The Bible tells us that the salvation or wholeness that God provides through Christ is complete;  spirit, soul, and body.  When we believe and accept Christ, our spirit is regenerated or saved.  When we are born of the spirit we receive a new nature, are forgiven, and Christ's Spirit comes to dwell within us so that we can have fellowship with Him.  Through salvation, in this lifetime, our soul becomes progressively more whole as we yield to the Holy Spirit and renew our mind (which controls our emotions and will, and which, in turn, results in right actions).  Healing is available for our bodies through faith, but our bodies will never fully "put off corruption" until they are renewed in the resurrection.  Consequently, salvation includes complete wholeness in its fullest sense!  

            1.   The requirements for salvation are most clearly described in Romans 10:9-10.  

Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  

            2.   Salvation or wholeness comes only through believing in Jesus and acting on that faith. 

Ac 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Ac 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 

            3.   Hearing the word of God and believing what is preached is the first step in the process of salvation. 

1 Cor 1:21  For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

            4.   The Gospel or good news about Jesus is the life-changing message that we must believe, in order to be saved. 

Ro 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 

            5.   Salvation is a gift of God that He gives to us based solely on His unmerited favor for us and not due to anything that we have done. 

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

2 Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,           

            6.   Faith is the most important factor in the process of salvation and it results in the salvation or wholeness of our souls. 

1 Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

            7.  It is necessary for us to repent or change the direction of our lives in order to be saved.  Repentance is the action that clearly demonstrates that we have believed in our hearts. 

2 Co 7:10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.           

            8.   Our full salvation comes progressively over a period of time and is cumulated in the transformation of our bodies when Christ returns for a second time. 

1 Jo 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

            9.   There is no other way to escape from our selfish and sinful life, except through the process of salvation by faith. 

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 

            10.   When we accept Christ, we are justified by his blood and are reconciled to God. 

Ro 5:9  Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 

            11.   We have a part in the salvation process:  yielding our will to God’s directions and acting according to the word of God.  Without this yielding to the Spirit of God and acting on what we believe, the amount of change in our lives will be limited. 

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 

            12.   The holy scriptures help us understand and do our part in the process of salvation by faith. 

2 Ti 3:15  And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

            13.   It is God’s will that everyone be saved and made completely whole. 

1 Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 

             14.  If we are saved, we will know it by our desires and actions.  Even a carnal Christian who is still controlled by the flesh will find that they want to do what is right and that they will make attempts to act according to their faith.  This is because when we are saved the Holy Spirit comes into us and influences us to want to be Holy and do the will of God.  When a young girl was asked what difference Christ had made in her life she replied, “…before I was a Christian I ran after sin.  Now I run from it though sometimes I am still overtaken.” (Tan, 1979, p. 1230)   The Bible says we become a new creature (2 Cor 5:17).

            15.   Because salvation or wholeness is a process, we must continue in it until we are completely transformed and receive eternal life. 

Matthew 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

What is the Problem? 

            Before attempting to understand this process of salvation and sactification by faith in more depth, we must first identify the problem to be solved.  The biblical answer to this question is clear.  The problem is sin or, as the Greek word hamartia so clearly says, “missing the mark.”  The problem is that we are not whole:  body, mind, emotions, will or spirit.  The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  The apostle Paul tells us in 1^st Timothy 1:15, “This [is] a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”  In John 10:10b we are told directly by Jesus, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.”  Consequently, it is clear that the problem is that we are all inadequate in some way, due to our choices, and that through the process of salvation, we are to be brought into a place of wholeness that results in the abundant life that God has given us. 

            We must understand that God is a holy, righteous God and that He hates sin.  Sin is what mars and corrupts His wonderful creation.  The penalty for the choices that we make, which lead to sin, is death.  Because God is just, someone had to pay the penalty for sin.  Because only He could obey the law perfectly, God, Himself, in the form of Jesus, chose to die upon the cross to pay for our sins.  Clearly, God hates the sin that required Jesus to die upon the cross, but loves the sinner—you and me—so much.  Jesus was willing to die for us, so that He could have a relationship with us.  

