Faith

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Gift of Faith

5I am calling up memories of your sincere and unqualified faith (the leaning of your entire personality on God in Christ in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness), [a faith] that first lived permanently in [the heart of] your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am [fully] persuaded, [dwells] in you also. -2 Timothy 1:5 (AMP)

Paul sincerely loved Timothy. Manuscripts and historians alike will agree to this fact. Timothy was Paul’s spiritual son or his son of faith. What a wonderful blessing of God for him to be mentored, sharpened, honed in the spirit and encouraged by the likes of Paul. Yet here we see in his last letter to Timothy, Paul directing him to the faith that first lived in him through his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice.

What is faith? Hebrews 11:1 states:

1NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

I really like the simplistic explanation that the Amplified Bible offers here, particularly the “title deed”. Thinking about it from one side of the spectrum, from a car, to the other side being a house, can you imagine the feeling when you hold the “title deed” and the bank no longer does?

You continue to make those payments in faith because you know the consequences if you don’t. Do you ever walk around your house and think, “This is not my home, it belongs to the bank”. Do you invite people to dinner at the banks house or your house? When you turn the ignition in your car are you thinking that it is a borrowed car? Or are you driving it as yours? Ahhhh!

You not only have possession of it, but you are living it as if you already hold the “title deed”. The only time you consider it NOT being yours is if you can’t make the payments. Why: because the one holding your “title deed” doesn’t really care about your circumstances, they are motivated by their own.

Is that how you are walking out your faith with God? Let me assure you, Jesus Christ paid the bill, secured the “title deed” and you have been stamped PAID with the indwelling of His Holy Spirit!

Satan is a liar, he has been defeated, so when he comes banging on your door threating to repossess your soul, get behind that signed, sealed delivered stamp of the One holding the title deed!

6Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]. –Ephesians 6:16

Your faith, how you live it, is one of the greatest gifts you can ever offer someone. Souls can be won, people saved and delivered by how you allow God to move through your life. Consistently throughout the Bible, we are moved by the stories of people’s faith. Read Hebrews 11.

Your life bears witness, but what does it bear witness to? Are you a faithful ambassador of Christ? Or are you proclaiming Christ with your mouth while your fruit bears witness to something else?

17A wicked messenger falls into evil, but a faithful ambassador brings healing. –Proverbs 13:17

How often have you personally been moved by someone else’s story of faith or healing? If you sit and think about it for a while, who do you know in your life that represents faith to you? If you had a prayer need that required a prayer partner, who would you go to and why? What is it about someone else’s walk that has influenced yours?

In this past year I was visiting my mother. We were on the way to my grandmother’s house. Since my Aunt Theresa passed away, once a month all of the remaining sister’s (five of them) get together for a lunch at my grandmother’s house. It was a real treat to be able to attend. On the way over, I was able to talk to my mom. I told her, of all the things that she had given me in my life; I wanted to thank her for giving me Jesus.

Now, I know that God gave us Jesus and that Jesus laid down His life for us, but my mother made the choice to take me to that church so I could learn about Jesus. By the time my baby sister was two, my mom had become so soured on the church (not Jesus), that she (my sister) didn’t have the same opportunity that I did.

I also thanked an aunt that has always been particularly close to my mother. If it hadn’t been for her faith and her urging at the time, my mother would not have been influenced to even seek a relationship with the Lord.

You know the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make them drink”? It’s true. But I bet if you got down on your hands and knees, plunged your head right in there and lapped that water up it would sure make it more appealing to the horse.
What is your faith condition? Are you struggling right now? Call on Jesus!

24At once the father of the boy gave [an eager, piercing, inarticulate] cry with tears, and he said, Lord, I believe! [Constantly] help my weakness of faith! Mark 9:24

Encourage one another in the faith!

2And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's servant in [spreading] the good news (the Gospel) of Christ, to strengthen and establish and to exhort and comfort and encourage you in your faith 1 Thessalonians 3:2

Remember your life, who you are, who paid the price for your “title deed”. Fan the flames and stir up the gift. Live on purpose this holiday season, so that the “Gift of Faith” packaged in you, outshines all of the other wrappings and bows under the tree.

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