Staying Alive

The faithful have a faith that is staying alive day by day.

Faithfulness is a process.  We live, we try, we fail, we sin – but the faithful then repent, turn to God again, and move on in faith, believing God that we will be stronger next time.  The faithful develop a pattern of an overcoming faith.  The pattern we strive towards, each day, is: we live, we conquer, we act by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Believers do not accept sin in their life as normal and acceptable before God.

James 1: verses 2-4.   ² Consider it nothing but joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you fall into various trials. ³ Be assured that the testing of your faith [through experience] produces endurance [leading to spiritual maturity, and inner peace]. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result and do a thorough work, so that you may be perfect and completely developed [in your faith], lacking in nothing.

Source: Being faithful, little by little

Through all our struggles, we keep our eyes on Jesus, saying yes to Him and saying no to sin – following Him by faith. When we accept Him in sincerity and truth, 0ur works begin to show that our faith is staying alive.  For…

⁶ But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him. – Hebrews 11:6

“Faith without works — is dead.” (See: James 2:18-26)
James is saying – we have no faith if we have no works. It’s dead.  “No works – no faith.”

If we have no actual fruit giving evidence of “our faith”, then our supposed faith in Christ is no faith in Christ at all. It’s a fake. It’s a “no-faith faith”.  Worthless. You, “foolish fellow“, are insanely living a lie.

Let’s talk about “salvation in Christ” versus “fake faith”.  What’s up with you, amigo?

• Salvation goes hand-in-hand with “Christian life”. If you have no Christian life, then you have no salvation.
• If the core of your being rejects parts and pieces of what Christ taught, then you have no salvation. Or, said differently:
• If you only accept parts and pieces of Christ’s message, then you are not wholly given to Christ — and God does not accept that.  He demands a whole faith.  He rejects incomplete surrender.
• God is the One who will judge you: He alone will say, “This one is fake.” No one from earth can judge you that way.
• It’s plain and simple: Fake faith in Christ…
  • refuses to live a biblical lifestyle
  • accepts beliefs outside Christ’s own teachings (“extra-biblical doctrines“; Counterfeit spirit of god)
  • adds it’s own beliefs to what is the plain and simple biblical truth
  • Maintains an unrepentant heart
• The fruity fake faith fool produces bad fruits – and is by them condemned (Titus 1:15-16).
• God condemns all who accept what is heinous to Himself:
  • Your own beliefs contradicting God’s biblical message — are heinous to God.
  • All unbiblical actions (“works”) — are vile to Jesus
  • Rebellion against being more Christian,  following a biblical worldview and Christ-like lifestyle
• Those with a fake faith are:

“… those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed. – Titus 1:15-16

---

Jesus loved us to such an extreme – that He went to the cross so that we can be saved.  But He is also holy.  He will not go so far as to allow sinfulness into His Kingdom.  His holiness limits his loving us – to such an extent that He must condemn sinners….

…God is not only “love”. He is also the Judge.  His justice system cannot simply open His pearly gates to us all.  With a holy God there is a holy standard from which He will not deviate.

We cannot just waltz into heaven on our own terms.  We cannot simply walk in with all our sins on our back.  We must first meet the requirements of His justice inside His Kingdom – and that requirement is that we have our guilt declared forgiven by the Judge. The Judge must declare us “not guilty”, or we are forever guilty.
– Extreme to the nth degree

---

The teachings of Jude 1:20-25
  The Christian endures

²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on some, who are doubting; ²³ save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  – Jude 1:20-25

Build yourself up in your faith. (v20)
The outliving of our faith will be “consistent with repentance”:

“So produce fruit that is consistent with repentance [demonstrating new behavior that proves a change of heart, and a conscious decision to turn away from sin]  – Matthew 3:8

Pray in the Spirit. (v20)
He is always inside us – so we can simply talk to Him, verbally or quietly in our mind with self-talk prayer. We do not need anyone else to pray with us.  Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. No priest, no pastor, not someone more mature in the faith: pray directly to God.

Keep yourself in the love of God. (v20)
Rely on the Holy Spirit inside you.

Live in the imminence.  Live in that constant expectancy of “waiting”.  Wait expectantly “for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life” (vs 21).  He is coming to get us, soon.

“Soon and very soon,
we are going to see the King.”
Same audio by: the Kaoma group
& Andre Crouch (in concert)
& Andre Crouch (on album).

We expectantly await the imminent return of our most eminent Savior, immanent within us through the Holy Spirit. (Mind your i’s, e’s and a’s here.)

Google meanings:

Imminent: “about to happen; likely to occur at any moment; impending”

Immanent: “is an adjective meaning “dwelling within.”
…most commonly used to describe a spiritual presence.”

Eminent: “(of a person) famous and respected within a particular sphere or profession”
“used to emphasize the presence of a positive quality.

---

We look to God in the Bible “…so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”  – Colossians 1:10

Do you want to accept Christ – so that the God of Heaven declares you “forgiven”?

Do you know what happens when you get reconciled, when you actually repent and are born again – reborn from above?

When I reconcile with God everything changes!

1. Instant Forgiveness  1 John 1:9
2. Condemnation Voided  Romans 8:1
3. Legally Declared Perfect  Colossians 3:3
4. Promised Eternal Life  John 3:16
5. His Forever Child – Now  1 John 5:13
6. Eternity Starts at Salvation  1 John 5:13
7. Made Brand New  2 Corinthians 5:17-21
8. All Things Become New  2 Corinthians  5:17-21
9. Adopted By the King of Kings  Ephesians 1:5
10. Holy Spirit Lives in Me  1 Corinthians 3:16
11. Nothing Can Take Me Away  Romans 8:31-39
12. He Holds Me Safely in His Hands  Jude 24-25
13. I Can Die Peacefully.  2 Corinthians 5:5-9
    Source: Getting Right With God

He is asking you to repent now – before you suddenly, without warning, get whisked up before Him to eternal condemnation.