Skip to main content

I Still Believe

 I Still Believe

Jude 3 – “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”

            Jude, the half-brother of Jesus writes to encourage us to “contend for the faith.” The faith encompasses Christianity as a whole. “To contend for the faith is to defend the faith with all your strength, and both by true doctrine and good example of life.” David Guzik in his commentary on Jude defines the faith, “The faith” doesn’t mean our own personal belief, or faith in the sense of our trust in God. The phrase the faith means “the essential truths of the gospel that all true Christians hold in common.”[i]

What is our faith declaration? I still believe. The following statements form a declaration of faith:

·      I still believe the only hope for humanity is Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10 says, “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’” 

·      I still believe the Bible is the Word of God. It does not contain the words of God, but is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. Paul wrote concerning this in II Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

·      I still believe in the power of prayer to bring transformation. Prayer is not a religious ritual where we earn favor with God, but it is a life-giving discipline that brings transformation. Terry Edwards writes, “Prayer is our power source. It is the way we link up with God and plug into the energy source that allows us to move in the authority that we have been given.”[ii]

·      I still believe there is power in the blood of Jesus. Some would argue that the doctrine of blood atonement is out of date. A modern church has evolved and the teaching concerning the blood of Jesus is no longer relevant to our times. I Peter 1:18-19 says, “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

·      I still believe in the power of holiness. We are called to live holy in an unholy world. I Peter 1:16 instructs us, “because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

·      I still believe in the power of a Spirit filled life. I believe that every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to live the overcoming life. I believe we need to experience an infilling or be refilled with the Holy Spirit until we are changed into the image of God, and we no longer fear the devil.

    What is my declaration of faith today? I still believe. 


[i] Guzik, David, Online Commentary, https://www.blueletterbible.org/geneva-study-bible/notes/jde/chapter-1#s_1167003.

[ii] Edwards, Terry, “The Leadership Challenge,” Christian Equippers International, South Lake Tahoe, California, 1998, Page27.

 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Declaration of Ownership

Psalm 24:1-2 – “The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the waters.”               Psalm 24 is the third part of a trilogy with Psalm 22 and 23. David opens Psalm 22 prophetically with the words Jesus would say on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?” Psalm 23 reveals our Lord as the Great Shepherd who cares for His sheep. Psalm 24 reveals the Lord as the King of Glory.  Psalm 24 begins with a declaration of ownership. The Psalmist identifies the Lord as the Creator. Psalm 24:2 says, “He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the waters. Psalm 89:11 says, “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them.”  The beginning of cr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rebuilding the Broken Altar of Prayer

In Matthew 21: 12-13 , “ Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Jesus made this declaration, “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”  I believe that God is calling us back to the altar of prayer.  For several weeks the Lord has dealt with me about rebuilding the broken altar of prayer in our personal and corporate lives.  If we are going to see spiritual breakthrough in our churches and communities then we must rebuild and return to the altar of prayer. Wayman Rogers writes, “The ministry of prayer is the most important of all ministries in the church.  Prayer creates the atmosphere and binds the powers of darkness so the gospel of Jesus can go forward and the church can prosper....
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tent Peg of Jael

Judges 4:21-22 – “Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her  tent,  there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.”             The book of Judges covered a chaotic time in Israel’s history.   A key Scripture for Judges in found in Judges 21:25, “Every man did was right in his own eyes.” There were seven cycles of apostasy, where the covenant children of God would turn away from the principles of the Word of God.             When they had godly leadership they would serve the Lord.   When that leader would die they would turn f...
1 comment
Read more