Mensa Otabil - A Faith-Filled Life
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Welcome to a brand new week, and we thank God for the victory we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our strength and our portion. The Christian life is a life of faith, and that’s what we are talking about today. Romans chapter 1, verse 17: «For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'»
We live the Christian life the same way we enter the Christian life. And how did we enter the Christian life? How do we become Christians? We became Christians by believing that Jesus is the Son of God. It’s an act of faith. We believe that when He died, we died with Him; that’s an act of faith. We believe that when He rose from the dead, we rose with Him; that’s an act of faith. When we open our hearts to Him, He comes to live in our hearts.
So everything that brings us into Christianity is based on faith, and that faith that brings us into Christianity is the same faith that sustains us. When we begin, we start with faith, and then we continue with faith, and hopefully, we end in faith. We are saved by faith, and we live by faith.
So, somebody may ask, «What is faith?» Faith is basically believing that God is who He says He is and that He does what He says He does. God is who He says He is. So when we have faith, we believe in who God is. But beyond believing who God is, we believe what He says through the Scriptures. Faith is going to be anchored in God’s nature and God’s word, because whatever God is, His word is. God is good, so His word is good. God is a healer, so His word heals. God is able, so His word is able. He has all power; His word has all power. Our faith is activated when we take the word of God as God speaking to us right now, and that’s why the Scripture says, «Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.»
The word of God is the foundation of our faith, but it’s not just what is written in the word; it is who God is, because His nature backs His word. His nature gives force to the written word of God. So we believe who God is, and then we believe what He says, and our faith must not be misplaced. It’s very easy to misplace faith. We can have faith in ourselves; sometimes people have faith in other people. Sometimes people have faith in their church, or they have faith in a servant of God.
Now, it’s great to admire your church; it’s great to admire a preacher and like what they say, but our faith must never be shifted from God and His word to our church or to a man or a woman who preaches the word of God, or to a friend, or somebody who promises you something, or maybe to yourself. When our faith shifts from God to other things, then God is not under any obligation to do what we want Him to do, because He watches over His word to perform it.
So as we walk the Christian walk, we have to be mindful to walk by faith. Faith saves us from sin, faith delivers us from the power of Satan, faith gives us victory in every battle, faith gives us healing, faith causes us to prosper, faith causes us to be the head and not the tail, faith causes us to be above. So determine that you will live by faith.
Let’s pray, with me: Heavenly Father, I choose to live by faith with my whole heart. I believe in You; I believe in Your word. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.