OPEN HEAVENS DEVOTIONAL - MONDAY - 25/10/2014 - LIVING BY FAITH - BY PASTOR E.A. ADEBOYE

LIVING BY FAITH

Memorise

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

Hebrews 10:38

Read

Mark 11:22–23

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Message

Faith is part of the nature of God. God lives by faith, and every child of God is expected to live as God lives. Are you a child of God? You are expected to live by faith. You are expected to live to please God and Him alone. Hebrews 11:6 says:

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Faith can be defined as trust, strong belief and unquestioning confidence. Faith means belief in God. It is the belief that God can do what He says He can do. Faith is belief in God’s word. You need to have faith in God! Generally, there are two kinds of faith. These are: physical or natural (human) faith, and spiritual or supernatural faith. All human beings have some measure of faith. You need faith for salvation, sanctification, justification, wholeness or health of the spirit, soul and body. You need faith to live the Christian life, to walk the Christian walk, to remove the obstacles blocking your way to heaven, to live holy, to live above the world and to enter into the rest of God. However, it should be noted that faith standing alone is not sufficient. Certain things need to be added to it (2 Peter 1:5-10). It is risky for a ministry to be built on faith alone because it could die as a result. This is because, as the faith on which such a ministry is founded begins to die, the ministry itself will also begin to die.

Do you want to live by faith? First, have the faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20). Then add virtue or good behaviour to your faith. Ensure that you live holy and righteously. To virtue, add knowledge. Don’t allow ignorance to destroy you. To knowledge, add temperance and to temperance, add patience. To patience, add godliness. To godliness, add brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, add love. Secondly, let everything added to your faith abound in you. Be diligent in making them flourish in you. It is dangerous to live by faith alone. If you fail to add virtue and other qualities to your faith, you might end up becoming barren, unfruitful, blind and short sighted. For you to live by faith therefore, you should first and foremost be born-again, and diligently develop your faith to reach the measure of that of the Son of God. Pray constantly in the Holy Ghost and live in perpetual obedience to the will of God. Hate sin and shun bad company, ungodly habits, pride and false doctrine.

Action Point

No life is more fulfilling than living by faith. Begin to live by the faith of the Son of God today.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR

1 Kings 12-13

Proverbs 17:15-28