The Bible tells us that:
“For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”
Romans 5:19 NKJV
It is the obedience of Jesus to the will of God, the Father by coming to the earth to save us, that has made us righteous. Righteousness became imputed to us on the basis of our faith, in that single act of Christ’s obedience.
And in the same manner our acts of obedience to God’s word, will open up our hearts to being filled with His fullness (Ephesians 3:19). God can’t do anything to change the world, without the acts of our obedience. For Him to change the world He will have to work in you and through you.
Christians who are obeying the Lord at all times and by all means, are the ones who are in His perfect will. They have His wisdom within them for all things in life. To them the wisdom of God is accessible with their faith, because they are trusting and obeying Him.
They trust in Him for guidance by faith into doing exploits for good success in life. They have the excellent Spirit of the Lord within them, as they are advancing into the height that the Father had set before them. These ones are not limited by anything for as long as their acts of obedience to the Lord is complete.
By being totally obedient to the Lord in all things, they are protected by Him. The Lord God watches over them at all times. He will never leave them or forsake them. He gives them the wisdom that is needed into the mysteries of His Kingdom.
Such Christians are like the man with the five talents in the Parable of Jesus, who had received one talent from the man who would not fully obey his master. Jesus had said in that Parable about this man with the one talent:
“So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”
Matthew 25:27-29 NKJV
Being fully and completely obedient to the master, gave the servant with the five talents the success, that he had with them in doing business. He was willing to do something great with his faith, and with what he had received from his master.
We can see from this Parable of Jesus the benefit of fully obeying God. It paid off in a huge way for this servant, who knew what his master expected of him and did it. The servant with the one talent had the same faith like the one with the five talents, but he had refused to obey the master.
Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). It’s a good thing for us to hear or even know, what to do with God’s word which gives us faith. But what we are evidently doing with our faith, is what determines the height that we can ascend to in the things of God’s Kingdom.
Some people are like the servant with the one talent, who had buried it. Christians who do have faith in God, but who are doing nothing with it, are not different from this servant. They can’t grow in the love of God to the extent of doing exploits, with what they have received from the Lord.
Righteous living will make you stronger in His love
God’s grace is only available for those who are doing something with their faith. The Lord will take them into doing new things for His Kingdom. As they are being faithful in what they do have, more will be given to them:
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.”
Romans 2:13 NIV
Righteous living has nothing to do with what we do know about God. There are many people who do know about God’s way of doing things, but they are doing nothing with what they do know about Him.
They do know about God’s grace, and had tasted of His glory before. But unfortunately, they are not obeying Him anymore. They know how to tap into His grace by faith, but they have chosen the pathway of the wicked, as they’d started envying the prosperity of the wicked.
They have fallen into the same trap as that servant with the one talent. When a child of God ignores the faith that he has, the enemy will bring the images of the prosperity of the wicked before him.
And the moment he begins to envy the wicked in his prosperity, he is deceived by the evil one to start imitating the wicked. But the end result of that type of prosperity is not good (see Psalms 73).
When we are abiding in God’s word, we are showing the Lord that we do love Him. Love is the summation of the commandments of God:
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
I John 4:7-8 NKJV
The faith of a believer in Christ will not work, if that Christian is not walking in love. When we are walking in love (agape), we are walking side by side with the Lord. He is the Lord God of glory, whose glory is His love in us – His glorious loving-kindness.
A Christian who is not walking in love has the God’s kind of faith that is unactivated. He has faith in God, but can’t use it for anything in life, because of the absence of forgiveness and love, towards those who have offended him or her.
Love (agape) is the language of your faith walk with God. It is what will make you successful and prosperous in life. A righteous man grows deeper and deeper in the love of God, because his faith has been activated with that love. He grows in love for as long as he keeps on abiding in God’s word with his faith.
A Christian whose prayers are not being answered has a clogged up heart issue with the love of God. And there are people who do live in the flesh, who are exploiting others as they pay lip service to loving them.
If as a Christian your prayers are not being answered by the Lord, you will have to check on your love life. What is your attitude in the way that God’s love permeates through your heart to touch others around you?
Are you walking in love towards those who hate you? The absence of love will keep your prayers unanswered (Matthew 6:14-15). Loving people is a decision of the will. You will have to make up your mind never to allow anything, to stand in your way of loving others.
Agape is the language of God
Jesus again said:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:15-18 NKJV
When we are obedient to the Lord, we are telling Him that we do love Him. This is how we show our love for Him. A Christian who is slow and slothful to obey the Lord is telling Him that, the relationship with the Lord is not as important for him or her.
There are Christians who will only remember the Lord when they are in trouble. The only time they pray is when trouble comes knocking on the door. As long as there is no trouble in their lives they don’t pray. They don’t read the Bible and they don’t go to Church, as long as things are going on just fine.
These are the people who just like the simple average lifestyle as Christians. They have faith in God, but the lifestyle of faith is only relevant to them, when trouble comes across their pathway. They see no reason for living by faith, as long as the enemy is not after them. To love the Lord God more and more is too much for them. They love the world more than they do love Jesus.
The devil knows them, and he does everything to keep them lukewarm at all times with their faith. If you are not facing opposition from the evil one to your faith, then you are obviously not growing in agape (God’s love). You do have it, but you are not using it.
