Having been justified by faith we have confidence before God (Romans 5:1).

Many people are what we call “sin conscious” Christians.  I must admit that I fought this as much as anyone, but the truth is that without faith it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  

Faith doesn’t look at the circumstances, and it doesn’t look at the past. It’s always in the present speaking what THE WORD OF GOD says over a situation. 

Are you sin conscious?

One of the greatest enemies to our faith is sin consciousness.  Romans tells us…

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Romans 4:4-5 KJV

When we as Christians stay conscious of the sins we commit to the point that we are in condemnation over them, we are no longer resting in the faith of the knowledge that Jesus Christ paid for our sins.  Instead we are in effect attempting to WORK our way into heaven. 

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 3:3 KJV

Paul was asking a rhetorical question here.  The answer is no!  

We somehow understood that we couldn’t earn salvation when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but sometimes as life tries to crowd us with doubting and reason is doubt in disguise (let that sink in for a bit).

We end up switching to a performance based system.  

I have to do _____ because God said _______. 

We are like the Galatians who started out in the spirit but ended up in the flesh.  Nothing good ever came from this type of behavior. 

Abraham our Example

Think about Abraham who started out leaving his land to look for a city not made with human hands.  He started out trusting God, but he lost his footing along the way.  

He believed the promise that God told him that he would be a “father of many nations”, but the problem was that HE tried to make it happen.

Sometimes Christians believe that Jesus is Lord but then they try to make salvation happen for themselves. This line of thinking will only end us up in hell.

Abraham ended up with a child alright, but that child wasn’t what God wanted because he was birthed from the flesh and from Abraham’s attempts to fulfill God’s Word around God. 

The truth is that all things are possible to those who believe (Mark 9:23), but without faith it’s impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).  

That means you aren’t going to fulfill God’s call on your life without operating in faith.

Furthermore that call is going to require you to die to self and press into God.  All things that Abraham didn’t want to do which left him with Ishmael.  

Side Note: You wonder where the conflict in the Middle East came from?  You can blame it on oil or religion or politics, but the truth is that it’s Abraham and Sarah in the tent with the handmaid and her child. 

God is calling us to…

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Galatians 5:1 KJV

Don’t give up on the faith when things get hard.  Moreover, don’t resort to doing things by the flesh.  You may very well be able to hand it “all on your own”, and you might think that you don’t have to operate in faith. 

But here’s something that will stretch your doctrine. The Bible says, 

And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not from faith; for whatsoever is not from faith is sin.

Romans 14:23 KJ21

Romans is talking about food, but it could just as easily be talking about anything else that we do. 

Everything you do should be in faith.  

Don’t recede back into the old ways by attempting to earn something from God. 

You can’t do it. 

Regardless of your current situation, God is capable of doing for you all that you need.  You might have to repent or forgive someone.  Maybe your love walk is stopping the blessing from operating in your life. Whatever God is talking to you about changing today – DO IT. 

But you’re going to have to operate According to YOUR Faith.

The blessing of God makes rich and adds no sorrow (Proverbs 10:22), and it starts with obedience in faith not obedience apart from faith.