"The Just Live By Faith"

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Good Evening to All!

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. ...for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
Romans 1:16-17

My Personal favorite Version (KJV)

for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (17) For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Reference by: New King James Version

1:16--the New Testament speaks of Salvation in the past tense (Eph. 2:8), the present tense
(2 Cor. 2:15) and the future tense Romans 13:11). In the past, the believer has been saved from the penalty of sin, to the present, the believer is being saved from the power of sin, and in the future, the believer will be saved from the very presence of sin (see Matt. 5:10-12, 8:17, 2 Cor. 5:101, 2 Tim. 2:11-13, Rev. 22:12).

1:17--From faith to faith means faith is at the beginning of the salvation process, and it is the goal as well. When a person first exercises faith in Christ, that person is saved from the penalty of sin and declared righteous. As the believer lives by faith, God continues to save him or her from the power of sin to live righteously (see v. 16).

There are SO many excuses (reasons) people use not to talk about Christ. I used to be that way. Oh, I wasn't ashamed of being a Christian, I think I was more afraid of embarrassing myself by showing my ignorance. As I have testified before, I was a "hit and miss" Christian up until about 12 years ago. I truly got faithful and serious about my relationship 10 years ago when I arrived at the "church home" where I now am. Anyway, I have truly come a long way in my walk with Christ since my "humble beginnings" with Him. I'm still nervous about giving Bible Studies to a group, but I don't have a problem with one on ones. There is no way 10 years ago I would have done that.

I have had people tell me their religious beliefs and feelings were private, and I respect that. I just happen to be the kind of person NOW, that wants to shout mine from the roof top. LOL! I'm am not saying that everyone has to believe like I do. What I would like to accomplish is to get people curious enough about Christ and the scriptures to actually start reading the Bible, and start looking scriptures up for themselves, but I do ask that you say a little prayer asking God to open His Word up to you so that you will have a better understanding about them rather than analyzing His words and coming up with your own ideas. After all, it does say that there is no private interpretation. (That's another myth I would like to dispel). I heard people say after I have explained scriptures to them, and read scriptures plain as day to them, "well, that's your interpretation." No, I pray before I explain, so this is what God wants me to say, therefore it is HIS Words. Another pet peeve I have is " the Bible contradicts itself. It does not. I've had people look up verses in the Old Testament, then in the New, and say see, right here is where He contradicts Himself. First of all, if He did that, that would make Him a Liar, and God is definitely not that. He is incapable of lying, because He is Truth. Anyway, Jesus said in the New Testament that He did not come to destroy but to fulfill the prophecy. Therefore it is not a contradiction.

I pray that more and more people will turn to Christianity and speak out, witnessing to anyone who will listen. As HIS time draws nigh for coming back, we ALL need to be mindful and get our souls ready and KEEP them ready.

It is our jobs or obligations as Christians to do this. This is what discipleship is all about, Spreading the Gospel, and letting those who are uninformed know HOW to receive Salvation. According to Acts 2:38, God's Plan of Salvation says: Repent, be baptised every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the Remission of your sins, and ye SHALL receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The next step is to Live for God, Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments. How much plainer can He be?

If you are interested in delving more into this, please check out my articles on Salvation or Misconceptions,and another is "An Intimate Relationship with God". If you do, please leave me a comment about what you think on the subject. I have referred back to these "articles I first wrote for the Associated Content.com site,then included them in my blog posts because I hold them to be important. Not because I wrote them but because the message is so important. I bring them up every so often just in case new readers may want or need to here these messages. Yes, I prayed for guidance and His message to be brought forth before I wrote them. I hope you will check them out. I hope you enjoy my "food for thought".

Good Night and May God Bless!