Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law…that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
—Galatians 3:13-14
In Scripture, the word faith is first used in connection with Abraham. The secret of his strength for obedience, and what made him so pleasing to God, was that he believed God. He became the father of all who believe. He also became the great example of the blessing that divine favor bestows and the path in which it comes. God proved Himself to Abraham as the God who quickens the dead. He does this in fuller measure for us, too, by giving us the Spirit of His own divine life to dwell in us. Just as this quickening power came to Abraham through faith, so the blessing of Abraham, and the promise of the Spirit, is made ours by faith.
Paul spoke of “trust in the living God” (1 Timothy 4:10). It is only as God draws close and touches the soul that living faith will be activated. Faith is not an independent act by which we take what God says in our own strength. Nor is it an entirely passive state in which we believe that God will do with us what He will. Rather, it is the receptive soul that causes us to yield ourselves and accept His Word and His working in and through us.
It is very evident that faith has two things to deal with: the presence and the Word of the Lord. Only the living Presence makes the Word come alive in power. There is much reading and preaching of the Word that bears little fruit, so much straining and praying for faith with little result. Men deal with the Word more than with the living God.
Faith is the spiritual vehicle of the soul through which it waits on the living God, listens to Him, takes His words from Himself, and has communion with Him. As this habit of soul is cultivated, as the whole life we live is by faith, the Spirit can enter freely and flow fully.
If you long for the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus as the ever-present Savior from sin, all you need to do is believe. Begin each day with a quiet act of meditation and faith. In quiet reflection, turn inward, not to see the work the Holy Spirit does, but to yield your spirit to Him who dwells there in secret.