What is genuine faith?

So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you. Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]. Be miserable and grieve and weep [over your sin]. Let your [foolish] laughter be turned to mourning and your [reckless] joy to gloom. Humble yourselves [with an attitude of repentance and insignificance] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up, He will give you purpose]. - James 4:7-10 (Amplified Bible)

We depend on him for our being and for our knowing—especially our knowing of him. We are because he is. We know because he reveals. We do not originate our existence or our knowledge. He is the ultimate source and foundation of both. And since God’s absolute being and revealing is essential to his glory, and since his glory is the greatest gift he could give, we are happy for him to be the all-glorious, self-giving God rather than to be God ourselves. God is God, and we are not. He is totally self-sufficient. We are totally dependent. Our being comes from him. Our knowing him comes from him. We know the extent and nature of God’s providence, to the degree that we know it at all, because he reveals it to us, partly in nature (Rom. 1:19–21) but most fully, indeed infallibly, in his word, the Scriptures. “Have I not told you from of old and declared it? . . . Is there a God besides me?” (Isa. 44:8). “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning . . . saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isa. 46:9–10). God speaks to us about his providence. That is how we know it for what it is. - John Piper, Providence

The elements of genuine faith

1. Submit yourself to God - conscious submission to the sovereignty of God and loyal allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord.

2. Take your stand against the devil and he’ll flee from you. - when you submit to God, you must by default take your stand against the devil, as you cannot serve two masters.

3. Draw near to God and He’ll draw near to you. - a drawing near that longs for an intimate, loving relationship with God, coming into fellowship with Him as a true worshiper

4. Cleanse your hands - confession of sins and a longing for righteousness

5. Purify your hearts - a cleansing of the inner person including my thoughts, motives, desires

6. Be afflicted - a deep, penitential sorrow over sin.

7. Mourn - an internal self-contained, broken spirit, funeral-like grief over sin.

8. Weep - tears are the outward evidence of brokenness over sin.

9. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, your joy to grief - separation from the folly of the world

10. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up. - when you see the reality of who God is, infinitely holy, majestic, glorious, God, all you can see about yourself is your own sin, and you are humbled.

Every man by his own natural will hates God, but when he is turned to the Lord by repentance, then his will is changed. Then his conscience, now hardened and benumbed, shall be quickened and weakened. Then his hard heart shall be melted and his unruly affections shall be crucified, thus by that repentance the whole soul will be changed, he will have new inclinations, new desires, and new habits. - George Whitfield

There is a vital connection between soul distress and sound doctrine. Sovereign grace is very dear to those who have grown deeply because they see what grievous sinners they are. - Charles Spurgeon

J. C. Ryle listed seven characteristics of the preachers during the great awakening of the eighteenth century.

1. They taught the supremacy of the Holy Scripture.

2. They preached the total corruption of human nature.

3. They taught that Christ’s death upon the cross was the only satisfaction for man’s sin.

4. They preached the doctrine of justification by faith.

5. They taught the universal necessity of heart conversion and new creation by the Holy Spirit.

6. They spoke of God’s eternal hatred against sin and of God’s love for sinners.

7. They preached that there was an inseparable connection between true faith and personal holiness. They never allowed for a moment that any church membership or religious profession was the least proof of a man being a Christian if he lived an ungodly life.

Am I fully submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ in my life?

Do I have a desire to be intimate with God?

Do I possess a hunger for holiness?

Do I exhibit genuine repentance that results in pain and brokenness over my sin?

Do I truly hate what God hates?

Am I humble in the presence of God?

It is in the day of His power that His people are willing. And when it is done it is all to His glory. - Psalm 110:3 (NASB)

My [only] sacrifice [acceptable] to God is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart [broken with sorrow for sin, thoroughly penitent],
such, O God, You will not despise. - Psalm 51:17 (Amplified Bible)

Be Encouraged to humble yourself before the sovereign God of all creation.



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