The Prayer of Faith Part 1: Conditions for Answered Prayer Handout

How to Get Answers to Prayer?

By John Foll, written between 11/21/2019 and 11/27/2019, 01/11/2020 and 01/17/2020.
© Copyright 2019 John Foll


“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:14-16 KJV.

“Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” James 5:14-16 NASB.

Do you believe it?

Why are we bringing up this text about healing the sick? We are using this text because it’s startling. We're bringing this up because we need to start right where people seem to have the problem: With faith. So why start with a most difficult promise? Because we want you to know with God the impossible is possible, that there is nothing too hard for God. Genesis 18:14.

Why do you need faith?

If it’s something you can do for yourself or mankind can provide, why do you need God for it? Faith is all about making your needs and petitions known to God that you cannot provide for yourself or for things you can do too! (We need God for everything!) When you have faith in God, then there is nothing that you need that He cannot provide if it’s for your best. So let’s start with discussing prayers that seem impossible as a place to start our talk on faith! That's why this Seminar is entitled the Prayer of Faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God! Hebrews 11:6. You need to believe the promises of God, as in James 5:14-16. You need to believe the Bible as it reads, because God says what He means, and means what he says and can be trusted because He loves you!

Since John 3:16 declares that whosoever believeth shall not perish but have everlasting life – believing in and having faith in Jesus are the requirements for everlasting life. Do not doubt that God could heal someone through the Prayer of Faith or for a big request. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Romans 14:23. So we want to believe and teach that God in fact can do what He has promised that He can do, and not have an evil heart full of unbelief. Hebrews 3:12.

How do we know that we are to take the Bible as it reads?

Listen to what Jesus told the Jewish Lawyer, ‘the expert of the Law’: “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’ Luke 10:25-26 NASB. Well then Jesus told him to read what was written in the Law. How does it read to you? Can Jesus make it any plainer than that? So how are we to understand the Bible? How does it read to you? Can it really be just that simple? Yes it is! How does it read? We are generally to take the Bible ‘just as it reads’ in most cases, except when dealing with highly symbolic Bible passages or prophecies. Symbolic Bible prophecy can also be understood by following basic rules of logic and comparing scripture with scripture, here a little, there a little. Isaiah 28:19. What Jesus said also applies to our passage in James too. We also know that: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB.

This may seem like a novel idea to many - that we should take the scriptures as they read. Too often irrational reasoning is used to make the scriptures mean something different than what they plainly state, because they don’t fit with someone’s ideas of the truth. How can people know what the truth is and what they should do, if they are accustomed to hearing texts reinterpreted to mean something other than there apparent natural meaning? There are clues in the Bible that can be learned to know when a passage must be interpreted because of its symbolic nature. We will not go into this here.

God can heal someone through the Prayer of Faith.

So what have we learned from James? That God can choose to heal someone as the result of the Prayer of Faith, and that by the Prayer of Faith their sins can also be forgiven too. How can we know that this promise of healing and forgiveness of sin is real and that God has promised it? What have we learned from Jesus that we need to know here? That we can know how to understand the Bible by reading it – we are to take it as it reads or in the spiritual sense. We also learned that ‘all scripture’ is profitable for teaching, doctrines, and reproof, correction and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate and equipped for every good work. Is the book of James part of ‘all scripture’ that Paul was talking about? Is the book of James part of the Holy Bible? Yes. Then what James wrote in James 5:14-16 is also the inspired word of God, and we should believe what it says and take it as it reads. We should believe that someone can be healed, raised up and forgiven due to the prayer of faith like it declares - it must be so – since it says so and because James is part of ‘all scriptures.’ We should believe that it is telling the truth that God can heal the sick as an answer to the Prayer of Faith. We need to believe the word of God as it reads and in its Spiritual sense, and not try to assign some mystical meaning to what it says or just doubt it. But you may say how can it be true that God might heal someone through the prayer of faith, since you have heard of people praying for healing and anointed by the elders of the Church and it didn’t work? Well we need to learn the true basis for faith and the conditions for answered prayer. To know why God does not always hear our prayers we need to study to find out why. Do not assume that God can’t answer a prayer like this because it is hard and because people have prayed for healing and didn’t get it. We can say without a doubt that God has heard some people’s prayers for healing and healed them! We want to teach you to believe in the promises of God and know the conditions for them, so you can get answers to prayer. There is no virtue or goodness in doubting that God can do something which the word of God says He can do. We saw earlier that Paul declared that ‘whatsoever is not of faith is sin.’ Romans 14:23 KJV. So it is a sin to doubt that God can do what the Bible says He can do.

Since we learned from Jesus that we can understand the Bible by reading it (or taking it as it reads), let us then proceed with the rest of this lesson and believe what God has said.

Did you know that there are conditions for answered prayer?

We will unfold these truths as this seminar progresses. Yes there are conditions for answered prayer, just as there are conditions for Salvation. Prayer and faith work together. Study the protocol for prayer to God: How to approach His throne to obtain help and mercy in time of need.

There's a science behind salvation and getting answers to prayer.

Study out what God is asking you to do. He will give you the desire of your heart and life and make your life complete in Him, if you believe and pray for His help. We want to declare the wonderful power and promises of God and show that there's more to prayer than many think. Faith is part of the Gospel and necessary to be saved. John 3:16.

Condition #1: The Prayer of Faith

The First Condition For Answered Prayer is Faith.

Prayer and Faith work together. Prayer is our communication with God. (Two way.) And faith is believing Him. True faith is not presumption; it complies with His conditions. The true faith is trusting in God.

True faith is believing and expecting that God will do what He says He will do – by His word alone! 

¹ ‘Say the word alone, and my servant will be healed.’ What did Jesus say in response to this? “Lo I have not found such faith, no not in Israel.” “The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Matthew 8:8 KJV. What did the centurion expect alone would heal his servant? The word ONLY – the word of Jesus only! Because Jesus was a man under authority too like the centurion was! Matthew 8:8-10 KJV. So true faith is believing and expecting the word of Jesus ONLY and His Father to do what They say They will do. Amen!

How should you expect God to fulfill His promises?

Through the Word Only. The true basis of true faith is believing in the word of God ONLY to do what it says. It’s not believing in yourself to be able to be righteous AND God, it’s believing in God – the word of God ONLY! There is nothing you can do to earn or merit God fulfilling His promises to you, but they are fulfilled through His word, since He loves you and has promised them – when you meet the conditions. God always keeps His promises. It’s time for God’s people to start believing and living like they believe that He will do what He says He will do, and not something else. If you expect to get answers to prayer, you must believe that God can and will grant them, and know the promises whereby He has promised to grant them. This is a most important secret to getting answer to prayer is believing.

Do not be afraid to pray for the big or hard prayers that you need

– like healing someone who is sick, or helping someone want to change and give their heart to God! Do not think that in our day that God cannot answer a big or hard prayer like healing the sick or forgiving their sins. See the promises of God for what they are: the riches of God - that you can gather and use, if you need His help or love Him and are devoted to Him.

God did not give His word, the Bible, so that you could fritter away His rich promises,

casting them aside as something unattainable or useless, except for the elect few. Oh no! – God gave His Bible so He could bestow on you His rich promises of love, grace and mercy - to help you become His son or daughter! ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:’ 1 John 3:1 KJV. You are an heir to the promise through Jesus and can become God’s son or daughter. Romans 8:14-17; Titus 3:7; Hebrews 6:17; 11:9; James 2:5. Amen! Just believe it!


God doesn't always answer your prayers in the way or by the means or methods you ask Him to do.
It’s important to understand what real faith is and what the real prayer of faith is. It is important to know the conditions in the Bible for answered prayer or for the ones that you are praying for. You want to concentrate on this, because this prayer helps you to live a victorious life in Christ.

How do you get Faith?

Faith comes through hearing the word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV. ^2. Therefore there can be no faith without the word of God. We’re talking about the faith of the Bible. The faith of the Bible is not based upon what man thinks, or what man has written, it’s based only on the word of God. If it’s based on anything else it’s not real faith. There can be no faith without the word of God! Faith has everything to do with prayer and the promises of God, and nothing to do with “I think”, hearsay, or so-and-so said, or so-and-so thinks. You cannot expect to receive answers to your prayers without faith. Paul teaches here that faith is based on the word of God. God promises to give you the power to obey if you want it.

There’s Creative power in the Word of God:

God promises to give you the power to obey and do whatever He’s asking you to do. The power is there in the word itself. The centurion said to Jesus, ‘say the word only and my servant will be healed’. He didn’t need Jesus to come down there and wave His hand over something - you know. He knew that Jesus had the power – and all He had to do was to say ‘the word only.’ Why did he say that Jesus only had to say “the word only” and his servant would be healed? What happened to the fig tree after Jesus cursed it when they came back to see it the next day? It was withered. “On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He [Jesus] became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again!’ And His disciples were listening.” Mark 11:12-14 NASB. “As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.’” Mark 11:20-21 NASB.] So what happens when Jesus says something? There’s an active power that takes place, it’s not just words, its creative power! I don’t know if the centurion knew this, but it’s so powerful if you think about it! Jesus didn’t need to do something, all He had to do was say something and that was going to heal the centurion’s servant!

What happened when Jesus said, ‘let there be light?’

There was light. What happened when Jesus said, ‘let the waters separate from the earth and there would be dry ground?’ Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14-15, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29-30; 2:3. Did you know that Jesus created the world before He was called Jesus? “in these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [Jesus] is the radiance of His [God’s] glory and the exact representation of His [God’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His [God’s] power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high [God],” Hebrews 1:2-3 NASB. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” John 1:1-3 1 KJV. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto his own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, ‘This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before me. And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace’” John 1:10-16 KJV. “I myself [John-the-Baptist] have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." John 1:34 NASB. [I.e. the Word of God, Son of God, Jesus Christ.] And Paul wrote: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:” Ephesians 3:8-9 KJV.

When did God speak the word only?

When He caused His word the Bible to be written. Hebrews 1:1-4. When Jesus [the Word of God] or His Father reveal something, then the power to do what They declared is already there, through the word of Their power. When God said let there be light what happened? There was light! What happens when God said ‘I forgive you’? You are forgiven just believe it! You must believe that you ‘can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth’ you. Philippians 4:13 KJV. When God said or revealed truth in the Bible, He spoke the word Only. Therefore you can expect God to fulfill the word only that He spoke or caused His servants and prophets to write in the Bible. “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?” Amos 3:8 NASB.

God’s words are as good as done after He spoke them or caused them to be written. God declared through the prophet Isaiah: “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty; without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11 NASB95.

The Bible comes backed up with the power of God.

The Bible is not like other books! It comes backed up with the power of God to enable you to do what He asks. “Let all the earth fear the LORD; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Psalm 33:8-9 NASB. The word of God in the Bible is backed up with the same creative power that the Lord used to create the world. Do you believe that Jesus is a man under authority like the Centurion said? This is the secret to faith. You must believe that Jesus has been given the authority and sets at the right hand of God. “And Jesus came up and spoke to them [His disciples], saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.’” Matthew 28:18 NASB.

