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...And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12: 1, 2.
Whether or not we must "choose" of our own free will to be saved or not has become a huge subject of controversy of late among Christians. Those who argue that we must use our free will to make a decision would say that each of us is saved by our own faith in Jesus and the work He did on the cross.
Ephesians 4:8-10, however, says this: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
So, if Jesus is the "author and finisher" of our faith, and if Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are "saved" through faith that is "not of ourselves" but rather is the gift of God, then is it really our faith (our decision) that saves us? Or does our faith in the finished work of Jesus merely connect us to what He has already completed? In other words, do we have faith in Jesus, or do we have faith in faith?
My interpretation is this...our faith does not save our soul, but it does wake our mind up to the fact that our soul was saved from the foundation of the world and walked out in process through the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Thus, the prayer of faith is not so much asking God for something as it is acknowledging the gift He has already freely given us.
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