To have perseverance in seeking the holy side of a supernatural, spiritual faith will surely progressively show each of us the deep reality of what we are ACTUALLY hoping for, for such a faith is really evidence of the things we cannot see with our physical eyes, yet we instinctively know within our hearts as truth.

Anyone’s faith in the holy firstly comes from hearing and believing the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this great mystery of the gospel we all have put our faith into is based on the fact that the eternal Son of God was revealed to humanity in a physical human body, was then vindicated by the Spirit through living a perfect life and dying a perfect death; this was a death that He then sinlessly conquered, by rising from the grave in His innocence and being seen in His resurrection state by MANY, with His crucifixion wounds on show as proof of His triumph over both satan and death. Upon His resurrection, He was then believed in throughout much of the Jewish world (and beyond), and a bit later He was then taken to heaven in glory before the eyewitness of many of those who had faith in Him and were following Him. Now, our faiths in Him many years later are built on such incredible truths and eyewitness accounts, and though we haven’t seen any of it with our own eyes, we yet certainly know in our hearts that these events are real and true, and are life-changing facts to faithfully stand on.

These historical truths also indirectly reveal to us of how God makes us right in His sight, although the Lord also inspired Rabbi Paul of Tarsus to help reveal the deeper theological implications to us in His word using Paul’s various letters to the churches of his day. When we study books of the bible like Romans or Galatians, we see that salvation from the punishment we all deserve as sinners is (of course) accomplished from start to finish by a genuine, spiritual faith in the promises of God, and not by earning it somehow with good deeds. It has been written that it’s ‘through faith that a righteous person has life’, which means that we are made right with God by placing our faith solely in Jesus, and then intensely following Him as His Spirit leads us out through the darkness of this corrupt world, into the light of His heavenly kingdom. We simply cannot ever boast that we have done ANYthing to deserve such a graceful acquittal, because salvation in Christ is not at all based on obeying the laws of Moses, which was the first covenant God made with humanity, which has now been fulfilled in Christ. Instead, this new testament God has made with humanity through the blood of Jesus is based solely on faith. To be clear, we are only made right with God through faith, and not by obeying the law as was given to Moses, so we can see just how important faith really is! The promise of salvation is ONLY received by faith in CHRIST; it is given as a free gift to all who will receive it. Those of us who commit to Him as disciplined servants are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have a faith like Abraham’s; for Abraham is the father of all who believe. Therefore, let me encourage you that it is wisdom to personally study Abraham’s faith and his relationship with the Lord as it is documented in the bible, for this great patriarch has laid a foundation for us to follow and be inspired by.

So, now we know that we are made right with God solely by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by obeying the law. The apostle Paul tells us that no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law, and that the REAL children of Abraham are those who put their whole faith in God. All those who put their faith in Jesus Christ will share the same blessing Abraham received because of his great faith. To hammer the point home, we should realise that the way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, ‘it is through obeying the law that a person has life’. Now instead, the way of faith has come, and we no longer need the law as our guardian, for we have the Holy Spirit directing us from within, IF we are sensitive enough to listen to Him and obey HIM (even when He severely challenges us!). We are children of God THROUGH faith in Christ Jesus, for when we place our faith in Him, there is no longer any benefit in such first covenant things as being circumcised, or abstaining from certain foods. What is WAY more important now is our faith, expressing itself in holy love; love for God, love for our neighbours, and even love for our enemies.