What does hearing the word of God mean?

“Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.” Psalm 130:2 KJV. This Psalm is a prayer! ‘Hear my voice’ means that this person wants God to be attentive to their supplications and prayer requests. If you want God to listen to your prayers, shouldn’t you listen to Him too? God wants you to hear His voice too! He wants you to be attentive to the voice of His Word; He wants you to obey. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Isaiah 30:21 KJV. God wants to guide you! He does this by the Bible and the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to guess what God wants, it has been revealed in the Bible. The Bible uses the expression, ‘he who has ears, let him hear’ many times. Hearing means wanting to hear and obey. Those who don’t want to hear are likened to the stubborn and disobedient. Those who want to be healed and saved must want to hear God and turn from their wicked ways and their evil deeds. “Listen to Me, you stubborn-minded, Who are far from righteousness.” Isaiah 46:12 NASB. “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV. Acts 7:51; Romans 10:21; Proverbs 19:20; Isaiah 6:10; 28:23; Jeremiah 5:21; 25:4-7; Ezekiel 2:8; 3:7; 20:8; Hosea 4:1; Nehemiah 9:16-17; Matthew 11:13-15; 13:4-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8; Acts 28:27-28; Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22,13:9.

So ‘faith comes through hearing the word of God’ means that God will give faith to those who want to read or listen to His Word, the Bible, to do what it says, or want to be made more willing to do so. It’s a process. When you want to hear God’s word, read it, and obey it, then you will be given all the faith you need to please Him. True faith accepts only the plain true teaching of the Bible as true, because God’s voice tells them ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ True faith does not accept teachings that are contrary to the plain word of God, because God’s voice tells them ‘this is not the way, don’t walk in it.’ Faith means to listen to God’s voice, which teaches you from the Bible saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it.’ And those who listen to His voice, allow Him to help them obey! This is how you get faith! There is power in the word of God when you want to obey Him – then He will give you all the faith you need and the power to obey Him. So if you want to get answers to prayer, read the Bible with the desire to follow it, and the word of God in it will give you all the faith you need to get answers to prayer.

You must ask in faith, without doubting... “But he must ask in faith without any doubting,

for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8 NASB. From this we learn that the one who doubts is unstable and double minded; they may not expect to receive anything from the Lord - while they engage in doubt. Faith is a condition for answered prayer. James 1:6-8. It is impossible for God to lie. Hebrews 6:18. Therefore you can trust His promises when you meet His conditions.

Become a partaker of Christ and become pleasing to God:

“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;” Hebrews 3:14 KJV. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him [God], for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 NASB. You will become a partaker of Christ’s nature if you hold fast to your faith until the end. Without faith you cannot please God. You must seek Him and believe that He is and rewards those who seek Him.

The Promises of God in the Bible are the true basis of Faith.

Have the promises of God in hand when you pray, so that you can know what He has promised – this is the true basis of faith - so you can know that you will receive the answers to your prayers. Because faith is how you get answers to prayer. When your faith is based on the word of God, you will know how you can get answers to prayer, and how you can live a successful Christian Life.

* Prayer is the key to heaven, but Faith unlocks the door.

Confession and the Prayer of Faith result in new life and obedience. This is how you get the happiness that you were meant to have, an eternal joy, eternal love and eternal peace. Make your petitions to the Father in prayer, as with a friend. This is how prayer should be conducted: with respect for God and with faith in Him and love for Him: ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee.’  Psalm 119:11 KJV.

Conclusion:

The closer you get to God the more in harmony with Him you will become. By His strength as time progresses, you will get more power from prayer, and become more unselfish, as you are changed by His power, from faith to faith. To get answers to prayer, study the word of God, the Bible, seeking to follow His wishes for your life, making its study your delight, because it is the voice of God whom you love to your soul!

When you read the Bible do you see it through the eyes of faith?

When you learn righteousness by faith, you learn the power of prayer for the promises of God. When you are clean before God, yielded fully to Him, and have these promises of God in hand and in your thoughts, dreams and desires, these many precious and exceeding promises will guide you safely to Heaven’s peaceful shore! You'll see the Bible in a different light, if you have not already seen it that way. The Bible is the revealed will of God. He tells you what He wants you to do and what He's promised to help you to do. Therefore it is usually but a simple task to know what prayers God will answer and which He will not, once you know what He wants from you – it is written in the Bible. But God hasn’t given specific promises on everything, but He has given some general promises that cover our basic needs in life.

Have you placed yourself on God’s side?

To place yourself on His side: confess your sins, give yourself to Him, do everything He asks and yield to Him all the way. Then you will not have to worry about your salvation, because you will know that He will take care of you and save you, and give you peace, love, joy and eternal life! It's a wonderful thing to put yourself on God’s side and reap the benefits of being born again. It's really not that hard to get answers to prayer. So put yourself on God’s side by giving yourself to Him all the way, and receive all of the blessings from Him that you were meant to have! It’s quite easy to get answers to prayer once you learn the secret of faith and giving yourself to God all-the-way! Getting answers to prayer that you need, and all of the blessings of being born again are why it's so important to understand faith and see the Bible through the eyes of faith. When it's viewed in this way, the Bible becomes an immeasurable priceless treasure to those who love Him! Because it reveals His will to them for their lives. It tells them what they should pray for and what they should not pray for. It tells them what kind of prayers God will answer! This is the kind of faith we are talking about! Faith is the first condition for answered prayer! If you know God you belong to Him - then the promises of God will be very precious to you. Remember: *Prayer is the key to Heaven, but faith unlocks the door!

We can tell you from experience that God is true and what the Bible says is true – it’s the word of God!

God can be trusted to keep His promises! God has been so wonderful to me – to one who is so undeserving. The Bible shows me His love and teaches me to trust Him all-the-way, to give me the help I need to keep me from going back to my old ways. I love him so much! It's been so wonderful writing and teaching others about His love and how to believe in Him, so that they can have great peace, love and joy too! The sacred fire of God’s salvation is burning in our heart and we cannot hold it in. That's why we are declaring it now to you.

Dear audience and readers, we challenge you to put God to the test – to see if He is good or not, if you have not already found this fountain of life!

And if you've already started to taste that God is good, you know the true value of the most wonderful salvation He is offering you! Please continue down this path until you fully believe and possess these many precious promises of God for yourself. It's the most wonderful thing you can ever experience in this life! You know that you can trust God. The love of God is a wonder and joy and experience beyond compare! Oh the riches and splendor and majesty of God! We can tell you from experience that the word of God is true, and if you taste and see that God is good… you won’t be disappointed!

May the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, as you seek to learn the conditions to prayer, and yield yourself fully to His loving heart! Amen!

*Faith Unlocks the Door (Prayer is the Key to Heaven) 1955, by Samuel T. Scott, Robert L. Sande.

Sources:

1. Lessons on Faith in: The Review and Herald: Feb. 21, 1899, Feb. 14, 1899, Feb. 7, 1899,  Jan. 31, 1899, Jan. 24, 1899, Jan. 17, 1899, Jan. 10, 1899, Jan. 3, 1899, Dec. 27, 1898 by A. T Jones.  
2. Lessons on Faith in: The Review and Herald: Dec. 27, 1898 by A. T Jones.

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#Faith #Conditions #Prayer #Key #Heaven #Righteousness #Heal #Latter #Rain #Holy #Spirit #Believe #Word #God #Only #Confess #Salvation #Read #Hear #Love

The Prayer of Faith Part 1 Conditions for Answered Prayer Transcript (Corrected)

How to Get Answers to Prayer?

By John Foll, given at the Decatur Alabama on 11-30-2019.
Transcription Finished: 01/10/2020.
© Copyright 2020 John Foll

* Note: Added words not in the original speech were surrounded by [square brackets]. In some places words were deleted.


Hello my name is John Foll and I have a ministry called White Raiment Evangelism. My goal is to help as many people as possible break out of the lukewarm state.

The title for tonight’s session is the Prayer of Faith Part 1 Conditions for answered prayer.

We won’t be able to cover everything here. But the main thing is to understand [that there are conditions to answered prayer.] – How many people here want God [to] hear their prayers? How many people here want their prayers to be answered? (Audience: Yea.) There’s a science behind it – we don’t always know every prayer, but there’s some prayers that you can know that God is going to answer them. Did you know that? (Audience: Yes.) Did you know that there are some prayers that God isn’t going to hear? And some of it has to do with our attitudes. We’re not going to go into all that tonight. But there’s a protocol for dealing with God, and if we want answers to our prayers we need to understand. We are not going to go through all of them tonight. But the biggest one of them all is Faith! I mean I had known this for awhile – but it didn’t really sink in. You know I was thinking [about] other things. But when I did this study I realized that the prayer of faith is like the number one condition!

Prayer is the Key to Heaven (John Foll sings)

Prayer is the key to Heaven
But faith unlocks the door,
Words are so easily spoken,
But prayer without faith
Is like a boat without an oar!
Have faith when you speak to the Master
That’s all He asks you for!
Prayer is the key to Heaven,
But faith unlocks the door!

God’s word is the key to knowledge
But faith unlocks the door.
If you can believe what is written….
But doubts crowd your mind
And it’s too hard to trust His word.
Have faith God will show you the answer
In time when He sees best
God’s word is the key to knowledge
And faith unlocks the door.

Prayer is the key to Heaven,
But faith unlocks the door!

I just love this song, it’s a sermon by itself. We could go home tonight after this couldn’t we? It really says about what we need to hear.

*Faith Unlocks the Door (Prayer is the Key to Heaven) 1955, by Samuel T. Scott, Robert L. Sande
Unknown author of second stanza, which we got from Fountain View Academy’s version of the song on their Step’s to Christ in Song DVD Collection.

How do you get answers to prayer?

Let’s start with a hard one here: “Is there any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” and what does James say? He says, “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5:14-16 [KJV.]

Wow! There’s a lot in this passage isn’t there? Doesn’t this seem like a hard prayer to answer? You’ve heard of people doing this right? Anointing someone? Does it always work? But we are not really just here to discuss that tonight… But what is the prayer of faith? Because James tells us that the elders of the church when they pray the prayer of faith and anoint the person - it shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise them up and - if they have committed sins they shall be forgiven. Now that’s kind of interesting there: Did you know that you could pray for someone – that God would forgive their sins? Confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that ye may be healed.

When we study righteousness by faith a little farther… [A related topic is the latter rain, which is produced by the teaching of righteousness by faith.] The Latter Rain outpouring starts [to be mentioned]… [the] first time it’s talked about in the Bible is Joel Chapter 2 and it mentions that there would be a confession and repentance - starting with the leadership or the priests on down. And that God would promise the early and latter rain. So this confession is so important. How? It says the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Now how many of us are good here? -- No hands? (Audience: Ha ha, ha ha.) How do we become good? Well James tells us here that the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much, or as the New American Standard says – “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.” So there must be a way that we can be righteous…

Do you believe that the prayer of faith can heal the sick and cause their sins to be forgiven?

