FAITH WORKS THROUGH LOVE
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6 NKJV)
Faith is based on knowledge, not a mental or intellectual knowledge, but revelation knowledge of God. The level of faith, trust or confidence in God you manifest is directly proportional to your depth of revelation knowledge of God.
You cannot trust God beyond or above the truths you know about God. You cannot trust God implicitly if you don’t know Him intimately!
Paul states, “So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.” (Rom. 10:17 NLT).
He further queries, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them.” (Rom. 10:17 NLT).
Sadly, many believers and servants of God today who are supposed to be preaching the Good News about Christ and His finished work of redemption to people so that they may know the love of Christ and so put their trust in Him are often maligning and misrepresenting God to the people.
Faith is not just acknowledging, knowing or recognizing that God is the Almighty and that there is nothing too hard, difficult or impossible for Him to do, but much more than this, it is knowing that because of His great love for you, God has used His divine power to give you all things that pertain to life and godliness through Christ Jesus (2 Pet. 1:3).
True and living faith is not merely based on the revelation knowledge of God’s supernatural power, but more importantly on the revelation knowledge of God’s supernatural love.
Many believers today who know that God can do all things still struggle to trust God wholeheartedly because they are yet to know how much God loves them.
Without a clear and deep spiritual insight, understanding, or revelation knowledge of God’s perfect, unconditional and infinite love for you in Christ Jesus, you will always struggle to trust God’s willingness to do all things for you even though you don’t doubt His ability or power to do all things.
It is one thing to know that God has the power to do what you are asking for, but it is another thing to know that God is willing to grant you your requests because He loves you so much and He is well pleased with you in Christ Jesus.
Sadly, many believers today who have no doubt about God’s ability do have doubt about God’s willingness simply because they are not fully convinced that God completely loves and accepts them in Christ. Consequently, they are constantly battling with unbelief and doubt.
True faith cannot flourish and function well without love!
The Scripture clearly reveals that faith works through love.
Galatians 5:
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (NKJV).
Though you know God’s power, but if you don’t know God’s love, your faith cannot work well or produce any significant result. Faith only works through love!
The more you recognize, believe in, and appropriate God’s love for you in Christ, the more your faith will be strengthened and productive.
Until you realize, understand and accept that God loves you unconditionally, infinitely, completely, constantly, and everlastingly, you will not be able to trust God implicitly, completely, or constantly.
Therefore, if you are always struggling to trust God absolutely, what you need is the revelation knowledge of God’s perfect, unconditional and infinite love for you in Christ.
As you increase in spiritual understanding of God’s love for you in Christ, your faith or confidence in God will naturally become strengthened. You will never be able to trust God beyond the level or depth of your revelation or experiential knowledge of God’s love for you in Christ Jesus.
Many believers today who are passionately seeking to coax or coerce God to do something for them are totally ignorant of how much God loves them. While they are fully convinced about God’s unlimited power to do all things, they are yet to be fully convinced about God’s unlimited love to freely and willingly do all things for them.
Nothing emboldens you to approach God with your requests as much as you knowing that you are unconditionally loved and accepted by God in Christ (Eph. 1:6).
Nothing imparts, transmits, or instills faith into your soul or mind as the revelation knowledge of God’s unconditional, unending, or infinite love for you.
Therefore, when you spend more time daily to mediate deeply and focus on God’s love for you which is demonstrated ultimately by Christ’s substitutionary death for you on the cross, your faith or confidence in God will be boosted (1 John 3:16, 4:9).
Similarly, you cannot claim to have faith in God and not love God. Your faith is shown by your love, for the Scripture declares that faith only works through love (Gal. 5:6). Therefore, your faith level can be measured or determined by your love level.
How much you love God is revealed or known by your attitude towards God’s Word!
The Lord Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15 NKJV).
“If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23 NKJV).
Moreover, how much you love God can also be measured or determined by how much you love the people God created in His image.
1 John 4:
20 “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who dqoes not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” (NKJV).
Beloved, seek to grow or increase in the revelation knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ through constant and diligent reading, studying and meditation in God’s Word and watch your faith become more effective and productive.
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me unconditionally, infinitely, and everlastingly in Christ Jesus. My Dear Holy Spirit, reveal to me, teach and help me daily to understand and walk increasingly in God’s love for me, in Jesus’ name. Amen.