Eph. 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
I can remember the fog of unbelief that shrouded the vision of Christ from my heart for many years. It was the gentle wind of the Holy Spirit that blew the fog from my senses and created an atmosphere of faith in my life. It wasn’t a struggle or a labor for faith, suddenly Christ was real to me. As I yielded my heart and life to this new found love, a sense of His immensity began to fill my life. I often wonder how it started and why it started in my life. My only conclusion is that I was set apart by God by the work of His Spirit. It wasn’t anything in me that started the process in motion, it was strictly His sovereign pleasure. He loved me and wanted me in His plan. Just as Paul said in today’s verse, faith is a shear gift from God. Here are some thoughts from Andrew Murray about God’s gift of faith.
“True faith bows before God in the deep realization of His greatness, of His power to work wonders in our hearts, and of His loving care for us. We must be convinced of our utter inability to produce on our own this love, which is holy and can conquer sin and unbelief. We need a burning desire to receive instead this heavenly love into our hearts, whatever the cost may be. Then we shall gain an insight into God’s Word as a living power in our hearts. This supernatural power is a gift from God through the Holy Spirit living and working within us. It is not something that we can generate in our own strength.”
So if this all makes sense to you and you have entered into this world of faith please don’t allow apathy to set in and steal the beauty and freshness of His incredible love. After you enter the world of faith by God’s gracious gift the work of faith begins. We labor at entering into this rest of faith. What do I mean? We must press in by searching the scriptures daily. He lives and walks in the pages of the Bible and will meet us regularly there. We must also labor by stirring up the gift of God in our lives. How do you do that? For me the easiest way is to pray in my heavenly language and live in an atmosphere of worship. The Word and the Spirit, this is how we walk in faith.