Which is harder? Isn’t that what Jesus said? Which is easier? Say thy sins be forgiven or take up thy pallet and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins on earth, take up your pallet and walk! [Mark 2:8-9.] Which is harder - for someone to be healed or for someone to be forgiven? Aren’t they about the same thing? [Aren’t they both hard?] Would you want to be forgiven, and not healed, or would you rather be healed and not forgiven? Or would you rather have both? (Audience: Both.) Is there anything too hard for God? (Audience: No.) Sometime if you get the chance look up Genesis 18:14 where God tells Abraham, ‘Is anything too hard for Me?’ Why are we starting with this promise in James? [Because we need to start right where people seem to have the problem: with faith. We want you to know that with God the impossible is possible! There is nothing too hard for God!] This may sound like a hard prayer - but is anything too hard for God? Why do you need faith? Why do we pray? We have needs? If we are just asking God for something that we can do ourselves how much faith does that take? [You need to believe the promises of God, as in James 5:14-16.]

[You need to believe the Bible as it reads, because God says what He means, and means what he says and can be trusted because He loves you!]

[Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God]

Let’s look at Hebrews 11:6: It says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” So how do we get that faith that we need to please God? When you have that faith in God there is nothing that you need that He cannot provide. We’re only going to be able to scratch the surface of this tonight. But the prayer of faith is something we should all continue to learn. What does John 3:16 say? (Audience: ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…) For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whosoever shall believe in Him shall have everlasting life. Can we be saved without believing in Jesus? What are we believing in Him to do for us? (Audience: ‘Forgive us our sins, save us. Help us overcome.) That’s the most important one of them all! So you see how important faith is? Without faith we have nothing right?

Paul tells us in Romans that ‘whatsoever is not of faith is sin.’ Now this is where it starts to get a little serious here! That’s why we need to learn what real faith is! - Because did you know that you could be shut out of Heaven because of unbelief? Says [so] in Revelation [21:8 KJV]. It mentions two groups of people with the wicked: It says the fearful and the unbelieving. We want to believe that God can do what He says He can do and not have an evil heart of unbelief. Hebrews 3:12.

Here’s another one here: We need to understand what the basis of faith is. A lot of people think well, faith – it’s just oh I believe in something – I believe in God, I believe in a God, I believe in this or that. But don’t the devils also believe? What makes us different? [James 2:19 KJV.] What is the true basis of faith? We’re going to get to that.

How do we know that we are to take the Bible as it reads?

Jesus was telling the Jewish lawyer, an expert of the law something here: “And behold a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’” [Luke 10:25-26 NASB.] When Jesus told him to read what was written in the Law what was He telling him to do? How does Jesus tell us to interpret the Bible? ‘How does it read to you?’ The first thing to understand in the Bible is trying to go by its apparent meaning, instead of some mystical meaning. This is [so] important, because some people have said some things that were confusing about the Bible. Now what does this have to do with faith? Well we’re going to see in a little bit. I think that Jesus made that pretty plain that we are to take the Bible as it reads. So why are we bringing this up? Oh what did James say? He said that the sick would be healed if they – someone [the elders] prayed the prayer of faith and their sins would be forgiven. So isn’t that what James said? If James said it, isn’t it true? Or do we have to assign some kind of mystical meaning to it?

[All scripture is inspired by God]

“All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof, for correction for training in righteousness, so that the man of God maybe adequate, equipped for every good work.’ [2 Timothy 3:16-17 NASB.] Is the book of James part of the scriptures, all scriptures? (Audience: Yes.) Then it’s also the inspired word of God. So we should… I know this may sound like I am playing word plays here but – it’s a different way of viewing [things]… righteousness by faith, there’s a step above it – it’s called faith. When we read the Bible – we take it for what it says and we believe it without questioning it. And that may sound – There’s a lot of difficulty in the Bible that can be under[stood] - that can be reconciled when we start to see it through the eyes of faith – and your view on the Bible will open up and expand when you simply accept it for what it is without trying to re-explain it to mean something else.

Can we pray for someone and have their sins forgiven? What did we learn from Jesus? That we can understand the Bible by reading it. OK we know that there are conditions for answered prayer and we were discussing one that was called faith. And faith is part of the protocol as we’ll see, because if we want God to hear our prayers, we need to believe. There’s a science behind salvation and getting answers to prayer and we should study the Bible out to see what it has to tell us. And if we love God and believe we will make the word of God our study and delight. And faith is part of the gospel, because how many people can be saved without believing in Jesus? He died on the cross for us, but what happens if we don’t believe Him? So the first condition for answered prayer is faith.

True faith is believing that God will do what He says, by His word alone.

It doesn’t depend on how good you are, or what you’ve done. If you come to God and meet the conditions: if you confess your sins what does 1^st John tell us? He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So what part in that 1 John 1:9 do we have a part to play? Only that we confess. And what happens if we confess? God is going to forgive us isn’t He? Now some people aren’t sure when they read this! But when we understand righteousness by faith: It’s a formula: If the person has confessed, then what happens? They’re forgiven! When the Bible…  It’s amazing how many difficulties in the Bible can be straightened out when somebody views it in a simple manner like that!

‘Say the word alone, and my servant will be healed!’ A. T. Jones was commenting on this in one of his discourses. If you get a chance you should read it sometime from the Review and Herald. There’s a series of lectures or articles that he wrote in 1899 or something like that. – I have the reference here in the handout.

In Matthew 8:8, “The centurion answered and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that though shouldst come under my roof, [but] speak the word only and my servant will be healed.’” Matthew 8:8 [KJV]. And later on he says, ‘I too am a man under authority’ and what did Jesus say? “I have not found such faith in Israel!” Now what would happen if God’s people actually believed in God and Jesus the way this centurion did? What would happen? If we actually believed that God had authority – Jesus had authority and if we believed in Him that whatever we asked if it was His will it would happen? How much – How much of that healing depended on how good that centurion was? Was that centurion a gentile? (Audience: Yes.) Did he follow the law of Moses? What? I mean by their standards [the standards of the Israelites] how good was he? What claim did he have on Jesus? Could he say well, ‘You have to heal my servant?’ His only claim on Jesus was he asked Him, and he knew He [was] a man of authority – his only claim was his faith in believing that Jesus would do that for him. That tells you something about that centurion that he cared that much about his slave-servant doesn’t it?

[So what would happen if Christians actually believed God? What would happen? This is where it gets real serious! If Christians actually believed God, there would be a huge change in their lives that would be impossible to hide - that most people do not have now! And they would be a great force for good, love and obedience in the world and filled with the Holy Spirit, in the same way the early church in the book of Acts was a great force for good, love and obedience to the world, filled with the Holy Spirit! So you should see how important it is to have true faith in God and take Him at His word. So the biggest problem with God’s people today is faith. Hebrews 11:6. “And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Luke 18:6-8 NASB. “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20 KJV. God forgive us for our lack of faith in Your word! Wonderful things would be happening on this earth right now if there were more Christians who actually believed fully in God and His promises!]

[The True Basis of Faith]

So this is the basis of true faith – believing in the word of God ONLY to do what it says. It’s not believing in yourself to be able to be righteous AND God, it’s believing in God – the word of God ONLY!

How should we expect God to fulfill His promises to us? Through the word only. You might say, ‘I know what that means.’ When we start reading the Bible… [and taking it as it reads – we don’t have to figure it out a lot of the time because it’s meaning is plain] and when God says something - you can know what He’s going to do, because He says it! And faith doesn’t question whether God is going to do it. If He says it – He’s going to do it! God always keeps His promises. How? What would it be like if God hadn’t fulfilled His promise? What would happen if somebody would humble their heart before God and ask Him to forgive them and God didn’t do it? The whole universe depends upon God! What would happen if God removed His power from this universe? We need to depend on God’s promises. [It’s time for God’s people to start believing and living like they believe that God will do what He says He will do, and not something else!] It’s time for us to start living like we believe what God said [in the Bible]. And when we start to believe what God said it will revolutionize our life and we will start to see the word of God in a different light. If you expect to get answers to prayer you must believe that God will grant them, and you need to know how He will grant them. See there’s some things we can know. If we’ve confessed our sins what does it say? We will be forgiven? And John wrote in the book of 1^st John, I am writing these things to you little children so that you may know you have eternal life. [1 John 5:13 KJV.] So if we want to know if we have eternal life - don’t we want to know how we can know if we have eternal life? It’s not a guessing game! You know it’s not like this person might be saved because he’s destined for salvation and I am destined to be lost because I’m just a hopeless loser. No! We can know how we can be saved! I don’t believe in Calvinism. The most important secret to [getting answers to] prayer and eternal life is believing.

[So how does John say we can know we have eternal life according to 1^st John 5:13? “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.’ 1 John 5:10-13 KJV. So to sum it up, if you want to know if you have eternal life you must believe that God gave His son and believe in Jesus His Son, and that God has given you eternal life through Jesus and you must have Jesus the Son. So it’s not a guessing game - to know if you can have eternal life and be saved or not, according to John. So do you have the Son? It’s really just that simple! So this is the ONLY true basis of faith – believing the plain meaning of the word of God.]

Don’t be afraid to pray for big things in your life!

There might be some things that you’d say, ‘Oh I can’t pray for that!’ Well if you know the rules for [answered prayer] – that God has promised in the Bible – you might be surprised what you can pray for and what you can’t! Did you know that some of the people in the Bible made big prayers to God? Remember what happened to Daniel and his friends when they heard the king’s edict, they were going to destroy all [the] wise men? So what did they do - pray? Was Daniel a prophet before or after they had their prayer? They asked God to help them and what did He do? He gave Daniel the wisdom to understand the king’s [dream, after He revealed the king’s dream to Daniel. Daniel 2:16-19. Also note this big prayer of faith by Elijah: ‘Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.” James 5:18 NASB. Wow! What faith! See also the prayers of Moses, Job, David, Jonathan and others.]

So is their really something that’s too big? What happens if you decide that you love God and you want to serve Him? Do you think that God will hear your prayer if you ask Him to help you to do it? [But you have to mean it when you say nice things like this to God.] There is nothing really that’s too big as long as it meets God’s requirements. When we understand it in this light we will see that there are many rich promises in the Bible! There’s no reason for any Christian to be depressed or down in the dumps thinking ‘Oh this is real hard, I don’t know how I’m going to be saved! I don’t know how I’m going to do this or that?’ None of us should be worrying about things like that because all our guilt and burdens should have been rolled away right? At the cross? And we should know that God loves us, and that He sent His son to save us, and He sent a precious gift of the Holy Spirit to help us to live a righteous life for Him. So gather the promises of God in the Bible and don’t just read them. You know when you see them write them down, make a diary or something and when you pray, if you have a specific prayer, try to find the ones that fit with what you need.

