Faith That Works

Romans 4:4-5
When people work, their wages are not a gift.
Workers earn what they receive.
But people are declared righteous because of their faith,
not because of their work. (NLT)

The apostle Paul is telling us what God said of Abraham (Genesis 15:6) many centuries before as an illustration of faith in contrast to works. Paul is expanding on the declaration of justification by faith, saying that the act of declaring a person righteous before God is set completely apart from any kind of human work. If salvation were based on our own effort, God would owe salvation as a debt to be paid—but salvation is “always” a sovereignly given gift of God’s amazing grace (Ephesians 2:8); the gift that no one deserves, nor can be earned. For a gift is just what it is—a freely given. It is only those who relinquish all claims to goodness and acknowledge their ungodliness who become candidates for justification (Luke 5:31-32).
When a person faithfully receives the greatest gift ever given to mankind and repents of their ungodly living, the Holy Spirit of the Living God will take up residence in your heart and give you all that you need to live a righteous life that will not only benefit you, but everyone around you as well. The only way that I am able to fight the sinful nature we all inherited, is with the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within me. There is absolutely no other way that I or anyone would be able to fight the good fight well enough to win the battle for our souls without God’s sovereign strength and wisdom. And the only way to victory and everlasting life, my friends, is by accepting the gift of His saving grace and then live faithfully in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

A Whisper of Hope
Accepting My gift faithfully…dear child, brings joy to My heart. For the only way to survive the pounding this world gives is by your living in Me and I in you—and then believe. The beating you take from this world is nothing compared to the glory that awaits you in Paradise. But in order to get there, My child, you must walk with Me in faith; in the Light that will show you the Way.

Genesis 15:6
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD
declared him righteous because of his faith. (NLT)

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. (NASB)

Luke 5:31-32
And Jesus answered and said to them,
“Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick.
“I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”