Christ First Forum

Resting our Faith in Him

Upon thinking about some of the current situations in the life of those of us who love God, I thought we could use some encouragement, and this is what I have come up with.

In eternity past God thought about each of us. He has a plan for each of us, and that
is what I want to touch on here, and is a brief study of Romans 8:28-32.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom. 8:28 KJV)

This is a conditional verse because in order for things to work for our good, we must
love God. (That in itself is a good study, i.e., of what does love consist, but shall not be
a part of these comments.)

Romans 8:29-30 is a step-by-step logical procedure, after claiming Romans 8:28 and
removing any fear/panic ploy brought on by what is going on in your life at any given
moment. Start thinking logically through the various points of your situation, then
follow up with the two doctrinal conclusions in Romans 8: 31-32. This is a standard
procedure, a checklist if you will, to use whenever any kind of disaster or pressure,
whether great (the 9/11/01 incident/personal health break down etc.) or small, creates
fear and cuts off objective thought.

The Faith-Rest Technique
Based on Romans 8:28 - 32

1. Claim a promise that will stabilize your mind.
God works all things together for good

2. Concentrate in a logical rational
a. Foreknowledge: God thought about me in eternity past
b. Predestination: God has a plan for me since eternity past
c. The Call: God provides common and efficacious grace as the means
to bring my future potential to fruition.
d. Justification: God can bless me now – in time.
e. Glorification: God will bless me in heaven

3. Reach doctrinal conclusions.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

If God delivered up His own unique Son as a substitute for all, how shall
He not with Him freely give us the all things?

We need to know this system and be prepared to use it on a moment’s notice.
Imagine the worst thing possible happening to you and yours. Even in your
imagination you need not feel panic stricken – if God can handle the worst imaginable
He can handle anything less. This is a system Paul developed and used, called a fortiori,
and again I shall not go into that here and now, but shall post it at another time, because it is most interesting, and helps explain the “He can handle anything less” stated above.

For we know that whom He foreknew (Rom. 8: 29a corrected translation)

Verse 28 supplies the verb excluded in the elliptical style of verse 29. “We know” is
the thinking that begins to draw upon the reservoir of doctrine in the soul. Verse 28
stabilizes our thinking, and in panic situations, and/or long drawn out illnesses, our mind latches onto it and we take our first step toward clear thinking in this situation.

We recall that God knew about this crisis (to us) in eternity past (Ps. 139:1-6; Matt. 6:8;
Acts 15:8, 18). That is a basis for comfort. If He knew about it, He did something about
it. God solved all the believer’s problems in eternity past.

Whom He foreknew, He also predestined. (Rom. 8:29a)

You can see this is a recovery system, from the panic we enter when something happens
to us that we do not understand and do not want any part of! This is not a chronological
delineation of the divine decrees. Other passages show the sequence of Omniscience-decree- foreknowledge that is so important theologically(Acts 2:22-23), however Romans 8: 29 jumps immediately to the point: Foreknowledge, predestination, the call.

By remembering predestination (also known as fore ordination or predetermination), you take the logical step: If God thought about me in eternity past, He also has a plan for me.
Any catastrophe that strikes suddenly, throwing us into a panic comes as no surprise to
God. He included it in His plan for us. It is one of the “all things” that He is working together for good.

God’s plan is to glorify God. The plan calls for Him to work in my behalf. He takes all imputations, potentials, doctrines and hopes, combines them with the changing circumstances of my life, taking cognizance of all my thoughts, decisions and actions, and achieves a perfect and complete result. He designed this plan in eternity past. My life, therefore, will be a combination of many things ~ prosperity and adversity, wonderful
experiences and sudden disasters (hurricane Katrina for me) ~ but the combinations and
changes do not alter God’s plan one bit. They are God’s plan! No matter what happens,
God has built a wall around me (1Pet. 1:5a). His plan is all inclusive and always remains the same. I am free, yet totally secure. Only God can accomplish that!

