Good afternoon friends: My name is Joan M. Blake and today, I will be presenting the second of a series of six messages taken from the book of Galatians.
In our previous podcast, I discussed how to abide by the spirit. Today I am going to discuss living by faith and what it means to take up our crosses and follow Christ. Following Christ is never easy especially for those of us who are dealing with troubling life-issues. But in our difficult experiences, God is doing something unique in our lives. He is using our troubles to develop our perseverance and character (Rom 5:3-4). Moreover, we can entrust our problems to our Lord Jesus Christ who is our burden-bearer (Matt 11:28-30), the One who gives us hope.
The Bible states that hope does not disappoint us because of the love that is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5). When we confess our sins, accept Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives and believe that He died on the cross and rose again for our justification, we receive salvation and eternal life. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and we become the family of God living a life of faith.
Faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb 11:1 NASB). You and I believe the things God has promised although we cannot see them. God expects us to exercise faith for He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a re-warder of those who seek Him (Heb 11:6). Just as Abraham believed in God, and received the promises, through faith, and it was counted to Him as righteousness (Gal 3:6), we who believe, have that right relationship with God and will receive the blessings of Abraham through faith in Christ (Gal 3:14). While our life-issues are troubling, exercising faith will produce peace, as we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2), who knows the beginning and the ending and has a plan for each of our lives (Jer 29:11).