Is YOUR Faith Dead  Or Spirit-Filled?

Belief animates and drives a Christian’s faith walk.
  
We can have superficial (lower-case) belief or we can have unconditional (CAPITAL B) Belief that God is in control and we are not. The stakes behind the depth of our belief are high. Really high. At stake is whether we walk with dead faith or spirit-filled saving faith.
  
How do we identify the Bible-based difference between the two? How do we identify SPIRIT-FILLED saving faith that is based on CAPITAL B Belief? And how do we spot DEAD faith that is built on lower-case belief that God is in control and we are not?
  
Spirit-filled, saving faith comes when we PERSONALLY ENCOUNTER the reality of God’s truth—and believe it with a CAPITAL B–through the Holy Spirit’s tangible presence embedded in our heart and manifested in our life.
  
We can be told about living with spirit-filled, saving faith but that will never match what happens when we personally encounter Jesus.
  
“At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children…” Luke 10:21
  
Spirit-filled, saving faith transcends what we see and feel and think with our human tools.
  
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
  
Spirit-filled, saving faith in my life came when I fully surrendered everything to God and stopped trying to control everything myself. It was much different than intellectually accepting the Gospel’s truth and glory.
  
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
  
Of course we need to use our natural abilities to listen for God and see him at work in the world. But NOTHING matches what happens when we ENCOUNTER the magnificence of that truth.  And that comes when we believe with a CAPITAL B that God is in control and we are not.
  
I ask God to help me push for an ENCOUNTER with him and his truth and not settle for “merely” believing in him.
  
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
  
Is YOUR faith dead or spirit-filled?
  
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17