God did not give us His word so that we could fritter away His rich promises.

Many people do not see them [for] what they are. Why is that? Well because they have heard people try to reason them away. They use human reasoning power: ‘Oh maybe God won’t do this? Maybe I’m not good enough?’ There’s any number of reasons why people will say things. But see what they’re doing is they’re going by their own feelings – they’re going by the word of man. But if they go by the word of God – it tells a different story doesn’t it? -- What do we want, a faith based on what so-and-so says, or what I think? Or do we want our faith to be based on the word of God?

John tells us, ‘Behold what manner of love the Father hath given to us that we should be called the sons of God.’ [1 John 3:1.] Did you know that God has put a plan in place so that you and I and all of us could become a son or daughter of God? What does it mean to be a son or daughter of God? Are we gonna be still involved in wickedness and the world, and hurting other people or hurting ourself? [Are] we trapped in sin [and] there’s no way that we can be helped out of it? Or is a son and daughter of God – does that mean God’s going to help us to be a better person? This is a very big promise here – that He has bestowed upon you and I the ability of being His son or daughter! You are an heir to the promise through Jesus. You could become God’s son or daughter! Romans 8:14 to 17; Titus 3:7; Hebrews 6:17; 11:9; James 2:5. The person who believes in faith will read those and take them just as they read! Not try to read [with] human reasoning: ‘Well I think this’ or so-an-so said this. They’ll take it literally as it reads or within [the] spiritual sense. And they’ll see ‘hey, it says here that if I confess my sins that I’ll be forgiven for all my sins. It says here that I can become a son or daughter of God!’ Am I going to believe it?

God doesn’t always answer your prayers in the way or by the means [or methods] that you ask Him to.

But we need to understand what the real basis of faith is. It’s important to know the conditions of the promises. We want to concentrate on this because [the] prayer [of faith] helps you to live a victorious Christian life!

[Faith comes through hearing the word of God]

Now we get to a very, very important text here: Faith comes through the hearing of the word of God. [“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17 KJV.]

How do we get faith - what does the Bible tell us? Now what kind of faith do we want? Do we want the kind of faith of human faith or do we want the faith that comes from God? Did you know that the word of God contains the power in it that’s needed? You know the word of God is not just like any book that you can pick up from the library or in a bookstore. The word of God is different isn’t it? When you read the word of God its different, because those books that were written by the world – they have no power to make you a better person. And some of them have power to make you wicked right? But with the word of God, it comes backed up with the power of God. When God says something it’s not like what man speaks! When man speaks he has no ability of making it so, and if He says something that’s wrong what is it? Is it a lie? But when God says something if it’s not so, it’s created when He says it! What happens when God says ‘Let there be light?’ (Audience: There’s light.) What happens when He says, ‘I’ve forgiven you’? (Audience: forgiven?) But God when… The same creative power that created the universe is in the word of God. And if we will just hear it…? And today when we read – once upon a time a lot of people probably couldn’t read and there was a lot of books and so they would go and hear the law read. If we will just listen to it or read it – there’s power that God will impart to us. [See Deuteronomy 31:10-13.]

This is a very important connection here that A. T. Jones made: This is one you may have heard before: ‘There can be no faith without the word of God.’ We’re talking about the faith of the Bible. The faith of the Bible is not based upon what man thinks, or what man has written, it’s based only on the word of God. If it’s based on anything else it’s not real faith. There can be no faith without the word of God! Faith has everything to do with prayer and the promises of God, and we cannot expect to receive any of our answers to prayer without faith. Paul teaches us here in Romans [10:17] that faith is based on the word of God. Its’ not based on hearsay. God promises to give you the power to obey and do whatever He’s asking you to do. The power is there in the word itself. And remember we read – the centurion said, ‘through your word only’. He didn’t need Jesus to come down there and wave His hand over something - ya know. He knew that Jesus had the power – and all He had to do was to say ‘the word only.’ Why did he say that? What happened when Jesus said, ‘let there be light?’ What happened when Jesus said, ‘let the waters separate from the earth and there would be dry ground?’ Did you know that Jesus created the world before He was called Jesus? [Hebrews 1:1-4; John 1:1-5, 9-14.] [What happened when Jesus cursed the fig tree, right before He died on the cross when they came back to see it the next day? It was withered. “On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He [Jesus] became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again!’ And His disciples were listening.” Mark 11:12-14 NASB. “As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, ‘Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.’” Mark 11:20-21 NASB.] So what happens when Jesus says something? There’s an active power that takes place, it’s not just words, its creative power! So – I don’t know if the centurion knew this, but it’s so powerful [if] you think about it! Jesus didn’t need to do something, all He had to do was say something and that was going to fix his servant!

What does hearing the word of God mean?

Now we just learned that we can get faith through hearing the word of God. “Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications” Psalms 130:2 [KJV]. Let’s break this down: ‘Hear my voice’ in this text means that [this] person wants God to be attentive to their supplications and prayer requests. Isn’t that what we are trying to do here tonight? To figure out how we can [get] God [to] hear our prayers. Question: If we want God to hear our prayer shouldn’t we listen to Him too? (Audience: Yes.) God wants you to hear His voice too! I was going to put this text there from Exodus 19, its part of the covenant. [Exodus 19:3-6.] God told His people that if they would hear His voice [and obey] that He would save them and [He] would cause them… Go read it! He saved them from Egypt but He wanted them to commit to Him. He said, ‘If you obey my voice…’ Are we still to obey His voice today? God wants us to obey His voice, listen to His voice. So we see here that hearing means more than just hearing. It means wanting to hear. Another words if someone says, ‘please hear me out’, what are they saying? That they got their ears stopped up or are they saying, ‘Oh they’re not paying attention to me, I’m trying to say something, but they’re not listening to me or they don’t believe what I’m saying.’ So you see there hearing implies belief. So if we are supposed to hear the word of God that means we’re also to believe it. God wants you to hear His voice, He wants you to be attentive to the voice of His words, He wants you to obey. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, ‘This is the way, walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left.’ How many people want to hear God tell them which way to go? I do! God wants to guide you, He does this by the Holy Spirit and the Bible.

[Isaiah 6:10; Jeremiah 5:21; 25:4-7; Matthew 11:13-15; 13:4-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8; Acts 28:27-28; Revelation 2:7,11,17,29; 3:6,13,22,13:9.]

So faith comes through hearing through the word of God means to read or listen to the Bible and believe it and obey it. True faith only accepts the plain teaching of the Bible because God’s voice tells them ‘this is the way – walk in it.’ How many of us need the Holy Spirit to tell us how – what we should do? I mean we can read the Bible, we may not understand it, but without the Holy Spirit how can we possibly know? God will tell us if we’re wanting to listen to Him. He says, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ And we might try to go over here and He [will] say, ‘No, that’s not the way.’ What did Jesus say? He said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.’ How many of us are going to come to Heaven except through Jesus’ blood? How many of us are good enough to get to Heaven without Jesus’ blood? (Audience: None?) So Jesus is the way. If we want to be saved we must walk in that way. So true faith does not accept any teachings that are contrary to the plain word of God. And God will tell them, ‘This is not the way don’t walk in it!’ So righteousness by faith means to listen to God’s voice, which teaches them from the Bible, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ And those who listen to His voice He will help them to obey.

[You must ask in faith without doubting.]

“But we must ask in faith when we are praying without doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For the man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double minded man, unstable in all His ways.” James 1:6-8. So we find out here that the one who doubts is unstable. Well we have all done doubt, I know I have. Heavenly Father please forgive us for not believing in your word! But God can forgive us for doubting can’t He? (Audience: yea.) So we don’t want to engage in that. It’s actually a criminal thing when you look at what God has done for us. And sometimes we just don’t believe what He said. But if we know that He loves us - then how can we doubt Him? How can we possibly be saved and get answers to prayer while we are doubting that God loves us? Or we’re so bad we can’t be saved? How can we possibly be saved? We need to have God’s grace soften our heart, we need to confess and do what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do. There are reasons why people don’t have faith… And… But God can help us past those… God will help us if we want to know. Hebrews 6:18. Read that one and memorize it! What does it say? “It is impossible for God to lie!” He said, “I act and who reverses it? See if God says something… What happens if an earthly government says something and God comes along and changes His mind, what happens? Can the government do anything about it? He said, “I act and who can reverse it?” [Isaiah 43:12-13.] God has the final say. So let us not be one who has doubts towards God and double minded. God can forgive you for being double minded. It is impossible for God to lie, so let’s take the promises of God and the Bible as it’s written without trying to cavil over it.

How many here want to become a partaker of Christ and become pleasing to God? “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” [Hebrews 3:14 NASB.] Now here’s one here: Without faith it is impossible to please God. Now what have we been studying so far – about faith? What does the Bible… How does Jesus say we’re to take the Bible? Are we to take the Bible as it reads? What does it say here? Without faith it is impossible to please God! And that… we go back to another verse there… (Where is it?) ‘Let us not have an evil heart of unbelief.’ Did you know that it is actually evil to doubt God – once you’ve come to know how good He is and you don’t believe what He has to say? It’s actually evil – that’s what the Bible says! We want to have faith in God – we must believe that He is God and loves us, and that He rewards those who seek after Him. So maybe the reason why some people are doubting is they [haven’t] really haven’t sought after Him with all their heart? And so they are looking for an excuse - to try to doubt Him. If you want to have a better life, God will provide it for [you]. If you become a partaker of Christ there will be a big change in you – but that – that faith will help you. But you know what? Does God ask everyone to have a lot of faith? Remember what happened to that paralytic that Jesus healed? Did He ask him to believe before He’d heal him first? He just picked his hands up and said, ‘take up thy pallet and walk.’ [John 5:6-11 NASB.] See God knows that sometimes people are so weak they can’t believe. And I believe that God carries us sometimes. But we need to learn that faith in Him. We need to believe that God loves us.

[Love is greater than faith!]

Another thing too, I know this wasn’t in my script here but – love is greater than faith. Isn’t that what it says in [1^st] Corinthians 13? So love is greater than faith. How do we have faith in God? If we don’t believe that He loves us, how can we possibly have faith? Look at the example of the child and their parents: If the parents treat their child good, they take care of ‘em, the child learns to love and trust their parents. But love comes first doesn’t it? (Audience: Um.) If we don’t have faith in God, what is that really saying? We don’t really love God. Or we don’t have enough love for Him. Because if we have the love… If we know that He loves us we can’t help but have faith. So there’s a reason why people have trouble with faith. So if we will confess our sins and get closer to God and ask God to be the Lord of our life – He can remove that criminal doubt, because it really is criminal. But you know what? We don’t always know, so God doesn’t always hold us accountable to it. But as we get closer to God it will become more important to believe in His word. It’s the only way you can have a successful Christian life. Prayer is the key to Heaven – as the song said, but faith unlocks the door.

