Today’s Scripture: Romans 11:36

“For from him and through him and to him are all things.”

The realization that faith is the gift of God should encourage us to pray with confidence for others’ salvation. It means that no one, however hardened he or she may be, is beyond the regenerating, life-creating work of the Holy Spirit.

I think of some for whose salvation I pray regularly. One wants nothing to do with God. Another is happily indifferent, seeing no need of a savior because he’s a good, moral person. Others would be highly insulted to be told they need a savior because, after all, they’re both moral and religious.

What hope is there for these people? It lies only in the sovereign, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. I pray regularly that he’ll work in their hearts through the Gospel message to create the faith they must have to believe in Christ.

Awareness that faith is the gift of God should also arouse a sense of profound gratitude and worship in our hearts. We could not even take advantage of God’s gracious gift of salvation apart from his prior working in our hearts. But God gave us life when we were dead, gave us sight when we were blind, and gave us the faith to trust in Christ for our salvation. If we spent the rest of our lives doing nothing but saying thank-you to God, we could still never sufficiently express our gratitude for his gift of salvation, including the gift of faith by which we receive it.

Do you want to grow in your own worship of God? That growth will be directly related to your understanding of the Gospel in all its fullness, including the fact that the faith by which you believed was a gift from God.

https://www.navigators.org/Home