            Until we have a revelation of how much God hates sin and how much He sacrificed to pay the price for sin, we will not have an adequate appreciation for what God has done for us.  Although it might seem somewhat trite in comparison with what Jesus did for us, my revelation of this came through the death of our family’s cat.  Chrissy had been in our family for 12 years and after our children left for college; she became a very close member of our empty-nest family.  She was an outdoor cat, and she loved it that way.  She would be sitting   outside the window of our door when we would get up and let her come into our bedroom to hang out, sleep, or just to be petted.  After she had enough attention, she would go to the door asking to be let out.  She would roam the neighborhood and come back in again and again.  In this way, we became very attached to her.  Then, one day, one of our neighbors called and told us that Chrissy had been attacked by some roaming dogs.  When I came home, there was Chrissy and she was dead.  I went over to the neighbor’s back yard and from the tracks in the snow, I could see she had put up a good fight, running and trying to escape in every imaginable way, until they finally surrounded and killed her.  How I hated those dogs!  In my heart I said, “If I had been there, I would have done anything, even risked my life, to save her from those vicious dogs.”  Just then, God spoke to me and said, “But I just had to watch those Roman dogs surround and kill my precious Son, Jesus.”  I can hardly imagine how much this must have hurt God the Father as He watched, and how much effort it took for Him to restrain himself and accept Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.  The recent movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” has helped many of us to understand better how much Jesus sacrificed for us, and how much God hates sin, but loves the sinner.  

How is the Problem Resolved? 

            First, let us see what the Bible has to say about salvation and about the requirements for its accomplishment.  The Greek word sozo means, “to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, injury or peril, to make well, heal, restore to health.”  I cannot think of any different word that could possibly describe the goal of Christian counseling better than “salvation.”  From the Bible, we see that:  

            1.  It is based on the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation or wholeness for everyone.  This salvation is based on what God accomplished, through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Since what Jesus did is a completed work, then everything necessary for salvation has already been provided and is available to everyone who chooses to believe the gospel, or good news.  We also see that something in this process of salvation has its fundamental root in believing, or having faith, in the gospel.  

            Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.           

            2.  There is no other way to complete wholeness—body, soul, spirit.  The following verse clearly states that no matter how effective secular psychology might be, without this process of salvation, which is based on faith in Jesus, something is missing.  I think this becomes completely clear when we realize that, without Jesus, we are spiritually dead, have no power to combat our sin or selfish nature, and that the best we can hope for is to be a well-balanced and socialized sinner destined for eternal damnation.  Because all that is required for salvation has already been accomplished—including the provision for the healing of our entire bodies, mind, will, emotions and spirit—this process can provide the foundation for all necessary counseling. 

            Ac 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.                                              

It is also clear that we can neglect this great salvation, and if we do, there is no other way to complete wholeness or escape from our dysfunction and sin. 

            Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard [him];           

            3.  One of the ways to neglect this process of salvation is to fail to meet its requirements. These requirements are most clearly described in Romans: 

            Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  

            a.  Believe with the heart:  In the Bible, the Greek word for heart is kardia.  It means, “the center of all physical and spiritual life.”  Verses can be found where it refers to the mind, emotions, will, or spirit, or any combination of these.  To be saved, we must believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead.  We must have faith that Jesus was "to be the firstborn of many brethren" (Romans 8:29), and that God will also resurrect us, meet our needs and make us completely whole.  The Greek word believe here is pisteuo, which means, “to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in; to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something:  saving faith; to entrust a thing to one or to be entrusted with a thing.”  It is the same root word, as the word translated as faith.  Therefore, believing is a lot more than mental assent of the mind to agree about something.  At issue here is that we must actually place our confidence in, rely on and trust God to aid, obtain or do what we need, and to have enough confidence to commit our needs to Him.  

            b.  Confess with our mouth what we believe.  The Greek word for confess is homologeo, which means, “to say the same thing as another, i.e. to agree with, assent, to promise, not to deny, to declare openly, speak out freely, to profess one's self the worshipper of one, to praise, and celebrate.”  The meaning here is to openly and outwardly speak and act in accordance with what we believe—that God has and will meet our needs through Jesus' death and resurrection.  In James Chapter 2, it is clear that faith without works or action is dead, and salvation will not work if we fail to act according to our trust in Him. 

            c.  Confess Jesus as Lord.  The Greek word for Lord here is kurios which means, “he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord; the possessor and disposer of a thing; or  the owner; one who has control of the person, the master.  The issue here is submission and control.  If we refuse to cooperate with God's day-by-day direction of our lives, God's plan of salvation can be thwarted.  The child who will not obey his parents makes the wonderful life they intend for him impossible or at least significantly more difficult.  Either God is our boss, or we are our boss.  God will not be our genie and just bless whatever we selfishly want to do!  To the extent, we seek His direction for our lives, to that extent salvation or the process or moving toward wholeness will be working in our lives.  By my own experience, I have found that my desire to direct my own life and not seek His direction is one of the greatest hindrances to "working out my own salvation."  (Philipians 2:12b)  In Jeremiah Chapter 10, the importance of this submission to the lordship of Jesus is clear: 

             Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps. 