And there is a relationship between obedience and faith. We saw there that faith produces obedience. Now the only way that true obedience to God can be rendered is through faith. Because the only way we can be righteous - we didn’t talk about this that much but – is if God helps us to be righteous. But the power to obey God is in His law – in His book. He gives you the power. And when we see the light of the Bible through the eyes of faith – it completely changes [things]! When we start to see it – it’s not a book of ‘oh it might be this, and it might be that?’ When we see that it’s the word… It’s not a book like other books! It contains the power of God in it. And it is the revealed will of God. When you see it that way and love God, the Bible will not be just a book of do’s and don’ts, but it will be a book that will delight you… because it will be something that you will want to study, because it’s the revealed will of God. And when you see that… When you love someone, you are going to spend time with them. If you love God, you’re going to spend time in His word. And He will help you.

So have you placed yourself on God’s side? The Bible is an incalculable treasure to those who love God. Because we don’t have to guess. We don’t have to guess when it comes to God’s will on most things – they’re spelled out. Things we need to know the most are already spelled out in the Bible. If you belong to God, the promises of God will be precious to you. We can tell you from experience that the word of God is true, and if you taste and see that God is good… you won’t be disappointed! (Audience: Amen.)
 

Sources:

1. Lessons on Faith in: The Review and Herald: Feb. 21, 1899, Feb. 14, 1899, Feb. 7, 1899,  Jan. 31, 1899, Jan. 24, 1899, Jan. 17, 1899, Jan. 10, 1899, Jan. 3, 1899, Dec. 27, 1898 by A. T Jones.  
2. Lessons on Faith in: The Review and Herald: Dec. 27, 1898 by A. T Jones./li>

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White Raiment Evangelism Presents: The Love of God and Righteousness by Faith Seminar: The Prayer of Faith Part 1: Conditions For Answered Prayer

For those who would like to hear me speak, I will be having a righteousness by faith seminar session in the Decatur Seventh Day Adventist Church on Saturday, November 30, 2019 at 6:00 PM.

The topic: The Prayer of Faith Part 1: Conditions for Answered Prayer. Or "How to Get Answers to Prayer". This is near the Huntsville Alabama area.

Decatur SDA Church, 540 Beltline Rd SW, Decatur, AL 35601

This will be a combined topic on the Prayer of Faith and Conditions for answered prayer (Bible Promises). There is a science of salvation, a protocol of how we should deal with God. When someone gets it their life will never be the same again! What is holding you back from having all the wonderful peace, and all of the love and joy you were meant to have? When you learn the truths behind righteousness by faith, and learn to give your heart completely to God, your life will never be the same! This is what makes life worth living, living for all eternity.

What Does it Mean to be Justified? Part 1

By John Foll, written 04/04/2019 to 04/05/2019, 4/12/2019.
© Copyright 2019 John Foll

"Justification has to do with the law. The term means making just. Now in Romans 2:13 we are told who the just ones are: 'For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.' The just man, therefore, is the one who does the law. To be just means to be righteous. Therefore since the just man is the one who does the law, it follows that to justify a man, that is, to make him just, is to make him a doer of the law."

- E. J. Waggoner, from the book: Living by Faith, Chapter: Being Justified. This book was written by both E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones.

Let’s state these propositions again:

For not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.

The just man is the one who does the law.

To be just means to be righteous.

The just or righteous person does the law.

Therefore to justify someone is to make them a doer of the law.

To justify someone is to make them righteous.

The term justification by faith is used many places in the Bible, so we need to understand what it really means. It is important since it is used so many times. True faith takes the Bible as it reads and accepts it as the truth, because it is the word of God. Those with true faith believe and trust God and take Him at His word. Therefore the first step in order to get righteousness by faith is to believe the word of God, the Bible. Without the belief that the Bible is the word of God, no one can have the faith that is needed, which Abraham had, to be made righteous by God and be saved. The condition of salvation is to believe – to believe that Jesus and His Father can save you. John 3:16-17. You must also believe their word, the Bible. God doesn’t make mistakes, and you can trust His word, the Bible. This is what we are doing here, taking the Bible as it reads.

Jesus advocated believing the Bible as it reads. Note what He said here: “And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ And He [Jesus] said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’” Luke 10:25-26 NASB. Jesus answered the lawyer with a simple question, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’ What Jesus said here is actually quite profound! Is it really that easy to understand the Bible? Is it really just that simple? Surely it can’t be that easy, is it? Yes, you bet it is! How come so many other people have trouble understanding it, with different people teaching this and different people teaching that? It is not hard to understand the Bible if you simply read it and believe it as it reads. It is really just that simple. This is where many of the problems come, because many cannot believe it as it reads - without someone interpreting it with a meaning other than its apparent plain meaning. Jesus’ tells you how you can know what the Bible means, and how you can have eternal life: Read the law - how does it read to you? (And the rest of the Bible too.) Read it with prayer and you can understand what it means. It is really just that simple!

* Note there are places in the Bible that are highly symbolic – in these places you must prayerfully study them, allowing the Bible to interpret itself, and it will if you want to understand it.

Why then do so many people get confused about what the Bible means or want to argue about it? Because many people are used to hearing humanistic explanations of the Bible. Whenever they find texts that trouble them, because it brings them guilt or because it is something they don’t want to do, they may ask their trusted pastor or teacher to explain it to them. This is because they don’t want to accept the plain teaching of the Bible or they don’t want to do it, and there are teachers who will give them their own erroneous ideas on what it means - to calm their fears and quiet their conscience. Or they have tried many times and failed at doing what the text says, so they conclude that it is not possible to obey God or be good. But the truth doesn’t contradict itself. If you read the Bible, after praying and asking the Holy Spirit to give you an understanding of it, wanting to obey God, then you will have no problem understanding it - especially for the things you need to hear the most, when you need to hear them. Pray for understanding and then believe the Bible as it reads.

Now that we have the proper method of understanding what the Bible means, let us go back to our proposition again:

To be justified is to be made a doer of the Law.

To be justified is to be made righteous.

Wow! Many people who believe that we are saved by grace alone, which is righteousness by faith, believe that when God justifies someone, that it is purely symbolic - they believe that they are made righteous only in the eyes of God. I.e. they are only righteous in the record books of Heaven. They are not wrong in believing that they are saved by grace or righteousness by faith. But many of them believe that no change is made or needed on the part of the sinner, allowing the person who is "justified" to be stuck in an endless round of sinning and bad habits, or they teach that it is not necessary or even that it is bad to try to be good, saying that this is "works." This is not the gospel message at all, but ‘another gospel.’ Works are bad when they are self-righteous acts, done to earn favor with God or man, without God's help - for those who try to earn their salvation by themselves. But it is clear that to justify someone is to make them righteous as Waggoner stated. Another way of stating this proposition is that only those who are made righteous by God or just are the doers of the Law – only these are just before God.

If you have faith you will be made righteous.

If you have faith you will have peace:

Let us take this quote from Paul and run with it:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1 NASB. What does this tell us? If we have been made righteous by faith, then we will have peace. We added the new understanding of what being justified means to bring out its complete meaning.

Does our theme text of Romans 2:13, which Waggoner interprets as meaning that the one who is justified is made a doer of the law, contradict Paul’s other teachings?

Some have argued that Romans 2:13 contradicts Galatians 2:16, but is this true?

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16 KJV. 

This text on the surface appears to contradict Romans 2:13. But let’s break this down to understand why they are not contradictions of each other.

We have the testimony of Peter that agrees perfectly with Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:13, that it is not the hearers of the Law but the doers of the Law who will be justified: Listen now to Peter’s testimony: “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." Acts 5:32 NASB. Here Peter plainly teaches that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God – this is how we become born again or born by the Spirit, by obeying God. See John 3:3, 5. Here is the testimony of Jesus regarding this: ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’ John 14:23 NASB. It is clear that if someone loves Jesus, they will keep His word (which is to obey Him), and He and the Father will dwell in them through the presence of the Holy Spirit – This is how you become born again. This agrees perfectly with Romans 2:13, because it is only those who obey God (or those who want to obey Him) and Jesus, who will receive the Holy Spirit and be born again. John 3:3, 5. There is more to this subject, but we will not deal with all of it here. We have already covered many of these concepts in our previous articles and books that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, and helps us to obey God (if we want Him too). Only those who choose to obey God (who want to obey Him), will be given the Holy Spirit and be made righteous. But they have not the power to make this choice to obey God, unless the Holy Spirit first convicts them of sin and they want to obey Him. Jesus declared, “And He, when He [the  Helper or the Holy Spirit] comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you no longer behold Me;” John 16:8-10 NASB.

When the Bible says that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified - what are we to make of it? When we try to do good works or to keep the law we are unable to do it in our own strength, so we cannot be justified or made right by ourselves, because we are never perfectly right or just by ourselves, and never can be by ourselves. – Because Jesus said there is only one who is good: God alone! Matthew 19:16. The second stanza in the song Rock of Ages states this so eloquently: “Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no languor know? These for sin can not atone. Thou must save and thou alone.” We cannot atone for any of our sins that we have made! No never! But if we are made ‘just’ or ‘righteous’ by God, then we are righteous indeed! This is wholly the work of God, not us.

The answer is that Galatians 2:16 does not contradict Romans 2:13.

Galatians 2:16 is talking about those who are trying to keep the law in their own strength (no one is good but God alone - Mark 10:18), while Romans 2:13 is talking about someone who wants to obey God, who makes a choice to want to obey Him, they ask God to give them the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13), and God gives them the power to obey Him through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Acts 5:32. Thus only those who have faith that God can make them righteous, will be made righteous by Him through the Holy Spirit! So both Galatians 2:16 and Romans 2:13 are about being made righteous by God.

When the prophet Habakkuk and the apostle Paul wrote: ‘The just shall live by faith,’ what did they mean? See Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 8:36; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 4:2.

Habakkuk and Paul meant that those who have faith will live by it and thus will be made righteous.

To sum up what we have learned here:

Those who have faith will be made righteous, because they will be given the desire and the ability of making the choice to obey God, and thus receiving the Holy Spirit, because no one is good but God alone. It means that those who have faith will get the Holy Spirit! – It is the Holy Spirit alone who can make anyone righteous. And they must want to obey God to get the Holy Spirit in full. Acts 5:32. And they must be born again to be able to enter the kingdom of Heaven, John 3:3, 5, which is to be born of the Holy Spirit. So the only way you can be righteous and saved and enter Heaven, is if you want to obey God and are filled with His precious Holy Spirit! Wow!

You may think that we are reasoning here in a loop, but this is how it is laid out in the Bible. Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? We are putting together texts from the Bible here that you have probably never heard used together before. Have you? We are exhorted by the Bible to put the lines of truth together to get a greater gestalt or a better understanding of it. “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:” Isaiah 28:10 KJV. This is what we are doing.

