How can we have faith?

God wants us to know, with certainty, that believers have eternal life. Faith is built not on feelings, but on facts; it is not a blind faith, but a faith built on evidence. In 1 John 5:13 we read this, 'I write these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.'

Alex explained to us that there are three main reasons that allow us to be sure of our faith:

1, The word of God (the Bible).
We can not trust our feelings, as they change and can even be wrong. We rely on God's promises, such as:

• 'I will come in' (Revelation 3:20)
• 'I am with you always' (Matthew 28:20)
• 'I give them eternal life' (John 10:28)

Faith is believing in God's promises and daring to believe them!

2, The work of Jesus

We have heard from Toni (last week) that we cannot earn God's forgiveness, but Jesus died on the cross so that we can have a relationship restored with God. Alex pointed out the following facts:

• We can have a gift of eternal life given from God, rather than dependant on anything we have done (Romans 6:23)
• God loves us and died to prove it (John 3:16)
• He took our sins (wrong words, actions and thoughts) upon Himself (Isaiah 53:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:21) 

3, The witness of the Holy Spirit

When someone becomes a Christian, God comes to live inside them by His Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9)

• He transforms us from within. Our security, relationships and characters change over time (Galatians 5:22-23)
• He brings a deep personal assurance that we are His child (Romans 8:15-16)

We will hear more about the Holy Spirit later on the course!

Thankfully, our lives with God are not dependant on us, but on Him! We may have doubts and changeable feelings, but God doesn't!