A Way of Life

What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see...it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. - Hebrews 11:1,6 NLT

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Walking by Faith -- A Way of Life

The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). Consequently, faith is a lifestyle -- the God-kind of life. Too many Christians try to use faith as a gimmick, an Aladdin's Lamp. "Genie, genie, come out and give me a new Cadillac." "Genie, genie, I want a yacht." "Genie, genie, come out and give me a townhouse." No! No! No! You should be living by faith 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365-1/4 days as the earth orbits the sun. Faith is not something you use as a parachute when you have a problem.

2 Corinthians 5:7: For we walk by faith, not by sight. It is not like seeing with your eyes. This Scripture is talking about the difference between walking by the things of the Spirit of God, which operates by faith, and walking by what your five physical senses tell you. I like to paraphrase this verse like this: We walk by the Word and not by our senses.

Romans 10:17 says: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If the Word of God is not heard, faith will not come. If faith comes, then faith was not there before it came, or it would not have to come there.

Faith and the Word of God are synonymous terms. You cannot have one without the other. I like to think of faith and the Word like wet with the water. If you get the water, you get the wet, because wet is a characteristic of water. You can go to a restaurant, order a hamburger and say, "Hold the onions." But you cannot say, "Bring me some water and hold the wet," because wet goes with the water.

Faith goes with the proclaimed Word of God. That is why Jesus said in Mark 16:15, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Why, Jesus? Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If someone does not go preach, faith cannot come. If faith cannot come, people cannot believe. If they cannot believe, they cannot get saved. If they cannot get saved, they are going to hell. It is as simple as that.

...Along with feeding your faith by hearing, you have to exercise it by acting on what you hear. Use it or lose it. Just as with any physical talent, your faith will not work well if you do not continue using and developing it. If you use it all the time, it will be fluid and supple; everything will move well and your faith will work. But a lot of people do not use their faith until some crisis occurs.

James 2:17: Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. What this scripture literally means is that faith without corresponding actions is dead. It will not work for you, and it will not do you any good. If I say, "I believe if I eat some food, it will keep me from starving to death," and I never eat, I will starve. That is faith without works.

Dr. Fred Price

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Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. - Hebrews 10:38


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