Conclusion:

The just shall live by faith.
The righteous shall live by faith.
Those who have faith in God will be just.
Those who have faith in God will be righteous.
Those who have faith in God will be made just.
Those who have faith in God will be made righteous.
Those who have faith in God will have the Holy Spirit.
Those who have faith in God will be doers of the Law.
Those who have faith in God will obey Him.
Those who have faith in God will please Him!
Those who have faith in God will have peace.
Those who have been made righteous by faith will have peace.
Those who have faith in God will be saved!
Those who have faith in God will be born again!
Those who have faith in God will enter the kingdom of Heaven!

Salvation is from the Lord! He alone can save. He must save, and Him alone. So why not trust Him?

Wow! These are powerful concepts here! Think about all of this again and again – let it sink in until you get it! These are most wonderful truths! Fresh! Full of life, love and joy and power! They will impart to you eternal life if you accept and do them.

May the faith of Abraham, the grace of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all! Amen.

Now for the song for today:

Rock of Ages

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Adam and Eve Part 2: Clothed with Righteousness

By By John Foll, written between 9/14/2018 to 02/08/2019.


In Adam and Eve, Part 1: The Test of Faith, we learned that Adam and Eve had been created perfect, and were given a perfect world to live in by God. Have you ever heard the expression ‘In a perfect world…’? Well Adam and Eve lived in a perfect world! They were the only ones in the human race who ever lived in a ‘perfect world,’ when this world was perfect in the Garden of Eden. God gave them the ability of living forever without sin, since He created them perfect. There was nothing that Adam and Eve needed: they lived in a perfect world, they were perfect, they had food, they had each other, and everything they needed. Adam had an easy but wonderful job taking care of the Garden of Eden, and Adam had the perfect wife, Eve. And Eve had the perfect husband, Adam. They were created or ‘born’ fully grown, unlike anyone else in human history. But they had to become ‘spiritual adults,’ and needed to learn to love and trust God; they had no experience at life yet. So God gave them a light test to show their love and loyalty to Him, when He placed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.

In the Garden of Eden, we discovered that Satan lied to Eve telling her not to believe God, after God had told Adam that they would surely die if they ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan told Eve that she would become as ‘a god’, if she would disobey God. But we discovered that both Adam and Eve were already like God, in their own human-finite way. This was because they were created in God’s image, and had God dwelling in them, not because of themselves. So that sneaky serpent in a way was promising something that they already had in a human-finite way! The Devil tempted Eve that she could be fully ‘god’, not just like God. We discovered that Eve (and of course Adam too) could have become more and more like God as they learned to love Him more and more, as time progressed, if they hadn’t fallen. So Eve was being ‘hood-winked’ out of her eternal life and her eternal inheritance of the Garden of Eden’, and robbed of her happy joyful state of bliss. Because of her and Adam’s sin, they were robbed of their ability to be like God, since they now had an affinity for evil, unless God did something to reverse this. Eve didn’t need anything that Satan promised her, which could only bring sin, misery and death. We saw that they fell prey to sin because they doubted God – which is lack of faith! What does that say about us in our day, who have been born into sin? What kind of a chance do we have of pleasing God and being saved if we don’t have faith in Him? Many people in our day (and indeed throughout human history) have fallen prey to sin because of doubting God too! In fact, doubt is the main cause for sin! If you want to please God and be an overcomer against sin, you must believe God. Hebrews 11:6. So you should see how imperative it is to learn how to have true faith in God, if you don’t wish your life to be a failure and fall prey to sin and eternal death.

That is where we left off, and now we will continue exploring what happened in the Garden of Eden that we need to know about today:

How were Adam and Eve able to be perfect in the Garden of Eden before they fell prey to sin?

Jesus plainly declared: ‘no one is good but God alone.’ Luke 18:19 NASB. So how were Adam and Eve able to be good in the Garden of Eden before they sinned? God was abiding in them and in His whole creation. We will endeavor to show this in this article. In our article: Abraham’s Promised Possession Could Only Come Through the Resurrection: we stated that Adam and Eve had been given a measure of the Holy Spirit before they sinned. This provided the basis and the concept that we should write this article that you are now reading: “Adam and Eve Part 2: Clothed with Righteousness”, which also led to us seeing the need to write “Adam and Eve Part 1: The Test of Faith”, and then to “Adam and Eve, Part 3: Redemption: Bringing Back What was Lost.” Now let us explore this concept: that Adam and Eve had the Holy Spirit before they fell. You may be saying, ‘How do we know this?’ Keep reading, we will show you why Adam and Eve had the Holy Spirit before they sinned, and lost His full indwelling presence after they sinned. (Note that the Holy Spirit didn’t stop trying to work with them after they fell, but they lost His special presence and complete protection after it.)

When Adam and Eve were created they had a natural desire to love and please God and each other, which is righteousness. Since ‘no one is good but God alone’, the only way this could happen was if God was dwelling in them through the Holy Spirit. How do we know this? Because God is love (1 John 4:8), and because Love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:10), and because He said that everything He created was very good! Exodus 1:31. He primed the pump to enable Adam and Eve to live righteously. You may say this is speculation, but the salvation-gospel message is designed to bring mankind back to their ideal state, as it was intended at creation, which they would have kept if they had not fallen. Salvation restores mankind. In Heaven this ideal state will be fully regained. God’s plan of Salvation for mankind is His plan to help humanity get back to the state they were in before they fell into sin. There are two Adams, and two different outcomes. The first Adam fell prey to sin because of doubt. The second Adam, Jesus, was an overcomer and clung to the rich promises of God, believing the promises in the word of God that He would be the offering for sin – that God would accept His sacrifice and would grant forgiveness to all who believe through Him. Jesus was a firm believer in God’s power to save! He succeeded where Adam and Eve failed, He had perfect faith in His Father! Jesus and the Holy Spirit are God’s two most precious gifts to mankind, to help us break out of this inherited sin cycle, and help prepare us for Heaven and the earth made new. We will not go into all of the details of this here, because we have many other articles on this topic, and have gone into this in our books: The Love of God: God's Plan To Save You: Part 1 How To Have Righteousness By Faith, and The Love of God: God's Plan To Save You: Part 2 How To Become the Bride of Christ.

We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden before they fell into sin, but it was probably less than 1 year. Their character development wasn’t complete, so God gave them a test to give them a choice. After they fell into sin, their characters became flawed. Adam and Eve's character development was not complete when they were created, because character is based on choice and habit. They had to decide from their own free will to obey God and allow Him to guide and direct them. This was what the test was for in the Garden of Eden. If Adam and Eve had not failed this test and kept obeying God, then this would have become a habitual choice for them; then they would have kept God’s power to be good. But they chose to doubt God and fell into sin.

What happened to Adam and Eve may be compared to a new Christian who gives their heart to God and is baptized. They have some growing to do until they come into the fullness of Christ. How quickly a new convert grows up spiritually depends on their desire to love and obey God; how strong it is. It is a measure of their love and devotion to God. God gives us the power of choice: to decide what we will have: life or death. To everyone comes a test of faith. Adam and Eve's walk with God in the Garden of Eden may be compared to that of a new Christian or someone thinking about becoming one. Except that Adam and Eve were created perfect without sin, whereas we are born in sin and have to get to know God. Says the Psalmist, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” Psalms 51:5 KJV. See also John 9:34. But Adam and Eve had a much easier time than we have, since they were born perfect and we aren't. The test that God gave Adam and Eve was a light test indeed, compared with what we have to deal with today. Some people are born into families with almost no truth or morals taught to them. What kind of a chance do they have? What hope do a lot of them have to live a righteous life? But thankfully God doesn’t leave us without hope! For where sin abounds, there God’s grace more abounds! Romans 5:20. So there is hope for those who are born under such bad circumstances, when they see their need and cry out for help! God knows their needs and desires. But Adam and Eve had no knowledge of sin or its consequences like we have today. They had to sin in order to find out whether what God said was the gospel truth or not, which is why we have this mess today, because they doubted Him. Satan told them that they would gain the advantage by disobeying God, and they believed him and doubted God. But they had no need to doubt God! This is what we want you to understand! But God’s grace provided for their and our mistakes! God doesn’t leave us to our sins and failures - He has provided a way out for all who want it!
 

After sin came into the world what happened to mankind and creation?

In the animal kingdom we see sin, destruction and death: the strong preying on the weak, the results of Adam and Eve’s sin! This same evil exists in humanity too, the strong preying on the weak! Within a few years after Adam and Eve’s fall, their first son murdered their second son! Wow! How sad they must have been when their second son died! Genesis 4:1-8. Now they learned personally that the wages of sin is death indeed, after their second son died! After Adam and Eve’s sin, God withdrew His full protection and presence from man and nature. (This is not to say that God completely abandoned man or nature.) When God is in control, life and property are preserved, when He is not in control, death, and destruction are assured; only God can truly preserve things and keep things together. God will not abide sin; He is a consuming fire against it! Exodus 24:17 NASB; Deuteronomy 4:24; 9:3 NASB; Isaiah 29:6; 30:27, 30; 33:14 NASB; Hebrews 12:29 KJV/NASB. If someone chooses their own way apart from God, He honors their choice and allows ‘nature to take its course.’ Whenever someone separates themselves from God, only evil can result. Only by God’s continued presence and protection, the giver of life, could mankind have ever lived forever.

We believe that the animal and plant kingdoms were protected by the Spirit of God before sin, as Adam and Eve were. But after sin they lost their protection or a lot of it and began to die, because of sin. It takes God's guidance and protection to keep bad things from happening. Oh how it makes our heart so sad with what happened to God's beautiful creation! It was not their fault! But they had to suffer too, because Adam and Eve lost their faith in God and fell into sin.

Why did God make animal skins for Adam and Eve, after they sinned, if they hadn’t lost their covering?

After sin God provided animal skins for Adam and Eve to hide their nakedness. Genesis 3:21. (This was the first sacrifice for sin; some animals had to die for their sin to clothe them.) Apparently something happened to them after they sinned, for the Bible says that their eyes were opened, which implies that Adam and Eve had a covering of some kind before they sinned. Before Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says: “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:25 NASB. So why were they not ashamed before they sinned? Because apparently they had a covering of some kind. What was this covering?

It is not possible to live forever in a state of sin, because ‘the wages of sin is death.’ Romans 6:23. The only way someone can have eternal life is if they have God's power in them keeping them alive, helping them to be holy. In order for someone to be good, they must have God’s presence or Holy Spirit dwelling fully in them. Think about it! Jesus declared that ‘no one is good but God alone.’ Luke 18:19 NASB. Therefore Adam and Eve before they sinned must have had God dwelling in them, for it says in Genesis, that God said that everything that He made was very good! Genesis 1:31 NASB. God would never say that anything was very good, if there was any trace of sin in it or was defective in any way! God's ways are not man's ways, as the Heaven is above the earth, so are God’s ways above man’s ways. Isaiah 55:8-9. Man may call something good when it is evil, and something bad when it is good, but not so with God! When God says something is good, or more especially when He says something is very good, then it is very good indeed and without sin!

