The Practical Ways to Build your Daily Life of Faith

Indeed, what you do with the first governs what happens to the rest.

The opening night of the 2017 Faith to Faith Convention was resplendent with the glory of God as congregants fellowshipped in heartfelt, prayer, worship and praise. The choir treated attendees with glorious songs and Pastor Rhema Body expressed her earnest desire for the Lord in deeply moving rendition of "I need Thee every hour."

Bishop Matthew Addae-Mensah, the founder and Presiding Bishop of Gospel Light International Church, welcomed attendees to the Service and outlined the line-up of activities for this year's convention. He reiterated that the theme of the 2017 Faith to Faith Convention is "Exploits of Faith", saying, "We're going the full throt of faith." He encouraged members present to come to the Services with expectation and to position themselves to receive.

The man of God then welcomed the speaker for the opening night, Bishop Francis Amponsah of the Christian Pilgrim Ministry International in Italy. Bishop Francis shared on "The Practical Ways to Build your Daily life of Faith."

He emphasized the importance of faith by intimating that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The man of God stressed that faith is a very important subject in the life of the believer. 

He went on to adumbrate some classifications of faith viz.:

# Natural Faith- Every human being inherently has this kind of faith. This is the faith that an ordinary farmer has that when he sows seed, he will reap a harvest. Subconsciously, every human being exercises natural faith.

# Saving Faith- This is the faith that you are dealt with when you are saved (Ephesians 2:8).

# Daily life of Faith (also, Living Faith)- This is what you live by daily (Hebrews 11:6)

# The Gift of Faith- This is a special endowment that God specially grants to some people in the Church to manifest His miraculous works (see 1 Corinthians 12)

# The Faith- Jude 1:3 teaches us to earnestly contend for the faith. Don't compromise the truth of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Decide to stake your life on your faith. When you compromise, you are betraying your God. Defend the faith and don't allow anyone to intimidate you. Remember that Jesus Christ is not only our Saviour; He is our Lord! He is our Redeemer! He is our God!

Zooming into the crux of his message, Bishop Francis taught on the living faith. He taught the attentive congregation that we need to exercise our faith every day. He posited that faith is the key to successful Christian living. He noted, "Faith is a necessary requirement for the reception of miracles." He added that we need to cultivate the spirit of growing in faith. 

Citing many accounts of faith in action from Mark 5-7 and the book of Acts, the man of God taught that every child of God has a role to play when it comes to receiving God's gifts. 

The truth is that all things are possible to those who believe. You need to keep on trusting God despite the circumstances.

Romans 12:3 shows us that God has given every one of His children faith. Thus, you have living faith inside of you. In addition, it can grow.

Your faith must be a reflection of the lifestyle of Jesus Christ. Bishop Francis enunciated, "Your faith must centre on Christ. Jesus is the centre of it. Every serious and committed Christian must demonstate living faith."

He further explained that no matter what goes on around us, the righteous shall live by faith (see Galatians 3:11; Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38; Habakkuk 2:4).

He said, "Christianity is a progressive faith journey. We need to exercise our faith daily."

Quoting 2 Corinthians 5:7 and 2 Thessalonians 1:3, the man of God pointed out that if one's faith is not growing, they hardly believe God for everything. He echoed that the Word of God is true and therefore no circumstance can stop us. You don't have to worry, because God is with you. Move by the Word.

Finally, Bishop Francis expounded how to develop living as follows:

# Study the Bible

He taught congregants to study the Bible and encouraged them to sit under men and women of God to hear and receive the Word. He also urged that we join home groups to study the Word. Quoting Romans 10:17 and Matthew 4:4, the man of God urged the congregation to feed themselves with the Word. Don't take the Word of God lightly. Study it regularly and not occasionally.

# Believe that God cannot lie.

You cannot trust God without obeying His Word. Believe that His Word is true. Stake your life on the Word (see Proverbs 3:5).

Resolve to trust the Word irrespective of where you find yourself.

# Meditate upon the Word.

Don't just read the Bible; meditate upon it (see Joshua 1:8).

# Have a daily habit of spending qualitative  time with God to study the Word, pray and fast.

# In your quiet time, speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues makes you spiritually active.

# Participate in Church Services, prayer meetings, retreats, home cell meetings and conventions. Don't exclude yourself.

Remember that if God has spoken, it doesn't matter what happens. You cannot please everybody when you are in faith. Don't go by suggestions; go by what you believe. Those who love God and always want to obey His Word are those who live by faith. Those who really trust Christ will be obedient to His will. Those who are obedient are those who believe and those who believe are those who are obedient.

'Twas a night of increased faith!

Catch the aura during these series of meetings this week at the 2017 Faith to Faith Convention at the Phenomenal Faith Cathedral, Gospel Light International Church at 6pm each night. As well, there will be morning sessions from 9 am to midday.

Turn your faith loose at www.gospellightint.org/nu