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THE BOOK OF GOD'S PROMISES

Living in Faith

By J. Stephen Lang

CBN.com -- Martin Luther defined faith as "a living, daring confidence in God's grace." It is such an important element in the good life that we refer to our walk with God as "the life of faith" and we refer to our beliefs as "the faith." Faith goes well beyond mental beliefs and ideas. After all, as Luther said, it is "living, daring." More than a "head thing," it is a "heart thing" and "will thing."

One of the greatest promises made in the Bible is Jesus' assurance that we do not need to be "giants of the faith" to please God. Even a little faith is a good thing, and powerful, too. Small faith can always grow:

"I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."

Matthew 17:20

Accept Christians who are weak in faith, and don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.

Romans 14:1

There are three things that will endure -- faith, hope, and love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

We live by believing and not by seeing.

2 Corinthians 5:7

I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God's marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with thanksgiving for all he has done.

Colossians 2:6

Every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

1 John 5:4

Dear brothers and sisters, what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone. Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well" -- but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?

So you see, it isn't enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn't show itself by good deeds is no faith at all -- it is dead and useless.

Now someone may argue, "Some people have faith; others have good deeds." I say, "I can't see your faith if you don't have good deeds, but I will show you my faith through my good deeds." Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless?

James 2:14-20

The Book of God's Promises -- Copyright, 1999 by J. Stephen Lang. All rights reserved, used with permission.


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