Let Us Talk About Faith

A couple weeks ago we talked about how it’s by God’s wonderful grace that we receive salvation through, with that also come the thought what about faith?  Where does faith come into play, many people say they have faith in something but what does that mean when we say we have faith?  Let us think about those who put their faith in a public figure who is running for president.  Many times if one who put their in Mr. X and says that is who needs to by our next president they may put a yard sign in their yard.  But the ones who really have faith in Mr. X go and volunteer at his local campaign office making phone calls telling their friends how he is going to change things in Washington.  Their faith in Mr. X changes how they spend their time and maybe even how they think.  Yet somehow when we talk about faith in God many times it’s not so much talking about how we live our lives but it is how we need more faith to see God working through prayer.  Do not misunderstand what I am saying, I believe in the power of prayer and believe that we see God working through prayer and that faith plays a part in that.  But is Paul referring to faith in a context to prayer in Ephesians when he talks about in chapter 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ^ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ^ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

As I study this piece of scripture and begin to look at other pieces of scripture I begin to realize that faith in God is much more visible then we tend to think of it being.  Faith in itself as we read here is a gift from God.  What does that mean for us?  For starters it means we cannot go around bragging about how much faith we have or even saying because of my faith in God I have seen many prayers answered.  It also means that faith in God is very much a working of God in our souls, much like the cleansing of our sins, Paul went on to say; “we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” It is our faith in God that is going to create and make us holy.  That means that our lives are to be lived out in faith.  Does this mean we say I have not been given the gift of Faith therefore I cannot be saved?  No by no means is that what Paul is saying, the truth being that if we say I do not have faith in God what we are truly saying is that I do not want to change my life, I want to continue my life in sin and not give it up.

Let us look at 2^nd Corinthians 3:12-18; “Since this new covenant gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory fading away. But the people’s minds were hardened, and even to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, a veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.  Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil and they do not understand but whenever anyone turns to the Lord, then the veil is taken away.  Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, he gives freedom.  And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.”  What is Paul saying here is  that we have a choice we can either follow God putting our trust in God and  allow Him to reveal Himself through us and how we live our life.  Or we can choose not to accept the gift of faith and allow our hearts to be hardened to His word and go on living a life in sin.  The choice is ours, do we want to shine for God letting His spirit guide and direct us going where He wants us to go witnessing to those we are called to witness to when times are tough and we don’t know how we are going to make praising God and letting others know we serve a God of love and have nothing to worry about?  The choice is yours.