“When we separate faith from everything else, we make it into belief. It becomes the assent to the truth of something that cannot be proven by empirical evidence. The Book of James addresses this mistaken thought directly when it says, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only” (OSB James 2:24)… Paul speaks of “faith active” in love. This poignant phrase indicates that Paul would agree with James, who wrote against the idea of “faith alone.” He insisted, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17).…true faith is “active.” The word in Greek means “to energize” or “to work in” (Strong’s #1754). But what is “work.” Work is the energy transferred when a force moves something over a distance. This definition goes along with the sense that love activates faith. Love puts faith to work, transferring the energy of conviction into active caring. Thus, in a sense, love actualizes and implements faith so that it does “work.” Thus, the apostle says of Abraham, “You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected (James 2:22).” (Fr. Basil)
“No person can earn justification by works of righteousness, for justification is the gift of God given to those who respond to the gospel with faith. God also helps those who cooperate with His grace to become righteous. Saving faith is not mere belief but a commitment to Christ that is manifested by works of righteousness…” (Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese)
“Those who profess to be Christ’s will be recognized by their actions. For what matters is not a momentary act of professing, but being persistently motivated by faith….True Christian faith does not consist of a gnostic, inward change detached from our outward behavior. Rather, our faith generates an inner transformation, a sober evaluation of ourselves, and tangible efforts at living a life worthy of our calling in Christ (Eph 4:1).” (St. Ignatius, Dynamis 8/7/2021)
“If you wish to save your soul and win eternal life, arise from your lethargy, make the sign of the Cross and say: ‘In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.’ Faith comes not through pondering but through actions.” (Tito Colliander)
“…faith changes the heart…faith reconfigures behavior…faith in the living God re-orders the entire personality…Therefore, [Jesus] did not wish to separate faith from work, but he said that faith itself is a work. For this is the faith that works by love.” (Dynamis 4/14/2021, St. Augustine)
“It may be easy to think that we have devoted ourselves to the Lord quite well when we believe that we are getting what we want from religion. Perhaps we attribute the happiness of our marriages and families to our faith. Maybe we see our physical health, financial success, or good reputation among our peers as a reward for our dedication to God. Of course, all the good things of this life are God’s blessings and we should be grateful for them. We must be on guard, however, against the subtle temptation of thinking that entrusting ourselves to Christ leads to this or that positive result in the world. It is so easy to view devotion to the Lord as a means to serving our own ends…Any of the blessings of this life can disappear in an instant and the same is true of a faith based on the belief that God should give us what we want on our own terms.” (Fr. Philip LeMasters)
“…the Apostle Paul reviews for us what it means to “live by faith” (vs. 38). “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1). It is the essence of our hope, even though it cannot be proven by means of our physical senses. If we touch, taste, see, hear, and smell what we hope for, we have information, but not faith.” (Dynamis 1/28/2021)
“To believe into Christ is not only to receive Him into us, but also to be joined to Him, the One into whom we have believed. Our believing into Him is our entering into Him. To illustrate this, think of a swimming pool. You can walk around the edge, looking at the water. You can see it’s a real pool, with real water. This is believing in the pool. But when you dive into the pool, you get into the water and are covered and surrounded by it. You’re no longer just looking at the pool, thinking about how pleasant the water seems. You’re in the water, enjoying its coolness and freshness by swimming in it! Objective facts are important, but the Bible reveals something deeper concerning the kind of relationship God wants to have with us. He doesn’t want us merely to believe in Him objectively, acknowledging His existence. Instead, His Word reveals that by our believing into Christ, we enter into Christ. As a result, we’re joined to Him, and we can enjoy His Person as the rich supply for our Christian life!” (Witness Lee)
“No one wakes up and decides that today I will abandon my faith and forfeit all the qualities of the spiritual life that go with it. Yes, fear and duress may induce us to give up our faith. But typically, we lose our grasp of them through neglect. It is more a matter of erosion than of sudden collapse. Gradually as we face the little challenges of life without turning to God our unused faith becomes weak. But if we face whatever comes to us throughout the day with firm confidence in God, then our faith becomes stronger day by day. And by treating the minor troubles in life with trust in God, we prepare ourselves for the major ordeals when they come.” (Fr. Basil)