As we are aware, there is only one God, and He makes people right with Himself ONLY by faith, whoever they might be. Having said all this, when we emphasise this kind of salvific faith, this does not mean that we can completely forget about the law; no. In fact, it’s only when we have such faith that we truly fulfil biblical law! We are counted as righteous, not because of our works, but because of our faith in God, who graciously forgives sinners like us. Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we can now have DEEP peace with God, all because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished at the cross. Because of our faith in Him, Jesus has brought us into this place of ‘undeserved privilege’ with the Father, which is where we now stand, and we can now confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing in God’s glory with Him, once our individual trials on earth have been completed. It is therefore wisdom to continually examine ourselves, day after day, to see if our faiths are indeed genuine. We must test ourselves regularly! The test of a genuine faith is to KNOW that Jesus is among us, even right now! To KNOW that we are mystically a part of His body, and that His Spirit resides in each of us, just as the Lord once resided in holy of holies in the temple of ancient Israel. If you cannot believe such things, you have already failed the main test of a genuine faith, and cannot honestly call yourself a follower of Christ. Be cautious, because the Holy Spirit has clearly revealed in the scriptures that during these end times, many believers (examine yourself!) will turn away from true faith; they will sadly instead follow deceptive spirits, and teachings that come directly from demons! Don’t think any of us are above this deception; we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. It is also written that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil acts, and some of these deceived people, craving money, will wander away from true faith, subsequently piercing themselves with many future sorrows because of their greed and lust. Some of these people will even deliberately violate their consciences with wilful sin after having a knowledge of the truth, and as a result, their faith will terrifyingly become completely shipwrecked, never to rise again. Unlike them though, we must be committed to the mystery of the faith that has now been revealed to us, and we must work hard to live with a clear conscience before His Spirit, who knows all. For what good is it if we SAY we have this spiritual salvific faith in Christ I’m speaking of, but then don’t show it by our actions as we live out our normal lives? Think about it; can that kind of fruitless faith bring salvation to anyone? Having already said all of the above about the nature of genuine faith, we should also soberly realise that faith by itself is NOT enough, for unless it PRODUCES good deeds as inspired by the Spirit, it is actually a dead faith, and therefore useless to Jesus and His kingdom. Make no mistake! Faith is a doubled edged sword, for we are shown to be right with God also by what we do, not just by a believing faith alone; just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. In other words, works that are inspired by the Spirit of God in us PROVE that we have faith, the same way a pulse shows that a body is indeed alive.

Now, a word of encouragement to you all: we must always graciously try to accept and to help other believers who are weak in faith, and try not to get frustrated and argue with them about what they think is right or wrong, even if we know better. Wait for the Lord to reveal it to them! Pray for them! And at the same time, we must carefully watch out for such people who cause strife and divisions in the body of Christ, and who upset people’s faith by teaching things contrary to what Rabbi Paul of Tarsus and the other apostles taught of the ‘fundamentals’ of the faith. It is important to completely stay away from them, and to certainly strive NOT to be like them ourselves! In His wisdom, God has chosen the poor in this world to actually be rich in faith; also those who are poor in Spirit will be blessed mightily too. They are many of the people who will inherit the kingdom He promised to all those who love Him! We could have the gift of prophecy, we could understand all of God’s secret plans, we could possess all knowledge, and we could have such great faith that could even move mount Everest from its place; but, if we didn’t truly LOVE others, we would still be nothing, for those things have no value if the root source behind them isn’t charitableness. Our faiths must mix seamlessly with holy love, for such faithful love will never give up, never lose faith, will always be hopeful, and will endure through every circumstance, even unto death. We might excel in many ways; in faith, in gifted speaking, in knowledge, in enthusiasm, and in love; but we must also excel in the gracious act of giving, of charity. In this way, we will be like our Heavenly Father, who graciously sends rain and sunshine on both the godly and the wicked. We must let our roots grow down into Him, and let our lives be built ON Him, like a house built on solid rock. Then our faiths will grow strong in the TRUTH, and we will simply overflow with thankfulness and gratitude! Let we who live in the light always be clearheaded, and protected by the armour of faith combined with love, gladly and proudly wearing the confidence of our salvation as our protective helmet from worldliness, impurity and corruption.

