The Faith is from God, and not of the self. There is no way a man or woman, boy or girl can save themselves. Salvation only comes from God. Therefore, we must receive saving faith under God’s terms, and it must be the kind of faith God approves for us and accepts from us for it to save us from our sins.
Saving faith understands the need all mankind has for being saved from their own personal sin. And that personal sin of yours and mine has offended The perfectly, pure, innocent, holy and without blemish Jesus of Nazareth, The Lord of Glory.
The faith is active, alive, and fed by God—It is fed primarily by the Word of God itself-The Bible. Dead faith is in danger of being withered and burned up, along with the person possessing the dead faith.
Will the sermon you hear inspire faith? If the message brings glory to Jesus, it will focus on his qualities and characteristics. The focus of the message will not just be about blessings, health and prosperity. It will be balanced and talk about both the free gift of salvation from God, but also the way God changes us in our hearts, disciplines us when we do wrong, trains us in righteousness, and challenges our faith to grow according to God’s plan revealed in His word. Some of His plan involves some measure of suffering for each of us.
It recognizes Jesus as Lord, and Him Alone as Lord (in unity with the Father and The Holy Spirit).
It understands the difference between what it means to be affected by the Lordship of Jesus rather than just thinking you’re saved because Jesus is “the Savior”.
It wants to understand the requirements of God. The 10 commandments were called the 10 commandments, not the 10 suggestions. And we can say there is much instruction in God’s word that is not a suggestion but are commandments other than the 10 commandments.
It understands that there is no salvation without repentance.
True saving faith brings gladness and thanksgiving to the heart and mind, and inspires our true praise and worship of God, even as we go through times of difficulty and through the all too common pains of life.
With it we bear good fruit for the kingdom of God that will last through the suffering, and difficulties, and hardships we may go through in this life.
These are some basic traits that come to my mind. Leave a comment if you can think of any I may have missed. LG
In His Service,
Lisa Groen
groenintheword.blog 