Jesus has told us to have faith and not doubt. If we are able to do so, that which we believe shall come to pass. Matthew 21:21 To live and not doubt is a progressive work but the Spirit is preparing us.
James 1:3-4: "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith produces patience. Let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing." The proper and consistent exercise of your faith will produce an absence of doubt. Patience manifests, as an assurance that you have laid hold of the promises of God and therefore that you may not doubt. Gradually a certainty builds as you see the promises of God come to pass in your life.
Patience is strengthened by the guarantee that you have sufficient faith to mix with the word that is preached and are capable of understanding your place and identity in Jesus Christ. You can envision the transformation that God has ordained for you and are able to receive from your faith what is promised. We are in a time of preparation for the greatest victory that we have ever known, the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. We clearly understand the working of the Spirit and we know that we are living in the day that has been prophesied. "For yet a little while, and He that shall appear will appear." Hebrews 10:37 His appearing will be in the manner that we understand. It will be a manifestation in the midst of our lives.
We know that we have the promise of eternal life.
The awareness of His presence causes us to respond to His calling. "So, this one thing we do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 Forgetting those things that are behind is about assimilating one's experience and moving forward. We have moved forward from knowing that we are saved to knowing why we are saved. We are able to believe more deeply and fully participate in the transformation of our souls because this vision has become the substance of our lives.
We know that we have the promise of eternal life. The awareness of His presence causes us to respond to His calling. "So, this one thing we do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, we press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 Forgetting those things that are behind is about assimilating one's experience and moving forward. We have moved forward from knowing that we are saved to knowing why we are saved. We are able to believe more deeply and fully participate in the transformation of our souls because this vision has become the substance of our lives.
2 Corinthians 4:13-14: "We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that He that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you." When Paul says as it is written and therefore we believe and speak he is not referring to a particular verse of scripture but rather to the tradition that we have inherited from the elders. "Wherefore seeing that we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, (all those that have spoken and continue to speak into our lives) let us lay aside every weight, and the distractions that so easily beset us, let us run with patience the race that is set before us" Hebrews 12:1
2Peter 1:20-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as the Holy Ghost moved them."
The Holy Ghost has moved us and we are able to describe the effect. We are capable of declaring the will of God as a personal vision generated by scripture made real by the Spirit. We can speak of the will of God as experience, as a motivating force and as life itself. His life within us so seeks to be given expression that it has become our life. The life that we now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us.
We have the knowledge that we have passed from death unto life and that knowledge sustains us. We know therefore we speak. The vision that we have freely and richly received we are able to share with others. We have a voice in the world today and it is the voice of the Spirit. We have been translated into the kingdom of His Son.
Through salvation God has dealt with and resolved a core issue in our lives. The curse of mankind is uncertainty, an uncertainty about the value of one's own existence. It is natural that we have sought certainty in this world through people and relationships. We sought confirmation that there was worth in our existence. Relationships and experiences that often hurt us were those in which we expected certainty and found none. In the midst of a world where there is uncertainty about the meaning of life,
Jesus Christ has provided us with the knowledge of His meaning. Through that we have found the significance of life itself. God is a person and through His personality we have been able to grasp the meaning of our own personality. We know why we are alive and we have seized upon the value of life. We are now able to minister to others the certainty that we have obtained.
Now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Love is the greatest because love provides the ultimate validation. And perfect love casts out all fear.
*For more information on this topic simply E-mail Michael Brod at: michaelbrod@hotmail.com
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FREEDOM FROM DOUBT: BY MICHAEL BROD