Faith, Doubt, Holy Spirit

When we doubt means we disobeyed God. In term of "obedience" we are to present our bodies "as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God." When you give your body, you give everything it contains within your body. That means giving yourself completely to God and if you don't, God may not be able to use you or do anything for you. This is like the story of the potter and the clay, which illustrates the law of submission. The potter (God) has soft, yielding clay (us), but if the clay does not submit, the potter may not be able to do what we should be able to. The potter still could make anything except for useful and beautiful (spiritual fruitful) out of an unyielding blob of clay. If God is going to make those kinds of vessels out of clay (us), however, we are going to have to yield to the spiritual law of surrender. Give ourselves to God as a living sacrifice and let Him have us--all of us. God looks into our hearts for our spiritual obedience rather than perfection. We will never be perfect as long as we live in our bodies. Our source is in the core which is the heart. Do we really obey God from our hearts? Do we make every efforts to obey God from our hearts? We received our faith when the Holy Spirit convicted us to turn to God. If you are saved, it's entirely God's doing, and not to your credit at all. All you did was responding to the Holy Spirit's conviction and He did the rest. There's no measure of faith involved on our part except our obedience. Its a choice in matter of responding to the Holy Spirit's conviction in our hearts to be saved. Jesus said in John 16:8 "When He (Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment." Later in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians 1:5 "because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Romans 10:8b-10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved . The heart believes and the mouth confesses. Faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit, without the Holy Spirit, you can't have faith and without the Holy Spirit, you can't be spiritual. If you don't have faith, then you don't have the Holy Spirit. Faith don't come before the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit comes before Faith. 1 Thessalonians 1:5 "because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake." Romans 4:20-25 Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why "it was credited to him as righteousness." The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." A faithful Christian will see to it that his/her anticipations conform to the revealed Word of God and he/she has nothing to doubt or fear in life or in death. Hebrews 11:13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. Hebrews 11:39-40 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. 1 John 5:3-5 "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." There is a difference between doctrinal beliefs and practical beliefs. A doctrinal belief is what we hold in teachings, and the practical belief is what you hold in reality and what holds you in your day-to-day living as those great faiths in the Bible who didn't have similar doctrines as we do today. Jude 1:22-23 Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh. A faithful Christian will learn and see to it that his/her anticipations conform to the revealed Word of God and he/she has nothing to doubt or fear in life or in death. Therefore, the bottom line is this: FAITH is a gift from God. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. What Christians needs to do is obey God's word in Faith. We are focus on our faith based on obedience to holiness, adding to our faith and fruit of the spirit through grace. Adding to our faith in obedience is listed In 2 Peter, Chapter 1, verses 5 through 9: "make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.