Live by Faith

Though we are accustomed to living by sight, we are instructed by our Lord to live by faith instead (James 2:14-26). The fact is more can be grasped, experienced, and accomplished by faith than by any other means. You see, when we live by faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we embrace a Reality and Relationship that is absolutely without parallel in the entire universe. This opens the way to wonderful realizations for the child of God immersed in fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Truly, what is more exciting than being hooked up with the Creator Himself! Since this relationship is with God, we need not fear living by faith. He is totally trustworthy (Heb. 6:16-20)! Faith encompasses the means of entering a relationship with God, how we grow to genuine maturity in Christ, and how we deal with the challenges of living out the plan of God for our lives.

Before going any further, it is helpful to focus briefly on what faith is. Faith is trusting God and His Word. This excludes any notions of a certain feeling things will work out well or mere optimism. Faith always has a biblical basis; it is never whimsical or merely imagined. God has spoken in His Word and we can believe Him. Faith must have God and His Word as its object in order to be biblical. Faith is only as good as the object it is trusting in. If we are trusting in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, then we are focused on the only truly deserving Object of faith. While people may believe in anything or anyone they choose, faith in any other object besides God in Christ is essentially a waste.

Faith is placing confidence in an honest God who revealed Himself in history, the Scriptures, through Jesus Christ, and creation (Heb. 1:1, 2). He is the correct Object of faith because of His faithful character. He can be trusted in every scenario. All that He has communicated to us can be taken to heart and believed with every fiber of our being. Faith also involves acting on what God said; it is characterized by obedience. The test of genuine faith is activities and efforts that evidence that faith. Faith without works is actually dead, illegitimate, and disingenuous (James 2:14-26). Real faith manifests itself in a lifestyle of cooperating and obeying God’s commands.

Dr. Wiersbe brilliantly summarizes faith saying,

Faith is a key doctrine in the Christian life. The sinner is saved by faith (Eph 2:8 9), and the believer must walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7). Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6); and whatever we do apart from faith is sin (Rom 14:23). Someone has said that faith is not "believing in spite of evidence, but obeying in spite of consequence." When you read Hebrews 11, you meet men and women who acted on God's Word, no matter what price they had to pay. Faith is not some kind of nebulous feeling that we work up; faith is confidence that God's Word is true, and conviction that acting on that Word will bring His blessing.

We are challenged repeatedly in the Scriptures to live by faith as Believers in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). God expects every Believer to function in relationship with Him, the World, and the unseen realities on a basis of full confidence in Him and His Word (Heb. 11 & 12). Always remember, faith is at the very foundation of a genuine relationship with God (John 3:16; 1 John 5:1-5). We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sin.  Christ died in our place taking responsibility for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15: 1-5; 2 Cor. 5:17-21). Our trust in His work initiates a faith-relationship with the Most High God. Trusting Jesus Christ is paramount (John 1:10-14).

Since our Christian journey begins with believing God, we can only grow and flourish on the same principle of faith in God (Heb. 6). Thus, faith is mandatory for authentic Christian maturation and development in the energy of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 3). So, we are converted through faith and we must continue in faith. Living for the Lord in the power of our old fallen nature is utterly impossible, though many Believers attempt this form of hypocrisy (Rom. 7). Authentic spiritual formation transpires under the influence of the Holy Spirit producing Christ-likeness in the yielded Believer. It is imperative that we conscientiously trust the Spirit of grace to produce Christ in us and project Christ through us. It is the Spirit who makes Believers spiritual (Gal. 5:22-26).
Finally, faith is the strategy we employ to handle all the challenges we will encounter while living for the glory of God (Heb. 11 &12). So far we have observed that we are saved, and sanctified as we believe God. Now, we note that we can be strengthened through faith as well. To endure the challenges, persecutions, and hardness that often accompany discipleship will require a steadfast confidence in God. If we are to appropriate the grace, power, wisdom, and divine provisions into our personal experience, we must exercise faith in God's promises (2 Pet. 1:3, 4). Too often fears, past failures, frustrations, and doubts interrupt our confidence in the Lord. We must resist the tendency to focus on these matters though they must be addressed in some manner. Faith allows us to face and handle the impossibles while keeping them in proper perspective. All of our challenges are limited, temporal, and impotent in the shadow of our sovereign, eternal, and omnipotent God. This is true with zero exceptions. Therefore, no matter what the scenario, God can handle it without even braking a sweat.
There you have it; by faith we are saved, sanctified, and strengthened. Again, faith is foundational to our relationship with God, and it is required for living and growing as a genuine believer. We also observed how faith is our strategy for handling all the challenges that accompany living for God in a wicked world. So, how shall we live now that we are saved? Let us live by faith. Really, "life" begins when we do so.