“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God: [Deuteronomy 28.1-2]
Faith in Jesus Christ is an act of obedience. Faith is obedience. It is obedience to believe God over what we see, hear, feel, taste, or touch.
The natural world is just that: natural. God does not call us to live by the natural world, but instead, God calls us to live by faith.
Because the natural world is cursed, it is obvious when we are living only by the standards of the natural world and not by faith. It is obvious in all the curses found in Deuteronomy 28 starting at verse 15.
The blessings of God (upon obedience) transcend the fallen natural world with its decay, disease, and destruction. But to enjoy these blessings requires effort - the effort of obedience - and, in Christ, that effort is faith.
This is what the Bible teaches.
I understand there are doctrines and theology out there that argue otherwise, but I am just going to stick with what the Bible teaches about God's character FIRST, then understand all the "difficult passages" in light of His character. It makes a huge difference. And, it makes a huge difference to read all the Old Testament with Christ as the focal point (this goes the same for primarily understanding Israel as picturing the Church).
Any theology or doctrine taught by man that discounts the power of faith AS JESUS DEMONSTRATED and TAUGHT, is in error and must be discarded. Any theology or doctrine of man that denies that disease, loss and poverty are curses upon disobedience and unbelief is in error and must be discarded.
Jesus called all to the obedience of faith because God desires to bestow blessings - and those blessings are assigned only to obedience! Again, faith is obedience!
Father, help us to just believe Your Word instead of making complicated excuses for our disobedience and unbelief.
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