As we seek God, we begin to believe in Him. Faith is an important aspect to move us from unbelief to salvation in Him into eternal life. This daily devotional reviews what faith does and does mean and how it begins our path to salvation.
Devotions in the Self-Discipline Review series
All year, we’ve been looking at self-discipline. We looked at self-discipline as the operational plan for self-control because it talked about improvement.
We are reviewing everything and hopefully putting all of the building blocks together. What I am doing is going through all of the devotions for the year and pulling out the nuggets.
I am formatting this as a glossary page. If I already have one, I will combine them later.
While we are mired in our sin, the Holy Spirit begins to prompt us to seek God. We are introduced to God’s grace, mercy, and love.
Faith begins to bloom within us. Let’s see what we discussed this year.
What Is Faith?
Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
God always knew we were going to be disobedient. If we were going to remain faithful (which is He would rather have happened), He wouldn’t have needed to design the Plan of Salvation before He made us (Is Peace an Attitude?).
God is Spirit. He can’t be seen by the human eye. When He does reveal Himself to us, it is through faith and conscience (How Does God Call His Messengers?).
We limit God by trying to run everything through our understanding — what we think, see, and feel. Instead, we have to look up in genuine faith (Lifting Our Eyes).
There are different senses of faith: historical, temporary, faith of miracles (Faith of the Unseen).
Faith is a substitute for righteousness. It cannot be a substitute for accomplishing the Plan of Salvation (What Is Righteousness?).
Faith is the substitute for the product of being set apart, perfect, and pure. Is that what it is saying — it is okay if we aren’t perfect and pure as long as we have faith? Well, yes and no, in my opinion (and this is just an opinion). We aren’t going to get it right all the time. Faith is what accepts the gift of grace when we are still sinners — far from being righteous (What Is Righteousness?).
Faith is a product of love. We have to have faith to accept God’s love (Faith as a Virtue).
True, Matthew 25: 31-46 says there has to be evidence of faith. We have to be careful and not think those acts justify us. Belief gets us salvation. Faith produces works that are the result of our obedience. In turn, those works show our faith to others (How the Righteousness of God Filters to Us).
We don’t know someone’s heart. We don’t know if they have genuinely made a profession of faith. Only God knows the condition of their heart (Spiritual Wisdom Leads Us to be Sensible People).
It is all about being unified with Christ. That happens the moment we choose to have faith (How Are We Made New Creations?).
Faith is a gift from God. We have to have faith in order to be healed, giving us a good conscience. When we have a good conscience, that produces a pure heart. The pure heart produces love (What Is Purity to a Disciple?).
See Also
What Faith Doesn’t Mean
We don’t get a license to continue to sin. We have to have true repentance. Also, this does not mean we don’t have to submit to God — that He will just automatically forgive everyone without repentance (What Is Righteousness?).
We just want to make sure we question in faith and not unbelief. We can’t let Satan hijack us into unbelief and thinking we aren’t worthy. We aren’t worthy on our own — but we are with Jesus (Where Is Jesus?).
See Also
Faith as Part of Salvation
Salvation though Faith
The foundation of salvation is belief. That has components of faith, access, and reward (Belief: The First Step to Salvation).
The first component in faith is believing the gospel as written (How Do We Believe in Jesus?).
Faith starts with knowledge. We have to know the evidence presented and believe it to be true. But our faith is limited to our understanding (Belief: The First Step to Salvation).
The only way we are going to achieve salvation is through faith (How Are Disciples to be Rested?).
We can only gain salvation and be made, holy, sanctified, and righteous by accepting Jesus through faith as our personal Savior (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Wisdom?).
We can only accept His covenant of grace when we do so in faith (The Depth of Height of Christ’s Love).
When we step out in faith and accept Jesus as our Savior, we accept God’s gift of grace (What Was Jesus’ Mission (Part 2)).
It is comforting to know that Christ will receive us when we genuinely come to Him in faith (How Do We Believe in Jesus?).
God is very accessible to us. He just requires one thing – submission. We have to approach Him in faith and reverence. If we don’t do that, He doesn’t have to acknowledge us (Can God See Us If We Are Sinners?).
Even though faith is a gift, we can quench the Spirit when He is trying to give it to us. Our resistance can lead to the unpardonable sin (Belief: The First Step to Salvation).
When we make a confession of faith, we are saying, “Jesus, You were right. Sin is wrong and can be defeated by You.” Once sin is snapped in us, we can grow to be even better imitators of Jesus (What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ?).
When we ABCD, it is an individual choice. It isn’t ones our parents make for us. Significant others can’t make it for us. It is about our faith. We deal with the condition of our spiritual lives (The Perfection of the Church).
