Why is faith a necessary action in daily Christian lifestyles? This question is often unspoken. Yet I have come to realize that when it is left unsaid, life continues on human will which is limited. Without faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Savior in your life, death and eternity, a person is left to fend for themselves throughout the course of life. Depression, anxiety, fear, doubt and anger are issues of an absence of faith.
The Bible speaks to us about faith in Hebrews the 11th chapter. This chapter is often referred to as “the hall of faith” as it depicts multiple instances where faith is the guiding force bringing God’s will for mankind into existence.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1The Greek word for faith is pistis. The meaning is the conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it
The only way to tap into God’s determined will for our lives is by faith. Any attempts to know, understand and manifest His will absent of faith is without merit in God’s sight. We always need a secure positioning in our core belief system to realize God’s presence, power and peace in our lives. This necessity is established in and through our faith.Why faith? It is the substance of everything we hope for. Substance in the Greek is hypostasis a compound word derived from hypo meaning under and histemi meaning to cause or make to stand, to place, put, setGod = Elohim the plural of El (1 of the names of Deity; the Creator found in Genesis 1 and the Creator’s connection to the created including man, namely Jesus Christ, the Son of God)The Greek word for evidence is elegchos meaning that by which a thing is proven; a conviction or proof. The apostle Paul simplified the development and growth of faith in this passage in Romans 10:17 (NET) “Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.“You must know who you believe in. The only way to get to know God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit is through reading and hearing the Word of God rightly-divided. All of the proof of God’s abilities are contained in His Word. You can’t believe in what you don’t know. And you can’t survive on yesterday’s meal today. Your faith in God is the culminating effect of getting to know God through His Word on a daily basis.Why faith? Faith in God and His Sovereignty over His Creations is the process by which we have access into this grace in which we stand. Trust in the foundational substance of all of God’s Spiritual resources by His substantial qualities, nature and persons of His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit establishes our faith, confidence, hope, strength and Power to be victorious in our Christian lives from day to day.We trust in the actual existence of God, confirmed in Jesus Christ who loved us and gave Himself for us giving us newness of life by the regeneration of our spirits. Through our daily surrender to Him by faith our spirits are renewed, our minds are transformed and our bodies become representative of His life IN us. We become new creations IN Christ. This is the fundamental meaning of our directive to “get & stay IN Position!” Being justified by this faith, we have peace with God and we become joint heirs with Jesus Christ making us more than conquerors through Him that loved us.Rev. D |
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ConquerorShots 
You seem to take Christ Jesus to be God, which would mean we becoming in Christ we becoming God , being one with Christ also being one with God, not in the spiritual way we believe but when using your way of thinking being Christ and being God. This looks very weird.
We learn the identity of the Creator in Genesis 1 is Elohim, the plural of El. The plural form is where we get the understanding of the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – these 3 identities are 1. They always work together. Elohim is the first of the names of Deity and is further confirmed as Jesus being God in the flesh by St. John 1:1 & 14.
To be “IN” Christ is to be saved from sin, reconciled back to God the Father through the finished work at the Cross. Spiritual regeneration is a necessary component of Christianity. Through faith in the finished work at the cross we are indwelt with the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of Christ which raised Him from the grave.
These truths are confirmed in Romans 8:1, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, Rom 8:9-10 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his 10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
The post answers the question Why Faith? by pointing the reader to the Word of God for all the evidence needed to trust Him concerning their personal needs. By faith we are justified in God’s sight Romans 5:1. God no longer sees a child of God (one who has accepted the finished work at the cross in his/her heart) in his sinful human condition because of the blood that was shed. We have peace with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit in us. We are not God but we become joint heirs with His Son Jesus through our pursuit towards a closer walk with Him on a daily basis.
I thank you for your comment. Eph 1:18 I pray that God will open your minds to see his truth. Then you will know the hope that he has chosen us to have. You will know that the blessings God has promised his holy people are rich and glorious.
Eph 1:19 And you will know that God’s power is very great for us who believe. It is the same as the mighty power
Eph 1:20 he used to raise Christ from death and put him at his right side in the heavenly places.
