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Author Topic: Faith  (Read 6090 times)

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Craig

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Faith
« on: January 16, 2007, 06:40:09 PM »

    Hi Ray,

    Peter says:

    “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall”

    2Peter 1:10     

    This, as you must know is a lot easier said then done. I know I am being called of God, I always prayed for truth. Now that I believe I am as close to it as I have ever been I pray for that truth to set me free [I am free in the sense that I am not entrapped by Christian doctrine] but I am not free from the power of SIN! Does that ever happen? I give diligence to these things but cannot keep from falling. I am awaiting my election because I have not yet been converted! The Lord said:   

     “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

    Luke 11:13 

    Ray, I ask every day. Does a believer get the Holy Spirit at the point they believe or is that something reserved for the elect? What do I do now? What do I lack? Do I have to get out and preach at the churches [as Peter and Paul did in the synagouges]? I need to understand my role with this new truth. Jesus would always also say:   

    “…Sin no more…” [John 5:14, John 8:11]   

    I do not think he said this to just say it. He must have meant it. I don’t want to sin anymore. I don’t want to resist the will of God any longer. I have given diligence to Virtue and godliness and the like. It’s like keeping a diet, I have all of the will power in the world at first, but then I get weak and I fall. In esence, I am asking what must I do to ensure my election. There is something we must do because Peter says so in the verse I qouted above. I have given diligence! So what is next? The author of Hebrews scares me when He says:
     
     “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”

    Hebrews 10:26

    Sorry if I sound like I am confessing to a priest, but I value your thoughts on this. Thanks.   

    Roy

    “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

    James 5:16



    Dear Roy:

    ABSOLUTELY, there are things you "must do," Roy, but don't think for I second that it is YOU who are going to ORIGINATE all of that "doing."  Yes, we MUST live by faith and not sight as Paul admonishes us, but how do we do that, where does that faith come from, etc., etc., etc?

    It is ALL OF GOD.  Faith to believe God, to believe in God, to believe His Word, must come FROM GOD (Eph. 2:08).  It is a GIFT from God.  We don't choose Christ, but rather He chooses us (John 15:16), and we do not come to Christ, but rather the Father drags us (John 6:44).  And we do not produce spiritual fruit. Our spiritual fruit comes from another source than ourselves, it is the "fruit OF THE SPIRIT," that's the source.

    So, is there something you can or must do now, or "next" as you say in order to ensure your calling and salvation, that you can or must do independent of God?  No, of course not. It is all of God. All that you either do or don't do is based on the foreknowledge of God's sovereignty. God will make you sweat bullets before He is done with you, and you will think many times that if YOU don't come up with a solution, you will utterly fail, but in the final analysis, it will be God Who provided the solution THROUGH your bullet sweating.

    Don't become discouraged in well-doing, for God will have the victory in you eventually.

    God be with you,

    Ray
« Last Edit: January 16, 2007, 10:30:15 PM by hillsbororiver »
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