“When our faith in God is weak or under assault, we would do well to recall the apostle’s clear declaration that faith does not come to us primarily through our own efforts, but rather as a gift from God (2 Peter 1:1). Our attraction to the Lord Jesus and His teachings, the Church, the Holy Scriptures, and the saints awakens in us when the Holy Spirit moves in our hearts and souls. No clenching of our fists is needed to deepen our convictions, nor do we require mighty efforts to still our inner doubts, nor a diligent ascetical regimen. None of these efforts, alone, will give us precious faith (vs. 1) unless God acts. Faith, like life itself and the air we breathe, is God’s gift. By all means, let us ask for that precious gift!” (Dynamis 2/19/2021)
“Our culture has reduced Christian believing to a set of rational propositions. The various doctrines can be described, defined, repeated, even rendered in Latin. But almost nowhere do we bother to think about how we believe those propositions. We can answer the question, “Do you believe in the Incarnation?” But we never bother to ask, “What does it look like to believe the Incarnation?” This disconnect leads to tragic, even paralyzing versions of Christianity.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“Faith is less concerned with belief, doctrine, and dogmatic teaching than it is with trusting in Christ…Real faith is faith which is manifest and active.” (OCPM 2/9/2016, St. Maximos the Confessor)
“Trusting God trumps understanding God. The train will have long left the station and left us on the platform if we determine to ride only with full understanding. Life will have passed us by. I’m choosing to trust the conductor and the track He’s laid down for me.” (Terry Esau)
“Knowledge is given to us by faith, that is to say, by our participatory adherence to the presence of Him Who reveals Himself. Faith is therefore not a psychological attitude, a mere fidelity. It is an ontological relationship between man and God, an internally objective relationship…” (Vladimir Lossky)
“Faith is a perception and communion, which means that there is actually something (someone) to be perceived and with which to have communion. Faith is not an action reserved to some portion of our mind – it does not take place within us. It is a perception that is true communion.” (Father Stephen Freeman)
“The act of faith is unlike any other in human experience. It is unlike, but in a way connected to, the act of sensing by which we perceive the world around us. It is a “seeing” of that which is invisible, yet faith still begins in the senses, by hearing the testimony of another who has heard God’s word.” (Bishop John Michael Botean)
“Our faith is indeed personal, but it is not private. And there is nothing more personal than when persons are in communion with one another…Our Christian faith cannot be lived in a vacuum, for our personal transformation requires working out our salvation within community.” (Rev. Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick, Abbott Tryphon)
“Without faith, without deep faith, we sell out to self-serving truths and cultural lies. We need to hear the Gospel fully. We need to move beyond group lies or ideology disguised as religion.” (Father John Zeyack)
“However, we must take care that we do not confuse the fullness of faith with acquiring information “about” the faith. Rather, we are to work at living “in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18: 25), for as Christ reminds us, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). (Dynamis
5/20/2015)
“Sometimes it is hard to really know how deep our faith is, how deeply we trust God or not, until we face trials. We may not want trials but they are usually actually good for us....trials reveal where our hearts are. They are food for faith, which must grow or die.” (Sacramental Living Blog, Orthodox Study Bible James 1:2)
“Within every human is a desire for God. We sometimes attempt to satisfy this hunger by practicing a religion, by having faith in something. Atheism, in all its railings against God, also has intrinsic beliefs, dogmas, and tenets that supposedly can’t be challenged. It is itself a belief system with all the markings of a religion. Atheism as a religion (a set of beliefs) is just as intolerant and closed-minded as the claims made against any faith system it assails…Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning.” (Rice Broocks, C.S. Lewis)
“Even skeptics have faith. They have faith that skepticism is true. Likewise, agnostics have faith that agnosticism is true. There are no neutral positions when it comes to beliefs." (Norman Geisler, Frank Turek, and David Limbaugh)
“We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief [in God] nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?” (C.S. Lewis)
“True belief is not a mere nod of approval to a set of ideas, but conviction acted upon, which shapes our lives and informs our choices…Doubts, as well as beliefs, are born from our thoughts, while faith and knowing are conceived in our hearts.” (Archimandrite Vassilios Papavassiliou, Father David L. Fontes, PsyD)
