FAITH RESTS ON GOD’S FOUNDATION (cont.)

Christ Jesus is in you, and you and Christ are one.

Colossians 1:27

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

John 15:5

“I am the vine, ye are the branches.”

Whether you are conscious of His presence or not, He is there not as a temporary guest or as One who comes and goes according to our spiritual moods, but as an abiding One. We may neglect Him; we may forget Him; still, He is there. He may be confined in some back room, but if we have ever truly opened the door to Him, He is there, and into this precious fact, He would have faith root itself.

You are God’s child and heir.

Romans 8:16-17

 “The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.”

You may feel far more like a prodigal and a pauper than like a child and an heir. But if you have put your faith in Christ as your Savior, you are in God’s family, and the King’s wealth is yours. God would have your faith spread its roots over all depression caused by failure and go deep down into the soil of the riches of grace in Christ Jesus.

You are complete in Christ.

Your life may be immature in experience, but God sees you complete in Christ. Your “old man” has been crucified; you have been baptized into Christ’s death and identified with Him in His burial and resurrection. You are now hid with Christ in God, and so you are complete in Him. Has the boulder of discouragement over your lack of growth into Christ-likeness settled down upon you? Over your coldness of heart and times of apathy? Then spread the roots of faith over it, and let them go down into this great and glorious fact: you are complete in Him.

Colossians 2:10

 “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.”

You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.

You may never once have availed yourself of the privileges, possessions, and powers of your heavenly position, yet it is a fact, nevertheless, that if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you thereby are seated with Him in the heavenlies. The powers of evil may attack your spirit, soul, and body, but they cannot overturn or overwhelm you if you spread the roots of faith over them and let them go down into the soil of this peerless truth.

Ephesians 2:6

And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

The Holy Spirit dwells within you.

You may feel that you are left to live the Christian life alone, and the weight of this responsibility may rest like a great boulder upon your heart. But you are not left alone. “Another Comforter,” who is just like the ascended Lord in heaven, lives within you. Spread the roots of faith over all fear and unbelief and let them sink deep down into the fact of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:16

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

When the Christian’s faith roots itself in these great, eternal facts of God and abides there, he becomes spiritual. Faith quietly accepts these facts as true and acts as though they were, then no matter what rolls in upon the life to overturn it, it remains steadfast and true and shoots heavenward in its growth into the likeness of Christ.

Look upon the boulders that rolled one after another against the life of the apostle Paul, which it would seem might have crushed out his very life.

2 Corinthians 11:24-28

“Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.”

Yet his faith spread itself over all these perils and persecutions, testings and trials and rooted itself in the great, eternal facts of God’s grace and love, thus enabling him to grow up to magnificent spiritual stature.

But Paul’s life was exceptional, you say. He was the giant tree in the forest. There are few who ever have a faith such as his. In the far interior of China was a young missionary who was betrothed. The wedding day drew near; all preparations for it were made. Then word came that her lover was ill. A long three days’ journey stretched between her and her loved one living alone. Down upon that woman’s heart rolled a terrific boulder of sorrow. Absolutely alone she watched the life of the one dearest to her on earth flicker out, with her own hands she prepared the body for burial, made the coffin, and laid him away to rest; herself conducting the funeral service. Then she turned to the road that led her back to live and toil alone for the rest of her life in the Master’s vineyard. Rebellious? Embittered? No, sweetened, enriched with greater tenderness, love and devotion. But how could it be? The roots of faith had spread out over that terrible sorrow and had gone down, down, deep, deep into the facts of God’s unchanging love, imperishable goodness and exhaustless grace. 

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, what rich promises You have given us to claim for ourselves, so this life is real in us.