He Looks at Your Faith - Part 2

Clarification

The other day I wrote a post about faith being accounted as righteousness before God. In this post, I stated that God does not look at your works, but your faith. After I made this post, I had a sister in Christ inbox me with the scriptures coming from "James 2:14-18".

"What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.' Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Reading over these verses, I felt led to clarify some things about my previous post. Let me first say, that I do not object to anything in these verses or the fact that my sister in Christ felt led to share them with me. It is the word of the living God. In fact, I thank her for them. It shows me that she cares enough about me that she wants me to not be in error of God's word. Friend, she is doing what she has been ordained to do.

I'm going to ask that you will read over these verses one more time before you proceed to reading the rest of this post. The verses above help clarify why God accounted Abraham's faith to him as righteousness. When God told Abraham that He would give Him an heir, Abraham believed him (Genesis 15:6). But Abraham also had to do something. Abraham, at the appointed time, had to sleep with Sarah. It was then that she conceived Isaac, the promised heir. Abraham's faith in God led him to do the works that led to the conception of Isaac.

This matter of works is a totally different matter than the one I discussed in my previous post. However, for you to have the full understanding of it is just as important. In both matters of faith, God still looks at your faith and not your works. One has to do with you believing in God to make you righteous rather than you thinking that you have to do everything right or by the book. It has to do with you not allowing the enemy the room to make you think that you are a worthless person because you make a mistake. The other has to do with you believing in God and your faith in God causes you to keep yourself pure before God.

Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. And what James is saying in the scriptures above coincides with that. Your faith in God drives you to live the righteous life that Jesus died for you to live. Your faith in God drives you to want to be the best that you can be before God. Even if you make a mistake, you repent, get up, dust off, and keep going............by faith. My brother, my sister, every work that you do before the eyes of our Father in heaven will not be perfect. But the fact that you have faith in Him allows him not to look at your works. He looks at your faith for the reason why you do the works.

Abraham's faith in God had to show that he believed in God. Put it this way, I don't believe you or I would be confessing to be a child of God while the things we do and say scream everything but a child of God. Your faith in God produces the fruit of that faith. When you love God, you will obey God. When God is the driving force of your faith, you will have works. You will change the way you talk, walk, think and act. Yes, faith without works is dead. But the predominant factor here is this........God does not want you to think that the things you do is what makes you righteous before Him. Your faith.......your faith is what He sees above everything else. Your faith in why you live the way you live and do what you do to glorify Him is what He sees. Again I say, God looks at your faith.

Blessings,

He Looks at Your Faith

"And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)

In the day-to-day of living life, how often do we find ourselves struggling with the fact of what we have done and have not done? Does it ever get us to the point where we feel as if we know not what else to do? Do we ever find ourselves throwing up our hands to God in the sense to give up when we feel as if we've failed? We struggle with doing this and that because we think within our own minds that God requires all of these things from us. Well today I have good news for you........Your struggle is OVER!

 

During my studies this morning, God showed me something very profound about the life of Abraham. At this particular time in Abraham's life God instructed him to go forth to a land that he would give him to possess. He had promised him to give him descendant's as numerous as the stars. God promised him an heir. But Abraham didn't see how this would happen because he had no children. Abraham stated to God that God hadn't given him any offspring. He was childless. Let's pause right there and look at what Abraham said............"You have given me no offspring." From this verse, the first thing I learned is that Abraham knew where his blessings came from. He knew that whatever he received came from God. Even though he was a childless man at the moment, He knew that God was the one who could give him children.

 

Although this is not the major point of my post today. It was one that I felt needed to be stated to bring me into the point of this post. God promised Abraham that his heir would come from his own body. And when we read Genesis 15:6, we see that Abraham believed God and that his belief was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham's belief in God was based on his faith in God. In other words, Abraham's faith made God count him as pure, sinless, and holy before Himself. God did not evaluate Abraham as righteous because everything he did was right, but because he had faith in God's ability to make him righteous. (Spirit-filled Student Life Bible, Word Wealth, pg.24)

 

I recall a time in my life where I used to be really hard on myself for not doing things right before God. I allowed the enemy to bring me into condemnation. It made me feel worthless and powerless. Then one day as I was spending time with the Holy Spirit, He showed me that it was not about the things that I did, but about my faith in the "One" who died to make me righteous. It was not about the fact that I had to keep the law, but about the "One" who came, fulfilled the law, died and rose again. It was about my faith in Jesus Christ. That revelation came to me in the year 2010.

 

I love the fact that God loves us so much that He reminds us of things that He has already spoken to us. Apparently, I must have forgotten and lost sight of this simple truth. God had to give me a gentle reminder through the life of Abraham. As He has spoken this to me, friend, He is also speaking to you. What is God saying? "My son, my daughter, I do not look at your works. I look at your faith."

 

Here, fellow reader, is the greatest example of this revelation that I can give you as God gave it to me. I will bet that you never thought about the reason why God says that He will remember your sin no more. In our day we refer to that as Him throwing our sin in the "Sea of Forgetfulness". I'm not sure we have even grasped the power that is within this fact. It's simple, yet profound. When we come to God in wholehearted repentance, He forgives our sin and forgets that we ever committed it. Why? You ask. Why would he? He does this because He is not looking at our works. He's looking at the fact that we believed in Him enough to realize that the act we committed was against Him. We believed in Him enough to kneel before Him to repent and ask for His forgiveness. He's looking at our faith.

 

It takes faith to believe in God, for without it, we wouldn't be able to please Him (Hebrews 11;6). For us to come to Him in repentance says to Him that we believe in Him. So therefore with that, God is pleased. Just as Abraham's faith made him pure before God, and it was accounted to Him for righteousness..........our faith does the same. It is our faith that keeps us pure. It is the fact that we acknowledged Jesus as being the Head of our lives. No work that we can ever do will account for much before God. The only work we need is the working of faith. For when He looks down from heaven and see that we are confessing the name of His Son, Jesus, He sees our faith.

 

What work are you trying to do for God today? Is it a work of doing things right before God in hopes that He sees your work. Or, are you working your faith, that He will look down from heaven and be pleased? Child of God, don't worry about doing everything right. God looks at your faith.

 

 

A Measure of Faith

I'm humbled by the opportunity that has been given me to write after such a long time away. The time that I have been gone was time much needed to reflect, prioritize, pray and pray some more. When it comes to the progress of my home building, I believe that we are well on our way. The privilege God has given to be able to come to the throne of grace and let my requests be made known is one that I hold dear to my heart (Hebrews 4:6). So shall I let you in?

The word of God says that God has dealt to every man a measure of faith. That includes me. And the reason for that measure of faith is so that He can carry out His will and purpose in our lives. The book of Hebrews states that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). You cannot call yourself a believer of God and have no faith. The two are contrary to each other. But when joined together, they are a mighty force in our lives. Or should I say my life? Over the course of days, I've realized a lot of things: 1. Faith in God is what allows me to carry out the works of God. 2. I am powerless without faith. 3. I have everything I need in God alone through faith. I do not feel led to go any further than that. But I close on this note that now works must follow my faith (James 2:26). I must do the things necessary and make the necessary sacrifices to show my family that I love them. Most importantly, God loves them more. I know the steps that I've made since my last post are stepping stones to victory in Christ Jesus. Blessings.

So as the body without the spirit is dead, 

so faith without works is dead also.

(James 2:26)