Faith Is Required in God’s Kingdom
ICS Daily Devotions
Matthew 14:31 (NKJV) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
The greatest struggle in the Christian walk and the fight of faith is whether to choose to continue to believe in the Word or succumb to the natural pressure in the form of facts and figures. The deciding factor is faith in God and His Word. It is a matter of how convinced we are regarding what God has spoken. The faith muscle is developed by exercising our faith and stretching it.
In the passages of Jesus calming the storm and Peter walking on water, Jesus would have been an unjust God if He hadn’t told the disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side” (Mark 4:35), or given Peter the Word “Come” (Matthew 14:29). Therefore, Jesus did have some expectations towards His disciples after He had spoken to them, which is to have faith in His Word.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Although God loves us whether we live by faith or otherwise because God’s love for us is not dependent on anything we do, for God to be pleased with our lives and have pleasure by our lives, we must live by faith. We are to believe and have faith like the centurion that there is tremendous power and authority in the Word of God, especially when it comes to walking in the will of God for our lives because it will help our faith to have an anchor despite the ever-changing circumstances!
It means once God has given us His Word for His plan and will for our life, it is a done deal. We are to take God’s Word for it for God and His Word are one!
There is nothing radical about faith because we either believe that God exists, or He doesn’t. If we are a believer of Jesus Christ, the lifestyle of faith is inevitable, because the Christian life is a walk of faith on earth till we enter heaven. If we believe that Jesus has gone back to prepare a place for us, we are pilgrims on earth, and we should be walking out our faith in God, practising and serving Him with our gifts and talents because we know that heavenly rewards await us. Instead of just living to make a name for ourselves, let us choose to live by faith and carry out great exploits for God!
Sermon Series: Walking on Water