Eph 1:21 He put Christ over all rulers, authorities, powers, and kings. He gave him authority over everything that has power in this world or in the next world.
Eph 1:22 God put everything under Christ’s power and made him head over everything for the church.
Eph 1:23 The church is Christ’s body. It is filled with him. He makes everything complete in every way. (ERV)
Stay in the race!
Rev. D
You seem to forget that the Elohim Divine Creator is the Most High and as such He would speak in the Royal We. The use of the pluralis majestatis denotes not that it are more than one person. The king, queen, president or any high functionary and patriarch shall speak in this form also today, though nobody will take them to be other persons as well.
John the evangelist does no where in his books write Jesus to be The God. He agrees Jesus is an important person and as such a god, like Pharaoh, Moses, Apollo, Zeus and even certain elements like chaos and Wisdom are considered gods but not to be The God.
The NT Greek word for “God” and “god” is theos. In the writings of the Gospel writers (including John) when an unmodified theos (the form used for subjects and predicate nouns) is accompanied by the article, “the” (? [pronounced ho] in Greek), and has no added phrases (e.g., “the god of this world”), then it always refers to the only true God.
In his first chapter the evangelist refers back to the creation of the universe where it was G Speaking, giving a Word which made into being. God also made a promise in the garden of Eden. He gave His word, and that Word was about a solution against the Fall. In the Garden of Eden God’s Word was about the Nazarene Jews who was to be born much later in history. By the birth of Jesus the Word of God, The Elohim His Speaking, The Adonai His promise became reality. Jesus was the fulfilment of that promise. In Jesus John sees the new Adam and the beginning of the New World, and that is why he starts in the same manner as the Bereshith.
Thank you for your follow up reply. I appreciate your commentary regarding Elohim. You have cited another explanation offered for the usage of the plural term Elohim as a plural majesty used in the manner of royal persons where I subscribe to it being a plural account of the Trinity, a subject matter that is, in Genesis 1, introduced and maintained throughout Scripture. The Holiness of its writings is maintained by the truth that each word is “God-breathed” to achieve the task of exposing God’s Determined Will down through the ages.
2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
It is the Spirit of God i.e. the Holy Spirit, the 3rd Person of the Trinity, who in Genesis 1:2 “moved upon the face of the waters,” who enlightens us to the depths and breadths of the knowledge being offered to us through His Word.
1Corinthians 2-9-16 offers us insight into why the OT & NT study requires reliance on the Spirit of God to aid us in our personal and corporate understanding of The Word
9 but just as it is written, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. *12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. *14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.
We do not support a polytheistic approach to understanding God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We believe that the plural of El, or Elohim, used in Genesis 1 expresses the fullness and manifoldness of the Divine Nature of God in that The Father’s Determined Will, Is Spoken by the Son (Elohim-pre incarnate and Jesus-incarnate) and Manifested by the Spirit i.e. the Holy Spirit as the 3 work simultaneously ALWAYS.
I also want to respond to your statement that John does not write that Jesus and God are 1. Again, it is the Spirit who enlightens, Christians – i.e. children of God, members of the Body of Christ, to by faith believe what John wrote in the 10th Chapter of St. John where Jesus said: 10:30 “The Father and I are one.”
At the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry He was God in the flesh, also referred to as the Deity of Christ. The theme of the book of St. John is the Deity of Christ, as Matthew’s theme is Christ as King, Mark’s theme is Christ as servant and Luke’s theme is Christ as man. His Deity is confirmed through Paul’s “inspired” writing in Colossians:
Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will (Determined) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Col 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Col 1:11 Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
*Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
*Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
Finally, the reference to Genesis 3:15 most definitely is the initial observation of God’s Determined will to redeem mankind back to Him. The introduction of Sin into mankind, by way of the plan of Satan to thwart the plan of God, was of no surprise to God. The delivery of His plan to redeem mankind back into relationship with Him was forecasted to be by way of the “seed” of the woman. The onset of the expectation of the one who would be born of a woman is further confirmed in Genesis 4:1 WHERE EVE THOUGHT THAT THE PROMISED REDEEMER WAS CAIN. Furthermore, Satan did all that he could to infuse his darkness, his obstinate objectives to be like the Most High and all of his efforts to confuse men concerning God’s Word to thwart the birth of the Redeemer. Human leaders – Pharaoh et al who were inspired by the Enemy – attempted to kill the firstborn males. All the while, Elohim – The LORD – throughout the OT demonstrated Sovereign rule over mankind in the preservation of His people – the Jews. Every place in the OT where He interacts with man exposes His omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence in and over the world order.
