CONTINUALLY BELIEVING GOD

Monday night was the first night of our new Beth Moore Bible study. This one is called, "Believing God". God is really speaking to me in so many ways that I can't even begin to write everything down, but sorting through my thoughts will be helpful for me and hopefully beneficial for anyone who reads this as well. This is only the beginning...!

Starting in Eph. 1:11-23, we read that there is power for those who believe -- the same power that God used to raise Christ from the dead is available to us!

In verses 13 and 19, (see below), there are two tenses of the verb "believe". Quoting Beth, "verse 13 speaks of Christians having believed. This faith-action refers to the exercise of belief that leads to salvation. Every Christian heard the gospel message at some point and chose to believe and receive it. Because we exercise this faith-action, we immediately became Christ's. We were given His Holy Spirit and marked with a seal. This faith-action was exercised in the past with obviously radical results" (page 10).

Verse 13: And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit...

Verse 18-19: I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his imcomparably great power for us who believe.


The Greek verb in verse 19 is a present active participle, which means it is applied "to those who are presently, actively, and, yes, continually believing God" (page 10). It goes beyond just having believed.

I'll finish with this quote, for now at least, which gives some wise words to chew on. "Our glorious faith walk began with an act of faith that brought us into relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior, but it doesn't end there! Having believed in Him, we are called to continue believing all He came to do and say! Tragically, some who have believed in Christ have believed little of Him since. He who began a work in us wants to accomplish far more! God is calling us to leave the passive life bred by a past-tense view of faith and to participate in present-active participle believing!" (page11).

5 Statements to Cling to:
1) God is who He says He is.
2) God can do what He says He can do.
3) I am who God says I am.
4) I can do all things through Christ.
5) God's Word is active and alive in me.

I'm believing God!