When we try to direct our own steps, even if we ask Him to bless our efforts, we are walking around like a man in fog, without a compass.  We may try hard, but we have no idea where we are going and specifically what we are called to do. 

            The Bible goes on to clarify what has already been stated in Romans 10:9: it is faith that produces righteousness, it is acting on that faith which brings real change and it is real change that delivers us from the shame of our sin.  

            Ro 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  1  For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.  

The Bible tells us that our salvation is complete.  When we accept Christ, we are born of the Spirit, our spirit is regenerated, we receive a new nature and are forgiven.  Christ's spirit comes to dwell within us so that we can have fellowship with Him.  Through salvation, in this lifetime, our soul becomes progressively more whole, as we yield to the Holy Spirit and renew our mind (which controls our emotions and will, and which, in turn, results in right actions).  Complete healing is available for our bodies through faith, but our bodies will never finally "put off corruption" until they are renewed in the resurrection.  Consequently, salvation includes complete wholeness in its fullest sense!  

            In the book of Galatians, it is made very clear that we cannot bring this salvation or wholeness about by trying to do what is right (the law) in our own strength (through the flesh).   

Ga 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?  2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?  3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?  4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.  5  He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?           

The scriptures declare that God has provided all that is necessary, through faith in His promises, to overcome our lusts as we cooperate with Him in this progressive process of salvation with a final end of glory, virtue, and the nature of Christ.           

2 Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

We must remember that we have a significant part to play in cooperating with the Holy Spirit in order to make our election or salvation sure. 

How is Wholeness Achieved? 

             Before proceeding further, it is important to understand what is the basis of our dysfunction (or sin nature), and how salvation is actually achieved.  We cannot hope to build a counseling theory on a problem and a solution that we do not understand. 

            The Bible sees man as a creature controlled by sin or, in counseling terms, dysfunction.  In the simplest terms, our sin nature is a selfish desire to do things our way, direct our own life and meet our own needs.  When we begin the process of salvation, God's Spirit takes up residence within us to motivate us to do right; and a battle begins.  The Bible tells us that the Spirit wars against the flesh, which is controlled by selfishness.  This battle is for the control of our soul—our mind, emotions and will—which, in turn, controls our actions.  To be whole from the inside out, the sin nature within us must die.  How is this to be done? 

            First, we must realize that our sin nature has already been defeated at the cross.  Romans Chapter 6 declares that our “old man” or sin nature was crucified with Christ “that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”  (verse 6)  Although this is an accomplished fact, we must reckon or count it as accomplished—that is, believe and act like the power of sin has been broken.  We are now free to choose whether to sin or refrain from sinning.  (verse 11)  

Ro 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  7  For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8  Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:  9  Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10  For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.  11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  13  Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.  14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 

This is summed up clearly in the book of Galatians: 

            Ga 2:20 I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:  nd the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

            It is clear that although this victory over our sin nature has already been accomplished, the reality of this fact in our lives comes through faith.  Our deliverance begins by believing that the overwhelming power of sin in our lives has been broken and that we are now free to choose whether we will yield ourselves to serve sin or the serve Spirit of Christ within us.  (v. 12-16)  Although Christ has provided everything that we need to be set free from sin, in our selfishness we can still choose to “serve sin.”  Although the Spirit of God influences us to do right, somehow we must now defeat the selfishness within us in order to live a righteous life. 

Defeating the Selfishness Within 

            We already have had many indications that faith is the key ingredient in this process of salvation, but how does it work and how does it result in the complete wholeness of a person?  How do we use the slingshot of faith to hit the mark in order to bring down the giants in our lives?  Although the statement from which this series of books has been titled is repeated word for word four times throughout the Bible, I will quote it here from Hebrews: 

            Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if [any man] draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.  39    But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. 

