Redemption is God’s foundation for our faith. We have seen redemption laying the foundation for God’s grace, our faith comes out of God’s grace. God’s grace continuously is nurturing a person who is born-again, who is created new spiritually in Christ Jesus. Faith is hearing God’s constant presence and acting in spiritual obedience. Grace is our connection, our life-line but faith is using God’s life-line; faith is our response to God’s gift of love. God’s character of love comes into us in grace and we respond in faith!
Grace expresses God’s love by releasing into us the power to choose by faith! Mankind cannot within himself choose to enter into God’s grace! It takes great power within us to smash out of our darkness so that we can see the eternal light of God’s resurrection power. Grace is required for us to exercise our faith.
Redemption is the means to install our faith into a life-style as a believer; faith is the habit we wear!
“For everyone who has born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” -1John 5:4-5.
Notice, this verse tells us everyone who is born of God is an overcomer – by faith. It is not those who are necessarily strong people; they are people born of God Himself. It is not those who preach from the pulpit or teach a class. An overcomer is one who is born-again because this person has within themselves the resurrection power of God. The Holy Spirit is dwelling within a born-again person’s own spirit and is sealed into a grace connection. This is the product of God’s redemptive work! Faith is using our grace connection to walk in Christ Jesus.
Harriet Tubman, a small black lady, is renown for rescuing slaves prior and during our civil war. She is an overcomer and demonstrates faith in our living God with her life. She not only believed, she lived-out her grace connection by faith.
Lazarus was raised from the dead in John 11 by Jesus. But before this happens, Jesus tells Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Notice, Jesus says everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die! Yes, believing faith is all we need to get into heaven but there is also a living faith we see in Abraham, Jacob, David and Harriet Tubman; living faith is walking in the Spirit!
We have access into God’s grace in which we stand. The thing is, we are accountable for how we manage the grace we have. Each of us is called to a living hope producing fruit, more fruit and much fruit. We are to yield an increase of what we possess. We are to grow into our grace and then release it thru our faith into the world where we are wearing our sandals. Our personal grace, God’s life within us, is released by us into the world around us. This is faith, the righteousness of Jesus Christ shared into the world around us! It is the faithful expression of who we are in Jesus; it is using God’s resurrection power thru the Spirit!
Remember the parable of our Lord about the talents. A master entrusted to his servants his property while he went away on a trip. Each was given a portion according to his ability. When he returned, each had to give an accounting for his stewardship. The two men who received 5 talents and 2 talents each gave back double what they were given. But the third, who was given 1 talent, only gave back the same 1 talent. From this last man the master took the 1 talent and gave it to the one who gave back 10 talents. Two men were faithful with the grace they received. Jesus said to them: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.”
Each born-again believer receives grace so that we might harvest righteousness. God is able to make all grace abound into us having all sufficiency, in all things, at all times, so that we may abound in every good work.
In our last redemption piece, we saw how God used Moses:
“Israel was in bondage to Egypt. God used Moses to redeem the people to occupy Canaan, their promised land. Moses rebelled saying he was not qualified to perform such a huge task. God told Moses:
“What is that in your hand?”
Moses replied: “A staff.”
“Throw it on the ground.”
Moses did and it became a snake and Moses ran from it!
God told Moses to pick it up by the tail; He did and it turned back into his staff.
God’s purpose will not be impaired by our human weakness. We simply have to use what we have in our hand! His redemption plan has been set in place and we are redeemed to participate in our redeemer’s grace. Whatever we have in our hand, God will use for His purpose and it will not be disrupted by our weakness! We merely need to come into loving submission participating by faith.
Redemption is God’s provision allowing us access into the grace in which we stand. In God’s eyes, after being created new in Jesus, we are a spiritual Person. If our spiritual choices are right, our physical condition will fall into place so as to support our Heavenly Father’s Spiritual Purpose! We are no longer of this world, our citizenship is no longer resident in this worldly system.”
Faith is merely doing what God puts in our hand to do. But we need resolved determination because we have a very serious enemy! Roadblocks and challenges will occur. We may falsely identify obstacles in our path as our mistake when it may very well be the work of our enemy. It may be very subtle and can change in both form and substance, according to our own secret weaknesses. Faith is trust and dependance upon God at all times especially during trials and obstacles.