We’ve got to come to the Father submitting to Him – doing His Will. We have to sincerely put our faith and trust in Him (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
We have to be submissive to God’s Will because we have faith and trust in Him (What Is Purity to a Disciple?).
We have to have the faith to believe that God is in control (Isaiah’s Message about the Baby).
It is a conscious decision to accept His forgiveness. We make this decision through faith and repentance (Who Should Be the Poster Child for Today’s Troubles?).
When we repent, we exhibit the faith that God can save us (What Was Jesus’ Mission (Part 2)).
God promises to provide us forgiveness of our sins when we sincerely ask that of Him. That takes faith (The Promise of God’s Forgiveness).
We are told point blank where we go wrong (sin), and we are told point blank how to fix it (faith) (Faith of the Unseen).
We have to have faith that our sins are forgiven because of the sacrifice made by Jesus (Faith of the Unseen).
Jesus’ light enters us when we make a profession of faith. The whole purpose of light is to radiate. We are to radiate Jesus (Getting Along with Others).
See Also
Unknown and Unseen
God isn’t looking for us to figure everything out. He is looking for faith (How Do We Believe in Jesus?).
Faith has the element of giving up total understanding and relying on God anyway (What Is Purity to a Disciple?).
Even if we don’t understand everything (which we won’t), we have to believe it is true. We have to earnestly expect God’s Word to be true. In order to have hope, we need to be justified. In order to be justified, we have to have faith. We get faith through grace (How Do We Gain Salvation through Hope?).
Believing in a God that we cannot see takes a lot of faith, trust, and belief. That faith is what secures our salvation (Faith as a Virtue).
Our faith can’t just be head knowledge. It has to be heart knowledge (Discerning the Voice of God through His Word).
We have to let go and believe. Faith takes care of the invisible things (Faith of the Unseen).
Faith makes the things we hope for in the future tangible now. It switches them from hope to reality (Faith of the Unseen).
See Also
Who Can Believe?
When a non-believer is presented the gospel, they must hear it, think it through, determine what questions they have, understand what they can, and make a conscious decision to put their faith and trust in God. People do not hear if they are not told. They are not told if disciples do not tell them (What Is Evangelism?).
The wonderful part is anyone can have faith in Jesus. Anyone can ABCD – it just has to be genuine. We aren’t “too bad” that He can’t save us (How Are We Made New Creations?).
Scriptures
It is imperative that we read the Scriptures. When we diligently read the Scriptures, we leave less of an opening for sin to take hold. We have to approach reading the Scriptures with faith. We can’t expect instant understanding when we read Scriptures. Instead, change has to come from our heart as God reveals His mysteries to us (How Are We Made New Creations?).
We have to approach reading the Scriptures with faith (Why Should We Study Scriptures?).
Scriptures give us evidence to support faith (Belief: The First Step to Salvation).
We have to put our faith and trust in God. We have to utilize a straightforward method in disseminating God’s Word (Living in God’s Truth).
God wants us to be faithful to Him. He has given us guidelines in His Word so that we can be. He forgives us when we aren’t faithful — when we ask. He has given us the Holy Spirit to support us. We have to make it our choice to follow Him (The Rewards of Faithfulness).
Refusing Faith
If we refuse to make a profession of faith or keep putting it off, we are not following His Will. Worse yet is when we make a profession of faith, but it isn’t genuine. We fall always from God (Isaiah’s Message to King Ahaz).
The worldview people think we can keep the moral laws without making a profession of faith. That isn’t enough (Discerning the Voice of God through His Word).
If we don’t confess, we don’t have the faith. If we don’t have the faith, we don’t have the salvation (Salvation in a Nutshell).
One reason sceptic people demand disciples to explain mysteries of the Bible is so that they can diminish God’s omniscience. How could God be all-knowing if they know something, too? Better yet, doesn’t that make them god? That knowledge would take their belief out of the faith category, though. Believing is about not knowing but accepting anyway (Watch the Company We Keep).
It all boils down to faith. Do we believe? Do we live like we believe? (How Do We Believe in Jesus?).
Faith is all in our minds. Getting our minds in line is a two-step process. First, we have to get our minds under control. Second, we have to turn it all over to God (Applying the Spiritual World to Everyday Life).
Faith is the foundation of our redemption. Faith is only the beginning. We have to follow it up by a life lived for Him (Faith of the Unseen).
Father. We believe in You. We admit our sins, believe in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess You as Sovereign Lord. We thank You for the gift of faith. Amen.
What do you think?
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