God said in Heb 10:38 "Now the just shall live by faith". Who are the "just"? Are you? If you have received Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior, then you have been justified before God by and through the blood of His Son Jesus and therefore you have been placed in right standing with God (you have been made Righteous). You have been delivered from the power of darkness (this world's system and from the god of this World, the devil) and translated (to carry from one state to another) into the Kingdom of the Son of His love (the Kingdom of God).
Therefore the child of God, the Believer (the just one), has been commanded by God to live by faith. God said "shall", not should, so I'm not sure why the majority of the church feels as if they have an option. To not live by faith is to be in disobedience to God. Now Heb 10:38 is very clear. Then why is there so few of God's children living by faith? Why would they disregard God's command to them and live another way? If you aren't living by faith, then why aren't you? Heb 11:6 says it's impossible to please God without faith, so if you are trying to please God any other way (most likely by your works) you are not pleasing God. The only way to put a smile on God's face is by believing Him (that is faith). I didn't say by believing "in Him" for that is nothing more then mental assent (knowledge of Him), I said, "believing Him" by believing His Word or by believing what Jesus says for He is the Living Word of God made flesh. If you believe Him, you will be doing what He says. If you believe "in" Him only, then you'll be doing what everybody else thinks and says is the right thing to do.
God has said, "the just SHALL live by faith". Jesus said, "when I return, will I find faith on the earth"(Luke 18:8). Why is it so hard to find faith on the earth when 70% of the people in this country (U.S.) profess to be Christians. You know the term Christian means we are to be Christ like or just as Christ. When you look at Jesus, you see a man (the Son of Man) living by faith in God. Do you look like that? Why not? God has commanded us to live that way, then why can't I find anybody doing it?
Because faith comes from God and it is given to man, so that man can believe his God. It's the very thing God uses to enable fellowship between Himself and His children. God declares His Word, and the child of God believes it and receives from God. They have fellowship one with another. It's truly pleasing to God when His children believe Him.
Faith was designed by God to be used in the Spiritual Realm. Faith is a spiritual force that was to be used by a spiritual being (man) to interact with His God, but when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden after being deceived by the devil, his spirit died, and he lost his spiritual contact with God and the Spirit Realm, and now had to survive without God in the Natural, Physical Realm and take care of himself. (Does this sound familiar?)
The Good News is that Jesus went to the Cross and paid the price for Adam's sin, and ever since the Cross, man has been given a way back to a right relationship with God by receiving the sacrifice of Jesus as his own payment for his sin by making Jesus the Lord and Savior of his life. This man is now born again with a brand new spirit that is free from sin, the Spirit of Jesus Himself. And now the ability to believe God is now residing in his heart once again and that is why God commands the man to live by faith, because God knows the man has the ability to do it, and it is that pleasing fellowship that God desires with him.
So what's the problem? Everything has been put back in it's proper place between God and man. However that same one (the devil) that deceived Adam in the Garden, is still doing the same thing today. Unfortunately, the born again man today (the church) is more willing to believe the lies of the devil rather than the promises of God. Why?
One reason and one reason only. They choose to walk according to their flesh and not according to the Spirit. (Rom 8:1) Faith operates in the unseen realm of the Spirit, but the majority of God's children try to live by faith in the natural realm and it just won't work there. They take the Word of God and set it up next to what they see and feel and the devil comes to confirm what they see and feel, and then speaks lies about the Word of God not being true for their situation, and the child of God becomes deceived and agrees with the devil instead of agreeing with God.
Rom 8:5-6 says, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death (separated from God's Word of truth by the devil's deception) but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (this is God's realm, the realm of the Spirit where faith from a man can hook into the life of God).
So there is your answer. I see the Church, but I don't see faith. 2 Cor 5:7 says, "For we walk by faith and not by sight", but the majority of the Church has another version of that scripture that reads, "for we walk by sight, and not by faith", because they say this is reasonable and faith is unreasonable. Here is why the Church persecutes the man among them that walks by faith. They side with the devil to do all they can to destroy this man of faith, because they want to hold fast to what they believe and are threatened by someone who would literally believe God at His Word.
The carnal man (Christian) says, "I just call it as I see it" (not as God sees it). If he is sick, he will say he is sick, and he will say that until he sees something else.
The spiritual man (Christian) says the same thing, "I just call it as I see it" (as God sees it). He is not looking at what the carnal man is looking at. He instead is looking at what the Word of God says about his situation and he believes the Word over what he sees with his natural eyes but rather declares what his spiritual eyes see by calling those things that be not as though they were (Rom 4:17). Do you know who else does that? God Himself!! And His kids should be acting just like Him?
When God looks at your house, will He find faith there? You have no excuse before God. If you are born again, He has placed the measure of faith in you (Rom 12:3). What have you done with it? God says you shall live by faith, what do you say?
