Receiving the Gift of God

Understanding Biblical Faith and Truth

Welcome... This is the first of four articles exploring what the Bible actually says about FAITH and TRUTH. These are not four separate topics - they are one message, one love story from Genesis to Revelation, broken into four parts for clarity. This is the story Jesus came to tell about His Father, about His Father's faithfulness, and about the only Kingdom that is real - the Kingdom of Truth.

My purpose is simple: strip away every human system, every religious tradition, and every self-help philosophy to see what Jesus Himself actually said. We will use only the Bible - the living Word of God - and let Scripture interpret Scripture. No arguments, no debates, just an invitation to read with fresh eyes what has been there all along.

These articles are for everyone who has a Bible and wants to know what it really says. Whether you have read it a thousand times or are opening it for the first time, we invite you to see the Jesus who is actually on these pages. Not the Jesus of religion, not the Jesus of culture, but the Jesus who is the eternal Word made flesh, who is the exact representation of the Father's nature, who is absolute self-giving love.

Throughout these four articles, we will see how Biblical faith and truth produce something that cannot be manufactured by human effort: pure joy and His peace. Not happiness that depends on circumstances, but joy that flows from the very nature of God. Not peace that requires the absence of conflict, but peace that surpasses all understanding because it comes from resting in the Father's absolute goodness.

The Four Articles

Article 1: The Father's Faith - What Faith Actually Is

Faith is not human belief, confidence, or positive thinking. It is the Father's own faithfulness - a gift He gives, not an achievement we generate. We will see that faith is receiving, not achieving, and that it flows from God's absolute goodness, not from human effort or worthiness.

Article 2: The Kingdom of Truth - What Truth Actually Is

Truth is not information, opinion, or personal perspective. Truth is a Person - Jesus Himself. We will see that there are only two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Truth where God reigns in self-giving love, and the kingdom of lies where SELF reigns in self-taking death. There is no neutral ground.

Article 3: The Death of Self - The Narrow Gate

The Christian life is not about improving self, managing self, or believing in self. It is about the complete death of self. We will see what Jesus meant when He said we must deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and follow Him into death and resurrection. This is not a metaphor - it is the only way to life.

Article 4: The Life That Flows - Pure Joy and His Peace

When self dies, something flows that self could never produce: the very life of God. We will see that joy and peace are not feelings we generate but fruit that grows when we abide in Christ. This is eternal life - not something that begins after death, but the life of the age to come breaking into the present moment.

My Invitation

I just wanted to let you know that I am not asking you to believe me. I am inviting you to read your own Bible and see what is actually written there. Test everything against Scripture. Search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are so. The Holy Spirit - the Spirit of Truth - will guide you into all truth, revealing everything Jesus said and showing you things to come.

This is not about joining a church, adopting a theology, or following a religious system. This is about encountering the living God who created you, sustains you, loves you, and has a specific plan for you. This is about hearing the Father's love message to you - the message He has been speaking from the beginning of creation.

As you read, you will notice I weave joy and peace throughout every article. This is intentional. Biblical faith and truth are not heavy burdens - they are the way into rest. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." This is not religion - this is relationship with the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

Now, let us begin with the foundation: What is faith?

Part One: The Great Deception About Faith

We must begin by clearing away the rubble of human understanding. When most people hear the word "faith," they think of human belief, personal confidence, positive thinking, or religious conviction. They think faith is something they must generate, strengthen, or maintain through their own effort. This is the great deception. This is SELF trying to produce what only God can give.

The religious world is full of teaching about "having faith" as if faith were a commodity we could manufacture, a muscle we could strengthen, or a decision we could make. People are told to "have more faith," to "increase your faith," to "believe harder," to "claim it in faith." All of this is SELF-effort, SELF-confidence, SELF-assurance. It is the kingdom of SELF pretending to be the Kingdom of God.

But this is not what Jesus taught. Jesus never told anyone to generate their own faith. He never commanded people to work up their belief. He never said, "Try harder to believe in Me." Instead, He revealed something shocking: the faith we need is not ours at all - it is His.

Faith Is a Gift, Not an Achievement

Scripture is absolutely clear on this point, yet it is the most overlooked truth in all of Christian teaching. Paul writes to the Ephesians:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Read that again slowly. Faith is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not a result of works. Not something you achieve, earn, or generate. It is received, not produced. This demolishes every human system of religion, every self-help gospel, every "you must believe harder" teaching. Faith is a gift.

