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Grace Thru Faith - STUDY

Pleasing Faith

Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and He longs that we trust Him. But what is faith, and what is trust? In our own lives we all have those people that we trust; and those that we don’t. Trust in a person is won or lost as we build up a knowledge of that individual. The ability to trust is within the capacity of us all.. for as babes in arms, we all trusted. And a little child was exemplified by the Lord as one whose trust we should emulate.

Rare Commodity

Humility and trust, identified in a little child, blend into what we should all be. But even one experience of disloyalty or worse can shatter the ability to trust..as protective barriers are erected and defensive strategies established– so that there is no possibility that 'another' will let us down. Sadly, in this fallen world trust is a rare commodity, as those we once trusted fail us. And throughout life, from the cradle to the grave – some people just let us down. And Satan feeds this lack of trust into myriads of strongholds imprisoning the heart.

Strong Prison

One travesty of this is that mistrust across the board, becomes the norm in life, as a myriad of strongholds begins to be erected in our lives, as a protective shield. Strongholds of suspicion; Strongholds of doubt; Strongholds of mistrust; Strongholds of confusion; Strongholds of fear and strongholds of unforgiveness. Strongholds that develop wrong attitudes; wrong patterns of thinking; wrong beliefs or behaviours. Strongholds producing fear; depression; distrust, independence and often denial. Strongholds that result in self-condemnation, guilt, worry and a life of defeat. And the Israelites’ life of bondage in Egypt reflects this ever-present prison today.

Crafty Tool

Though designed to 'protect' our heart from being hurt again by fellow men, strongholds are the crafty tool that the enemy uses to crush our trust in God. Such 'protection'f chokes the heart into a defeated, overcome, and depressed life. Failures of friends and family, morph into an ever-increasing mistrust of all. But this is not the whole story – rather the tiniest tip of a titanic, toxic iceberg.. for such protective strongholds cause a lack of trust and faith in our faithful God.

Strategy of Satan

Satan’s entire strategy in the life of all believers is to build up distrust of God. No 12-step program has been developed to address life’s developed strongholds –though many attempts have been made. And many who respond to such schemes become more embittered and disillusioned and thus another layer of mistrust is added, until a soul is choked of hope. Satan seeks to overcome every believer by exploiting strongholds in our lives, but there is a way to victory, and a way to overcome this enemy of the soul. There is a way that strongholds built, and erected over a lifetime can be torn down.

Surrendered Heart

Help and healing comes from total surrender of your entire being to the Lord..surrender of all and everything in your life – past present and future..surrender of all past, present and future hurt, guilt, pain, fear, doubt, and worry.. surrender of it all to Him will result in freedom to trust in His love. This is all that He wants from us.. just that we trust in His love. And the best and most effective way to build up faith in God is to know His Son. It is to know the Lord Jesus – Who will reveal the Father to us unsparingly…

Intimate Knowledge

Remember the words of a great saint of God who trusted Him… he wrote:- We cannot trust anyone further than we know them. So we must not only learn the facts involved, but ever more intimately come to know the One Who presents and upholds them. This is Christ’s prayer for all that are His:- that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3. Satan’s entire strategy in the life of all believers is to build up distrust of God – and God longs that we trust Him but trust only grows as we get to know the person.

Precious Promise

Peter wrote: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness – through the knowledge of HIM that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:2-4.