January 10, 2010

Dear Friend,

Life as a Christian is a life of faith. This is a simple, yet profound, statement that must be deeply inculcated into the heart of every person whom God calls. Satan attempts to make us look to the physical for things that we need, but true life is a life based on faith. What is faith? It is the knowledge that whatever God promises us He will fulfill at our request if it is spiritually the best thing for us. When we are converted, we are required to repent towards the Lawgiver, God the Father, but our life is a life of faith towards Jesus Christ who died to cleanse our sins. “...testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21

A Christian’s life must be by faith. We cannot feel free from sin until we understand that once we receive the Holy Spirit our sins are forgiven by repentance and faith that we have been forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. The only way we can live a life of freedom is by faith. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."   Rom 1:17 The freedom that a Christian has is by the fact that when we sin we can go, in faith, to God and ask for forgiveness, and it will be given. Then, we can go on in life realizing God has forgiven us. That is how we live by faith.

Faith is given by the Holy Spirit; it is not something we can work up. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Eph 2:8-9. It is pure reliance on God––not worrying about how we can gain forgiveness by works. It is because of God’s love, not because of what we do. Sometimes, in our sermons on Christian Living, the ministry so strongly emphasizes what we have to do that we forget it must be done by God’s strength, not ours. That comes from wanting to control our lives, but it in reality we have no control of all the forces around us. A Christian must quietly submit to the directions and control of God.

God writes to us what He wants for us, then it is our decision as to whether we follow or not. God gives the law; we choose the way we want to go. “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;” Deut 30:19 When we choose wrongly, then we can go to God asking for forgiveness in a repentant attitude, and God forgives us. We are carnal as well as spiritual, so we naturally make mistakes. God love us which is why He gives us a way of escape from the penalty of the sins that so easily beset us. He knows we are weak. We are not fighting just a physical battle that we can conquer by our physical strength; it is a spiritual battle against the “Prince of the Power of the air.” We cannot be led to believe that our own power will deliver us from sin. It takes the power of God. That forgiveness comes by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. When we absolutely know we are forgiven then, and only then, are we free from the bondage of Satan. Until we realize that, we are often under the depressive spirit of the creator of sin. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” Rom 8:2 You are guilty until your sins are forgiven, so just ask God for freedom.

In the service of Christ,
Ronald W. Laughland

Pastor