To live by faith is to do as God directs regardless of whether you *feel like it or not . So how does this work? If feelings aren't involved what moves us?
Living by faith comes from **knowing our faithful pursuit of God-- our obedience -- honors Him, as well as *stretches our faith, strengthening our union and communion with Him.
Our increased union with God is the primary reward of our faithfulness; honoring God is the primary motivation. In a word it is God himself; who He is and what He promises, that moves us to action/obedience.
Our desire to honor God comes from **knowing his great love for us-- love demonstrated to us by his sending Christ to fully restore us back to Himself. Once we taste of this sacrificial love we want more. Faithful pursuit of Him enables us to participate more and increases our hope of fully participating in it in eternity without limit or interruption.
**Knowing and believing these things to be true is all we need to obey Godi .e. to believe these things to be true and acting accordingly, regardless of what we *feel -- though acting by faith can and often does leads to a greater sense of his love and presence in the moment .
For "... without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Hebrews 11:6 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/heb.11.6.ESV
Faith says God is who he claims to be. To not believe His claims-- promises -- not only dishonors him but ***harms us and is therefore not pleasing to him. What genuinely loving parent is happy when their child doesn't trust in or listen to them i.e. when the child doesn't believe the parent seeks that child's best interest through the direction they give. So it is with God our perfect heavenly parent.
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* faithful pursuit of God usually feels more like death than life. This is what Christ meant when he said, "... to find your life you must lose it."
** knowing and believing are interchangeable.
*** we miss the reward of knowing God, who is the source of life love, and all things.
Living by faith comes from **knowing our faithful pursuit of God
Our increased union with God is the primary reward of our faithfulness; honoring God is the primary motivation. In a word it is God himself; who He is and what He promises, that moves us to action/obedience.
Our desire to honor God comes from **knowing his great love for us
**Knowing and believing these things to be true is all we need to obey God
For "..https://bible.com/bible/59/heb.11.6.ESV
Faith says God is who he claims to be. To not believe His claims
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* faithful pursuit of God usually feels more like death than life. This is what Christ meant when he said, "..
** knowing and believing are interchangeable.
*** we miss the reward of knowing God, who is the source of life love, and all things.
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Grace to you
Jim Deal