Faith Changes Us

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)
If we cannot please God without faith, then what kind of faith does please God? Our faith reveals how well we know God, and when we live by faith, it pleases God more than we can imagine.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)
If we desire faith that is pleasing to God, we pray for His divine help and we seek to live by faith. Faith comes from knowing the Lord, and His love in our hearts is what enables us to know Him.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)
The more of God’s love we have in our hearts, the closer we are to the Lord, and the more we trust His divine ways over our ways.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5)
This is a powerful verse that is difficult to achieve without the Lord’s divine help. About two years ago I read this verse and realized that I was depending too much on my own understanding. I wasn’t fully trusting my life in the Lord’s hands because my self-will was interfering. I prayed that if I trusted the Lord with my life that it would be pleasing to God.
It was a two-year process for the Lord to change my heart to trust Him with my life, to trust His will over my will. I knew in my mind to trust the Lord with my life, but it wasn’t in my heart.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 3:23)
When our hearts change we will experience the blessing of fully trusting the Lord!

Servants of Christ

Our faith will increase and change us, when we live as a “Servant of Christ” and an “Ambassador for Christ.”
We are the servant and God is the Master, and a faithful servant obeys the Master. If we start living life as a servant of God, we will find it to be the most freeing and fulfilling life we have ever lived. It makes us truly dependent on the Lord which brings us closer to Him, and the closer we are to the Lord the more faith we will have. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant (Matthew 20:26)
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:20)
If in our hearts we know we are ambassadors for Christ, we will know that we are living in a foreign land and Heaven is our home. This makes us eternal-minded and pulls our soul into the Kingdom.
Nor will people say, “Here it is, or ‘There it is, because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” (Luke 17:21)
We are now closer to the Lord than we are to the world.
We live as servants and ambassadors for Christ and we become dependent on Christ, which makes us humble. We cannot have a faith that pleases God without being humble.
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6)
We cannot have faith that is pleasing to God if we have pride, because when our will competes with God’s will, that is pride.
We now trust Christ’s will over our will.
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9)
We have faith in God’s ways, because He is God and we are His servant. We don’t have to understand His thoughts and ways, but we trust His thoughts and ways because we know his perfect love for us and that His understanding is above our understanding as the heavens are higher than the earth.

Give God Priority

When we are close to the Lord we will see Him in his infinite love and power, and we will see our sinful nature. We become totally dependent on Christ with an understanding that we are nothing without Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
This verse describes the heart of the apostle Paul who placed all his hope and faith in the Lord; and his life was devoted to serving the Lord.
To fully trust the Lord it is necessary to love the Lord more than anyone or anything on the planet.
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even their own life–such a person cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)
Our love for the Lord is so strong that he uses the word hate as a comparison. The truth is, we are commanded to love our family, Christian brothers and sisters, and all humanity. When we are closer to the Lord than anyone or anything, we will have more of God’s unconditional love in our hearts.
We now place the Lord first in our life because our hearts are filled with His love, and we have a close loving relationship with Him. The more we know the Lord the more we trust Him, and the more we seek to do His good, pleasing and perfect will.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Living as the Lord’s servant, placing Him first in our life, gives us faith that pleases God.

Conclusion

When we trust the Lord to lead our life through the Spirit, we receive His blessings because we are pleasing to God. We are free in Christ and his love in our hearts takes away our fear, and we walk through life with peace and joy.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)
Faith that pleases the Lord changes us because it brings us closer to the Lord and makes us more Christ-like. We now have a heart for God, and we live life to the full.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
Christ gives life to the full which means nothing is missing, and life to the full cannot be achieved without faith that pleases God. Faith changes us!