And notice why: "so that no one may boast." If faith came from us, we could boast about it. We could say, "I believed when others didn't. I had more faith than that person. I trusted harder." But God removed all ground for boasting by making faith itself a gift. Even the faith that receives salvation is not ours - it is His.

This brings immediate joy and peace. If faith were our achievement, we would live in constant anxiety: "Do I have enough faith? Is my faith strong enough? What if I stop believing?" But when we understand faith is God's gift, we rest. Our security is not in the strength of our faith but in the faithfulness of our Father.

The Faith OF Jesus, Not Faith IN Jesus

Here is where we must be very careful with translation. Most English Bibles translate a crucial Greek phrase as "faith IN Christ" when the Greek literally says "faith OF Christ." This is not a minor detail - it changes everything.

Look at what Paul actually wrote to the Galatians:

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20, literal translation)

Paul does not say he lives by his own faith IN Jesus. He says he lives by the faith OF Jesus - the faith that belongs to Jesus, the faith that Jesus Himself has. This is revolutionary. We are not called to generate our own faith in Jesus. We are called to receive and live by Jesus' own faith.

The same truth appears throughout Paul's letters:

"We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through the faith OF Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by the faith OF Christ and not by works of the law." (Galatians 2:16, literal translation)

Again and again, Scripture points to the same truth: we are justified by Christ's own faith, not by our attempt to believe in Him. Jesus is not waiting for us to work up enough faith. He is offering us His own faith - the faith that flows from the Father, the faith that is rooted in absolute trust in the Father's goodness, the faith that never wavers because it is God's own faith.

This is where joy explodes. We are not trying to believe - we are receiving the faith of the One who has never doubted, never wavered, never failed. His faith becomes ours. His trust in the Father becomes our trust. His security in the Father's love becomes our security.

Jesus: The Author and Perfecter of Faith

The writer of Hebrews gives us the clearest picture:

"Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus is the author - the originator, the source, the founder - of faith. He did not come to inspire our faith. He came to BE our faith. He is both the beginning of faith and the completion of faith. From start to finish, faith is His work, not ours.

And notice what motivated Jesus: joy. "For the joy set before Him" - not duty, not obligation, not religious requirement, but joy. The joy of bringing many sons to glory. The joy of reconciling humanity to the Father. The joy of destroying the works of the devil. The joy of restoring all creation. Jesus lived by faith, and that faith produced joy - even in the face of the cross.

This is the faith He offers us. This is the faith we receive as a gift. Not anxious striving, but joyful trust. Not fearful hoping, but confident resting. Not self-generated belief, but God-given certainty rooted in the Father's absolute goodness and faithfulness.

Part Two: The Father's Faithfulness Is the Foundation

Now we come to the deepest truth: Biblical faith is not ultimately about Jesus' faith or our faith - it is about the Father's faithfulness. The entire story of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, is the revelation of a God who cannot lie, cannot fail, cannot break His promises. The Father's faithfulness is the bedrock reality of the universe.

This is what makes the gospel good news. Salvation does not depend on the strength of our belief. It depends on the faithfulness of God. He is faithful when we are faithless. He is true when we are false. He keeps His promises when we break ours. His faithfulness is the immovable foundation on which everything else rests.

God Cannot Lie

Scripture declares this truth with absolute clarity:

"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19)

This is the Father's nature. He cannot lie. It is impossible for God to lie. When He speaks, it will come to pass. When He promises, it will be fulfilled. Not because He tries really hard, but because lying is contrary to His very being. Truth is not something God does - truth is what God IS.

The writer of Hebrews emphasizes this:

"So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:17-18)

God guaranteed His promise with an oath. Why? So that we might have strong encouragement. So that we might have peace. So that we might rest in the absolute certainty that what He has promised, He will do. This is not about our faith being strong enough - it is about His faithfulness being unshakable.

When We Are Faithless, He Remains Faithful

Here is the stunning grace of the gospel:

"If we are faithless, he remains faithful - for he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:13)

Even when we are faithless - even when we doubt, even when we waver, even when we fail - He remains faithful. Why? Because He cannot deny Himself. Faithfulness is not a behavior God chooses - it is His nature. He cannot be unfaithful any more than light can be darkness or truth can be a lie.

This is where true peace comes from. Our security is not in maintaining our faith. Our security is in resting in His faithfulness. We do not hold onto Him by the strength of our grip - He holds onto us by the power of His nature. He is faithful not because we are faithful, but because He IS faithful.

