Episode #338 Living from Christ’s Faith, Not Your Own with Jason and Elizabeth Settle

Jen: Hey, friend. Welcome to Good God Talks. Each episode here is a simple invitation to have an honest conversation with God. Today we're holding a single verse, Galatians 2:20 and with that a single idea, what if faith isn't something that you need to muster up on your own, but something that God invites you to receive?

My friends Jason and Elizabeth Settle are joining me as guest hosts today. And as we listen, you're gonna notice that they don't rush toward answers. They make space for reflection and rest and listening to God. And this is also something they're constantly doing in their business. Settled Co, where they offer consulting and coaching and biblical counseling. And so you're about to experience why they're the perfect guest host for this episode. You don't need to take notes. Just come ready for God to speak something to you and listen for what he highlights. Let's jump into that conversation together.

Elizabeth: We're coming at you with a King James Version verse. Galatians 2:20. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and 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.”

Jason: By the faith.

Elizabeth: Of the son of God. When you look in the Greek literal translation, it is that we live by NOT my faith, but the faith of the son of God.

Jason: So this “not by my faith” statement that you just made, I mean, when we think about, at least in my own context, growing up in the church, when I expressed faith or when I'm told that I need more faith, it feels like faith is a requirement for me. That I have to go to my prayer closets or go to my time with the Lord or go to my own just personal spaces and fabricate my own faith. Muster it up, grunt it out, and then present to see if it’s enough. But it sounds like the scripture is saying that it's not faith that's sourced by me, it's faith sourced by another.

Elizabeth: It's Christ's faith, which according to Galatians 3:20, I've been crucified with him and he lives in me. Therefore, his faith is sufficient. It is supplying. So it's not a requirement that I muster up faith, it's an invitation.

Jason: When we are invited to receive the faith, then we can give it back to God, you know, as we live with him and do work and life with him. But it's first, as you said, an invitation, not a requirement.

Elizabeth: So it's an invitation to trust in the faith of Jesus inside of me is the son of God. He in me is fully faithful. And so I am trusting in his faith, in his faithfulness.

Jason: His perfect faith.

Elizabeth: It is really a load off. I can relax back into his faithfulness as the source of my trust.

Jason: Right. We, with our company, talk about how we want you to stop striving. If faith is a requirement, it's encouraging you to strive for it, but if we are receiving what God is giving us in his perfect complete faith, there's no striving there. It's a receiving and living from not living for.

Elizabeth: I think it changes other verses like Romans 10:17. It says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of the Lord.” I used to think if you don't have faith, you can't hear God. Let's just pause a minute. That scripture clearly says …

Jason: that faith comes from hearing the word of the Lord.

Elizabeth: Exactly.

Jason: If we believe the adverse to that and faith comes from Jason and not from God, then I become the strong one in the relationship, not him.

Elizabeth: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Faith comes by hearing. And hearing the word of the Lord. In other words, we don't need faith to hear God. Nope. Faith is a product of hearing God. That tells me that we're designed by God to hear him.

Jason: And faith tastes like, I mean, if you were to bite into it, rest and trust. And so when we look to Mr. Faith himself, like he is the embodiment of perfect rest, perfect trust, and perfect faith for us.

Elizabeth: So I think it's worth, you know, just asking some questions of the Lord as we ponder this idea, right? Like what would it be like to close your eyes and to relax into Christ in you, putting your trust on his faithfulness and then asking Lord “What are you supplying to me this week? What are you inviting me to receive?” And in hearing him, faith grows and we are given really the will and the power to do the things that please him. Faith, it's a gift.

Jason: It is a gift to live from, not for.

Jen: Friend, as we close, I wanna return to those questions that Jason and Elizabeth offer to us. So if you're able, take a slow breath and let yourself settle and simply ask:

God, what are you supplying for me this week? What are you inviting me to receive?

You don't have to force an answer. Faith grows as we listen.

And you'll find links in the show notes for all of the places where you can connect with Jason and Elizabeth and explore their work through Settled Co, including their upcoming conference and their ongoing podcast.

And as always, have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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