Be aware that the temptations in your life are no different from what other believers experience, yet, God is still faithful… He will NOT allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. But know this, that you can stand much more than you think you can! For when we are tempted, the Lord will always show us a way out, so that we will both endure and succeed. I don’t want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice; no! I write this so you will be full of joy, for it is by your OWN faith that you will stand firm on the evil day!  Its because of Christ and our own personal faith in Him that we can now individually come boldly and confidently into God’s presence! We must strive to each live as citizens of heaven, conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of this Good News we know of and want to share about Christ. Then, we will all be standing together with one spirit and one purpose, fighting together for the faith, which is the gospel.  Any trials we ever go through will actually show that our faith is either genuine or not, so we should not be despondent when they come. Faith gets tested by the Lord, just as fire tests and purifies gold, even though faith is far more precious than just mere gold. So, if and when our faith remains strong through any trials, it will eventually bring us each praise, glory and honour on that day when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. Every true child of God WILL defeat this evil world, and this victory is solely achieved through our faith in the works of Christ manifesting through us. We must always try to build each other up in this most holy faith, whilst praying in the power of the Holy Spirit, patiently waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to come upon us, undeserving as we are. In this way, we keep ourselves safe under the wing of God’s love.

We must keep on praying for each other, asking our wonderful God to enable us all to live a life worthy of His calling over our lives. May He give us the power to accomplish all the good things our faith prompts us to do! The Lord really is faithful, we can completely trust Him! He will strengthen us and guard us from the evil one. Don’t waste time in endless discussion of myths, theological contentions, or with something as fruitless as spiritual pedigrees. Things like these only lead to meaningless and pointless speculations, which never help people live a life of genuine faith in God. Cling voraciously to your faith in Christ, and keep your conscience clear through the denial of the flesh and by refusing to be corrupted by the world. Fight patiently hard in this ‘good fight’ for the true faith. Hold tightly to the promise of eternal life to which God has called us, a truth which you have also (hopefully) already declared out boldly to friends, family and neighbours. Run away for your very LIFE from anything that stimulates those old, youthful lusts, which inevitably lead to death. Instead, persistently pursue righteous living, continually and daily living a life of faithfulness, love, and peace, without ever getting bored of doing good. Enjoy the companionship of those who also call on the Lord with pure hearts, and fellowship regularly with those who love God.

Think back on those early days of when you believed the gospel; remember how many of you had to remain faithful to Christ, even though it meant some kind of suffering for you. The Lord’s righteous ones will always live by such faith, this side of the grave. But we should also always have in the back of our minds that He takes NO pleasure in anyone who turns away from Him back into unrepentant sin… I pray that this warning is not for you though, for we are not like those who turn away from God unto their own destruction. We strive to be the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved in the end, once we have run this race of faith and obedience. Never forget that it is impossible to please God without such a faith! Works (even ‘good works’) without faith are dead, and useless. Works must be a product of faith in order to have value in the Spirit. Anyone who wants to humbly come to Him for a hope in both this earthly life and in the first death must (of course) 100% believe that God exists, and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him, even with eternal life. So then, let us strip off every weight that slows us down from seeking Him with all our hearts, minds and souls, and cast off especially all the sin that so easily trips us up. Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes fixed solely on Jesus, the Champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross on our behalf, disregarding its shame in order to judge satan and set us free from the bondage to sin; two birds with one stone. Now He is rightfully seated in THE place of honour, beside God’s throne. When we think back to all the violent hostility He endured from wicked and sinful people, we then won’t become weary and give up ourselves as we run our own race; as we carry our own crosses. For when our faith is tested in trials, our endurance and our character has a chance to grow. We must make sure that our faith is in God ALONE. Never waver from it, for a person with this kind of ‘divided loyalty’ is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind; people like this should NOT expect to receive ANYthing from the Lord. Instead, make every effort to respond to God’s promises, both biblical promises and also the individual promises He makes to us personally through His Spirit. We must always supplement our faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, biblically sound knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection, and love for everyone.

Do these things in faith, and you shall do well!