Romans 10:9 (AMP)
“ because
if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
[recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God], and believe
in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Believe- Strong's G4100 – pisteuō πιστεύω (Greek)
to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit,
place confidence in of the thing believed to credit, have
confidence in a moral or religious reference used in the NT of
the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and
higher prerogative and law of soul to trust in Jesus or God as able to
aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith mere
acknowledgment of some fact or event: intellectual faith to entrust a
thing to one, i.e. his fidelity to be intrusted with a thing
Exodus 4:5 KJV
“That
they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.
Strong's H539 - 'aman אָמַן (Hebrew)
to support, confirm, be faithful
(Qal) to support, confirm, be faithful,
uphold, nourish foster-father (subst.) foster-mother, nurse pillars,
supporters of the door
(Niphal) to be established, be faithful, be
carried, make firm to be carried by a nurse made firm, sure,
lasting confirmed, established, sure verified, confirmed reliable,
faithful, trusty
(Hiphil) to stand firm, to trust, to be
certain, to believe in stand firm
trust,
believe
What is it to believe in YHVH (GOD, ABBA Heavenly Father),
Yeshua HaMoshiach (Jesus Christ, The
Messiah) and the Ruach Hakodesh (Holy
Spirit)? What does it mean to believe?
Belief is an action, a verb. It takes a person to shape
himself into its understanding. It allows one to change its values, it morals
its understanding into it. It doesn’t remain still or stagnant. It is what is
used as a measure to of foundation to rely and trust in and of.
So when someone says they believe this or that, they trust
and rely on it. They stand firm in it, in all they do for it.
So I ask you a question :
Can you believe and follow Christ and Not have a spiritual
change? Can you believe and follow Christ and still sin? Can you believe and
follow Christ and not be responsible for your decisions? Can you believe and
Follow Christ and allow the compromise of sin in your area of responsibility
and concern? Can one believe and Follow Christ and still have drunkenness abound
in their life? Can you believe and follow Christ and still get High on drugs? Can
one believe and follow Christ and participate in immoral behaviors, sexual
misconduct , homosexuality , stealing ,lying, cheating, adverse weights and
measures. Can one believe and follow Christ and allow these things to be prevalent
in their lives? Can one believe and follow Christ and associate, approve of
these types of behaviors ? Can one believe and follow Christ and allow this in
our homes, families, rules, standards , ethics, morals , values? Can one
believe and follow Christ make excuses for these types of things, behaviors,
our government and the people we follow?
The Word believe is a strong word. It
has much value. For me it carries a lot of weight. The reason I state this is
due to my own personal experiences in coming into the belief of Jesus Christ as
the true Messiah.
I was born and raised in a Jewish home.
After leaving for the
military and getting married, I came into the belief of Jesus Christ being the
true Messiah. However, I knew and feared to tell my family about my new belief,
faith and new understanding. I knew that my new belief made a serious change in
my life. I knew that I was going to make new decisions. I knew that the old
sinful things were going to have pass away. I was convicted deeply of my sin.
We can see by the mere definition of the word
“belief” comes with and understanding of trusting in a faith in that it brings
a statement of decision. In the scripture in romans 10:9, it being a statement
of faith, holding dear to Jesus Christ in our heart of this faith.
What does this statement do for us on earth and in
Heaven? Can we merely make this statement and that’s the end to it? Does it
have to bring some action to it?
The action being stated is first and foremost is
allowing and surrendering to God and accepting His forgiveness of sin and as
well forgiving others of sin. That’s the first action to take place and for the
rest of our lives to continually repeat this action as we continue to live out
our lives. To continue to uproot out all areas of sin and continue the Change
that manifests from following Jesus Christ. This is what God wants in our lives
to be Holy and sanctified.
The problem arises when we either sin and justify
it or sin and don’t know we are in sin. Everyday brings new challenges. However,
God wont leave us in the dark; if we seek him he will bring us to the knowledge
of the truth.
He also won’t force us to choose him. He allows us
to make our choices. He is looking to bless us in all we do. However, Gods word
to does not go void in any circumstance that we can think of. God commissioned
us to stand firm on HIS word alone. When Man’s word comes into conflict with
our belief we are called to make a choice not an excuse. That’s the mystery
revealed. All sorts of spiritual and physical manifestations of belief systems
are used to make choices and changes in our decisions; the only solid
foundation is GODs word. That what sets everything else apart from Gods word
and truth that sets us free.
Many terrible and great people have great
understandings and great manipulations of doctrines that want to persuade our
belief system. Even use those very same scriptures to justify it. However if it
doesn’t line up with Gods word in all things then it’s a lie. A little lie will
corrupt the whole truth to be a lie. You can’t have one and the other. The
light doesn’t mix with the dark. Evil cannot dwell with Holy things.
This is our belief that Paul writes about in
Romans. This is the change that comes. Its not just a statement of Faith, it
becomes action and change in our Heart that God meets us at and approves of.
The Heart of God is this; do we strive to do His
will or not? If close our eyes to sin then we close our eyes to GOD.
How great is our salvation and the love and mercy
of God but we need not forget that it comes with great fear and trembling. It’s
not going to always be a walk in the park. Look at those who are being greatly
tortured and persecuted in places like Syria, Iraq and Nigeria. Look at what
closing our eyes to sin causes. It causes changes in social norms that provoke,
defy god and mocks Him. It allows antichristian morals values and beliefs to
sweep into our country like a tidal wave with such great force and power no one
can stop. It allows our elected officials to come against the very grain of
belief system of our Jewish / Christian values likes seen never in the history
of man.
No one is perfect however what is perfect is God
and his word and will stand to every test we can imagine. That is our belief
that is what Paul is writing about. That is what true meaning to our belief is
and means. Amen!