The predetermined plan of God calls for us to gain our motivation and spiritual momentum
from Bible doctrine. This motivation and momentum are designed to function in and
through all conditions. Once Bible doctrine is stored (metabolized) in our soul, we have
it to claim, act and hold on to in good times and in bad times. This storage of Bible doctrine in our soul constitutes a mature believer, acting on His Word in both our
daily life and in times of disaster, regardless of where, when or how it strikes.

Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
For I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning
And from ancient times things that have not been done,
Saying, “My decree will be established,
And I will accomplish My good pleasure.”
(Isa. 46:9-10, corrected translation)

God is so wise, just and powerful that He makes everything work together to accomplish
His good pleasure. Romans 8:29 continues with the long range view of what God’s good pleasure is.

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren [Church age believers]. (Rom. 8:29)

“Conformed to the image of His Son” refers to the resurrection body, but conformity begins in time. At salvation, we were placed into union with Christ and thus became members of His royal family. This is positional sanctification. To positional sanctification
is added experiential sanctification as Bible doctrine renews our minds: Our thinking is
conformed to the thinking of Christ through learning the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). The process is completed when ultimate sanctification occurs for the royal family at the Rapture; then we will be “conformed to the image of His Son” by receiving a resurrection
body like His.

In the Father’s plan, not our human effort, that makes us like Jesus Christ. From the moment God knew that we would believe in Christ – that is, in eternity past – is has always been God’s predestined plan that we should have resurrection bodies. This fact, begins to piece together the big picture. The objective for eternity future was established in eternity past as an absolute certainty. Whether a believer advances to maturity or becomes an evil
reversionist, he will receive a resurrection body. This illustrates the integrity of God upon
which we totally depend [our faith resting on/in Him]. In spite of tragedies that may beset us, despite even our own failures, “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).

There is much more to this study, taken from my Pastor’s teachings, but time and space here limit this study.

Ultimately God has more for us than a resurrected body, He wants to impute “the good” to us as well. Our resurrection body is a marvelous thing in itself, but God wants to use it as a
target or imputing eternal blessings that are even greater yet!

Our final destination will render things our finite minds can not now comprehend, and it all
starts with our faith in Him and the finished work of Christ on the Cross.

I am adding this to my Faith Post, because of the relationship of the subjects.

Justification is the act of God imputing the righteousness of Christ to those
who have Christ as their saviour.

Justification declares us righteous.

It is not ‘just as if I never sinned’. There had to be atonement for sin and He who
made this atonement had to be sin free.

Christians are sinners, but God declares us justified, or acceptable to Himself
on the basis of the righteousness of Christ. At salvation, the believer instantly
has the righteousness of Christ, so God declares us free from all sin guilt, because of the finished work on the cross.

Knowing that man is NOT justified by the works of the law, but by the faith
of (in) Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be
justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by works
of the law shall NO flesh be justified (Gal. 2:16)

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
(Rom. 3:24)

But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Wherefore (why?) Because they sought it not
by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that
stumbling stone (Rom. 9:31,32)

In other words, Israel was trying to work - keep the law - instead of taking
God at His Word, by believing in Christ as their Saviour.

Righteousness belongs only to God, and the only way we get it is by faith – not
by keeping the law.

Hebrew 11:1 Now faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Heb. 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Heb.11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him; for he that cometh to God must believe that He (God) is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Justification, righteousness, and faith are all integral parts of our relationship with our saviour, Jesus Christ. We do not have one or the other, we have all the parts.

The entire 11th. chapter of Hebrews is full of faith and is a good read.

Joi, Thank you so much for posting this! What a wonderful way of establishing what faith is and so well put. I hope that every one who comes on this board will read this.

If you don't mind, I would like to make it a permanent post that cannot be deleted.

Thanks again sister!


Servant of the Lord,
Frank

I wish I could claim the wherewithall to have said all the above, but the credit goes to my Pastor. The most effort I put into this was to collect the information and get it on the computer.

Making it permanent is ok with me, but I must apologize for the typo's.