By Faith

DEVOTION

THE BOOK OF ACTS

BY FAITH

Acts 3:16

16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

NIV

We are still camping out on the same section of this book, yet we have come to the last portion of it and focus our attention on faith that comes through him. We notice that it was by faith in the name of Jesus that Peter and John were able to speak those words and through their faith which came to them through Jesus a lame man was made whole. It would seem that man alone cannot even have faith, as faith in the name of Jesus requires it to come through Jesus. How can we have faith in the name of Jesus unless Jesus gives us that faith, or there was never a Jesus in the first place? But because there was and is a Jesus we can have faith in his name. If we look at many of the other portions of the Holy Text we will see that it was by faith we are justified, it is by faith we stand firm, it is by faith we live, rather than by sight. We see that the righteous will live by faith, we are sanctified by faith and it is by faith that we eagerly wait. We also see that we are not alone in the faith journey because it was by faith that Abel offered his sacrifice and by faith he was commended as a righteous man. It was by faith that Enoch was taken from this life, never having to experience death. It was by faith that Noah built that ark and by his faith he condemned the world and became heir to righteousness that comes by faith. We see that by faith Abraham left his home, made a new one in the Promised Land and even in his old age by faith had a son, and then by faith was willing to sacrifice him to God. We see by Faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Joseph, by faith Moses, by faith the people passed through the Red Sea, by faith the walls of Jericho fell, by faith Rahab, by faith Gideon, by faith Barak, by faith Samson, by faith David, by faith Samuel. So many people of the past lived by faith and their lives were recorded for us to read about so we could see the value of having faith in the name of Jesus. If we are believers, and we are not truly living by faith, we might be guilty of unbelief. If we live by faith only for the purpose of salvation at the end of this life, we are missing the point. All these of the past lived by faith and their lives were filled with actions like that of Peter and John with this lame man. We cannot afford to live be sight, we cannot afford to rely on our own flesh to provide the life we live, but we must live by faith in the name of Jesus. If we want to be considered righteous we must live by faith. If we want to be considered a man after Gods own heart we need to live by faith. If we want to live in a manner that condemns the world we must live by faith. If we want to be sanctified, justified we must live by faith. If we want to live in the miraculous we need to live by faith. If we do not live completely by faith we are living as a crippled man, a lame man, begging from others, depending on man, rather than on God. The righteous will live by faith. We will live by faith therefore we are the righteous. Living by faith is the only way to truly live, to truly be completely alive. By faith which comes through Jesus.