#4 Faith Priority! Protect It!

[saint701]

Hello Mack, All,


Blessings!

Paul tells us in the Book of Hebrews that our Heavenly All Powerful Dad used our Lord Jesus, His Word, to create the worlds in harmony with the moving of His Spirit. And in so doing Paul is emphasizing not only the importance of faith, but the power of faith when exercised in The Word of God.

Gen.1

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Heb.1

[2] Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Heb.11

[3] Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Heb.11

[1] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

It is no wonder, then, that our faith is met by many challenges by our enemy. It seems that we are constantly at war to maintain our faith, keep our faith, put up the shield of faith, act in faith, be strong in faith believing, speak our faith, demand the rights of our faith, exercise our faith, and make our faith work!

So how do we keep our faith strong? Our faith in God is indispensable,
for without it we can not please Him. The Grace of God is ever present, but as we have seen, we can not access or become a partaker of that grace without faith, that is, believing God despite the fact of our imperfections. Such is called saving faith, a measure of which, it is written, God has given all.

But how do we keep our faith strong? We keep our physical body strong by feeding it, exercising it, keeping it clean, protecting it, and resting it. Is our faith of no less importance? Seeing that to a large degree our eternal destiny rests on the keeping of it, such would seem good sense to do for our faith.

To this point we have discussed how we feed our faith, exercise our faith, and keep our faith clean. Now comes protecting it. Protecting our faith is of no less importance than feeding it, exercising it, or keeping it clean. Indeed, protecting our faith is essential to our well being. We must learn that we cannot exercise our faith to do things we do not have the faith to do. Like what you might ask?

Well, you know yourself better than I do. What have you brought yourself into condemnation for by doing? The list could be endless or it could be short. I seem to recall Dr. J. Vernon McGee teaching on this very subject years ago. He used the illustration of movie going. He said he believed he had faith to go the movies if he wanted to.

Paul was so bold to tell us he believed all things were lawful for him. In fact, he did so in a couple of places.

1Cor.6

1. [12] All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

1Cor.10

1. [23] All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

On the other hand Paul also told us whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Rom.14

1. [23] And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Does that mean we are going to hell if we eat or do something we do not have faith to do? Hardly, for such would negate our confessing our sins and being forgiven. But if our conscience condemns us in the thing we are doing, then seems we should do one of two things about it, either stop it, or have faith to do it.

Now certain questions might arise out of the last statement and Paul answers us on that one as well. We are all servants of the Lord, and if we have His Spirit, then to Him, and Him only must we give account.

Here is how I protect my faith.

Rom.8

1. [1] There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

I walk after the Spirit. Do I always get it right? No, but am making good progress in that direction.


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Saint701.