First Timothy 6:12 commands us to “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life”, for this is what God called us to do, because Romans 14:23 warns us, “Whatever is not from faith is sin”; therefore, life is a continuous fight to keep Satan and his wicked forces from stealing our faith that Galatians 5:6 says, “works through love”; therefore, without faith working through love, whatever we think, say, and do is sin.
Luke 18:1-8 is Jesus’ parable of the “persistent” widow that did not “persistently” go before the unjust judge, but who “persistently” stayed before God with faith, praying day and night, asking God to change the unjust judge’s mind, and because she prayed from faith, God did for her what she asked of Him. Then Jesus explained persistent faith will always be rewarded, even when the answer takes time to fulfill, and then Jesus asked a strange question, because He knows these last days before He returns for His bride-body-church, faith working through love will be very rare. And we see today the absent of faith and love in the anger, hatred, and jealous greed of people.
Probably most people, even faithful church attendees, have never fully understood the eternal importance of faith working through love, because most pray once or twice about a need, but do not immediately receive their specified answer, they might ask someone to pray about it for them, and then if no answer comes immediately, they forget about praying and work it out their way or the best way they can, so their faith was not “persistent” or even working through love, respect, and trust in God to answer prayer. God trains us to trust Him by His prolonged answers.
Jesus commands us in Mark 11:22, ”So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God’. Jesus does not command us to have faith in what we know or want God to do, or even what God has promised, but Jesus commands us to believe God and His word but put all our faith and trust in the God whose word we believe. Persistent faith in God to answer prayer, even when it takes time for Him to completely do what we ask of Him, is what Jesus is saying in Mark 16:17-18; what will happen when we believe God, “17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Notice persistent faith working through pure love brings “recovery” to the sick; not when we pray for them, but just by us laying our hands on them. Yes, that is the power of persistent faith working through persistent love.
Tuesday October 3, 2023, I went for a blood test and then meet with someone from cardiology to explain what the test revealed about this heart, they say has a hole in it among the valve problems, but the Lord Christ I serve (Colossians 3:23-25), already has all this in His eternal plan, purpose, and timing (Ephesians 1:3-14).
All this and a Pet Scan Monday October 16, 2023, shows infection growing on the pig valve sewed in 14 years ago, plus gall stones, but no whole in the heart; thus, Infectious Disease Control made all the tests and sent the results to Cleveland surgeons for their analysis and recommendations. I have already given all this to Lord Jesus for Him to do with it according to His plan, purpose, and timing. But I got to tell the doctors and nurses what my Lord Jesus Christ did for me, and how He is slowly healing me to overcome all these problems, for I really feel good, and all this is exciting to see what Christ Jesus will do with it, for it is His problem. The God I serve is pure, peaceful excitement, just entertaining His child. I love Him. All my doctors are praying Christians, so we talk Jesus. It appears the next step is heart surgery for a new pig valve.
Romans 14:23b is still true, “because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin”. It is impossible to “Have faith in God” (Mark 11:22) and fear death (Hebrews 2:15) at the same time (my Primary Care Doctor told me how God delivered her from the fear of death), but when we “Have faith in God”, we can trust God “worry free”, for He controls life and death and He commands us in Deuteronomy 30:19 to choose life and blessing, so I obey.
Human nature thinks everything in life happens because of an accident, foolish choice, or satanic attack, but this thinking is not scriptural, because in all things God has a plan, purpose, and timing; thus, there can never be any mistakes or changes in God’s plan, purpose, and timing of everything, for Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way”; therefore, God ORDERS every detail of our lives, as He says in Psalm 139:13-16, so every detail of each of our lives is already written in our personal book and cannot be changed, for all things we go through are to bring us to Christ, so we trust Him in every detail of life, so trust Him.
Jim, Kim, Tim Nabors
