Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

April 4, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO HELP ME MOVE FROM FAITH TO FAITH

 

ROMANS 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith”. That is where it all starts in our Christian walk. It starts with faith. We must have faith in the Word of God. We must have faith in Christ, and His finished work on the cross. It is what we call “saving faith”, and it is what each of us must have to be saved.

*          Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

However, for us to grow spiritually, the righteousness of God must be revealed to us. Learning the righteousness of God is simply learning the nature of God. It is learning who He is so that we can be more like Him.

1.) First, it is revealed to us by learning God’s Word. It is what we call “Knowledge”. It is learning the truth, the precepts, and the principles.

* Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

2.) Second, it is revealed to us in “Wisdom”. This is the Holy Spirit taking all the knowledge we learned from God’s Word, and helping us to understand it. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. It is understanding, not just the facts, but the Father. It is not just knowing God’s judgements, but knowing God. The Holy Spirit does that.

* Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

3.) Finally, the righteousness of God is revealed to us by “doing”. James 1:22 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only”.  The more we live it, the more we learn about it. It’s taking what we have learned and putting it into action. In order to do that, we must move from faith to faith. That’s how we learn, and that’s how we live; “faith to faith”. We do not just “learn” faith, we “live” faith. Yes we exercised faith when we were saved, but we need to move from faith to faith. I should have a new faith, a greater faith, and a stronger faith than I did when I got saved. The faith I used to trust God in salvation is different than the faith I exercise to trust God with my circumstances. I am putting Faith in the same person, but I am exercising different faith in that person. Christ is always who I put my faith in, but I must exercise growing faith, as I grow in grace. This verse teaches that “the just shall live by faith”. So Faith is not just one single act, or a one time act, it is a way of life. I encourage you today, you need to move from “faith to faith”. Don’t try to exist today on the faith that you exercised yesterday. God‘s mercies are new every day, God gives fresh oil every day, God gives daily bread, and our faith should be new every day. Let me close with this. I remember an occasion when I was in evangelism that I had some bills that needed paid, and I  had no idea how God would take care of that. But I had faith that He would. And he did. Then a few years later I am sitting in a waiting room watching my three day old son have open heart surgery. That day I needed a new faith, a stronger faith, and a different kind of faith than I did when my bills needed paid. That’s what happens when we grow in faith, and live our faith. We learn to move from faith to faith.