"Whether we live or whether we die, let us have faith in God. Whenever we teach or preach the Gospel, let us have faith, for without faith we shall labor in vain. Whenever you distribute religious books or visit the sick, do so in faith, for faith is the life blood of all our service. If only by faith can a dying Jacob bless his descendants, so only by faith can we bless the sons of men. Have faith in God, and the instruction you give shall really edify, the prayers you offer shall bring down showers of mercy, and your endeavors for your sons and daughters shall be prospered. God will bless what is done in faith, but if we believe not, our work will not be established.
Faith is the backbone and marrow of the Christian's power to do good: we are weak as water till we enter into union with God by faith, and then we are omnipotent. We can do nothing for our fellow men by way of promoting their spiritual and eternal interests if we walk according to the sight of our eyes, but when we get into the power of God and grasp His promise by a daring confidence, then it is that we obtain the power to bless." --Charles Haddon Spurgeon, (1834-1892).
To be a person who lives by faith is very difficult. I know I tend to live by my feelings, and not by faith at times. Faith needs to overrule our feelings. Perhaps faith and our emotions at times can be joined, and that is always a great blessing of God's grace.
But many times fear, timidness, needing to say I'm sorry and ask for forgiveness, and just down right dislike for a situation God has called us to confront, can make us live our life out without faith, as we lean on our fear and pride.
As the "prince of preachers" says here, in his marvelous way with words, "faith is the life blood of our service." Amen.
2 comments:
Don;
We all love Spurgeon's preaching, he surely is called the prince of preachers.
But as to his statement and non exposition on (Mark 11:22) is just not good enough.
Just think; if a Jehovah Witness or Muslim etc. would read that, they all would be justified to have faith in their god.
Their god is NOT my God!
Every preaching or statement where they remove Jesus from the word 'God' is useless and powerless, no matter how great we think they are.
Kind regard's
Paul.
Paul,
It goes without saying that Spurgeon was speaking of the Triune God of Scripture.
He spoke often of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. But in this short couple of paragraphs he simply uses the word God, which is what I do at times.
Thanks for dropping by.
Post a Comment