Obedience to the Faith

Obedience to the Faith

Obedience to the Faith is the Plan of salvation for everyone to enter a new and living way of peace; for all to come to the knowledge of the truth because God lives. Obedience to the Faith is noting more than partnering with the King of the Universe in overcoming the dictates of the flesh, the world and the devil. By God through faith is the New and Living Way through the Cross that I am so very grateful for. As my love deepens in my relationship with Jesus, it is my desire to be obedient to the faith by partnering with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit to respond to His ways rather than the negative ways of the world. 

For several weeks I have been camping out in Romans specifically with my eyes on the Cross. Recently I saw the Cross in my mind’s eye as well. The Cross was hand carved by the hand of God into a multifaceted work of art that embraced every human being’s personal handprint overlaid with the hand print of God. That is the only way I can come up with a description. As I meditate on the vision, I see the cross overlaid with The Tree of Life. The Tree is like a living entity–the Tree is Jesus who was in the Garden all along. The Tree of Life and the Cross are different, however, one cannot exist without the other. The Tree of Life’s branches span in every direction forever. Because the Tree is alive and growing it changes–it is always transforming. The Cross is stationary–it looks the same forever with all the carvings representing every human life created past, present, and future.

The Tree of Life embodies those who are engrafted into it through belief in the One. The Cross is the very means by which every victory is won, every sin is exterminated–and at the same time forever illustrating by the wounds in His hands, what Jesus did for us so that we could walk in the Power of His resurrection because we have been crucified with Christ on the Cross. That means it is no longer I who lives but the one living within me; my old nature is counted dead and buried. My new nature is resurrected in Jesus. I now partner with God to overcome the patterns of the world by choosing to be transformed into the image of Christ.

The Book of Romans begins and ends with another “multifaceted” idea: “Obedience to the faith.” Transformation happens when choosing to partner with the Father, the Son, and The Holy Spirit in “Obedience to the faith.” It allows us to refrain from all self-righteousness while submitting to taking up our cross daily in a walk of total dependency on God and His Power to continually transform us into the image of His Son. Each and every act of obedience to the faith is practicing the nature, ways, power, and authority of God by choosing to refrain from reacting to negativity in the world, the flesh, and ultimately the power of darkness.  Grace is the power of God to be transformed into the image of Jesus as a co-heir with an outrageous life. The Kingdom of Heaven looks like The Fruit of the Spirit manifesting in my life–this is the nature of God. The Kingdom is now my eternal abode as I partner with Jesus to live a Kingdom lifestyle of love.

 Romans 1:5 It is through Him that we have received grace and [our] apostleship to promote obedience to the faith and make disciples for His name’s sake among all the Gentiles.

Because of the unmerited favor of God, we have been endowed with the gift of Grace from the realm of heaven to become children of God, transformed and empowered to live in this material realm as an instrument of righteousness . An instrument of righteousness is an active participant of the Kingdom of God’s Power and grace because and only because of  what was accomplished on the Cross. But it does not end there. When Jesus arose from the dead the old dispensation of God coming upon people ended. The Kingdom of Heaven was about to become the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit within.

The righteous shall live by faith on earth in a unique identity and new creation in Jesus Christ. Obedience to the faith begins with believing that Jesus Christ is living within my being; I am the temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus  delivered me from every repercussions of darkness in my life-the darkness I have participated in and the darkness that others have covered me in negativity. Obedience to the faith is nothing more than believing in a new a living way each and every moment in terms of exhibiting every Fruit of the Spirit, for against such there is no law.

It is not entirely through the telling of the Good News, it is through a revelation of the Cross and showing and radiating the changes, testimonies, and obedience to the faith that creates an environment around a believer that resembles and feels like Jesus. When we are walking and living out our lives in obedience to the faith, other’s will ask–they don’t need to be told. The Fruits of the Spirit will be recognized in our life because against such there is no law. The idea that “there is no Law” literally means there is no Law. The Law was absorbed in the Cross with the fulfillment of Jesus Christ and what He accomplished. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 5:24). Those who have crucified the flesh on the Cross now walk in the Fruits of the Spirit and the Power of God.

 I am crucified to the world because I believe in what Jesus did for me at the Cross: As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died (Galatians 6). In other words the Fruits of the Spirit cannot be contested by any creed, religion, or nation. The Fruits of the Spirit are the evidence of the crucified flesh that is not subject to futility or sin because it is aligned with the Power of the Holy Spirit unto Life. “We are crucified unto life.” When anyone on the earth encounters the Cross may they recognize that their old nature died with Jesus and their new nature is becoming like the Fruit of the Spirit. Others will see Jesus.

Now to Him who is able to establish and strengthen you [in the faith] according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [of the plan of salvation] which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now has been disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the commandment of the eternal God, leading them to obedience to the faith, ²⁷ to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forevermore! Amen.