Paul declares this same truth in multiple places:

"He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it." (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." (1 Corinthians 10:13)

"But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one." (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

Do you see the pattern? God is faithful. He will do it. He will provide the way. He will establish you. He will guard you. Not might, not maybe, not if you try hard enough - He WILL. This is His nature. This is His promise. This is the foundation of all faith.

Abraham: Receiving, Not Achieving

Abraham is called the father of faith, but what was his faith? Religious tradition makes Abraham's faith into an achievement - as if he worked up extraordinary belief, maintained perfect trust, and never doubted. But this is not what Scripture says.

Look at what God said to Abraham:

"The LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.' Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 'Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.'" (Genesis 17:1-4)

Notice: God made the covenant. God made the promise. God established the terms. Abraham's part was to receive. When God spoke, Abraham fell on his face - not in achievement, but in worship. Not in self-confidence, but in humble reception of what God was giving.

Paul explains what happened:

"That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring - not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, 'I have made you the father of many nations' - in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." (Romans 4:16-17)

The promise rests on grace, not on Abraham's achievement. Abraham believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not exist. This is the faith that was credited to him as righteousness - not faith in his own ability to believe, but faith in God's ability to do what He promised.

Paul continues:

"In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.' He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." (Romans 4:18-21)

Abraham was fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. His faith was not in himself - it was in God's ability and God's faithfulness. When he looked at his own body, he saw death. When he looked at Sarah's womb, he saw impossibility. But when he looked at God's promise, he saw certainty. Not because of the strength of his belief, but because of the faithfulness of the One who promised.

This is the faith that brings joy and peace. We are not looking at ourselves, measuring our belief, evaluating our spiritual performance. We are looking at God, resting in His promise, trusting in His nature. Abraham gave glory to God - not to his own faith, but to God's faithfulness. And in giving God glory, his faith grew strong. Not by trying harder, but by seeing God more clearly.

Part Three: What Faith Actually Does

Now that we understand what faith IS - a gift from God, rooted in His faithfulness, demonstrated in receiving rather than achieving - we must understand what faith DOES. Because faith is not passive. Faith is not mere intellectual agreement. Faith is active reception that transforms everything.

Faith Unites Us to Christ

The primary work of faith is union with Christ. This is not metaphorical language - it is the deepest reality of the Christian life. When we receive the faith that God gives, we are united to Jesus. His life becomes our life. His death becomes our death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection.

Paul says it clearly:

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

This is union. Paul has been crucified WITH Christ. He no longer lives - Christ lives IN him. The life Paul now lives, he lives by the faith OF the Son of God. Everything has changed because faith has united him to Jesus. His old self-driven life is dead. Christ's self-giving life now flows through him.

Jesus Himself taught this using the most profound image:

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5)

A branch does not try to produce fruit. A branch does not strain, work, or generate life. A branch simply abides in the vine, and the life of the vine flows through it. This is faith - abiding in Christ, receiving His life, allowing His nature to flow through us.

Apart from Him, we can do nothing. But united to Him through faith, we bear much fruit - not by our effort, but by His life.

This union is the source of joy. We are not alone, struggling to generate spiritual life. We are connected to the source of all life, receiving everything we need from Him. This union is the source of peace. We are not maintaining the relationship by our performance - He is maintaining us by His power. We abide. He provides. This is rest.

Faith Accesses Grace

The second work of faith is giving us access to grace. Grace is not God's willingness to overlook our sin. Grace is God's own life, His own nature, His own goodness freely given to us. And faith is how we access it.

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2)

Notice the sequence: justified by faith, peace with God, access into grace, rejoicing in hope. It all flows from faith - not faith as our achievement, but faith as our reception of what God freely gives. We have peace because we are justified. We stand in grace because we have access through faith. We rejoice because our hope is certain.

Grace is not a one-time transaction. Grace is where we stand. Grace is where we live. Grace is the atmosphere we breathe. And faith keeps us positioned in that grace - not by our effort to maintain our standing, but by our continual reception of what God continually gives.

Paul emphasizes this again:

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

We are saved by grace through faith - both grace and faith are gifts from God. We are His workmanship - His creation, His masterpiece. Even the good works we walk in were prepared beforehand by God. From beginning to end, salvation is God's work. Our part is simply to receive through faith what He freely gives through grace.

This produces deep joy and lasting peace. If salvation depended on our works, we could never be certain we had done enough. If righteousness came from our effort, we could never rest. But because everything comes from His grace, accessed through the faith He gives, we can rest completely. He is our salvation. He is our righteousness. He is our peace.