By faith we believe God is 3 in 1. There are no if’s, and’s or but’s about it.
the verses we do not understand you give to proof that Jesus is God do not at all proof Jesus is God but just proof what we want people to believe that Jesus is the Way to God and that we should believe in that man, about whom God Himself said “This is my only begotten beloved son.” And according to the Bible God does not tell lies and we should believe what God says and not what doctrines of man do want us to believe. Strange that you quote those verses but do not seem to see about the hierarchy, Jesus being lower than God
You have given valid proof of the Scriptures we referenced in 1 Corinthians 2 in the above reply. You can NOT attempt to “understand” God’s Word absent of the work of the Holy Spirit in you. Your human attempts to understand God will always reveal unknowns that you will purposefully avoid in order to demonstrate your understanding without error. The Enemy,Satan – The God of this world, is still in the business of using the same tactics he used on Eve to get man to question and ignore what God’s Word says. He uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life to confuse man. I John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
That confusion in the mind can only be cleared out by God the Holy Spirit. The activity of the Holy Spirit in your life is only possible when, by faith, you accept the finished work of Jesus Christ and be redeemed back into right relationship with God. My book “Qualities of a Conqueror Volume 1” http://conquerorministries.org/conqueror-books.html exposes the fundamental truth associated with the spiritual changes I’ve mentioned.
Here at Conqueror Ministries we encourage each reader, supporter, guest etc. to “Get & stay IN Position” and”Stay in the race!” You get IN Position when you personally believe in the death, burial and the resurrection as the Finished Work of the Son of God, to fulfill the Determined Will of God to redeem mankind back into “right” relationship with Him. Without an assured basis of faith in this process you are still “lost in trespasses and sin and your spirit is dead and in need of spiritual regeneration. This process is revealed in Ephesians 2:1-10 and as such secures every child of God being “IN Christ or IN Position.”
You “Stay in the race” by your own personal experience with Galatians 2:20. Every day you are crucified with Christ, you die to your flesh as your spirit is being renewed through the Spirit of Christ which raised Him from the grave. The Holy Spirit will raise you out of the cloudy confusion in your mind and make all things concerning His Word new with an enlightenment that will astound you.
There is no hierarchy in the Trinity. Philippians clears this up completely: 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
2:10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
2:11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
This Gospel of the grace of God was not a prophesied event of the OT. So many people are unable to grasp this understanding because they attempt to understand God by way of His dealings with the Hebrews throughout the OT and the gospels. Paul’s Gospel of the Grace of God was given specifically to the Gentiles but also is available to the Jews if they are willing to put their faith in the risen Savior Jesus Christ, whom they crucified. That is an absolute truth based on the Pauline Epistles. You will find the fullness of your Salvation from the perils of Sin and natural death, your assurance in the gift of Eternal life and your ability to, in the remaining days of your life, be “more than a conqueror through Him, Jesus Christ, who loves you. You can not do anything in your flesh to please God. Faith is the source of your renewed relationship with the Father, through your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who resides in you. By faith, you can and will be renewed in the spirit of your mind and the truth of the Word of God will sanctify you and fulfill you from your inner spirit, into the soul – the seat of emotions and intellect- and your body making you a new creation IN Christ.
I pray the you experience this Spiritual transformation wherein your mind will be enlightened by these truths. One day you will meet Jesus Christ and you will bow before Him and acknowledge Him as LORD to the glory of God the Father, one way or another.
God bless you.
Stay in the race!
Darrin