teach the Word of God are them selves evidence of its effectiveness. Their minds have been changed and their hearts warmed as a re sult. This wonderful work of faith oc curs in your heart and life, turning you to God and away from idols. You have been directed away from yourself and those false ideas about God. When you start putting your confidence in God you can receive those things which you so desper ately need. But this is only the be ginning of faith. There is the fol lowing labor of love. Such will find you serving the Lord in every way possible. Verse 9 explains it fur ther, "serving the living and true God." That is what the labor of love really is. When we put our faith in God, as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, there opens before us the wonder ful possibility of fellowship with the Almighty. It means serving Him, loving Him, waiting upon Him for the blessings we need, and then dispensing them to others so des perate all around us. Believing in God moves us to lovingly serve Him with our heart, love, sub stance, time and talent. This is called by Paul "the patience of hope." Hoping for something does not mean it will occur today. You develop patience while waiting for the realization of the thing hoped for. The ultimate of our hope, of course, is the personal return of Christ. We are not yet like Him, but we will be in a coming glor ious hour. Such a heaven-sent de sire cultivates within us the quality of waiting. Have you had a beginning of believing in God in your own life and experience? You have heard
THE BEGINNINGS OF FAITH . . .
The most wonderful privilege in all the world is for a mortal man to be able to put his faith in the Lord. This would not be possible if God were not self-revealing. He wants men to know Him. Everything God has for us is in Christ and received by faith as we place our trust in Christ. This faith comes by hear ing, and hearing by the Word of God. In I Thessalonians, after Paul expresses appreciation to these people in behalf of Silas, Timothy, and himself, he testifies, "We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers. As we recall without ceas ing your work of faith, your labor of love, and your patience of hope in the sight of God and our Fath er." He tells them how it all started: "Our Gospel came unto you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." It is God's will that the Gospel be given to every man, in the pow er of the Holy Spirit. The blessed Holy Spirit has given us this good news in the Scriptures. The hearer is brought under the influence of the incorruptible seed which is the Word of God. The Spirit plants it effectively in his mind. Peter speaks of it as the process of natural gen eration. Therefore, your hearing of the Gospel makes your heart be come the womb in which Jesus Christ, the Seed, is planted so that life can begin. The message comes to us by the enlightening, energiz ing, and enabling power of the Holy Spirit. Those who preach and Page 28
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