In this next section I would like to look at the necessity of faith for God says without faith it is impossible to please Him. If that is what God says then we need to understand exactly what faith is and how it applies to our relationship with Him. These next episodes will give you some practical ways to apply faith to all you have learned so far. 

Good morning and welcome to another lesson From The Tent. It has been raining this morning so you may hear it in the background. A tent magnifies the sound of rain and at times you can almost feel the rain drops. It was so loud when I first began today that you could hear the rain louder than my voice. The wind was also blowing quite a bit, and the tent walls move around as if they were clothes hanging on a clothesline. The rain has lightened up now, so let’s see if we can get another lesson in. 

Today we will be going back through lesson #6 applying faith and believing to the paradox of God’s comfort for our mourning.   

Let me remind you that faith is a firm trust in something that you hope for, and being convinced about something that you cannot see.(1) 

What we are applying faith and believing to is the promise of Jesus where He said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”(2) This is not something that can be seen, so once again, faith must be applied to this promise. 

If you remember what we learned in that lesson, you should feel miserable about yourself once you understand and acknowledge your poor in spirit condition. And when you do, the Holy Spirit, who now lives inside of you, will lavish His grace and kindness on your sorrow.  

The reason He can do this is because of the propitiation that Jesus accomplished on the cross. And just in case you forgot, propitiation is the means God uses to lavish us sinners with grace and kindness without violating His own judicial righteousness.  

There is nothing about the concept of propitiation that you can touch with your hands or see with your eyes; it must be “hoped for.” So, the first thing you need to do is ask yourself, “Do I accept what Jesus accomplished on the cross as absolutely true?”  

But let me help you understand the importance of this. Imagine for a moment you just found out you have a terrible disease that can only be cured by a medication that costs $10,000 per pill. Your doctor says you need to take two pills per day for the next six months. But you have a problem, you don’t have the money for even one pill, let alone two per day for six months. So, you begin to think about all the people you know and wonder if there is someone who does have that kind of money.  

But then you are faced with another question, this person you thought of may have that much money, but would they be willing to do this for you?  

Now, if this person is your father, and you know he loves you very much, then your dilemma will be over because you not only know he has the means to help you, but you also know He would be more than willing to do this for you.  

This is exactly the place we are all in when it comes to the promises of God. Is your faith convinced God has the means to do what He says? And is your faith also convinced that He loves you and will do anything to help you? If you are assured and convinced of this, then the promises of what the propitiation of Jesus accomplished on the cross is something you can take as fact, and it also proves the length God will go to comfort you.  

Let me tell you about one of the most famous things Jesus said because it addresses everything we are talking about. Jesus, who is God’s Son said, “That His Father loved the world so much He gave us His only Son, and that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” 

These are the words of Jesus, and I think they are very convincing that the Spirit of God will comfort your poor in spirit mourning. If you are convinced of this then the appropriate response of believing in the propitiation of Christ should cause you to want to love to participate in a relational partnership with God and Jesus for all they did to fix your sinful predicament.  

This should be the most natural response anyone would ever have if they understood and are assured of what God did for them. Participating in this relational partnership with God and Jesus can never be forced though. If it is then it would never fulfill God’s desire for this relationship. Faith and believing in the propitiation of Christ will never make someone feel obligated to love God back! Instead, it frees them to do this in the most natural way possible, which is, because they want to. 

The Holy Spirit will comfort your poor in spirit misery but never forget, you were created to be a joyful and thankful person. Our natural bent in life, because sin so easily dominates us, is to be depressed and easily discouraged when things don’t go our way, which too often makes us do something that God really does not like and that is, complain.  

The crucifixion and propitiation of Jesus should completely change the misery of life we all find ourselves in from time to time and this is another great reason for applying faith and believing to the promises of God. We all need a change for the better, concerning how we experience life. And nothing will do this more than applying faith and believing to all that God has done to restore the purpose of our lives which is to become favored by Him so we can inherit the kingdom. 

Well, that’s it for today and once again, there’s just one thing ─ When your faith is convinced Jesus died for your sins, the believing actions of your faith will welcome the Spirits comfort of your mourning so you can rise up in joyful thanksgiving. 

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Guitar by Cole Criske 2020 All rights reserved

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Produced by Dereck Bradley

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