Adam and Eve knew something was wrong when they saw that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves to make aprons to hide their loins. Genesis 3:7. They knew something was wrong because they became afraid of God and tried to hide from Him. This was mankind’s first attempt to be righteous when they were not. They had no thought before sin to try to cover their nakedness, or for any man-made religion before they sinned. Why is that? Because they lost something very precious when they lost their faith in God and fell, they lost their innocence and they lost the Holy Spirit! They got a boat load of guilt and fear in exchange for their trust in God - because they doubted God and sinned! Sounds like a bad deal to me! Why give up the innocence, peace, love, joy, happiness and eternal life for doubt, guilt, fear and death? Makes no sense to me. This is the foundation of all false religion and self-righteousness. False religion is the attempt to remove guilt and make oneself good and get peace; it is a plan to make oneself righteous apart from the only true plan laid out by God. It is a plan to make oneself righteous without God. Man’s way is to try to cover their physical and spiritual nakedness with a flimsy garment of their own devising. There are many false teachers out there proclaiming anything but God’s true plan. Sometimes they get part of it right, but they have substituted some of their own ideas in place of some of Gods. But this makes it a man-made religion, since it is not the pure truth of the Word of God. But God’s way is the only way to get real peace and have true righteousness.

Acts 5:32 says that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God, therefore after Adam and Eve disobeyed God they lost the Holy Spirit! While they trusted God and obeyed Him, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. But after they doubted god and fell into sin, they lost the Holy Spirit. This was a terrible thing that happened to them! Adam and Eve began to die after they sinned, in addition to losing the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit will not always abide with man. See Genesis 6:3. God said this right before the flood when all of mankind, but Noah and his wife and family, were drowned in the flood because of their great sin. We can only have spiritual life when God’s Spirit abides in us. We can only be good when the Holy Spirit is dwelling fully in us continually, by our continued choice! God gives His breath of life to all who are alive, even for those who don't choose to obey Him. But there is more strength and power from Him when someone learns to trust Him all the way. When you trust Him all the way, you will be given supernatural help! That help is through the Holy Spirit!

Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness by sewing fig leaves to hide their loins, a small covering, but God provided animal skins to fully cover them, so that they would not be naked at all!

How do we know that the animal skin clothing that God provided for Adam and Eve fully clothed them?
Because before sin the Bible says, “And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” Genesis 2:25 NASB. We also have the direct testimony of the Bible here: “They [Adam and Eve] heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He [Adam] said, ‘I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.’” Genesis 3:8-10 NASB. Please note this point: They made their fig leaf loin cloths just before they hid from God, according to the Bible record. Now why would Adam and Eve hide themselves from God if they were not naked? If their man-made loin covering was clothing enough for them, would they indeed not be naked at all? No! They still hid! Therefore they were still naked! We think that it is apparent from this that a mere attempt to cover one’s loins is not really removing nakedness, but only partly. Dressing in a mere loin cloth is still nakedness! Think about it, it should be obvious. Since there is no mention of the shame of their nakedness mentioned in Genesis after God clothed them with animal skins, the conclusion is obvious that they were not naked anymore, because they were fully clothed. If you think about it, it should be obvious that they were not clothed in any skimpy garment that just covered their loins, which is still naked.

Sin brings shame. This is the way many of the false religions of the world are, they seek to provide a man-made solution to cover the nakedness of sin with a flimsy covering, but they cannot remove the shame of guilt, nor give peace! The man-made religions of this world can never cover the guilt of sin or take it away, nor can they give someone true peace, love, joy and happiness, because they are not God’s plan. They have no way or power to take away the guilt of sin, and they have no way or power to make anyone good. Only God can do this for mankind. God’s plan is to take away our sins and fully cover us with His righteousness, to cover our spiritual nakedness, which is real righteousness indeed! When someone tries to hide their shame with a garment or plan of their own devising, this is really self-righteousness. When someone walks in the righteousness of their own devising, they are in fact still naked, just as Adam and Eve were still naked when they covered themselves with loin cloths, having only a fake righteousness, which is filthy rags in the site of God! All of this is laid bare before the piercing eyes of God, who sees everything – no sin is hidden from His eyes. For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.’ 2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV. Jesus declared, “Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.” Matthew 10:26 NASB. And Paul stated, ‘wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts;’ 1 Corinthians 4:5 NASB. “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” Luke 8:17 NASB. All of our pretended righteousness is laid bare before the searching eyes of God. This includes all who think they are righteous because they are doing nothing at all (by God’s power). They think that since we are saved by grace, that there is no need to obey God – some going as far as to preach that we shouldn’t obey God’s requirements because this is ‘works.’ But these are all another hideous form of self-righteousness, a man-made religion. There is only one religion that counts with God, His Word, His way! Any deviation from His plan is a man-made religion.

There are two basic types of religions in the world: 1) self-righteousness: man-made righteousness – man’s way, and 2) the true religion of God: God’s righteousness - God’s way. Adam and Eve made their own self-righteous religion when they tried to provide garments for themselves to cover their nakedness, but when they let God clothe them, this was God’s righteousness for them. True righteousness is what comes from God, not man.

Before sin, Adam and Eve were covered inside and out with the protecting power of the Holy Spirit. 

Going back to Adam and Eve’s covering again that they had before they fell: We believe that they were covered inside and out with the protecting power of the Holy Spirit, who helped them to be good. But after they doubted God they lost the wonderful protection of the complete in filling of the Holy Spirit. You need to invite God’s Holy Presence into your life every day, and seek after Him with your whole heart every day, if you wish to keep His glorious presence and love in your heart. It must be your daily choice. God declares, “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 KJV. Ask God every day for His precious Holy Spirit, if you wish to stay fully protected, happy and full of new life! Jesus declared, "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?" Luke 11:13 NASB. If you hunger and thirst after this, you must continually ask God for a fresh supply of His grace and the Holy Spirit every day! You must die daily. 1 Corinthians 15:31. You must die daily to sin, stay contrite before God, and stay fully yielded to Him, to keep the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

How else do we know that Adam and Eve had the Holy Spirit in them before they sinned?

Paul declared: ‘do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?’ 1 Corinthians 6:19 NASB. And: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 KJV. Wow! This last verse really nails it! We hadn’t thought about how verse 17 proved our point before we just put this here in this article! Since God created you, and since your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, it is clear that this was God’s plan and devising, this was the way things were meant to be. Thus it is clear that this was the way mankind was created by God to be before sin, when all was perfect and they were ‘very good.’ Mankind was created by God to be a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Redemption provides a way for mankind to get the Holy Spirit back; to be filled with Him again, like they were in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve doubted God.

What relevance do these declarations by Paul have?

First, we learn that our bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. That means that we were created by God for that very purpose, to be a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in! But we must want His continual presence in our heart at all times, or we will lose Him! Oh don’t miss this point dear reader! You were meant to be a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in. Since we were meant to be a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in, it follows that Adam and Eve had the Holy Spirit in full before they sinned; the Holy Spirit was given for their happiness and joy.

Second, we also learn from Paul that if anyone defiles the temple of their body, or their mind (which is part of the body), that God will destroy them, whose temple they are. What? Everyone is God’s temple to dwell in simply stated. God will destroy those who defile their bodies and minds, if they don’t repent. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 KJV. So what does this all mean regarding Adam and Eve? Adam and Eve defiled themselves when they doubted God (lost faith in Him), which caused them to sin against Him. I.e. when they disobeyed Him - because of this they had to die. Sin is defilement. But we say doubt in God is SIN! Doubt doesn’t just lead to sin, it is sin! Especially when it is dwelled on and dwelled on. When the temptation to doubt first comes, it is not sin, unless it is dwelled on, watered and cultivated. Those who doubt God cannot possibly have the power to overcome sin, but will be overcome by it, until they make some kind of a confession to God and start to repent and learn to trust Him. To be an overcomer, you must believe God, and you must believe Jesus His Son.

From all of this we learn that Adam and Eve would have had the Holy Spirit dwelling fully in them before they lost their faith in God and fell. Another words, Adam and Eve had the Holy Spirit dwelling fully in them while they believed what God said. But after they doubted God, this was like the proverbial ‘slap in the face’ to God, who harbored nothing but love, mercy and compassion towards them whom He created. Without faith it is impossible to please God, i.e. without faith it is impossible to be saved. Hebrews 11:6. How can we say that without faith it is impossible to be saved? Because Jesus declared: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 NASB. As Jesus plainly stated here, those who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. From this we learn that those who don’t believe in Him cannot have eternal life. Therefore those who don’t believe God, or don’t have faith in Him cannot be saved, unless they eventually learn to trust Him. Those that don’t have faith in God, cannot help but fall into sin. Those who don’t have faith in God, cannot have the continual abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. So Adam and Eve lost that special infilling from God of the Holy Spirit when they doubted Him and sinned against Him.

The only way to be good is if you are a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in! You must allow God’s Holy Spirit to dwell in your heart 24 by 7 if you want to be His; if you want to be fully protected as much as you can be on this earth. In God’s presence there is life and joy and eternal protection. Psalms 16:7-11. It is foolishness to go your own way apart from God, it will cut you off from life, just like it did for our first parents in the Garden of Eden, which caused them to die.

We realize we are making a lot of inferences here, but this is the way the Bible is to be used. Isaiah declares: “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:” Isaiah 28:10 KJV. That is what we are doing here, putting the teachings of the Bible together, to show you the harmony in what it teaches, and to show you what it means, because the Bible doesn’t contradict itself. No part of the Bible is to be read or interpreted in a way that contradicts the whole. No portion of the Holy Scriptures should be interpreted in such a way as to take away its plain apparent meaning, unless a good reason can be given for that (like it appears to be symbolic and must be interpreted). We are using the Bible to help ‘flesh out’ and explain or fill in more of the details with what happened before and after Adam and Eve sinned, using the principles that the Bible has well established.

So even though Adam and Eve were not aware of the rest of the Bible that would come later, many portions of the Bible can be used to help understand the truths that also apply in Adam and Eve’s day as well. The truth is always the truth.

God’s People put on Righteousness as a Robe:

Let’s explore the passages in the Bible describing the ‘spiritual clothing’ that God wants to put on His people. This will help you to see that God wants humanity to be clothed in His righteousness and the Holy Spirit, which is the way we believe it was in the Garden of Eden.

“To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3 KJV.

This text reminds us of what Jesus declared: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Matthew 5:6. Blessed are the poor in Spirit. Matthew 5:3. And ‘no one will take your joy from you.’ John 16:22. Etc. Those who mourn in Zion, God will give them beauty for their mourning, and the oil of joy. In the Bible, ‘oil’ can represent the Holy Spirit. Through the prophet Zachariah, God prophesied that the oil represents ‘the two anointed ones who are standing before the Lord of the whole earth.’ Zechariah 4:12-14 NASB. Anointed ones can be a reference to kings or priests anointed with oil. When did Jesus become the anointed one or the Messiah? At His baptism when He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. Matthew 3:16.