"The Christian faith is not just a set of beliefs, but a whole new way of seeing things, enabling us to see things as they really are." (RZIM Canada@rzimcanad)
“Reason alone will never bring us to God. Rather, we confess that we are finite; He is infinite. Thus we come to him by faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Isaiah 55:8-9)
“Human rationality alone will never penetrate the workings of God.” (Dynamis 1/14/10)
“God wants our trust and faith, even while we ponder and wonder about so many maters mysterious to us…Faith is reasonable, though reason alone cannot explain the whole of it. So use your mind to think things through. But leave room for the unexplainable works of God.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 21:18,19)
“Clearly to go to Church and worship without knowing anything about what the Church stands for and believes is a nearly fruitless exercise…But study without worship is perhaps more insidiously dangerous because you can deceive yourself that you are “all about God” when in fact you are really all about “the study of God.” (Sacramental Living)
“To truly know about God you have to live the Christian faith. Christianity is something to be experienced more than something to be learned. I can’t emphasize this enough. I don’t think anyone can truly understand Christianity unless they experience it because it goes beyond the limits of our intellect… This made the most sense to me after my daughter was born and I began to raise her. Before I had her, I thought I knew what it would be like to love a child, care for a child, and meet the demands of a child. And I did intellectually understand this at some level. But it was not until I actually had her and experienced her did I begin to truly understand what it was like to love and care for a child, and to express the depth of that love in words is almost impossible.” (Sacramental Living)
“Our doubts and worries rob us of so much. They make the small shadows on the wall into huge phantasms about to swallow us whole. But the truth is that much of what we fear are either illusions or are realities that are not as terrible as we imagine…Too often we live not in the present but in the past or a feared future. If our eyes were truly open, we would see that our world is not as dark as we think it.” (Anne Marie Gazzolo)
“God always gives us strength to do what He has commanded. This strength may not be evident until we step out in faith and actually begin doing the task.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Timothy 4:17)
“What proceeds out of the mouth flows from the heart, for sooner or later our tongue will reveal the quality of our faith in God.” (Orthodox Study Bible, James 1:26, 27)
“…true faith always results in a changed life and good deeds…True faith involves a commitment of your whole self to God.” (Life Application Study Bible, James 2:18)
“Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods.” (C.S. Lewis)
“We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief [in God] nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?” (C.S. Lewis)
“Commitment is an essential part of faith…you must commit your mind and heart to Christ…Right actions are the natural by-products of truth faith…Faith without god deeds doesn’t do anybody any good – it is useless.” (Life Application Study Bible, James 2:1)
“We may find words of faith come easily, but deep appreciation for Christ comes with living faith.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 1:35)
“…fear of God can to lead to a fearless life…When we trust God completely to take care of us, we will find that our other fears – even of death itself – will subside.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalm 112:7,8)
“…grace is uncreated and infinite, whereas our faith is limited and can grow; good works flow out of authentic faith…We are not saved by good works, but for good works.” (Orthodox Study Bible Ephesians 2:8-10)
“Neither verbal confessions nor sacramental experiences avail anything unless we do the works of faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Luke 13:25-27)
“Lack of trust in God always prevents us from receiving His best.” (Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 3:15-19)
“There must be balance in life between our actions and our faith in God…We should use our minds and resources to obey God, while at the same time trusting God for the outcome.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Samuel 10:6)
“…remember that faith is only partly a matter of mind and emotions. Mostly it is complying, even if we do not understand or if we have doubts, or even if we do not especially wish to do what the Lord asks. Faith definitely entails risks and uncertainty.” (Dynamis 12/29/12)
“To step out brings us nearer God and to true joy, but God goes with us as we journey. He is both in the midst of the struggle and waits on the other side.” (Dynamis 12/29/12)
“I have heard some people say essentially “I have to see it to believe it.” That’s their litmus test for God. They say if they saw visual evidence such as a miracle then they would believe. In my opinion, the existence of the world around us and the universe are evidence enough and I think people who believe they need more proof are engaging in self-deception.” (Sacramental Living)
