Here is a suggested prayer to begin with:

"Lord, you have shown us our need, and shown us our Saviour. Help us now to realise how we can bring the two together by faith. Amen."

So far we have looked at ourselves in God's mirror, the Bible. We have found that we are all sinners: "All have sinned" (Romans 3:23). We have looked to see what John's Gospel says about JESUS CHRIST. He is the Son of God, who died that we might be forgiven (John 10:11 and 28). These facts demand our repentance toward God.

Our only hope is in Christ, but how can we find Christ in the 21st century? The answer is "by faith". Faith is not peculiar to Christianity, for if we have faith in a person we are simply trusting him. A child once described faith as "believing what God says, because God says it".

Faith is like a window. If we put the shutters over, the light cannot penetrate. But we open up to allow the sun to shine in at the window and shed its light into the otherwise darkened room. To have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ means that we let the Divine Light stream into our lives, and then we find that our hearts are searched and we gladly receive the Person whom the light has revealed.

Most people deliberately shut out the light, and are left in the darkness of sin and unbelief. (John 3:19.) But faith receives what God offers - truth, even Christ Himself, and then lays hold of His wonderful promises.

WHAT IS FAITH?

You will remember that in John 3:1-7 Jesus told the religious leader the startling fact that, to see the Kingdom of God, he must be "born again". This applies to all, the wisest as well as the simplest. Just as we have been born physically to enter into this world, so we must be born spiritually to enter the Kingdom of God.
We cannot do this by ourselves. It is the result of God moving in our hearts with desires toward Himself. It is the goodness of God which leads us to repentance, and it is the gift of God which leads us to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

However in John 3:14-18 we read that there is something that we can and must do. It is our responsibility to respond to God's word by believing, trusting and receiving Christ.

This is what the Bible calls faith. It is faith in a Person. This is much more than merely to know about Him. Many will confess that they know about Christ, but this is not biblical faith in Christ. Biblical faith in Christ involves total commitment to Jesus Christ.

True faith can increase and grow into a strong conviction. A person becomes a true Christian when his faith becomes an obedient faith and leads to action. Because his faith is in a living Person, his life will become increasingly controlled by what Jesus taught and commanded.

Your faith will be proved by letting Christ come into your life (an act of faith) and learning day by day to become His disciple (an attitude of faith).

FROM JOHN'S GOSPEL
Please answer these questions, remembering that the Bible word 'believe' implies faith that results in action.

1. What happens to the person who believes on Jesus the Son of God?    3:15,    3:18
2. What other things are promises to those who trust in and follow the Lord Jesus Christ?

Here is a prayer which may help you to take the first step of faith in Christ.

Give me, O Lord, true repentance for all my sins and a living faith in Christ my Redeemer. Write Thy Word upon my heart, and so fill me with the joy of Thy salvation that my lips may show forth Thy praise - through Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen.

Click this link for "CHRISTIAN?"  Originally published as a booklet, this has helped many to understand what a Christian is, why we need to become Christians, the provision that God has made and how the Lord Jesus Christ can become our way to God today. See John 14:6.

Think about this:
One of the evidences of Bible faith is a willingness and joy to be known as a follower of Jesus Christ. The woman of Samaria (John 4) and the man whose sight was restored (John 9) gladly confessed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to others. Will you now do the same?

Here are two important verses to memorise and mull over: Romans 10:9,10. Don't just believe them, but begin to behave them!
 

This is the Reformation truth that came to be held by many and for which some even died. We do not come to God by good works. We do not have to earn our acceptance by God. But the just shall live by faith.
This is the clear teaching of the holy Bible - to those who accept the Bible, the Authorised Version of 1611 / 1769 as their final and only authority.
Some can look back to a time when they first trusted the Saviour. Others cannot identify a specific date. This makes no difference. What is important is that they know and are willing to confess they are trusting Him now.

In Study No. 4 we have dealt with the Biblical teaching on faith. Now we consider aspects of a living faith in Christ. Approached in the right way this should warm our hearts as God grants us the blessed assurance 'Jesus is mine!'

Here, then, is the fourth subject for meditation: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH

His righteousness becomes theirs, and they are justified from all things. Being justified they live! That is, they are free from condemnation; they are entitled to all spiritual blessings and they walk at liberty. They live by faith.

    • By faith they overcome their foes.
    • By faith they obtain supplies.
    • By faith they perform the will of God.
    • By faith they walk each day with God.

They work from principle - their love for God - not for wages. They live as children in their Father's house - not as servants on a weekly allowance. They go forward though all appear dark and gloomy and forbidding. Sometimes they even have to pray, 'Lord, increase my faith.'

Although their faith is tested at times, they know they cannot be limited in:-

    • their confident belief in God's word.
    • their firm trust in the Saviour's blood.
    • the length of time they can confide in God's love.

Of course we are not talking here of human speculation or 'hoping for the best', but of God-given LIVING FAITH, grounded upon the promises of God. Such faith says: