Faith is a gift that brings rewards. This daily devotional reviews those rewards and how faith is used with other churchy words to defeat sin.
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.
God isn’t into fire insurance. It isn’t enough just to know Him. It isn’t enough just to have made a profession of faith. We have to be obeying God. We have to show evidence of changed lives. We have to be on the sanctification road (Will There be a Judgment Day?).
Rewards of Faith
We become children of God when we asked Jesus to become our Lord and Savior (Jn. 1: 12). Our faith makes us heirs of God (Gal. 3: 26). Our inheritance is a reward for doing God’s Will (How Are Disciples Humble?).
We are going to inherit the kingdom of heaven because we have been faithful (How Do Disciples Escape Persecution?).
No one who hasn’t made a sincere profession of faith can enter heaven (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
The church will be raptured after everyone who will believe the gospel through seeking God has made a profession of faith (How Will the Tribulation Begin?).
Only faith in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer will gain us eternal life (Where Is Jesus?).
God will reward those who are loyal to Him. Because of that, Moses told the Wilderness Wanderers that they had to pay attention to what God’s laws and commandments said so they would remain faithful. Hearken from verse 1 has the following characteristics: duty, gratitude, ritual, and eager and fervent attention (How Did Moses Say Goodbye?).
We have to have faith that, as we ask in prayer, God will reward us (Belief: The First Step to Salvation).
Spiritual gifts, even bestowed on a variety of believers, came from one faith — faith in our Lord Jesus Christ (Are Spiritual Gifts Different?).
It is only after we choose God that we become His people – the elect – the children of God. We choose God and become children of God when we asked Jesus to become our Lord and Savior (Jn. 1: 12). Our faith makes us heirs of God (Gal. 3: 26). Our inheritance is a reward for doing God’s Will (How Can We Heal This Land).
We have trouble, though, with the term forever. We have no frame of reference on which to base understanding. We just have to take it on faith at — once Jesus judges us — God’s wonderful forever can and will take place (What Is Truth?).
We have to take it on faith that God has a plan (What Is the Rapture?).
Prophecy isn’t going to give us chapter and verse. Yes, we will specifically see how prophecy plays out – like we did with Daniel. But it isn’t going to give us a blow-by-blow account. That would be sight. We are to work on faith (Wars as a Sign of the End Times).
See Also
Faith as Part of the Other Churchy Words
Faith is the foundation. All of the others — goodness, knowledge, temperance, and patience — are built on that. The end result is godliness. (Godliness as a Virtue).
The Comforter isn’t just whispering in our ears. It is a Presence that is always with us — as long as we are faithful, loving, and obedient. This constant Presence gives us strength (How Can We Find Comfort in Troubling Times?).
The Holy Spirit was a comforting Presence that is always with us — as long as we are faithful, loving, and obedient (How Can We Find Comfort in Troubling Times?).
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 (What is Hope in God to a Disciple of Christ?).
Hoping for the future takes a lot of faith. We are expecting Someone we have never seen before to come in and take us to a wonderful place we have never seen before. Faith and hope hold hands in the process (How Do We Gain Salvation through Hope?).
If we have the hope — and the faith — we need to be acting on them. We need to be navigating the Sanctification Road. We should be heading toward being steak adults (How Do We Gain Salvation through Hope?).
We are putting our faith and hope in the Sovereign Lord’s promises that Jesus’ death paid the penalty for our sins. We are expecting His rewards in the end (How Do We Gain Salvation through Hope?).
Hope helps grow disciples of Christ in faith. The product is a life lived in worship (How Else Do We Worship God?).
God said that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed, we could move mountains (Mt. 17: 20). Along with that faith comes hope (Are We Proactive or Reactive?).
Solomon said that we need to place our faith and trust in the hope of God’s promise. That promise is rest after we have lived our lives for Him (How Are Disciples to be Rested?).
We are not justified because of the reason of our faith, but by the degree of our faith (What is Hope in God to a Disciple of Christ?).
We are justified — not by what we do — but by our faith (Discerning the Voice of God through His Word).
Faith must be equal to — if not more than — knowledge. Faith has got to be right there when knowledge lets us down (Knowledge as a Virtue).
Faith and abilities — even love — were all given to Paul by God. Paul didn’t have anything on his own. Everything Paul was and accomplished was given to him by God (Witnessing as God Calls).
In order to love, three conditions need to be met: a pure heart, a good conscience, and faith (What Is Purity to a Disciple?).
We need to be obedient and show the world we have made a profession of faith (What Is Baptism?).
We don’t have confidence — we don’t have faith. We don’t have faith — we don’t have patience (Patience as a Virtue).
