…republished and revised from the article: Staying Alive
And he will be like a tree firmly planted [and fed] by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season; Its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers [and comes to maturity]. – Psalm 1:3
The faithful
Faithful Christians have a faith that is staying alive day by day. Our faith in Jesus stays alive, enduring to the end — because Jesus truly made us brand new inside. We were born again! Have you been born again? See:
| A New Creation |
| Born Again. Reborn from above |
| “The spirits of the righteous made perfect” |
Salvation in Christ
Salvation is done by God “to us” when we repent and receive His grace. It’s not happenin’ if we do not repent of our sin.
We accept Him – and He does the work of salvation. It is receiving God’s grace through faith alone. It is also called “getting born again“, or “getting saved“. It is no ordinary experience.
Becoming a new creature was something He did to me by His grace. I did not do it. He is the One that changes us into His eternal sons and daughters – not we ourselves. And what He has done – nothing can change. (Read Romans 8:38.)
– Source: That Moment In Time
Salvation alters your reality.
God actually and forever adopts you into His Family, and makes you ready for Heaven, His Home. It is a spiritual transformation done by God Himself.
You will look the same after being “born again”, but in that very moment — your dead spirit is made alive 1 as the Holy Spirit of God immediately comes into your spirit to reside in you forever. Wow! That is fine!
See: Bible Study Guide: Ephesians – With Dr. Peter Larson
When we are “saved”, life changes for us. We are called by Jesus to forever live our life on a higher level. We are no longer just “mere humans after all”, puny and dead in spirit. No. We are adopted into His Family.
At that exact moment in time, “Old things have passed away” – and new things have come (2 Corinthians 5:17). Are you seeing that in yourself?
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. We believe 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. We reject sin, confess and repent of it, and move on.
– Source: Edited excerpt from Being faithful, little by little
Maturity and lacking in nothing
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. – James 1: verses 2-4.
As long as we are “this side of the veil” – life is tough and we feel our “incompleteness”. But, 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 with sincerity and truth, our 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.”
James is saying – we have no faith if we have no works. It’s dead.
“No works – no faith.”
(See: James 2:18-26)
A “no-faith faith”
If we have no actual fruit (as a result of salvation), which should be 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.
“salvation in Christ”
versus
“fake faith”
Let’s talk about “salvation in Christ” versus “fake faith”. What’s up with you, amigo?
IF… Then you have no salvation
The Bible tells us very clearly:
- If you have no Christian life, then you have no salvation (James 2:18-26). Salvation goes hand-in-hand with “Christian life”.
- If the core of your being rejects parts and pieces of what Christ taught, then you have no salvation. 2
And then He answers our doubts as we examine our self. We can know we are saved. It is God’s will that we be saved. Today Jesus continues saying, “Whosoever will may come.” See: Acts 2:21; John 3:15-16; John 12:46.
– Source: The moment of IF
It’s all or nothing
Is your surrender to Jesus incomplete?- 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. (Matthew 3:8)
- He demands a whole faith. He rejects incomplete surrender.
I am enough… in Christ
No matter who you are – it’s all about Christ.
If you have so far rejected Christ – Christ is your only salvation.
If you are drawing close to God – Christ is the only One you need.
If you are a phony baloney “fake christian” – Christ asks you to be genuine and truthful, and repent.
If you think you are maybe not truly saved – Christ says “now is the acceptable time“.
If you are already saved, you must remain in the vine, in Christ. For more, read: John 15.
– Source: I am enough
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 (See: “extra-biblical doctrines“; Counterfeit spirit of god)
* Adds it’s own beliefs which pervert the real Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Paul* 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
Titus tells us that 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 1:15-16From: Extreme to the nth degree
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.
– Source: Extreme to the nth degree
The Christian endures
According to the teachings of Jude 1:20-2520 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.
Build yourself up in your faith. (v20)
The daily act of “living-out” your 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. Always. Never leaves us alone. 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 to God directly.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!)
Provided by Oxford Languages, Google defines these words:
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?
If you accept Christ as Lord and Savior – then the God of Heaven will declare you “forgiven”.See: | The ABCs of Salvation |
Do you know what happens when you get forgiven, when you actually repent and are born again – reborn from above? Everything changes.
When I reconcile with God
everything changes!-
- Instant Forgiveness 1 John 1:9
- Condemnation Voided Romans 8:1
- Legally Declared Perfect Colossians 3:3
- Promised Eternal Life John 3:16
- His Forever Child – Now 1 John 5:13
- Eternity Starts at Salvation 1 John 5:13
- Made Brand New 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
- All Things Become New 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
- Adopted By the King of Kings Ephesians 1:5
- Holy Spirit Lives in Me 1 Corinthians 3:16
- Nothing Can Take Me Away Romans 8:31-39
- He Holds Me Safely in His Hands Jude 24-25
- I Can Die Peacefully. 2 Corinthians 5:5-9
– Source: Getting Right With God
He is asking you to repent now.
“Now is the acceptable time“… before you suddenly, without warning, get whisked up before Him to eternal condemnation. Wouldn’t you rather have His legal forgiveness?TOP PIC: Springs of Living Water — mike-lewis-headsmart-media-waAAaeC9hns-unsplash-scaled.jpg
FOR MORE:
Excerpt: God promises – and He delivers
Jesus did not come down to earth to condemn us (Verse 17 of John 3:14-19). He does not get angry with our sinfulness so that He then angrily takes away our salvation.For those who have accepted Him with sincerity and truth — all sin is forgiven – past tense. It was done for us by Him. And further sin by us does not “undo” that salvation that He gave us.
We are saved by His grace and sheer mercy. Not by anything we could do to deserve it. The work of salvation is of God, not of us.
Promises God makes about our salvation
What God asks of us in the Bible
Being 100% given-over to Jesus
Salvation in Christ is beyond huge
In Christ I am a strong person
Footnotes
- References to “dead spirit” and made alive in Christ: Ephesians 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 1:18; James 2:26; 1 Peter 4:6; Romans 8:10; 1 Timothy 5:6.
Paul sows that seed of doubt, questioning each of us:
* If we have become one with Him [permanently united]…
* If you have been raised with Christ…
– Source: The Moment of IF.
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