Our passage in Isaiah 61:3 gives the reason why we need the anointing of the Holy Spirit: so that we can be trees of righteousness planted by the Lord – this brings glory to God! God is glorified by this that you bear much fruit for Him. John 15:8. This is indeed the only way you can become righteous - if you greatly desire God to give you the ‘oil of joy’ in place of the sorrow that your sins bring on you. What an exchange! His joy for your sins and shame! All of those who are tired of the way their life is going, and just want a better life, can receive this oil of joy for their mourning and sorrow! Joy in place of sorrow! Righteousness in exchange for the nakedness and shame of sin! See how much better God’s plan for your life is than many people imagine? In order to be firm as a rock, and truly planted so that you cannot be moved by the problems of this world or by the winds of strife, you must be planted by God, and filled with ‘the oil of joy’ - the Holy Spirit. This is what brings glory to God, when you become a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in; when you allow and ask the Holy Spirit to dwell in you each day; when you allow God to plant you in the stream of His righteousness! God wants to clothe you with a garment of praise! (Your praise of thanks to Him for saving you!) God wants to clothe you with the garment of His righteousness! And clothe you with the garment of the Holy Spirit! Do you want this? Are you ready for it?

“When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.” Job 29:11-16 KJV.

Here Job declared that he had sought out justice and helped those who were poor: the fatherless and the needy; he declared that this was to ‘put on righteousness’ - to be ‘clothed’ and that judgment ‘was as a robe and diadem.’ Just is the root word of justice or judgment. A good judgement is making the right decision. Just is another word for right or righteousness. This righteousness appears to be a type of spiritual clothing.

“I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:10-11 KJV.

God declared through Isaiah that He wants to clothe mankind with a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness. These are the two things that all need to have to be complete in God: 1) Salvation through Forgiveness, and 2) A Robe of Righteousness. In order to be righteous you must first be forgiven of your sins, and you must want to repent from your sinful ways, then God clothes you with the garment of salvation. When you receive His salvation and greatly value and treasure it, you will be clothed with the robe of His righteousness too! You are part of the bride of Christ if you belong to Him. Jesus Christ - the Messiah - the Bridegroom wants to clothe you with salvation and the robe of His righteousness. He wants to deck you out in the jewels of His lovely character, and He wants to cause you to bud and bear much fruit for God’s glory. God wants righteousness to spring forth from among all the nations of the world. This is God’s plan for all the world and wants to use His people to do it! He alone can cause this to happen, but only for those who believe. The jewels are the precious fruits of the Spirit that God will adorn your life and character with, when you get His righteousness, when you get the Holy Spirit in your life. To get this and all that God wants to give you, allow Him to clothe you with His salvation and the robe of His righteousness.

Now let’s see our above passage from Isaiah 61 from the New American Standard Bible:

“Then their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them because they are the offspring whom the LORD has blessed. I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.” Isaiah 61:9-11 NASB.

If you are the offspring of God, if you are born again or born from above, you are reborn as a son or daughter of God. ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:’ 1 John 3:1 KJV. The bride of Christ wants to be adorned with the jewels of Christ’s righteousness, just as a real bride seeks to deck herself out with jewels and other adornments for her wedding. This gives the reason for the rejoicing of those who are part of the Bride of Christ: because God has clothed them with His garments of salvation and righteousness.

“And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.” Isaiah 59:16-17 KJV.

“Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.” Isaiah 11:5 NASB.

- This is what Jesus did for us! This describes the plan of salvation: Jesus saw that there was no way that mankind could save themselves, and saw that there was no one to intercede for them… Because of His great love for us, He interceded for us, and brought about salvation for us and it sustained Him. Jesus put on the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation and the garments of vengeance and was clad with zeal as a cloak. This describes the various phases of His ministry for mankind: savior, avenger of the wronged, and zealous for God’s righteousness. This prophecy also talks about what the Apostle Paul would later describe as the Armor of God. Jesus put on all of the armor of God to show us how to live, and to be righteous and an overcomer too, by putting on the full armor of God.

The armor or clothing of God:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:10-17 NASB.

Adam and Eve girded their loins with fig leaves to cover their nakedness and shame, but God wanted to cleanse them from their sin and gird their loins with truth, and give them the breastplate of righteousness. Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves to cover their sin, shame and nakedness, but God wants to take away everyone’s sins, shame and nakedness, and clothe them with a garment of righteousness and truth, and to help them put on the full armor of God! God doesn’t want any part of you to be unprotected, from head to toe! The only safety (and joy) that can be had is when you let God clothe you with the garment of salvation and the robe of His righteousness, and give you the full armor of God, so that you may stand firm against the rulers and powers of darkness in this world, and spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places – to help you stand firm in this evil day, and in the evil days to come, having done everything to stand firm, giving you and girding you with the full armor and clothing of God - that you may be completely protected against the evil one. We have already discussed the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-17 in several of our books and blogs, and you can read them for a more complete understanding of this armor of God. But we note here that it is part of the clothing that God wants to clothe you with, if you will allow Him to. This clothing is provided to you when you give yourself to God and gain the full power of the Holy Spirit in your life; this is what you get when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and remain connected to the vine Jesus. “I am the vine, and ye are the branches’. John 15:5. So remain connected to Him, and keep His sweet presence in your life!

The fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints:

“’Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.’ It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” Revelation 19:7-8 NASB.

Linen, or fine white linen, is the garment of the priests. See Exodus 28:3-43. In this passage God describes the way that Aaron the High priest and his sons were to be clothed: many parts of this complex priestly robe and its accessories were made of linen, and it was decked with jewels and gold - all symbolic of what God wants His people to be clothed with. What? Listen now to what God declared: “Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” Exodus 19:3-6 NASB. But God spoke this to the Israelites, what does this have to do with Christians? “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:29 KJV. Do you belong to Christ yet? Have you given yourself to Him yet? Then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise, and then you are to be a priest for God to help others in this world, praying for their good and helping them, like God’s priests of old did. Thus God wants all of His people, Israelites, Jews and Gentiles alike, Abraham’s seed, to be a kingdom of priests, wearing the ‘fine linen’ which is the righteous acts of the saints, given to them by God. This is also the same thing as the robe of salvation and the robe of righteousness that Jesus and His Father want to give you, if you want it. Do you want it? Revelation 19:8 says that the ‘fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.’ The only way you can be righteous is if you are clothed with Christ’s righteousness and salvation. When you have allowed Him to adorn you for the wedding supper of the Lamb, then you will have ‘the righteous acts of the saints’, which is the fine linen or robe of righteousness! Then you will be a blessing to others in this world.

Conclusion:

Since God pronounced everything He created as being very good, and since He created clothes for Adam and Eve after they sinned and their eyes were opened, we infer from this that they must have had some kind of clothing before they fell, which we infer was the righteousness of the Holy Spirit, because Jesus said that no one is good but God alone. This righteousness was given to Adam and Eve by the Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve were able to be "very good", as God declared in the Garden of Eden before sin, because He upheld them by His power, and His Spirit filled them. But their character development was not complete, since they had been created fully grown. They were spiritual infants and had to learn to love and obey God and have faith in Him, same as you and I. So a test of faith was provided for them, which was lighter than the test and trials that we face in our day. In our day we have pain, suffering and death - all because sin has been transmitted to us at our birth from their fall. Since mankind’s fall into sin, it is a struggle to be good - impossible without help from God to do so. But God has a plan called redemption which will restore to mankind all that was lost - but only to those who want to yield to Him and let Him help them. This is all quite necessary now since there is sin, suffering and death. Things are not right in this world, but God has a plan to restore the peace, love, joy, faith, hope, happiness, and eternal life that was lost after Adam and Eve fell. Amen!

After Adam and Eves sinned, they sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame and nakedness. This is the foundation of false religion. There are two basic religions in this world: 1) Self-righteousness or man-made righteousness, and 2) Gods true righteousness, which only comes from Him. We need to be clothed with God's righteousness - fully clothed with it (that is His doing), or we will be spiritually naked. Any plan of man's devising that is not God's plan, is actually a form of self-righteousness, including the idea that many have that all attempts to obey God is “works” (or sin). So some of them appear to do nothing at all, thinking that this makes them good, but it does not. Many of them are unconcerned about sin in their life, since they believe that they are “saved.” But this view contradicts the word of God! We learned that ONLY God's way and plan can bring righteousness. Only when we seek to obey God and allow Him to save us; only when we follow His plan in the Bible can we be righteous. It is totally the work of God, but we must cooperate with Him and believe, having the faith to believe that God will do all that He has said He will do. He alone can save us, and fit us up and clothe us with His righteousness.

The Bible in many places refers to a type of spiritual clothing that God's people are to be clothed with. We infer from this that Adam and Eve were clothed with “spiritual clothing” before they sinned, which is the Holy Spirit. God wants to do this for you now! God wants to give you the full armor of God, clothe you with His precious Holy Spirit, that you might be fully protected from the devices of Satan and not be spiritually naked; that you might go forth with joy! This clothing of righteousness, which is symbolically like the fine linen worn by the priests in the Old Testament days, will give you ‘the righteous acts of the saints’.

If you are tired of sinning and causing hurt to yourself and others, then allow God to restore in you what was lost. It can be yours by His most blessed promise! He will do this for all who will submit to His loving watch care and yield to His precious Holy Spirit. Adam and Eve will yet live and regain all that was lost! They will yet regain the Holy Spirit, having the eternal joy of the Holy Spirit dwelling fully in them. This will also be true for all who love and trust God and give themselves to Him. Adam and Eve will yet regain God's protecting power like they once enjoyed, where nothing bad could happen to them, and they will yet be clothed in righteousness again, like they were in Eden. All this God will do for them and us as well - for all those who desire God's wonderful salvation!

Dear reader, the Holy Spirit longs to dwell right now in your heart! You were created to be a temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in! Why not claim this most blessed joy and experience for yourself, and allow God to envelope you in His love, and shield you from the evil that would destroy you? Let Him shelter and protect you in His love. This is our prayer for you!

God wants to clothe you with the garment of salvation, provided by Jesus’ death on the cross for your sins, and He wants to provide you with a robe of righteousness to clothe your spiritual nakedness – so that you can be like Him, be saved and live a righteous life for His glory. God has a plan put in place to restore those who want it, to the ideal Eden like state which Adam and Eve had before sin. This plan will conclude when the redeemed of mankind are brought to Heaven, and on the Earth made new, when all who reside there from the least of them to the greatest, will all know the Lord and worship Him!

May the grace of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. May you be fully clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and His peace, love, joy, faith, and happiness; that you may not be lacking in any good thing. May your spiritual nakedness be fully clothed with Christ's righteousness. May you have the greatest time of your life as you learn how wonderful God is, and crave His constant companionship. Amen.

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