JUNE RADIO MESSAGE THE GROWTH OF FAITH A fter we have found our confidence and assurance of e t e r n a l life through f a i t h in the Lord Jesu£ Christ, we should be concerned with how this faith may be developed. One of the Bible’s classic verses on this is found in Galatians 2:20, a portion of which tells us in Paul’s inspired words, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave him self for me.” Faith is viewed as some thing imparted to us by the Lord, rather t h a n s om e t h i n g we have achieved by our own merit. There is no such thing as faith in nothing. It is that in which we believe which pro duces faith. So, from the Christian point of view, faith is produced by God revealing Himself to our hearts and minds. As a result we must be willing to give up our faith for His. It is my privilege and responsibility to rely upon the Lord resting fully and com pletely upon Him. There is the need for our growth or spiritual maturity along the way; faith is never static. This is why there must be a deepening acquaintence with the God in whom this faith will be placed. We do this through the revelation of the Lord in His own wonderful and precious Word. There needs to be the mainten ance of a spiritually yielded life. If you are out of fellowship with Jesus Christ, your faith cannot grow. When our hearts condemn us confidence in God is absolutely impossible (I John 3:18-22). Much of the unbelief and doubt of our day is the result of in ferior and sinful living. When life i3 harmonized and surrended to Jesus Christ then the faith of Christ will take command of the human life. Trials and testings are to faith what the proving ground is to the new automobile (I Peter 1:7). One would think, in view of such a beneficent in carnation as the coming of Jesus Christ to save lost men and women, that the world would have given its
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royal Visitor enthusiastic welcome. How utterly disappointing and star tling to realize that the majority of people will not even recognize Him. The world enrolled Him, collected His tax, but it knew Him not. The way of man, however, is not the way of God, and will always issue in eternal sepa ration from the Lord. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Great Physician. One Example is the inter esting account given in John 5:8-9 where the Saviour speaks to the crip pled man, “Rise.” The Bible says that immediately the man was made whole. What tender compassion He showed in the revelation of His supernatural power. Never did He see the sick with out being moved with pity and sym pathy. What was true with the physi- T IM E TO TRUST When nothing whereon to lean re mains When strongholds crumble to dust. When nothing is sure but that God still reigns That's just the time to trust. cal state of man is more supremely evident in the spiritual realm. This one suffered for 38 years with an in firmity which rendered him helpless. The Lord places so much more value on the soul than He does on the body. For spiritual healing, as with physi cal, it is necessary to have faith to be lieve that God is and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek after Him. Faith, then, is our basic trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. As with this man of old who by faith reached out his hand, the moment doing so God touched him through Christ so that he became a new body and soul, so we, too, need to reach out for cleansing and forgiveness. May you be able to say, “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” 35
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