This past weekend I had the opportunity to join about 50 other ladies from WCC on a retreat! It was a great time of fellowship and fun and I enjoyed many conversations. The speaker, Lisa Martin, taught on Seeing Beyond in Faith. Today's "blog" is basically a summary of what she had to say, with some of my own thoughts intermixed. Hopefully you recognize what great truths there are for each of us on faith and the Gospel. The speaker's website is posted at the bottom.
One of the first things the speaker wanted to emphasize was the meaning of faith. Hebrews 11:1 is a crucial verse to understand the biblical meaning of faith. The verse says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
As a believer, we know that it is our faith that justifies us. The moment that we place our faith in Jesus we are considered righteous. But, we know that our faith doesn’t just stop once we’re justified but that throughout our life, we are being sanctified. Not only do we have faith, but we receive faith from God as a gift. It is something that grows and develops as we mature. Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith. The books of Romans and James also both speak to faith being a part of our justification but then also how we are moved to action in our sanctification process.
So, our faith is necessary for our justification and our sanctification, but God’s love and faithfulness is never contingent on what we do. His faithfulness is consistent with His character. The Old Testament tells us of humanity’s lack of faith yet God’s continued faithfulness. Abraham and Sarah did not have faith in God’s promise to have a son and father the nations. Yet He was faithful. Hagar did not have faith in God’s promise for her and her son. Yet He was faithful. Job’s wife did not have faith in the midst of many difficulties for her and her husband. Yet He was faithful.
God uses the trials, tribulations, disappointments, suffering, and our messes to perfect our faith. We’re brought back again to 1 Peter. As we remember from my last "blog", Peter wrote this book talking about believer’s sanctification, specifically in the context of persecution and suffering. Peter tells us that we were chosen to be reborn, but that this rebirth is also accompanied by new behavior.
1 Peter 1:6-9 says,
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (ESV, emphasis added)
The speaker used these verses to come up with the reason, result, and reward of our trials:
Reason - prove the genuineness of our faith
Result - give praise, glory, and honor because of the revelation of Christ
Reward- inexpressible glorious joy and the salvation of our souls
So we see that during our trials, we have rationale to hold onto our faith. However, there are enemies fighting against our faith. Our three enemies are our flesh, the world, and the devil. These things work together to hurt our faith. Three specific things that the speaker focused on that hurt our faith are fear, pride, and regret. She said that these things are things that steal our faith.
Fear and worry are things that happen to every human, but really are a result of doubting God. So, the antidote to fear is having faith and trust in God. (Easier said than done, right!) Philippians 4:6-7 tells us that we do not need to worry and can instead pray. In Christ, we have the power to face our fear and rise above it.
Pride is something else each person deals with. Pride can cause us to be harsh and judgmental, fault-finders, desperate for attention, defensive, and unforgiving. These symptoms of pride really describe a deeper problem. The root of pride is an underlying belief that we can exist and thrive without God, just like the first sin of Adam & Eve. That is basically the opposite of having faith. So, humility must be the antidote to pride.
The speaker came up with 4 things to cultivate a humble heart:
Recognize who God is (John 15:5)
Be grateful (1 Thes. 5:18)
Put others' needs first (Mark 10:45)
Give and receive forgiveness (Eph 4:32)
Regret is the last thing (that we went over) that steals our faith. To be a faithful follower of Christ, we have to live without regrets. Regrets cause us to be self-focused rather than Christ focused. Romans 8:1 says, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our sins are forgiven. When we live in regret, we are living as though we are not forgiven. We must still repent of our sins (1 John 1:9), but regrets do not change our future, strengthen our faith, or improve our joy.
Though we do have enemies and things that prevent us from having faith, God's faithfulness is not contingent on our faith.
Faith in God renews our hope. As we continue to know God, we continue to see His faithfulness in our lives. We can have faith and joy by depending on Him and trusting in His promises for us. We can glance back, but we must stare forward with hope in what Jesus has for us in this life and in eternity.
It seemed like each topic the speaker brought up on faith could be brought back to the Gospel. Our faith saves us and because we are saved we have faith. Then our faith impacts each area of our Christian walk. We must not live as though we do not have faith, but rather allow our faith to point us back to Christ, transforming the way we think.
If you read anything, remember this!! (the Gospel)
God created us to be in relationship with Him, but our sin separates us from Him. We cannot do anything to rectify the broken relationship. Buutttt... Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again, conquering sin and death. When we place our faith in Him we receive eternal life that starts now and will last forever. This eternal life sanctifies us as we continue to become like Christ. Even when we are not faithful and we face trials in our faith, God's character does not change. So, He was and will always be faithful. And though there are things that fight against our faith, as we continue to be conformed to the image of Christ, we can have peace in the faith that we have. Faith which has justified us with Christ, thus restoring our relationship with Him.
2024 Retreat Speaker - Lisa Martin - https://www.lisamartinministries.org/about
