Please pray for me. I'm in a place where I question if I believe on Jesus Christ savingly. I question if I do truly believe on him. I want to be saved, I want to believe and receive by faith the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. I understand that believing is a gift from God, not of myself. I don't create my own belief. I understand that I must be born again, and that it is totally a gift from the Holy Spirit. Yet, I feel hung up. I sill fear. I don't feel saved. God must have me in this place for a reason, yet its a scary place to be.
Please pray that I will rest in Jesus, and that he will do the miraculous work inside of me of bringing me from death to life. Please pray that he will gift me with assurance of genuine faith, and that I no longer fear death and separation from God. Please pray that I will truly believe in Jesus. Please pray for God to do this work in me.
I noticed what you wrote "I don't create my own belief. I understand that I must be born again, and that it is totally a gift from the Holy Spirit." and thought I'd share my belief as well.
I'm not sure what you mean by you don't create your own belief. Believing is a choice. We are given freewill to choose who we want to follow and whether to obey. I choose to follow and obey Jesus Christ. John 14:15
Some believe faith is a gift. We can gain faith through hearing the Word of God as it says in Romans 10:17. This verse indicates that God can control the measure of faith we have: Romans 12:3. Some interpret Ephesians 2:8-9 as faith as being a gift, but I believe it means salvation is the gift. I believe we already have the freewill to choose and we gain faith through reading God's Word, just like it says.
Do you want to follow Christ? Have you read the Bible verses about how to do that? Link
Hi Adam, thank you for your prayer and thoughts/encouragement!
I do agree with you on Ephesians 2:8-9. It seems Gods word is teaching both somewhat paradoxically.
Here is an insert from a commentary I find helpful:
a. For by grace you have been saved: Paul cannot speak of this glorious work God does without reminding us that it is a gift of grace, given to the undeserving. We are not even saved by our faith (though faith itself is not a work), but by grace through faith.
ii. "The precise form of words here stresses two things. As consistently emphasized by Paul, it is entirely of His grace, His free, undeserved favour to mankind. Then also this salvation is presented as an accomplished fact." (Foulkes)
b. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: The work of salvation is God's gift. Paul's grammar here indicates that the words apply to the gift of salvation mentioned in Ephesians 2:4-8, and not directly to the faith mentioned in this verse.
i. Clarke emphatically states that the original Greek is clear in noting that when it says it is the gift of God, the it referred to is salvation, not faith. The great Greek scholar Dean Alford also clearly pointed out that the this not of yourselves referred to salvation, not to faith in this passage.
ii. Yet, even our faith is a gift of God. We cannot believe in Jesus unless God does a prior work in us, for we are blinded by our own deadness and by the god of this age ( 2 Corinthians 4:4).
iii. "But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man's own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him; the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself."
Please pray that I will rest in Jesus, and that he will do the miraculous work inside of me of bringing me from death to life. Please pray that he will gift me with assurance of genuine faith, and that I no longer fear death and separation from God. Please pray that I will truly believe in Jesus. Please pray for God to do this work in me.
Thank you
I noticed what you wrote "I don't create my own belief. I understand that I must be born again, and that it is totally a gift from the Holy Spirit." and thought I'd share my belief as well.
I'm not sure what you mean by you don't create your own belief. Believing is a choice. We are given freewill to choose who we want to follow and whether to obey. I choose to follow and obey Jesus Christ. John 14:15
Some believe faith is a gift. We can gain faith through hearing the Word of God as it says in Romans 10:17. This verse indicates that God can control the measure of faith we have: Romans 12:3. Some interpret Ephesians 2:8-9 as faith as being a gift, but I believe it means salvation is the gift. I believe we already have the freewill to choose and we gain faith through reading God's Word, just like it says.
Do you want to follow Christ? Have you read the Bible verses about how to do that? Link
I do agree with you on Ephesians 2:8-9. It seems Gods word is teaching both somewhat paradoxically.
Here is an insert from a commentary I find helpful:
a. For by grace you have been saved: Paul cannot speak of this glorious work God does without reminding us that it is a gift of grace, given to the undeserving. We are not even saved by our faith (though faith itself is not a work), but by grace through faith.
ii. "The precise form of words here stresses two things. As consistently emphasized by Paul, it is entirely of His grace, His free, undeserved favour to mankind. Then also this salvation is presented as an accomplished fact." (Foulkes)
b. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: The work of salvation is God's gift. Paul's grammar here indicates that the words apply to the gift of salvation mentioned in Ephesians 2:4-8, and not directly to the faith mentioned in this verse.
i. Clarke emphatically states that the original Greek is clear in noting that when it says it is the gift of God, the it referred to is salvation, not faith. The great Greek scholar Dean Alford also clearly pointed out that the this not of yourselves referred to salvation, not to faith in this passage.
ii. Yet, even our faith is a gift of God. We cannot believe in Jesus unless God does a prior work in us, for we are blinded by our own deadness and by the god of this age ( 2 Corinthians 4:4).
iii. "But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man's own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him; the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself."
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