These verses make several things clear.  Somehow, faith is the basis of being just or righteous, and it is possible to draw back from faith, which results in hell (perdition).  Furthermore, faith, or believing, is the basis of the healing or salvation of the soul.  We must understand what it means to be just (or righteous as this word is translated in the New International Bible).  Our English dictionary states that to be just means “to be fair, evenhanded, and impartial in acting or judging.”  (Standard College Dictionary, 1963)  In order to do this, we must not have any vested interests or biases, as explained in the book of John: 

            Jo 5:30.  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. 

Let me make this clear by using an analogy: 

            Let us suppose that you have a grievance against the company for which you work and that you take them to court.  When you come before the judge, you find that he is part owner of that company.  Do you expect that you will receive a just hearing?  You would probably say that you doubt that you will, and the law would require that the judge disqualify himself for that case.  If he did not disqualify himself, the judge would clearly be influenced by outside forces.  Either he would be tempted by his interest in the company to insure that they did not lose the case and be fined, or he would be biased in your favor, so that no one would think that he had favored the company that he partly owned.  In fact, it would be impossible to determine how his case might be influenced due to his bias.  Clearly, a person with a vested interest can never assure anyone that he can be just.  When that vested interest is to meet our own needs, it is called selfishness, because we are attempting to meet the needs of our “self.” 

            Since in this life we can never be absolutely safe, have all we want, or be all we want; it is clear that all of our needs cannot and will never be met in the flesh.  As long as we believe that our needs will not be met and we attempt to meet them, we will have a vested interest in what we do to meet these needs and we will be selfish in some way in our actions.  In fact, the more desperate we are to meet these needs, the more biased or selfish we will usually be.  Most of the time we might not even recognize that we are being selfish, because the whole world is motivated by these same needs and our attempts to meet our most basic psychological needs are almost automatic, and thus sometimes very hard to detect.  The truth is that everyone is motivated primarily by his own personal needs.  Almost everything we do in this life is motivated by the effect it will eventually have on us.  We will be nice to others so that they will be nice to us.  We will try to please others so that they will like us, and we can feel good about ourselves.  We will perform well at work so we can feel we did something important, earn money to meet our needs, and feel significant.  This problem of selfishness is such a strong trait in all people that the Bible says in Isaiah 64:6 that "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags."  This is because even the "good" things we do are all tainted by our selfish motives.  When we try to meet our own needs with this faulty, biased motivation, we inevitably sin by not being fair and evenhanded in our dealings with others.  Let me use another example: 

            If I am $10,000 in debt and I am selling you my car, how concerned do you think I will be that you get a good deal?  I will probably be more concerned that I get the very highest price possible, even if my car is not worth that much.  If I have a good job and plenty of money, there is a better chance that I will not be so concerned about getting more for my car than it is worth from you.  The difference is based on how needy I am, and, therefore, how much of a vested interest I have.  This vested interest results in missing the mark of what I should be and what I should do as a human being.  Therefore, this is what the Bible calls sin. 

            God's goal for us is real righteousness or wholeness in our actions, which reflect our mind, emotions, will and spirit.  This requires overcoming this world system that is based on selfishness.  The Bible tells us that the issues of life come out of the heart.  (Proverbs 4:23)  How then, are we to achieve this wholeness?  The point is that we cannot do it.  The more we try to meet our needs—including the need for wholeness—the more biased and selfish we become.  In fact, the harder we try to be unselfish, so that we can be righteous, the more selfish we have become.  This is because, in trying to be unselfish, we are still trying to meet our own need of the self to be worthwhile.  Only through the process of salvation by faith can we overcome selfishness and achieve complete wholeness! 

            1 Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith.   5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? 

            If it is true that as long as we are selfish, we can never be just, righteous or whole, then only the power of God can deliver us from our selfishness.  This happens through the process of salvation that works by faith.  This is explained again in Romans: 

            Ro 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.  17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,  The just shall live by faith. 

The New International Version translates "faith to faith" as "faith from first to last" which makes the point even clearer.  The way to become righteous is through, and only through, faith.  This is because the only way to be delivered from our selfish interests is to believe that all our needs are or will be met.  The only way this can happen—past, present and future—is by faith in Jesus Christ.  Since we do not know the future, we can never guarantee that we will be absolutely secure, worthwhile, significant and loved, unless we know and trust the One Who controls the future.  

