Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, [23] Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
As we continue our study of the fruits of the Spirit, I want to take another
day to look at faith... Faith's greatest enemy is unbelief. When the devil
sees our faith in God, he will try to destroy our faith by initiating
doubt and ultimately cause us not to accept what God says in His Word
as truth. Included below is a story conveying the struggle between faith
and feelings. I know that as Christians, we have all struggled at least
once with “feeling” like we are not saved as this person in the story
is found doing. Faith is more than feelings though, isn't it ladies? It
is as we mentioned yesterday - to be found resting in God and His Word
and what HE says about salvation…
Romans 10:9 (KJV)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, THOU SHALT BE SAVED.
What we learn here is that faith must not be based upon our senses. Scripture
doesn't say we shall “feel” saved, it says we shall BE saved. The one
position rests in self and the other position rests in a source outside
of self… The following illustration teaches the difference…
“I have tried so many times to get saved, but I just can’t make it. I’ve
been to the altar and I’ve prayed at home, but I don’t feel any different,”
said the young woman at whose home I was calling.
I had prayed desperately with her at the altar the night before, but she
had given up after about an hour and gone home. I had called with the
intention of giving her further help.
“So you don’t feel any different?” I questioned. “What has that to do
with it?”
“Are we not supposed to feel it?” she demanded.
“To be sure we sometimes feel blessed,” I replied, “but when we don’t
feel, we may know just as certainly that we are saved. We are saved by
faith and we are kept saved through faith.
Ephesians 2:8 & 9 says, 'For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man
should boast.'”
“Yes,” returned the young woman, “I’ve heard about taking it by dry faith,
but I’m not going to take it that way. I’ve got to know it, and to know
it, I’ve got to feel it.”
“My dear young lady,” I replied, “there is no such thing as dry faith
when directed toward Christ, for it then becomes living and potent. There
is no other way to be saved except through faith.”
“That’s just the trouble,” complained the young woman. “Too many have
tried to take it by faith and have failed. No, I want to feel it, then
I’ll know it.”
“Do you make feeling the basis of all knowledge?” I asked. “Do you have
to feel that two and two are four in order to know it? How do you know
that two and two are four?”
“Why that is axiomatic,” she replied. “Everybody knows that. My teachers
have told me so, and experience tells me so.”
“Then feeling has nothing to do with it?” I inquired.
“Certainly not,” she replied.
“But,” I persisted, “suppose some day you got the feeling that two and
two were five and you just couldn’t shake it off. Would you then lose
faith in your teachers and experience and go to believing that two and
two were five because you felt it?”
She thought for a minute before replying and then she said, “No, feeling
has nothing to do with it. Two and two are four regardless of how I or
anyone else feels.”
“Just so,” I replied, “and the promises of the Bible are true, regardless
of your feeling. You are saved by faith in them and the One who gave them...
If you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive your sins
as 1 John 1:9 says! God has made a contract with you. Your part is to
confess, His to forgive. Do you believe that God would keep His part of
the contract as quickly as you would yours?”
“Yes,” she almost shouted, “I do.”
“Well, if your part is to confess, and you’ve done it, what is God’s part?”
“To forgive,” she replied.
“And if you have done your part,” I persisted, “and He would be as quick
to do His, what has He done?”
“According to His Word He forgives,” was the response.
“Well,” I asked, “would you want anything surer and truer than His Word?
Isn’t it true regardless of how one may feel? If you are ever saved it
will be because you believe God’s Word. Do you believe it?”
“I do,” she replied.
“And do you believe that promise?” I countered.
I shall never forget the look on her face as the truth gripped her. She
slipped to her knees, and looking up toward heaven she earnestly thanked
God for saving her.
Yes, she had some feeling after that. No person can realize he is saved
without feeling better - in fact much better! But it is not the feeling
better that saves us. Faith in Christ and His promises as found in the
Word of God brings the victory and keeps one in victory!
1 Thessalonians 5:24 (KJV)
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Yes, joy and peace and assurance do come to fill the life of a Christian,
but that is not proof of salvation; our proof is God will keep His Word!
Praise God for a faith that dispels all our doubts and fears and chases
away unbelief, amen? When you're feeling uncertain, you need something
to stabilize and reassure you. Faith in God's promises is the only thing
that makes us feel secure in our relationship with the Lord! Cling tightly
to them... We can confidently live out our Christian lives and say as
Galatians 2:20 puts it:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Ladies, I hope your security as a child of God has not shifted from God
to what you feel... Have your feelings of pride deceitfully convinced
you that you're saved?? Have your feelings of failure successfully convinced
you that are not?? As women, we are quite fickle at times. We go through
many different climates of feeling in one day. Many of our decisions and
actions are foolishly based on vacillating emotion. Feelings are a false
god and unreliable guides. Therefore, we need the security only an unchanging
God can provide!
Hebrews 13:8 (KJV)
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Look to God's Word for the truth about your salvation. Eternal life is
not based on feelings, but on facts. Furthermore, those who have true
faith, live by that faith, not by their feelings!
But the fruit... Is there any in your life?
God Bless,
Pam
Isaiah 60:1&2
Copyright 2000 Pamela A. Iannello
Revised 2003
