Romans Chapter 4 cont'd
He (Abraham) believed God who raises the dead and has the prophetic power to call the things yet future, as good as done. Against all odds, he continued to hope and believe that God would give him a son and make him a father of many nations. Even after he turned one-hundred and both he Sarah were beyond the age of conceiving children, he grew strong in faith without surrendering to unbelief and kept praising God, fully convinced that God would do what he said he would. Again, it was his faith that was counted to him as righteousness.
Now this was not just true for Abraham; that his righteousness was by faith. It applies to us, who will also receive God's righteousness if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was sacrificed for our trespasses and raised again so that we might be made right with God.
Comments:
Jesus said that there is great power available when two people agree in prayer before God. But there is even greater power available when we agree with God Himself (and...most importantly about who Jesus is and what he has done for us in his death and resurrection). And this...I believe...is the essence of what exercising faith is about. There is a passive side to it because, when it comes to miracles, only God's power can accomplish such things and we humbly wait for Him to act and move...even upon us. But there is also an active side to faith as well.
Dallas Willard has said that faith is present when “my whole being is set to act as if something was so.” This is how Abraham lived before God...not perfectly, even in his case...but substantially over the course of his life. Abraham not only received God's gift of righteousness at the beginning of his friendship with God, but he also walked in God's righteousness by embracing an ongoing posture of agreeing with God and acting accordingly with the strength that God provided him. It's not a bad goal to consider adopting...to seek to agree with God with my whole being...as best as I can discern His heart and mind...yet without becoming arrogant about any way in which I come to understand His truth.
Father, may I act today as if Jesus died to wipe away my guilt and shame and rose from the dead to give me the free gift of Your very own righteousness. May I be conscious that Christ lives in me as I live out the life and circumstances You have arranged for each moment of the day and evening that lies before me.
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