Faith Purifies the Heart

The third work of faith is purifying the heart. But notice - faith does not purify the heart by giving us power to improve ourselves. Faith purifies the heart by removing SELF altogether and allowing Christ to live where self once reigned.

When Peter defended the inclusion of Gentiles in the early church, he said this:

"And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith." (Acts 15:8-9)

God cleansed their hearts by faith. Not by their religious performance. Not by their moral achievement. Not by their self-improvement. By faith. The same faith He gave to the Jews, He gave to the Gentiles. And that faith - that receiving of God's life - cleansed their hearts.

How does faith cleanse the heart? By displacing SELF with Christ. When we live by faith - by receiving Christ's life, trusting the Father's goodness, abiding in the vine - there is no room for SELF to operate. SELF is the disease. Christ is the cure. Faith is how Christ enters and SELF exits.

Jesus said:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

Purity of heart is not moral perfection achieved by human effort. Purity of heart is the absence of mixture - no SELF mixed with Christ, no lies mixed with truth, no darkness mixed with light. Faith brings this purity by uniting us to Christ and removing the old self-life. And the result? We see God. Not in the distant future, but now. Faith purifies. Purity sees. This is joy - to see God clearly. This is peace - to be pure in heart.

Part Four: Living BY Faith, Not FOR Faith

We must make one final, crucial distinction. The Christian life is not about trying to have more faith. It is not about working to increase faith, strengthen faith, or prove faith. The Christian life is about living BY faith - living from the faith God has already given, trusting in the Father's faithfulness that never fails.

Paul's declaration in Romans captures this perfectly:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Romans 1:16-17)

The righteous shall LIVE by faith. Not earn righteousness by faith. Not prove their faith. Not maintain their faith by effort. They shall LIVE - really, truly, eternally LIVE - by faith. This is present tense. This is now. This is the abundant life Jesus promised.

The Just Shall Live by Faith

This phrase - "the just shall live by faith" - appears three times in the New Testament, each time revealing a different facet of the same truth. It originated in the prophet Habakkuk:

"Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4)

Even in the Old Testament, God was pointing to this truth: life comes through faith, not through human effort or self-righteousness. The one whose soul is puffed up with SELF does not have life. But the righteous - those justified by God - live by faith.

Paul quotes this in Romans 1:17 to establish that salvation is by faith from beginning to end. He quotes it again in Galatians:

"Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" (Galatians 3:11)

Here Paul uses it to show that justification is by faith, not by law-keeping. The law cannot give life. Only faith gives life because only faith connects us to the Life-Giver. The law shows us our need. Faith receives the supply.

And the writer of Hebrews quotes it to show that faith is how we endure:

"But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." (Hebrews 10:38)

Living by faith means continuing to receive from God what we cannot produce ourselves. It means not shrinking back into self-reliance. It means abiding in Christ, standing in grace, trusting the Father's faithfulness.

Walking by Faith, Not by Sight

Paul gives us another crucial picture of living by faith:

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Walking by sight means living according to what we can see, measure, and control. It means trusting in what is visible, tangible, and immediate. It means relying on human strength, human wisdom, human resources. This is the way of SELF - always looking at circumstances, always measuring conditions, always depending on what we can see.

But walking by faith means living according to what God has said, regardless of what we see. It means trusting His promise even when circumstances contradict it. It means resting in His character even when our feelings doubt it. It means believing He is good even when life is hard.

This does not mean faith is blind. Faith has the clearest sight of all - it sees the invisible reality that is more real than anything visible. Faith sees God's throne. Faith sees Christ's victory. Faith sees the Father's love. Faith sees what is eternal while the world sees only what is temporal.

Paul explains:

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Faith looks to what is unseen and eternal. Not because faith is irrational, but because faith sees true reality. The things that are seen are transient - they are passing away. But the things that are unseen are eternal - they last forever. Faith chooses to build on what is eternal rather than what is temporary.

This is how faith produces joy in suffering and peace in chaos. We are not denying the reality of affliction. We are seeing that affliction in light of eternal glory. We are not pretending circumstances don't matter. We are recognizing that God's promise matters more. We do not lose heart because we see what is real - and what is real is the Father's absolute goodness and faithfulness that will never fail.

Faith as Protection

Finally, Paul shows us that faith is our protection:

"In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one." (Ephesians 6:16)

Faith is a shield. It protects us from the enemy's attacks. But notice - it is not a shield we manufacture. It is a shield we take up. God provides the shield. We receive it.

