out to me because it is evidence that Abraham circumcision came as a sign of his believe in God. It is important to note that before Abraham was circumcised He was already in right standing with God because of his faith. The circumcision was just a token or evident that he believed in God.
 In this same way, our works should be evident or a token of our faith in Jesus.
    Sometimes we can forget about the power of the cross. Our Christian walk becomes about what we are doing right or wrong and we base our salvation off of our own works, rather than the works of the cross. I remember when I was a new believer. I had become so passionate about my walk with Christ that I wanted to do everything right. I had set perfect expectations for myself and I was determined to reach them. Every time I fell short of those expectations I would get so depressed. This became a open door for the enemy to throw guilt and shame my way. It seemed like the more I tried to do the more I was defeated with trying to do right. This went on for months before I had the (Strength) to say  "God I give up, I can't do this anymore". After saying that I felt so liberated and peaceful. It was as though God said  "good now I can work".
  I realize that day that my faith was in my works and my own abilities rather than faith in Christ. I believe that if I can do right then I would be right. This is not the good news of the gospel. The good news is that we all are in right standing with God before we do anything right or wrong. God loves and accepts us just the way we are. He loves us so much that he sent his only begotten Son Jesus to do what we couldn't do for ourselves. He lived a perfect life without sin and then died on the cross, was resurrected and became the perfect (sacrifice) for our sins for ever. This alone makes us in right standing with God (once we believe). Everything else is received by raw faith in Jesus, raw faith is a faith without any reason to believe.  A faith that says it is only by his grace and my faith in Christ that I am made righteous. Romans 5:4 says But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. This lets us know that we can not work our way to righteousness it is only by believing.
  So then, do we just believe that Jesus did it all and continue to live in sin? Nope. Just as Abrahams circumcision was evident of his belief in God, so shall our righteousness be evident of our belief in Christ. Believing is the first step, Romans 10:9 says If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. The second step is to repent and turn away from your sins. 1 John 1:9 says that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just, and will forgive us our sin and purify us from all unrighteousness. What ever sin that we may struggle with God is  always willing to set us free. There is no too great of a sin that God can not heal us from (we have to be willing to look through the eyes of raw faith to believe this). As believers we also have the  free gift of the indwelling of the holy spirit (our guidance) that leads and guides in all truth(John 16-13,14).  Therefore, once we believe we are already righteous, than we began the sanctification process of being free from sin praying and seeking God from freedom (1 John 1:9, John 16:13,14), and our works are evident of that, Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and a result is eternal life.
  Maybe you at a point where you find yourself defeated. You feeling as though you cant do anything right. Just like me you have tried everything and cant seem to get a breakthrough. Ask yourself, are you working for salvation or receiving it? I encourage you to check your foundation, making sure that you are trusting in Jesus Christ alone, knowing that your works are merely evident of the power of Jesus working in your life.
 

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