Practical Life in the Spirit - Part 2
6.
Live and Walk in Faith
Let’s
start this section with a scripture that we all know well from the book of
Hebrews:
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The Bible tells us that the righteous shall
walk (live) by faith (verse below) and that without faith it is impossible for
us to please God (verse above):
Romans 1:17 (NIV)
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is
revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as
it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[Hab 2:4]
So,
what is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for;
it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
And what is our hope as born-again Christians?
Titus 2:11-13 (NLT)
11 For the grace of God has been revealed,
bringing salvation to all people. 12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living
and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom,
righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful
day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
Where does faith come from?
Romans 10:17 (KJV)
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the word of God.
The faith for our salvation comes from hearing
the word and believing in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour! The apostle Paul puts
it this way:
Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of
God—
And how does the Holy Spirit help and empower
us to live and walk in faith?
This kind of faith, the faith to live life in
the Spirit, is a gift of the Spirit that we should eagerly desire like all the
other spiritual gifts.
1 Corinthians 12:7, 9a (NIV)
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the
Spirit is given for the common good.
9a to another faith by the same Spirit,
The more we hear, read, study and believe the
Bible, and the more we become doers of the Word so the more our faith will
increase. Our faith will increase to the measure we allow it to!
We all know the parable of the mustard seed in
Matthew 13:31-32 and how big a tree
the mustard seed grows into. Well, if we allow it to, our faith will grow in
the same measure.
Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
He replied, “Because you have so little
faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard
seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will
move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
There
is only one way God wants us to live, and that is by faith for without faith it
is impossible to please Him.
Hebrews 11:6 (NIV)
And without faith it is impossible to please
God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that
he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith is an attitude of trust in the presence and
faithfulness of God, which is simple enough to say but not so easy to action. To
live by faith means to surrender your entire life over to God, abandoning your
own desires and becoming a servant under the realization that everything you
have (including your very existence) is given to you by the grace of God, it is
a gift.
Romans 1:17 (NIV)
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is
revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as
it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”(Hab 2:4)
As is evidenced in the lives of the apostles
and particularly in the book of Acts,
amazing things happen when we make this transformation; indeed, that which
begins with a mustard seed of faith can grow, by the grace of God, to bless the
whole world.
Our walk of faith does not rest in our own understanding of things and in our own clever words, but in faith in God who is the author and perfecter of our faith!
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
4 And my message and my preaching were very
plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the
power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I
did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
7.
Be ever expectant to hear from God
Always be expecting to hear from God through
the Word, in prayer, through prophecy and words of knowledge from others. As
His children, God our Father is always wanting to teach and show us things and
to talk with us and to hear from us in return.
Jesus tells us himself that he has so much to
say to us:
John 16:12-15 (NIV)
12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you
can now bear. 13 But
when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will
tell you what is yet to come.14 He
will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make
known to you. 15 All
that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will
receive from me what he will make known to you.”
And he confirms this to us through the apostle
Paul:
1 Cor 2:9-10 (NIV)
9However, as it is written: “What no eye has
seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” (Is
64:4)— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
God tells us too that he has predestined works
for us to do:
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created
us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long
ago.
Faith involves an active boldness on the part
of the believer that is trusting and believing in Jesus in all things and
relying entirely on the Holy Spirit to enable and empower us to bring glory to
the name above all names - Jesus!
1 Corinthians 2:4-5
4 And my message and my preaching were very
plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the
power of the Holy Spirit. 5 I
did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
So,
it stands to reason that we need to ask him what things he has planned for us
to do and this we can only do by communicating with Him and being in constant
fellowship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we will hear His voice –
this is life in the Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NLT)
16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
8. Be holy - pursue holiness
God
calls us to live holy lives.
1 Peter 1:13-16 (NLT)
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise
self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you
when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t
slip back into your
old ways of living to satisfy your own
desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just
as God who chose you is holy. 16 For
the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”[Lev 11:44,
45;19:2]
In the above verses there are things that we must
always actively be doing in our lives:
·
Prepare our minds for action – verse
13
·
Exercise self-control – verse 13
·
Put all our hope in our in our salvation that comes through Christ Jesus
– verse 13
·
Be obedient – verse 14
·
Don’t slip back into our old ways – verse
14
·
Be holy in everything we do –
verse 15
·
Be holy because God is holy – verse
16
Holiness is a characteristic of who God is and as
such, holiness should be of paramount importance to us, because without it
we will never see God! (Hebrews 12:14)
Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)
Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
But what is
holiness?
Before we can look at what the Bible teaches on being
holy, let’s first understand what the word means.
Holiness in the verse above is from the Greek word
‘hagiotes’ meaning holiness or sanctity. Hagiotes is derived from the Greek
adjective ‘hagios’ which means set apart (for God) for the specific purpose of
being holy and sacred.
From this we can safely conclude that God expects us, as
Christians, to set ourselves apart to be holy to Him. In fact, Heb
12:14 above states quite emphatically that the we won’t see the Lord unless
we pursue holiness.