If we don’t have the faith, we don’t have the peace (Is Peace an Attitude?).
Because grace has given us faith and justification, it has also given us hope and peace (Comprehending the Effects of Salvation).
Faith gives us rest. It gives us peace of mind that we are children of God’s (How Are Disciples to be Rested?).
We build that faith by spending time with God in prayer (What Is Prayer?).
Righteousness is the result of faith and obedience. We believe God is the Sovereign Lord, and as we choose to obey Him, we become more like Him (Ps. 11: 7) (What Is Righteousness?).
If righteousness is a gift, it is received through faith. We don’t have righteousness without faith in Jesus. It is more than a belief. It is an active trust (How the Righteousness of God Filters to Us).
We can’t start thinking that our faith is our righteousness. We don’t want to make our faith a work (How the Righteousness of God Filters to Us).
We are sanctified through faith. God utilizes this process so that we may be used to expand His kingdom (What Is the Relationship between Righteousness and Sanctification?).
We are sanctified through faith. It is the evidence of justification and our conversion and how we get to righteousness (How Are Disciples Pure in Heart?).
When we are navigating the sanctification road, we are doing what God wants us to do. That means we are being loyal and faithful to Him (Spiritual Wisdom Leads to Righteousness).
It is fairly easy to make a profession of faith. Well, it is easy to say the words. The next step is a kicker. Sanctification is a long, difficult, painful process. (Learning to be a New Creation).
Navigating the Sanctification Road is the process of becoming rooted and grounded. The root is the foundation of the plant that we normally do not see. Our faith must have an element of being hidden. Yes, others must see our testimony being lived out. We also need our private time with Sovereign God (Isaiah’s Message on God’s Deliverance).
As disciples, we are called to grow our faith in God. That is one of the things that happens as we navigate the Sanctification Road. As our faith grows, hope grows in tandem (How Do We Gain Salvation through Hope?).
Faith, strength, and insight help us learn self-control (Temperance as a Virtue).
God is going to help us in every way He know how to help us be successful in resisting the temptation. We just have to put our faith and trust in Him (What Is Sin?).
Temptations are going to happen. That is how we grow as disciples. So, the issue comes down to: Are we going to sin? Or is our faith strong enough to get us through the temptations? (Does God Tempt Us?).
Reverence is the foundation of wisdom. We are not going to want to be like God until we know Him and have faith in Him. Once we have ABCDed, we are called to imitate Him. We are called to be good and virtuous (The Correlation between Fear of the Lord, Wisdom, and Obedience).
Faith is built on trust (Faith of the Unseen).
Putting our trust in God strengthens our love, faith, and purpose (Trust as the Foundation for Peace).
We get to where God wants us to be by using wisdom to reason out what He is wanting us to understand as we seek Him. Once we understand what we are supposed to, we have to take the rest on faith (Walking the Ways of Righteousness through Wisdom).
We were designed to worship God. To do that, we have to have faith (Design of the Temple).
See Also
Faith to Defeat Sin
Overcoming the world will put us in direct opposition to it. That is because we do not follow its customs. The victory is secured by our faith. A strong faith helps us overcome the temptations and persecution this world throws at us (Applying the Spiritual World to Everyday Life).
Because it isn’t smooth sailing, sometimes our faith may be strong. But sometimes, our faith may be weak because we are having a really hard time dealing with the trial (How Are We to be Inclusive in Our Worship?).
Paul as saying in Romans 14: 2-3 that the person who pushes for abstinence is really just weak in faith. We don’t understand Jesus’ work in us. If we have a strong faith, we should be able to withstand the testing (How Are We to be Inclusive in Our Worship?).
We have to be actively seeking God so that we can have that strong faith (How Are We to be Inclusive in Our Worship?).
We have to be genuine. We have to make our profession of faith change our lives. We have to practice what we preach (What Do You Mean All Disciples Won’t Get into Heaven?).
Examples of Faith
Jesus never balked at being the substitute. He was always up for it. He was invested in the plan even before He met us. We mean that much to Him. We just have to have faith that Jesus’ blood will do what it is supposed to do. It will (Did Jesus or His Blood Redeem us?).
Look how Jesus addressed God. “… My God, my God …” (Mk. 15: 34 CSB). He may he questioning God, but He is still reverencing Him. He still had His faith (Abandonment from the Cross).
Romans 4: 3 is reinforcing the fact that it was not about Abraham getting it right or wrong. It was about him believing — and he had a whole lot of that. It is about a simple faith (What Is Righteousness?).
We aren’t called to be successful. We are called to be faithful (Collecting for Others).
Father God. You have called us to be Your children. You give us the gifts of faith, grace, and salvation. Help us to grow to be like You. Amen.
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