What are the flaming darts? They are lies. They are accusations. They are doubts about God's goodness. They are fears about the future. They are shame about the past. They are condemnations about our worth. Every dart is designed to make us doubt the Father's love, question His faithfulness, and turn back to self-reliance.

But faith extinguishes every dart. When the enemy whispers, "God doesn't really love you," faith says, "He gave His Son for me." When the accuser says, "You're not good enough," faith says, "Christ is my righteousness." When fear says, "You're going to fail," faith says, "He who began a good work will complete it." When shame says, "Look at what you've done," faith says, "There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus."

Faith protects us not by denying reality, but by seeing true reality. The truest reality is not our failure - it is His faithfulness. The truest reality is not our weakness - it is His strength. The truest reality is not our sin - it is His grace. Faith sees what is most true and rests there.

And this protection produces peace. When the shield of faith is up, the darts cannot penetrate. We are safe not because we are strong, but because He is faithful. We rest not because circumstances are perfect, but because our Father is good. This is peace - the peace that surpasses understanding, the peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Conclusion: Receiving the Father's Faith

We began this article by stripping away the religious deception about faith. Faith is not human belief, personal confidence, or self-generated conviction. Faith is a gift from God. It is the Father's own faithfulness made available to us through Jesus Christ. It is receiving, not achieving.

Throughout Scripture, we have seen that faith unites us to Christ, gives us access to grace, and purifies our hearts by removing SELF and filling us with Christ's life. We have seen that we live BY faith - not striving FOR more faith, but resting IN the faith

God has already given. We walk by faith, seeing what is eternal rather than what is temporary. We hold up the shield of faith, protected by God's faithfulness rather than our own strength.

And in all of this, we have discovered joy and peace. Not the shallow happiness that depends on circumstances, but the deep joy that flows from seeing God clearly. Not the fragile peace that requires perfect conditions, but the unshakable peace that rests in the Father's absolute goodness and faithfulness.

This is the faith of the gospel. This is the faith that saves, sanctifies, and sustains. This is the faith that brings us into union with Christ, positions us in grace, and transforms us from glory to glory. And this faith is available to you right now - not as something you must generate, but as something you receive.

The Choice Before You

You have a choice to make. You can continue living by sight - trusting in what you can see, depending on human strength, building on temporary foundations. You can keep trying to generate your own faith, work up your own belief, and maintain your own spiritual performance. This is the way of SELF, and it leads to anxiety, fear, and death.

Or you can receive the faith God offers. You can stop striving and start resting. You can stop achieving and start receiving. You can transfer your trust from yourself to the Father, from your faithfulness to His faithfulness, from your strength to His grace. This is the way of Christ, and it leads to joy, peace, and life.

The Father is calling. He is offering you His own faith. He is inviting you to see His absolute goodness, trust His perfect faithfulness, and rest in His never-failing love. He is not asking you to be strong enough, good enough, or faithful enough. He is asking you to receive what He freely gives.

Will you receive? Will you stop trying to produce faith and start living by the faith of Jesus? Will you transfer your hope from human ability to divine faithfulness? Will you let go of SELF and embrace the self-giving life of Christ?

This is the invitation of the gospel. This is the call of the Father. This is the way into joy and peace. Not through your effort, but through His grace. Not by your faithfulness, but by His. Not in your strength, but in His.

Looking Ahead

In this article, we have explored what Biblical faith is - a gift from God rooted in the Father's faithfulness. We have seen that faith unites us to Christ, gives us access to grace, and transforms us by replacing SELF with Christ's life.

But faith does not exist in a vacuum. Faith believes something specific. Faith trusts someone in particular. Faith rests on a foundation that is either true or false. And this brings us to the second article: What is truth?

In our next article, "The Kingdom of Truth," we will see that truth is not information, opinion, or perspective. Truth is a Person - Jesus Christ Himself. We will explore the two kingdoms that exist: the Kingdom of Truth where God reigns in self-giving love, and the kingdom of lies where SELF reigns in self-taking death. We will see that there is no neutral ground, no middle way, no compromise possible between these two kingdoms.

And we will discover that truth, like faith, brings joy and peace - not the false peace of avoiding reality, but the true peace of standing on the only foundation that cannot be shaken.

Until then, rest in this: The Father is faithful. His promises are true. His love never fails. You are invited to receive what He freely gives. This is faith. This is life. This is joy. This is peace.

"Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen." (Jude 24-25)

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