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            This life is our one opportunity to be spiritually prepared to meet Jesus.  This life is where we learn spiritual faith lessons of trust in the Atonement Blood of Christ—this is the only time and place that God can prepare us for His Kingdom.

            Only one life is given to us to learn how to trust God in faith.  The apostle said Romans 8:12-13 we are under no obligation to live “after the flesh” as the world lives—having no faith and no trust on God for anything.  If we keep following that rebellious way, the Bible reads, “you will die” spiritually, but if we live like a believer does—putting our trust on God, and keeping our faith in the Atonement Blood Jesus shed for us, by the power of His Holy Spirit, it states “you will live.”  Those two choices face everyone on earth—but only one includes the Kingdom of God.

            Romans 8:18-22 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay [corruption] and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning [and travileth in pain together] right up to the present time.”

            Trials experienced today refine our faith in the Blood of Christ for salvation.  Any test of faith compels us to trust God for the ability to endure in the faith—as we claim our Atonement rights in Christ Jesus.  The trial may be difficult but the reward of the faithful—who continue to believe God and who keep their trust in the Atonement sacrifice of Christ—is more valuable than anything on earth.  2 Corinthians 4:17 “Our light and momentary troubles [light afflictions] are achieving for us an [exceeding and] eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

            Creation is longing to be free from the grip and penalty of sin.  Because of rebelling Genesis 3:17 “cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.”  A day of freedom from that curse of sin is promised to all believers who endure through trials and tests.  Hebrews 3:13-14 ”Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.”

            The converting of our rebellious heart from unbelief in God to belief in the shed Blood of Christ, must take place in this life, because the sin nature will not trust God in faith for anything. Galatians 5:24 “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”

            People in the world search for contentment, fulfillment, and happiness—but without God they will fail.  Unbelievers shut God out of their life, so they do not trust Him in faith for anything.  The world refuses to believe an unseen God, and it despises those who choose to live by faith in the risen Christ.  If we are insulted, persecuted, and mocked for our faith, God says Matthew 5:11 ”Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven.”

            The living hope of the believer is in a living Savior who willingly paid for their sins.  The same power God used to raise His Son from the dead is the divine power He uses to heal, deliver, convert, supply, and protect all who will trust Him in faith.  Salvation faith is Abraham’s faith because James 2:22 “his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did.”

            Our living hope is acting in faith on the Atonement sacrifice of Jesus.  The divine power of God is ready to: heal, protect, provide, forgive sins, convert hearts, transform lives, and save those who are willing to believe and to trust Him in faith.  Hebrews 4:2 “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to [failed to benefit] them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”  Acting faith must be combined with spoken faith.

            Romans 8:23-25 “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.  For in this hope we were saved.  But hope that is seen is no hope at all.  Who hopes for what he already has?  But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

            The first fruits from a tree provide hope for a harvest; as the Holy Spirit gives us hope of seeing spiritual fruit in our life—Galatians 5:22-23 “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” These attitudes give evidence that the rebellious sin nature has been replaced by a believing divine nature.  Every day is an opportunity to show 2 Corinthians 3:18 we “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

            We long to be free from the sin nature that keeps trying to pull us back to the attitudes, sins, and unbelief of the world.  God has a double right to our life because of creation and redemption.  Ephesians 1:4 In love, God “chose us as His own in Christ before the creation of the world, that we might be holy and without blemish in His presence.”  We are blameless before God only by a believing faith in the atoning Blood of His Son.

            God wants us to trust Him and be saved.  Luke 12:32 ”Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” but the kingdom is only received by believing faith in the Atonement of Christ to remove rebellion from our heart.  Ephesians 1:7-8 ”It is in Him, and through the shedding of His blood, that we have our deliverance—the forgiveness of our offences—so abundant was God’s grace, the grace which He, the possessor of all wisdom and understanding, lavished upon us.”

            We have only one life to be right with, and to trust in, the living God.  The rebellious ways of the world are in opposition to the trusting ways of the believer.  We can be free from rebellious attitudes that will not believe and not trust God.  Romans 8:12-13 ”We are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

            The Holy Spirit inspires faith in God, but we must ask Him for that inspiration.  Ephesians 1:13-14 ”In [Jesus] you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”

            The shed Blood of Christ gives freedom from that attitude of rebellion which will not trust God for anything.  Hebrews 4:14 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.”  It is our Christian responsibility to trust God in faith for all life issues—especially spiritual wisdom.

            Romans 8:26-27 “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.  And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

            We are not asked to meet things right in our own strength, but only in the power God will give to those who believe.  The apostle said Acts 5:31-32 ”God exalted [Jesus] to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.  We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

            This willingness to believe, and then to act in faith on the Word of God, cannot be omitted.  A believer will be tested in faith, but when the occasion arises, we are to place our trust on the power of God—not on something else.  Where we place our faith determines who we have decided to trust.

            The rebellious sin nature was buried in baptism, so we are Colossians 2:12 ”raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead.”  The power of God that brought Jesus back to life, is the same divine power available—for healing without drugs, protection without guns, finances without welfare, justice without lawyers, and salvation by faith in Christ.

            The issue is where we place our faith with any given situation.  Trusting God is linked to His kingdom.  Jesus said John 5:24 "He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment.”  God wants no one to be judged guilty, but all to repent and be saved.  It is Romans 3:22 ”a righteousness coming from God, which depends on faith in Jesus Christ and extends to all who believe. No distinction is made.”

            If we are physically oppressed, we have to decide who to trust, and where to put our faith.  If we choose to depend on surgery, medication, or drugs, instead of trusting on the divine power of God for healing, we would be John 3:18 "condemned already, because he has not believed [has not his trust] in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” 

            God’s one requirement is that John 6:29 “ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”  If we choose to believe, He gives us His Spirit who inspires faith in us.  John 3:17-18 ”For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  He who trusts in Him does not come up for judgment.”

            God is waiting to forgive anyone who will repent, forsake their sins, and to trust Him in faith for things in this life.  1 Corinthians 2:9 “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”  Only One Life to trust God in believing faith!