Saved by Grace!
Yes, we are saved by Grace but that is not all there is to it! Not by a long shot!
Grace can create in us the desire to know God and know His son Jesus the man! Most people in the churches today have never gotten past what is called intellectual faith in God!! What I’m about to say may stun you however, here goes. Satan and his demons have intellectual faith!
“You believe that “God is one”? Good for you? The demons believe it too—the thought makes them shudder with fear!” James 2:19 (CJB)
‘You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. James 2:19 (NRS)
So, do you want to remain believing in the manner Satan and His Demons do?
If you say you are saved, and you have not acknowledged God through His son Jesus as the Lord of your life – you have what is called “no faith”. What do I mean? I like the way Charles Stanley puts it using the disciples as an example. “The disciples were human, and their faith went through a process of growth.” Pastor Stanley goes on to say that the disciples displayed no faith during the storm on the Sea of Galilee (Mark 4:40). We are human too! Don’t we have to grow also? Or do we consider ourselves better than the disciples? Do we think the moment we say a sinner’s prayer we have done all we need to do?
“On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” Mark 4:35-40 (NRSV)
When we come to the point that we really need and want to get things right with God and we say a sinner’s prayer and really mean it – the work begins! At that moment God expects for you to show Him you mean it! That takes work! Why? Because we have not yet - ARRIVED!
Babes must grow – but that is not what most people want! People want whatever they want, and they want it now! I call that instant breakfast! God doesn’t work that way and if we want to grow spiritually and if we want to learn what God put us on this Earth for, we are going to have to work for it!
“And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?
I Corinthians 3:2 (NRSV)
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food; for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.”
Hebrews 5:12 (NRSV)
“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation — if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
I Peter 2:2 (NRSV)
After we are done declaring to God something like I’m a sinner God and I want you to come into my life and turn my life around and change me – that is NOT the moment we are handed our doctorate - our PHD in past having doubts! The disciples didn’t and we are not going to either. When you end that type of prayer you are still the same person you were before. You are still going to have your family issues, your quirks, varying degrees of selfishness, etc. However, God has not failed you after that prayer – if you are sincere in what you just prayed, He has placed something into you that will give you the power you need to move mountains in your life!
‘Then the talmidim went to him privately and said, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He said to them, “Because you have such little trust! Yes! I tell you that if you have trust as tiny as a mustard seed, you will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there!’ and it will move; indeed, nothing will be impossible for you!” Matthew 17:19-20 (JNT)
If you truly want God in your life and you have asked God into your life with a sincere and right heart attitude you are - a “babe” in Christ and you have received a deposit of the Kingdom of God like unto a mustard seed. Yes, a deposit. The moment we say the sinner’s prayer, WE Do NOT become full of the Holy Spirit! Reader when WE THINK THAT - we are thinking our self-equal to Jesus! Jesus the son of God was the only one to walk the planet Earth full of the Holy Spirit!
Before you get upset let me clarify something! As you begin your journey with God and as you allow God to transform you and renew your mind in accordance with His perfect will, the Holy Spirit will BEGIN to fill you in accordance with your growth and your gifts.
“AND we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who OBEY him.” Acts 5:32 (NRSV)
“I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 2:1-2 (NRSV)
(sw-h)
Copyright © 2016-2022 Fresh Life Tools, Inc. USA