Works: The definition

Works is define as "if". If you have enough measure of faith, you will reap. If you have enough faith, you will get what you want or deserved. If you have enough faith, you get to claim and take your rewards. Works is by "measure of Faith". The measure of faith by some is defined how successful you are spiritually. I truly don't believe that God determine (measure) our faith based on our own works. Works have been debated for over 2,000 years. Romans 4:2-6 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works. Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone". Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. We are sanctified by faith. Acts 26:18 To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Spiritual knowledge is so important in our pursuit of God and His righteousness however at the same time, it is one of the biggest tragedies in Christianity is that so many of us think so highly of ourselves through works of faith when the evidence GRACE is the key to our faith. A Christian will pursue the will of God actively and be enthusiastic and the attitude toward Christ, a Christian will manifest love and burning devotion from the heart. A true Christian zeal is not based on works but proves only that the one who manifests it is healthy, balanced, energetic and actively interested in serving God's will with Spirit-Filled fruits (not works). Looking around and seeing Christian's attitudes and seeing their obvious motives that others may think is not anything close to true Christian. True faith is Grace which is a gift from God. There are two concepts of faith: 1. Salvation: We are saved by grace through faith. 2. Christian Living: We are NOT living in works but rather in faith through God's grace. We are in danger of becoming like the Pharisees with their endless list of measure of works and their self-righteous attitude. The problem with the "measure of faith" is our attitude towards self-centered more than God-centered. God wants us our obedience through our faith that our fruits can grow. There is a misunderstanding "living by faith" (Galatians 2:20) to mean that focusing on "our effort" based on works rather than obedience to holiness, adding faith and fruits through grace. Works of faith compromise on the little issues of human desires that leads to greater downfalls in the future. We are saved by faith in Christ, alone; without works and without our merit. Faith is a gift through grace. Faith is believing and receiving, as in Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved;" and as in John 1:12: "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." Action without faith is directionless and empty. Faith without action is comatose or dead. What does our action (or lack of it) reveal about your faith and mine? The Bible says, "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:8b-10). The heart believes and the mouth confesses. Christians will receive God's blessings at God's discretion according to HIS WILL, not ours. God do not reward us based on merit but rather according to His glory and plan. This is where we should have a serious responsibility in this matter to search in our hearts about our motives when we try to glorify God. A true Christian believes Jesus is the true God, not in order that he/she may temporal blessings. Faith secures from the promise of the indwelling Holy Spirit for eternal blessings. In the days of Pharisees. They felt they have earned the blessings from God through their works and faith when Jesus publicly rebuked them. What was so bad about the Pharisees' hypocrisy? If we think of it as consisting merely in their teaching or pretending one thing while in fact practicing something contradictory, we will miss Jesus' main point. Ephesians 6:13 explains that spiritual victory is directly related to the quality of your prayer life. At the same time, I am reminded that in Matthew 6:10, we are to relinquish our will to Christ’s sovereign rule that the only acceptable response to Christ’s offer of the Kingdom is to receive it , value it and pursue it according to God's will (not mine). In Matthew 6:11 revealed that God is glorified when He meets our needs according to His will. God's eternal blessings do not depend on how I feel today. If my eternal hope rested on how I felt physically, which is temporal, I might as well forget eternal blessings. My eternal hope depends on God's Word and His decisions because He will make good on His promises at HIS time, not mine.

Word of Love

Word of faith have came up with a definition of God's expectations of faith that have replaced God's grace of faith which I call "Word of LOVE". In 1 Corinthians 13:5 says "Love does not act unbecomingly". We need to examine our FAITH daily to make sure that our motives are pure from our hearts and not based on works (performance to earn). Faith itself is not works because the Holy Spirit is the generator of works which is obedience and love with the gift of faith. Through the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life and light and love. Act like Jesus, toward sinners and brethren in compassion, toward saints in warm affection, toward others in love. 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. There are two ways looking at the Ten Commandments 1. For those who are without Christ in our hearts, if we broke ONE law... we broke them all. We all are sinners and we need to be saved. 2. For those who are WITH Christ in our hearts, the Ten Commandments are about LOVE. Christians do not look at the Ten Commandments as laws but Grace of Love. We are to LOVE God first (first 4 commandments) and we are to love one another (last 6 commandments). Personal Relationship with God means: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." God blesses us and the blessings flows through us with love. Without Christ, we are nothing. Along with love and under the control of the Holy Spirit, the power of love and Holy Spirit flows through us. The only way the spiritual gifts are going to operate is love. Love is the key. God is love. He gave us two commandments. We are to love God and others. With the Holy Spirit and love, I will walk in the Spirit, Christ produces the fruit. 1 Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Timothy 1:5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Ephesians 3:17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love. Colossians 1:5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel. 1 Thessalonians 1:3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 1:14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. WoF is based on measure and works while Grace is based on faith alone in God based on your heart. God has given us the grace to sanctify us and Grace of heart is a gift from God to live in Faith. Faith is not earned but rather a gift to add to your faith list in 1st Peter. Grace is having all sufficiency in everything we may have an abundance for every good deed. With God's grace, we have the power to reach the prize of God's will. God's grace is more than sufficient in my life that I am to fix my eyes on Jesus who is my author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith and Grace together is to "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV). Romans 5:1-5 (NIV) Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. God's grace has been given freely to humans who do not deserve it, the grace of God and point out that Jesus commanded us to take up our cross and follow Him.

Decisions

I disagree. As a Christian, we don't need intelligence to decide because we have the Holy Spirit that convicts us to listen rather than focusing on our own pride of reasonings.Through the Word of god, I have learned great importance of spiritual decision-the act of faith (those who understand the concept of faith) by submitting our entire futures to God. Flesh often rules over Spirit when we decide against God's will. A Christian has the responsibility to put his faith in Christ, but God gives him the ability to make that decision through the Holy Spirit. Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD. Before salvation, we all have to make a decision to accept Christ for our eternal salvation. Once we are saved, we BELONG to Him and He makes all the decisions for us through the Holy Spirit. When we follow our flesh, we disobey Holy Spirit's conviction in our hearts. We are so entangled with "reasonings" in this world. You are either Spirit-Filled by acknowledging the conviction of Holy Spirit or don't acknowledge the Holy Spirit by following the flesh's wishes. Regardless of what our positive thinkers have said, the Scriptures have much to say about things Christians are not to do. Is not to rely on the flesh's intelligence but rather spiritual wisdom. One great example is located in Hebrews 11:24-26 when Moses made a decision to reject comfort and join with his fellow Jews to suffer affliction. Luke 17:32-33 Jesus said: Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. A person who looks back is not fit to be His disciple (Luke 9:62) and Jesus don't want anyone who makes decision based on flesh's reasoning. The angels warned Lot and his family not to look back when they run from the cities or they will die (see Genesis 19). Lot's wife died when she looked back. Looking back means you rely on flesh's desires more than God's commands and desires. A spirit-filled Christian are to focus all of their energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us to heaven." (Phillippians 3:13-14 NLT). “He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. 8:27). The heart is where God meets us because that is where we make our decisions. Our hearts are where our desires and motives are located. It is important to understand that our hearts is the state of our "flesh". Our flesh search for pleasure, comfort, pride, passions and selfish motives.