For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
You may have heard it said that faith moves God. It sounds good, but is it true that faith moves God? Let it be clear, God already moved in sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. It's a fallacy to think that there's something we can do to make God do anything. Let's not mistake pleasing God for moving God. Faith pleases God, but does not move Him. Whatever good we do so that God will in turn do something is not grace, because there's no good we do that can make God do anything. God, on the other hand, has finished everything that will ever need to be done in our lives through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. The only thing that we can do is to appropriately respond to what He has provided for us in Christ Jesus, and that appropriate response is faith. This is grace: God has done all that will ever be needed, and He didn't do it because of any good thing that we did.
Those under the law do things so that God will in turn do something, but not so for those under grace. Under grace, we do things not so that God will do something, rather, we do things because God has finished everything. Said differently, our actions are only in response to what God has finished in Christ.
Our faith in God does not create any new thing, rather, it lays hold on things that God has already done. Grace creates, faith receives. We miss it when we assume that our faith moves God to do things for us, no, our faith only receives that which God, by grace, has already provided. For example, faith does not make God to heal us, He already healed us by the stripes of Jesus Christ; what faith does is to appropriate the healing that is already available, and make it ours in experience. Grace is a finished work, while faith is a continuing response to the finished work of grace, that is why the just lives by faith. What faith is looking for has already been made available by grace, faith's work is to receive it. What are you looking for? Is it salvation, deliverance, healing, prosperity? All of these have been catered for by grace, for by grace are you saved through faith. Faith's work is to lay hold on what is already available in Christ.
Toni
You may have heard it said that faith moves God. It sounds good, but is it true that faith moves God? Let it be clear, God already moved in sending Jesus to die on the cross for us. It's a fallacy to think that there's something we can do to make God do anything. Let's not mistake pleasing God for moving God. Faith pleases God, but does not move Him. Whatever good we do so that God will in turn do something is not grace, because there's no good we do that can make God do anything. God, on the other hand, has finished everything that will ever need to be done in our lives through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. The only thing that we can do is to appropriately respond to what He has provided for us in Christ Jesus, and that appropriate response is faith. This is grace: God has done all that will ever be needed, and He didn't do it because of any good thing that we did.
Those under the law do things so that God will in turn do something, but not so for those under grace. Under grace, we do things not so that God will do something, rather, we do things because God has finished everything. Said differently, our actions are only in response to what God has finished in Christ.
Our faith in God does not create any new thing, rather, it lays hold on things that God has already done. Grace creates, faith receives. We miss it when we assume that our faith moves God to do things for us, no, our faith only receives that which God, by grace, has already provided. For example, faith does not make God to heal us, He already healed us by the stripes of Jesus Christ; what faith does is to appropriate the healing that is already available, and make it ours in experience. Grace is a finished work, while faith is a continuing response to the finished work of grace, that is why the just lives by faith. What faith is looking for has already been made available by grace, faith's work is to receive it. What are you looking for? Is it salvation, deliverance, healing, prosperity? All of these have been catered for by grace, for by grace are you saved through faith. Faith's work is to lay hold on what is already available in Christ.
Toni
