Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:31-32
Dear believer, remember to take good care of your faith, for faith is the only way to obtain God's blessings. Prayer alone cannot bring answers down from His throne. It is the earnest prayer of the faithful that leads to answers.
Faith is the communication link on which prayer travels. It is only by this link that prayer travels. It is by this link that God's message of love and answers to prayers move, so quickly that even before we ask, while we are still speaking, "he hears us." (1 John 5:14) So if the connection of faith is severed, how will we obtain His promises? We can't!
"The promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all" (Rom 4:16). Even grace is denied to those who lack faith. Why is that? To profess belief in something, yet have no faith in it, is not true belief. If I believe in electricity and never turn on the switch do I have belief or faith in it? Or am I just paying lip-service to a concept?
If I claim belief in God, yet do not trust Him enough to follow His commands, I have no real faith. Faith is the action that demonstrates my belief. Faith is the following of that "still small voice" that guides me - or attempts to guide me. Faith is choosing the path that honors God even when conventional wisdom says otherwise. Faith allows me to say to those I know to be false, those who choose to accept the comforts of this world as their reward, those who urge me to follow their way, "'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!" (Matt 7:23)
In writing his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul chose his words carefully and ordered them specifically. "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love." (1 Cor 13:13) Faith gives birth to hope, and from there arises true love.
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