faith is a fruit

as i continue to study ephesians, i see that Paul was trying to convey to us, the church, that this life that we have been given through Jesus is pretty amazing. we have been chosen, made holy, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, lavishly favored with wisdom and insight, made God's heritage, destined for the praise of His glory, and sealed with the Holy Spirit all because God is love and He picked us to be the beneficiary of Who He is. not because we did anything to make Him love us that way. He just does! He just does!

knowing this truth by revelation from Jesus Christ Himself, paul desired for his family, by spiritual birth, to see that revelation too. he prayed for us to come to a deep and intimate knowledge of God by having our eyes flooded with Light so that we could see the Truth and believe and "know." it is the revelation of Truth that births faith, not just the mere information. it is when God opens our eyes and shows us the Truth that we do believe. this kind of faith is not brought about by any effort or decision on our part. it is the result or the fruit of enlightenment of the Holy Spirit within us showing us deeper insights into Who God is, what He is like, what His plan of action has been and will continue to be.

it is in these times of dependence upon God within us and leaning on Him to open our spiritual eyes to help us to see the Truth, that we consume and partake of the revelation that He shows us. this is the experience of all that God's Word tells us is available to us because of what Jesus has done for us in His life, death, burial and resurrection. this experience of depending on and living with God in all that we do, is what God has desired from the beginning, life with and in Him not for Him!

recognizing that we are helpless to come to Truth on our own and incapable of making ourselves believe by trying our hardest because we know we are supposed to, is the first step in having our eyes opened to truly "know" and believe. as long as we think we are supposed to try to believe, we will neglect the power to "know" that lives within us. and, itstead of partaking of the Holy Spirit's nourishment, we will be vomiting it up and trying to find our own strength to accomplish what only He can do in us. you can not conjure up faith. you can't make yourself "know."
you can't just decide to believe. you either "know" or you don't. and, only the One Who Is can reveal Himself and make us "know" Him. true faith or "knowing" is the fruit of communion with the Spirit of the Living God Who abides within us.