Such Christians can’t move above the average lifestyle with their faith, for the abundance of the good things. They want good things, but they will rather get it in the same way as the unrighteous people are doing. The faith talk is good for them, but not the faith walk. And as a result of this, their love life is clumsy before the Lord.
But when trouble comes you will see them tripling in their Church attendances. They will start reading the Bible like never before. When there are no problems again, they will say bye bye to the Church and bye bye to God. Their attitude towards the Lord God is like that of a friend, who only comes visiting you when he needs something from you.
Our relationship with the Lord is not meant to be like that. He is sovereign in our lives. He is omnipresent and omnipotent in all of our ways. Nothing in our lives is hidden from Him. He sees all our movements and actions in life.
How can anyone treat the relationship with such a Friend like that of a stranger?
The place of faith and love in prayer
That’s why we breath prayer at all times, because it’s our means of communicating with such a close Friend like Jesus. Our relationship with Him becomes even stronger, when we are abiding in His word at all times (John 15:7).
Prayer becomes powerful when we are in love with God’s word and His commandments to us. The Holy Spirit can only help those who are committed to obeying God’s word.
Jesus has never left anyone even while they are in disobedience to Him. He is near to them, but He can’t really do anything to help them. His hands are restrained by their acts of disobedience from helping them.
When people are quick to repent, they will see the Lord doing many things for them.
Jesus said:
“ .. If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
John 8:31-32 NKJV
By abiding in His word we are telling Him that we have faith in Him. We are telling Him that we do love Him. Our faith in the Lord is revealed through our acts of obedience to His word. Obedience to the Lord is our act of love for Him. This spiritual truth will set anyone completely free into the wisdom of God.
No one can get access to the presence of the Father through prayer, by cherry-picking what to believe in His word. We don’t have that option as His beloved children. The Lord disciplines those who He loves (Hebrews 12:7-11).
Unfortunately there are people who will believe God for salvation, but they can’t bring themselves to the point of believing in Him for healing.
Whereas it’s the same faith that we have for our salvation, which brings us healing. It’s not a different kind of faith.
The Bible says:
“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.”
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV
If you are a diligent seeker of God’s purpose for your life, you will be greatly rewarded by the Lord for this. And some of His reasons for loving you, is to save you and heal you. Faith in God is exhibited by seeking to know Him and His way of doing things. We diligently seek His word for healing, because we know that He loves us, and He wants to see us healed.
We therefore can’t say that we have faith in God, without having faith in His love. There are many people who have faith in God, but they don’t have faith in His love.
No one can be diligent in seeking God, without having faith in Him and in His love. You will need to have faith in the love of God, to become a diligent seeker of God. Without having faith in His love you can’t find Him, because God Himself is Love (agape). And everything about Him is Love (agape). Love is the language of heaven.
It’s impossible to have faith in God without having faith in His love. God’s love is the basis of everything that we receive from Him, when we are praying to Him. You will need to have a heart of faith and love, to be able to receive the answer to your prayer.
Faith in His love opens a floodgate of His abundance into our lives. We can’t have faith in God without believing in His love for us. Love is the basis for everything that we receive from God.
He saved us because He loves the world and sent His Son, Jesus to prove that love for us. He healed us of all diseases and sicknesses, because of His love for us. Our deliverance from the hands of the enemy is due to His loving-kindness towards us. His abundant life is as a result of His love for us. He prospers every work of our hands, because of His love for us.
Remember that no one can ever love you as Jesus does. The Bible says:
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8 NKJV
And again:
“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
I John 4:9-11 NKJV
There are those who think that faith in God’s love has to do with their feelings. But they are dead wrong. You don’t have to feel loved to know that He loves you. His love is based on His blood sworn oath. His written word guarantees that love for you. All you need is to get into the scriptures daily, and meditate on His love for you.
If you are waiting for some feelings, be very careful because the devil will get some of those feelings across your way. He will bring circumstances across your pathway to arouse your feelings.
Faith in the love of God (agape) in the lives of those who are waiting for some feelings, is like the faith of Thomas, who had said concerning the resurrection of Jesus:
“ .. Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
John 20:25b NKJV
They want to experience some feelings before acknowledging that God loves them. Like Thomas they want to experience some physical feelings from the Lord God, before they can believe in His love for them. And these ones can’t stand before the Lord in prayer, because they are waiting for some feelings before they can pray.
Prayer to them is essential only when they have some negative feelings about life. As long as everything seems good enough around them, they don’t pray.
In reality however a true believer in God sees prayer as the only breathe for life. Prayer is not based on how we feel. God’s written word forms the basis for all of our prayers to Him.
Do you have faith in God and in His love? Begin today by activating His love, for your faith to work as you are praying for others. You can begin by learning to pray more in the spirit. You are praying the mysteries of God for others in this way (1 Corinthians 14:2).
There are Christians who are filled with the Holy Spirit, but who can’t pray for others in this way. They are clumsy in their love walk. They are unable to live in forgiveness towards people. In most cases that is the major spiritual problem in their lives.
When you have truly forgiven people, the love of God will activate your faith to start praying and interceding for them.
These are the Christians who are doing exploits of faith and love through prayer and intercession. Are you one of them?
Through tribulations and trials the love of God has made them perfect in love. This is what the Holy Spirit does in them:
“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Romans 5:3-5 NKJV
