Firm Resolve

Resolve and faith are one in the same. Faith in God results in our faithfulness to Him and manifests itself in firm resolve when we, and our faith are tempted, tested, and tried. Two aspects of the "fruit of the Spirit" are faith and self-control, but we must ask ourselves; “Is that fruit being cultivated in our lives today the way it needs to be?”

I believe in many of our lives, it is pretty obvious that it is not being developed and cultivated sufficiently in order to gain a decisive victory over the greatest enemies to our faith, which are self, Satan, and sin.

We are saved by grace through faith, which incorporates a trust and reliance upon Christ for salvation, as well as a firm resolve regarding our faithful relationship and fellowship with Him around His word and in His Spirit. God’s gift of faith and the cultivated fruit of faith result in our resolute behavior in trusting His promises and obeying His commandments.

Throughout our Lord’s entire life, He was able to draw upon the grace of faith in God and thereby resist, renounce, refuse, refute, utterly reject, and overcome every single temptation, test, and trial promoted by self, Satan, and sin. And people have the nerve to question His deity! Man, that is ignorance gone to seed. Now, God's plan for every born-again Christian believer is to learn how to overcome sin, too, the way Jesus did. Every time and anytime we yield to self, Satan, or sin’s temptations, we step out of faith to a certain extent and to one degree or another. The thing that we seem to be willingly ignorant of is that stepping out of faith, even for a moment, is a dangerous and destructive practice. It is a practice, that if continued in, will lead to our great loss, both now and for all eternity! Again, the trick is for us to learn not to do that, just like Jesus did. This is possible through learning to live and walk in the Holy Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It is interesting to note the scriptures teach that, "Jesus learned obedience through the things that He suffered." I hope we understand by now, that the obedient Christian life of faith, discipleship, and sainthood that we have all been called to is a learning process, and it is not completed overnight like some kind of marinated steak. Nevertheless, progress on the path is still very necessary, expected, and required. Therefore, this new life of victory over sin can also be attained to, enhanced, and given increase through a lifestyle of disciplined Spirit-led covert giving, fasting, and prayer which are ordained and designed by God to replace and displace a lifestyle of overt greed, gluttony, and prayerlessness. It will also be helpful for us to meditate in God’s word day and night so that we will observe to do all that is written therein. Plus, regular fellowship with like-minded believers will help us to maintain and increase our resolve.

One of the greatest ways to increase our faith in God and our faithfulness to Him, and perhaps one of the most neglected, is the Spirit led discipline of witnessing to others. As Christians we often get so busy and burdened down with the obligations of this old life that we sometimes forget why we are here in the first place, to share Christ with others. Paul proclaimed, "Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." Daisy Osborn, the wife of the great apostle T.L. Osborn once said, "If you don't like the idea of preaching to others, just drop the "p" and reach people!" Again, there's no better way to increase our faith than by sharing the faith with others.

Disciple means disciplined follower. What disciplines are we following today in order to increase our commitment to God and the holiness that He has provided for us in abundance through placing us in the Son of His righteousness? This, of course, is why He requires holiness from us in our lives, because He is holy and because he has already provided it for us through faith in His Son. In other words, holiness is our inheritance in Christ, but if we seem to lack resolve in this matter, perhaps it is because we lack discipline regarding God’s ordained graces that are designed to give substance and increase to our stature and stance in the faith and in His gift of righteousness. Paul exhorts us, "examine yourselves to see if you are still in the faith."

It seems that "everybody wants to go to Heaven, but nobody wants to die." Jesus said, "If you would be my disciples indeed, you must deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow Me. He who seeks to gain his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will gain eternal life. And what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his eternal soul?" What are we seeking to gain or hold on to that is causing us to lose ours?

God has placed many things at our disposal in order to help us attain to, maintain, retain, and increase our firm resolve concerning His promises and commandments. Again, three of the big ones are covert fasting, praying, and giving. Jesus lived a sinless life, died a vicarious death, was raised from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and lives forever to make intercession to the Father on our behalf. All of this is the result of His trusting and obeying God’s will and word which was made possible through His Spirit led life of self denial and chosen suffering. Jesus prayed to His Heavenly Father in the garden just prior to his death and passion on the cross. "If this cup can pass from Me, then let it. Nevertheless not My will but Your will be done." This exemplified His attitude throughout His entire life and ministry, and if we are to have His faith and firm resolve in our resistance and rejection of self, Satan, and sin, then we will have to do the same. If we will, when Jesus returns, He will not only find faith on the earth, He will find it in us too. Wouldn’t that be great? By the way, if we do decide to embrace the sufferings of Christ as so led by the Holy Spirit, "I am convinced that the present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed!"

Resolve, or being resolute in a matter is interesting because it involves our wills, but it is not merely a question of will power. It is actually our wills lining up with God's Holy Spirit, His Word, and His will and thereby receiving His power to do His will instead of our own when tempted. Again, this is accomplished through a life and walk in the Spirit, which incorporates the grace of God's ordained covert disciplines, which if diligently practiced will result in a strong resolve on our part to do His will in the midst of our temptations, tests, and trials. In other words, when we are tempted we can stand the test because we have prepared ourselves in advance for the tests that we know are already upon us and that are going to be increasing as we see the Day of the Lord approaching. I'm going to say it one last time so you will be sure to get it. This disciplined lifestyle results in faith, faithfulness, and/or resolve on our part to do the will of God. Jesus operated like this in His life, ministry, and in His sacrificial death, and we can do the same. Now, these Spirit-led disciplines are not an end in themselves, but simply a means to a desired end, which is to be single-minded regarding the will of God in our lives and thus learn how to be victorious overcomers in Christ Jesus. May we all learn to abstain to attain. Amen?