            In order to be delivered from our selfishness, we must experientially believe what the Bible says, that God has and will always meet all our basic needs for security, significance, love and worth, and whatever else we may need in the future: 

            1.  He has and will supply all our needs. 

            Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

            2.  He has and will protect us. 

            Isa 41:13  For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 

            3.  He has already met all our needs for significance since we are a son or daughter of the ruler of the universe and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. 

            Ro 8:16  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  17. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. 

            4.  God’s love is so great that nothing can separate us from His love. 

            Ro 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,              39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

            5.  He has made us in the image of God and has valued us enough to send His Son to die for us.  Consequently, we are worthwhile, in spite of our mistakes.           

            Ge 1:27  So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 

To the extent that we actually believe and act like all our needs are and will be met, to that extent, we will be less biased and selfish in all we do.  God's goal is for us to treat others fairly and to be set free to have His kind of unbiased love toward everyone.  This is only possible when we are set free from the bondage of our needs. 

            The Bible is so strong in declaring salvation by faith that it unequivocally states that everything that is not motivated by faith inevitably results in sin.  As we have already seen, this is true because everything we do in a biased or selfish way will be unjust in some way. 

            Ro 14:23 And he that doubted is damned if he eat, because [he eateth] not of faith:  For whatsoever [is] not of faith is sin.  

In this particular instance, if a person believed that eating something sacrificed to an idol was wrong, and he did it, he would be doing it to meet his own needs and would violate his conscience.  The saints of old pleased God and received a good report because what they did was based on their faith that God would meet their needs.  Therefore, these actions were unselfish.  

            He 11:1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  2  For by it the elders obtained a good report.  

They believed that God was going to take care of them, so they were released to judge and act for the benefit of everyone.  In order to please God, we must believe that He exists and that He will also meet our needs. 

            Heb 11:6  But without faith [it is] impossible to please [him]: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 

In fact, God already counts us as righteous, even before we have overcome our selfishness.  The way He does this is through our identification with Christ and through what He accomplished on the cross—the forgiveness of our sins.  The Bible says that Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him as righteousness (Rom 4:3).  In Abraham’s case, God did this by looking forward to what Christ would do on the cross.  This is like going to the bank and after all the paperwork is done for a home loan, the banker throws the loan application in the trash, hands you the money, and says your older brother already paid for the loan.  This is what is called imputed righteousness.  It is given to us through faith without works. 

Ro 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified (in right standing with God) by faith without the deeds of the law. 

            The Bible tells us that we were crucified and we have risen with Christ.  We are saved by grace or God’s unmerited favor.  Through what Jesus did, God has forgiven all of our sins, has declared us in right standing with Him and has placed the Spirit of Christ within us.  Because of what Christ did, God sees us as already righteous, without regard to our good or evil actions.  Because of our position as adopted children, He promises always to meet all of our needs.  The revelation in our hearts of His unmerited favor and our position in Him provide the basis to believe that He has, is currently, and will forever love us unconditionally and provide for us. 

            As we start really believing that He will meet all of our needs, we will rely less and less on our own efforts.  We will trust more and more in the power of the Spirit within us, focus more on spiritual answers and direction, tap into the power of the life of God within us, and as Romans suggests, walk in accordance with the Spirit. 

            As faith grows, we will begin to be able to delay our need for immediate gratification.  This is what the Bible calls "dying to self" or "crucifying the flesh."  Dying to self is also based on faith.  We will never be disposed to want to put off our immediate gratification or do His will, if we are not influenced by His Spirit.  We must believe He loves us, and know that He will meet our needs.  As our love for God grows, we more and more appreciate what he has done for us, and we are led more by the Spirit.  Our desire for furthering His kingdom will make our needs of less importance as we set our focus on His call and His kingdom.  As we do this, we will be motivated by love to love others unconditionally as He has loved us. 

            Finally, we begin to "reap what we have sown."  As we unconditionally and unselfishly love others, they begin to respond in love.  When our needs begin to be met by others, our faith in God grows and we begin to feel better and more confident about who we are in Christ.  Consequently, an ever-increasing cycle of blessings comes into play causing more healing from our selfishness, which, in turn, results in more faith, and causes us to have an increased revelation of God’s unconditional love.  The final result is a mature Christian life, motivated by and filled with the love of God.