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Believe AND tremble...it can't save you.

Acts-dicted Posts: 9027 **1/24/17 4:48 am**

BELIEVE AND...

"And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Heb 11:6

It's not enough to believe that God exists.
What you believe ABOUT Him matters.

It's a life, a heart that believes He is AND that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. To "seek" (ekzeteo) is to "search, or investigate or scrutinize". Jesus came to how us the Father so we could finally see Him and know Him.

"You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." Jms 2:19

Shudder - from the Greek "phrisso" - "to bristle or tremble from fear" or "to shudder, to be struck with extreme fear, to be horrified".

The demons believe AND tremble.
What they believe makes them tremble in fear.

It's not enough to believe that God is.

"We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us." 1 Jn 4:15-19

To come to God you can't bristle in fear, you have to believe "He is a rewarder", not a punisher.

Believe that He is for you, not against you.
Beiieve that He didn't come to condemn, but to save.
Believe that He didn't come to kill or destroy, but to give life.

When you believe in a God who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son", you will have eternal life.

When you come to know and believe the love He has for you, it will cast out fear and trembling.

Fear involves punishment, not reward.

When you believe the love He has for you, you won't be afraid to share your food and clothes with those in need.

When you believe the love He has for you, you won't be afraid to put your son on an altar - you know God won't let him die.

When you believe the love He has for you, you won't have to keep spies in your house to assure your safety or turn them in - you will send them out because you know God won't let you die.

When you believe God sent His Son to save you, you will confess with your mouth that He did it - that He is Lord and has been raised from the dead with your new life.

When you believe the love He has for you, it settles you down so that you aren't coveting (always wanting/needing more) - you don't need to take someone's wife, you don't needing to cheat people out of money, lie to make yourself look good - you don't need more of anything. You believe He will add "all these things" to you.

The life that pleases God is the life that believes He is a rewarder.

Whatever is not of faith is in (Rom. 14:23). When you believe He is for you, the biting and devouring, the fighting and clawing to get ahead, the attempts to save yourself, stop,

You are loving, generous, fearless and content.
You heart isn't shuddering and shaking in fear.
You aren't afraid to give, to help.

Faith in a God you don't believe wants to save you, but punish you, will make you tremble but it can't save you. It will leave you trying to save yourself, trying to produce your own salvation or your own righteousness and life by your knowledge of good and evil, trying to earn your bread by the sweat of your brow, trying like at thief to climb up some other way. It will leave you in fear and trembling.

Faith in a God you believe is a rewarder, a savior, a Father, a giver, will cast out your fear of punishment and death and leave you confident in His love and care.

You can be still (stop trembling) and at rest when you investigate and finally know God, when you believe that He freely saves you, free creates you in His image, freely gives you His life and all things.
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I'm not saved because I'm good. I'm saved because He's good!

My website: www.bradfreeman.com
My blog: http://bradcfreeman.tumblr.com/