Also, as we endeavour to pursue holiness, we will
experience a measure of pain as He chastises us for our own good, through the
process of dying to self.
Nevertheless, this chastising process will yield
within us the peaceable fruit of holiness
and righteousness.
Hebrew 12:9-11 (NLT)
9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who
disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father
of our spirits, and live forever?
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a
few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good
for us, so that we might share in his holiness.11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is
happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right
living for those who are trained in this way.
In other words, that which is holy belongs to God, and
conversely whatever belongs to God is holy. We are sanctified and "set
apart for a holy use or purpose" by God, and to find out what
our use and purpose is in Christ Jesus we need to live life in the Spirit.
God has selected us to be His servants and has called us
to come out of this world, to be different and separate from the rest of the
world. Jesus said,
John 17:14-16 (NIV)
14 I have given them your word and the world has
hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the
world. 15 My
prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them
from the evil one. 16 They
are not of the world, even as I am not of it.
The Christian must live in this present evil world,
but his life must be different from the lives of the other people that are in
the world – who are not born-again. who
do not know Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
He or she must come out from any of this world's ways
that are sinful and evil out from the religious and spiritual
"'Babylon" that is this whole world.
Revelation 18:4 (NIV)
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her (the world), my people,’[Jer
51:45)
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
Making such a distinction and living by it is one of
the many ways that God's true servants are different from the rest of the
world.
Instead of being immersed in the lawless and sinful
ways of the world, we should put our thoughts on better things:
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is
true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think
about such things. 9 Whatever
you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into
practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
This scripture makes is very clear that we should
avoid filling our minds with entertainment that is sinful: void of (God’s)
love, lustful, sexually illicit or that is filled with murder, hatred, evil and
all other such things.
We often justify our sinful actions by saying things
like: "It’s only a song — it's only make believe, it's only a movie,
that’s who I am." On the contrary, the Bible says this:
2 Corinthians 10:5
(NIV)
We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive
every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We cannot call ourselves Christians and
continue to walk in the ways of the world – we must walk in the way of the
Spirit! Christians
need to be different from the rest of this world — to say no to sin, to evil
and to wrong things as it is written:
2 Corinthians 7:1
(NLT)
Because we have these promises, dear friends,
let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit.
And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.
We will continue to be holy if we live a life of holiness.
That is the way of obedience and conformity with God's ways and His Word. That
is living life in the Spirit.
God wants a glorious Church without spot or
blemish. Jesus gave his life for the Church in order to make her holy:
Ephesians 5:26-27 (NIV)
26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the
washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant
church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
9.
Believe and do not doubt
Here it is important for us to understand that
unbelief is a sin – not believing and trusting in the Lord is sinful!
Psalm 78:17-19
17 But they continued to sin against him, rebelling
in the wilderness against the Most High. 18 They willfully put God to the test by demanding the
food they craved. 19 They
spoke against God; they said, “Can God really spread a table in the
wilderness?
Unbelief
in Jesus, the Word and all the things of God is resistance of the Holy Spirit:
Acts 7:51 (NLT)
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at
heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s
what your ancestors did, and so do you!
Life in the Spirit encompasses all the things
that Jesus is, the Son of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Spirit
of Truth and much more. It is believing in all that Jesus is and believing
every Word of God – the entire Bible.
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man
shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of
God.’[Dt 8:3]”
2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is
useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in
righteousness, 17 so
that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When we walk in unbelief instead of in the
Spirit (belief) we become moaners and grumblers, dissatisfied with life and
nothing seems right to us! When we do this, we move ourselves out of God’s
peace and into the realm of the world where there is no peace, and what is of
the world is against the Spirit!
Unbelief and doubt need to be repented of and
cast out!
Mark 11:24 (NIV)
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in
prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
But make sure that you ask from a pure heart
and not from selfish motives!
James 4:3 (NLT)
And even when you ask, you don’t get it
because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
What does the apostle James say about the
person that doubts?
James 1:6-8 (NIV)
6 But when you ask, you must believe and not
doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and
tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything
from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and
unstable in all they do.
10. Be
doers of the Word
Being doers of the Word is part and parcel of
living life in the Spirit. James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church
in Jerusalem after the ascension of Jesus into heaven, says this:
James
1:22-25 (NLT)
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must
do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the
word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk
away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that
sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then
God will bless you for doing it.
The sentence in verse 22 “You must do what it says” would indicate that this is not merely a request but a specific instruction or commandment to the Church.
And these are the words of Jesus himself:
Luke 11:25 (NIV)
He replied, “Blessed rather are
those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
Luke 6:46-49
46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’
when you don’t do what I say? 47 I
will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching,
and then follows it. 48 It
is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on
solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands
firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a
person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the
floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”
TO JESUS BELONGS ALL GLORY, HONOUR AND PRAISE!
Next week: Fellowship with the Holy Spirit - Part 1: How do we fellowship with the Holy Spirit?
An extract from my book: Fan Into Flame: Life in the Spirit available on Amazon Paperback:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1798692120
