The Essence of Faith

If someone, not a believer, asked me what was Christian life all about, I would have many, many things to say. By the grace of God, I probably could talk from morning until night, and include reading half or all of the Bible. There are so many things to say, so many aspects of faith -covenant, Kingdom of God, righteousness, holiness, martrydom, truth, prayer, witnessing, redemption, meditating on the Word, being a disciple, salvation, justification, sanctification, living by the Spirit, Fruit of the Spirit,  etc. etc. etc.

Of course God's wisdom is so great, unsearchable, and past finding out. As I write now, I feel so overwhelmed with the little God has shown me. I find it hard to put it into words, that is, the essense of my faith. It seems that there is so much to it. I just feel flooded, if there is such a feeling, I feel so incapable, so handicapped, so inadequate, to put faith into Words.

The Old Testament alone is difficult to summarize. I don't think I can ever encapsulate the entirely of the Word of God, and the Spirit it carries, and the life it breathes, into a little "pet saying" or "theme" or "life verse". It ever there had to be a summarization of faith, it would have to be Scripture as a whole. I cannot have the Tanakh without the B'rit Chadashah. I cannot have the Torah without the Ketivim or the Nevi'im. I cannot just take the 613 commandments of the Torah and 49 commandments of Christ. I cannot have just the writings of Sha'ul, or just the gospel of Mattiyahu, or rely solely upon the book of Revelations. I realize now, it is impossible, for me to ever find a "catchphrase" or a "motto" from some lone verse somewhere in Scripture and use it to kick off a blog, run a ministry, or change lives. If I had to choose - I couldn't choose! Yet I can't throw the entire Scripture at people; I haven't even begun to know it myself.

^{1 John 2:24} Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life. 
²⁶ These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will^[e] abide in Him.


There is no need for any other book in the world  save the Word of God. Sola Scriptura, as Martin Luther said. I realize that I can easily do away with every other book, even good commentaries, or those of real men and women of God with real revelational truth. Why? Because when I read those books, I learn so much. It helps me. It teaches me. But the very essense of it all is that they learnt it all from God, and never from themselves, and they received the revelation and truth from God through the word of God. Did you ever realize that Wesley read the same Bible your read every day? If they received revelation from God, the you can also. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. There is only ONE mediator, between God and man, and that is the Messiah Yeshua. He was, is, and ever will be both God, and Man. So I don't need "the Bible + t The Writings of Watchman Nee", or "the Bible + Systematic Theology", those men of God of the past would definately not allow you to put their writings in the same place of God - its Scripture alone. Sola Scriptura. Scripture is all I need, to know God, to learn from God, to have a relationship with God, and a revelation of Him, etc. Those who are in harmony and accordance with the Spirit and Word of Scripture, in the end, all seem to speak the same things in a different ways, and carry the same Spirit.



The same Lord over all is rich upon all who call upon Him. Romans 10:12

The Basis of Reading the Bible is very simple. Just read the Bible and say, "What is GOD saying here". Don't read the Word of God through the spectacles of another mere man. You ought to read the words of man, from the basis of the Word of God, which operates on a higher, separate level. And read the Word of God as a whole, in context, for even atheists can justify their faith (or lack of it), by taking Scripture out of context. In that way, a lot of fightings over pet doctrines, and divisions in the church can be easily done away with. The problem is, I, we, and all men, tend to have preconceived ideas of God and preconceived doctrines, which may not be totally wrong, but is not eternal infallible, truth, and we tend to read scripture through "colored spectacles".

God never contradicts Himself. Then why does the Bible seem to always contradict? Are we justified solely by faith (Romans) or by works also (James)? Ask God yourself. If you take, from a basis of pure faith, that God is, and God is truth, then you realise that seeming contradictions are merely coexisting realities or complementing truths.

The TRUTH is, true faith always shows up as works, because faith is inward, in our hearts, and works are there as proofs or as signs. A truly clean person inside will have a clean house, but a person with a seemingly clean house may not really be a clean person. You can't judge truth from the outward; God judges the heart (1 Samuel). However, if you really have faith, works will be there, like Abraham, who had faith, and who obeyed. What is inside must come out, but what is put on outside cannot be an accurate judge of what is inside.

For example: Yeshua reigns, and we reign with Him (Col 1), then what do we mean when we say he is coming again to reign? Easy: the overiding reality is that if the Spirit, where His victory is already accomplished and the actual fact is Yeshua has gained the Victory. But does He reign in your lives? Are you totally surrendered and ruled by Him? Yeshua is gaining the victory. And what about the end times? Yeshua will indeed gain the victory.

"What is this nonsense?" you ask. Read Scripture. Yeshua was, is, and is to come.

This is what you can call "Threefold Reality"

Yeshua was the Victory since the beginning of time.  (In the Spirit)
Yeshua is gaining the Victory, daily.  (In the Soul)
Yeshua will indeed gain the Victory. (In the Body)

And of course, the overiding, superceding reality is that of the Spirit, that Yeshua is the Victory.

(So who is right - the Armenianists or the Calvinists? None are totally true. God alone is total TRUTH. No man alone is truth. Yeshua is THE truth, He was both totally God and totally man.)


God has to use so many illustrations in the Word, because He needs to explain to us dumb humans some divine truth, which otherwise would be foreign to us, and above and beyond us. He stoops down to speak to us in terms we can understand.

 Do you realize the God of John G Lake, who worked miracles is the same God? And the same God I worship, by the mercy of God the same God of Sha'ul, and the same God as Peter, James and John? It's the same God of Moses, who parted the Red Sea. It's the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's the same God who said, "Let there be light". It has always been only Him and Him alone. If it's the God of Scripture, it's the same God, don't be deceived by false "christs" who are really antichrist, and false "gods", who are really nothing.

Even more than Sola Scriptura, it's Dios de la escritura solamente. The God of Scripture Alone. Who is He? I cannot begin to describe. His character is flawless, perfect, pure, and just totally undescribable. His acts, His deeds, His Words, His truth, His power, His glory, are all inescapable, crucial, undescribably, essential, etc. parts of Him.

These Words: "Discipleship" is anadequate. "Holiness" is inadequate. "Commandments" are indaquate. "Love" is anadequate. "Covenant" is anadequate. All these words are equally as important. God is love, yes, and His love is past finding out; that is mind-boggling enough, but He is infinitely MORE than love! Love, is just a part of Him, a side of Him. What word could I use to summarize the entirety of the revelation of God to man. The very profoundness of it all! That YHWH Himself should speak to mere man! And I haven't even begun to see the whole picture myself and doubtless, I probably never can with my own little mind. God have mercy on me.

The very basic, essense, of faith which seems so simple and yet is infinitely profound is this: YHWH.

YHWH - always - the God who always was, always is, and always is to come. The great I AM ALWAYS GOD, I AM ALWAYS ONE. The I AM WHO I AM.

The sole purpose, and basis of faith is: YHWH: who He is, what He said, what He said He is, what He said He will do, has done, and is doing, and how He, the great God of the heavens and the earth, who humbles Himself to behold the things in heaven and on earth, sent His only begotten son, whom He loves, who is the Word of God who is with God, and who IS God, to tabernacle among us, and dwell in us, and reveal His excellant glory, that whoever believes in Him, and goes on believing in Him shall never perish, but shall go one having eternal life, that life which is of the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit... and so MUCH MORE!