Satan is both a spiritual person as well as a host of spiritual “spirits.” His target is you and me because we are identified as redeemed. You now belong to Jesus Himself and are an object of Satan’s attack. He cannot harm you without our Savior God’s permission. Job’s loss was not spiritual, only temporarily physical! His loss was also doubled because of his faith.
Always walk in submission, prayerfully sharing your heart in David’s Psalms. Walking in the spirit means relentless focus on truth and righteousness. It means singing songs of praise, meditating in your heart; it means memorizing scripture verses revealing truth into your heart. This a way to grasp our grace connection while communing with your Lord thru your heart and mind while you’re driving, walking or when you are sharing with a friend or neighbor. Scripture is the sword in the hands of God’s Spirit for both ministry and worship. Hide God’s word into your heart so that you may not sin against your Lord. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in you ministering. Give Him the tools you need for Him to reveal God’s truth into your soul!
Our citizenship is no longer physical and our faith protects what we can’t see; God enriches us because we are His chosen and He is our Father! Is His eye on the birds of the air? Are we not more valuable to Him than a sparrow? The Holy Spirit of God is dwelling within you.
We are the object of The Creator God’s agape love! But God is not only love, He is also our righteous judge. He is due our fear and respect because He is totally holding us to His high standard …. providing resurrection power within us, so that, we can be faithful to His calling. Faith is the victory!
We use the term Faith-Habit as a reminder; we are to practice both truth and love within our human experience through constant, repetitive behavior … and we are to wear faith as a habit of public conduct displaying who we are in Christ Jesus! People within our worldly space will observe the Faith-Habit we wear.
Have you had promptings inside of yourself? I used to think it was just my own mind prompting myself with ideas. Then, I began recognizing some choices I should have made were actually the right choices rather than my personal flawed reasoning. The voice of God was prompting my choices I thought were my own thoughts. When we actually realize God is inside us, prompting us with choices, then we begin to listen more closely to His voice.
We talk a lot about being “in Christ.” If this reality takes hold within ourselves, we begin to recognize the Holy Spirit’s voice … from the promptings in our own mind.
Spend time training your mind to be in touch with your Father God. Your own soul needs to walk in the light, as He is in the light. This means physically taking time to submit our heart and mind into the “mind of Christ.”
Praying is not just about seeking relief for our pain and problems. Praying is actually cultivating our existing relationship with our shepherd and our loving Father dwelling within us. Paul said it this way to the Corinthians:
For God, who said, “Let light shine our of darkness,” has shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. -2Corinthians 4:6-8.
The God of creation created light before there was a sun. He also creates spiritual light in our heart so we might walk in it, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Faith is recognizing the light we already have. We need to discipline our mind spiritually to grow our faith as a habit of daily behavior. There are many, many scripture references giving us light on the meaning of faith. A typical response is quoting Hebrews 11:1. “Faith is the assurance of things hopes for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is like saying the reality we have in Christ Jesus is truly known within us even though not displayed to others. We are told in scripture whatever is not of faith is sin and the righteous man will live by faith. We are told our faith should not rest on the wisdom of man but in the power of God, not on man, but in God! Ray Stedman writes, “faith is the human response to a divine offer.” Since “a divine offer” is what grace is, I often put it in the context of grace; faith is our response to God’s grace.
However we might choose to express it, redemption opens the door of our heart, so that, we can receive God’s living gift of spiritual life into God’s body of believers. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” To daily exercise this gift requires knowledge of God through Jesus and obedience to the Holy Spirit within us. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
A.W. Pink says: “Faith gives a present substance to things that are future: that is, it realizes them to the mind, giving a reality and substantiality to them.” “Faith is the basis upon which God can work out His will in man, and man can work out his salvation from God,” -G. Campbell Morgan.
It was God’s grace prompting us to accept His gift of salvation. We are saved by faith which came by way of God’s grace. Our salvation is an introduction into living spiritually! Our spiritual faith grows within us as we consume God’s grace. We are in our world the living light of grace so others can see what we know! We are the light set upon a hill!
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Vic Moran
“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”