“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22 ESV
How do we know where is faith is and how strong? Just begin to live the Christian life daily and focus on Jesus. Our faith will encounter many trials and situations to believe in God. How we react to life circumstances deter sins and the strength of our faith. We can have full assurance of our faith because of who Jesus is and what he did for us. Jesus endured so we could. He endured the cross and death with joy so I could have faith to believe, endure and live out the Christian life.
There is not a place Jesus has not walked before us. He has been in the storms of our lives for us. Jesus has seen us through all the brokenness, sorrow, pain, and death we will face. We are not alone because we are surrounded by a great cloud of men of faith that went before us and lived in faith. We can run and endure because of these witnesses and, most of all, our Lord Jesus Christ. The key is to keep your eyes on Jesus.
What can our faith in God do for us? (Hebrews 10:22)
We can enter into God’s presence.
We can have a heart of faith that trusts in Him.
The blood of Jesus has sprinkled us clean from an evil conscience.
We can hold tightly and hope in our Father.
We have faith to encourage people with love and good deeds.
We have been given the faith and grace to stop sinning habitually.
What has God shown us? Faith to know Him. God gives us faith to know Him more and more. Did you know this? This is not a special faith only for some believers. This is for anyone who will seek after God and pursue Him with all their heart. This is lived out as we move from fact (what the Word says about us) to experience (living it in our daily). Our hearts and conscience have been cleansed; this is a fact. Now we must move with assurance because of what the Word says about us, that we can go right into His presence. Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), which is a fact. We must make a move to know God. This is where I will begin to experience God when I go right into His presence. God then leads and moves us deeper into Him. The faith that we learn and receive from God grows stronger.
As a believer, we must press in and seek God. We must be hungry and desperate for Him. If we endure, experience, and minister with power, we must press into God. After what I know and the faith is given, I will not turn back or settle for anything less than the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We must run with passion and fire after God. We all have a higher calling and are responsible for the Word and understanding given to us. We must use all that has been shown to us. Remember, we have been given the knowledge of God’s Word and how to build our faith. The struggle comes when we are not experiencing faith in real life and not applying Biblical principles to our circumstances instead of focusing on our feelings.
This is why we must seek and press into knowing Him; if not, we will grow our faith. If we want faith to know, endure, and work: we must press into knowing God. For people to not press in and seek God after receiving the truth is a sin. Knowing all that has been given us through Christ because of His death and not seeking Him is a sin. When we stop seeking God, we risk falling into sin.
[As adapted from The Bondage Breaker and Stomping Out The Darkness by Dr. Neil Anderson and Dr. Dave Park.]