The Bible is full of people that saw evidence of God and still refused to believe. In Matthew 28:17, when the resurrected Jesus is standing before the Disciples, it says they worshiped Him but some doubted. He was right in front of their faces and they still couldn’t fully accept the reality of the resurrection.” (Sacramental Living)
“It’s interesting to me how some people can believe certain things they can’t see but experience, but do not believe other things they can’t see. Consider air and breathing. I experience breathing and accept the reality of air and oxygen. I know I breathe because I experience it. I have never seen air or oxygen but I accept it as truth because science teachers taught me about its reality. Now I know you can prove the existence of oxygen but most people are like me and have neither seen this proof nor require it to accept its reality.”(Sacramental Living)
“Seeing with your eyes doesn’t guarantee seeing with your heart.” (Life Application Study Bible, Matthew 20:30)
“Consider: in the positions we occupy: are we consistently functioning as Christ’s hands, eyes, and mouth? Are we speaking His truth through our words? This is not a matter of acting piously, but of being faithful to the Lord. We are to apply the grace we have in daily life.” (Dynamis 10/26/12)
"Hope is based on our faith that every day in everything we do God is with us and that everything does matter" (The Road Goes Ever On)
“People who believe more must not be hard on those who believe less. Why? Because faith ultimately is not a virtue; it’s a gift.” (Pastor Timothy Keller, King’s Cross)
"God reveals Himself to human reason as human reason responds to Gog in faith." (St. John Chrysostom)
“God’s provision is never given in order to let us rest upon it. We need to depend on Him as we face each trial.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Kings 17:17)
“Trusting in God simply means you believe God will protect you. It means making a conscious effort to focus from your fear and onto God.” (Ed Strauss)
“The depth of our trust in God is often in direct proportion to our fear.” (Sacramental Living) “Faith in God keeps us from losing hope and helps us resist fear.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 11:1-4)
“We can resolve our fears first by focusing on God’s immeasurable love for us, and then, by allowing Him to love others through us. His love will quite your fears and give you confidence.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 John 4:18)
“We can trust God to always meet our needs…We must remember, however, the difference between our wants and needs. Most people want to feel good and avoid discomfort or pain. We may not get all we want. By trusting in Christ, our attitudes and appetites change from wanting everything to accepting His provision and power to live for Him.” (Life Application Study Bible, Philippians 4:19)
“Often God provides no solution to our problems until we trust Him and move ahead with what we know we should do.” (Life Application Study Bible, Joshua 3:13, 14)
“Faith is not found in rules…but in relationship to God…Faith includes our assent to articles of belief, but it is also our openness to God’s action in our lives.” (Orthodox Study Bible, James
1:5, Philippians 3:7-9)
“We must believe not only in the existence of God but also in His loving care…We must put away our critical attitude when we come to Him [in prayer]. God does not grant every thoughtless or selfish request. We must have confidence that God will align our desires with His purposes.” (Life Application Study Bible, James 1:6)
“What believers do is a result of faith, not a prerequisite of faith.” (Life Application Study
Philippians 3:2,3)
“Fortunately, God does not demand that our judgment be perfect in all situations. He simply asks us to put our trust in Him and do the best we know how.” (Life Application Study Bible, Joshua 2:4,5)
“For most of us who say we believe in God, our attitude in life is often the cry of the man who encountered Christ and said, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” (Sacramental Living, Mark 9:24).
“Some people need to doubt to believe. If doubt leads to questions, and questions lead to answers, the doubt has done good work. It is when doubt becomes stubbornness and becomes a prideful lifestyle the doubt harms faith.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 20:25-28)
"In your heart is your faith an opinion to which you subscribe, or a reality to which you submit?" (Joseph Pearce)
“Times of questioning can help us sort out our beliefs and strengthen our faith, but those times can also be dangerous. If we are dealing with doubt, be aware that we are especially vulnerable to temptation.” (Life Application Study Bible, Luke 4:3)
“The presence of doubt does not imply an absence of faith. Christ honors whatever faith we have and will increase faith when we sincerely desire Him.” (Orthodox Study Bible)
“We, and often the brightest minds among us, want answers by human standards and sometimes we can actually view people of faith as weak, unsophisticated, and leaning on religion as a crutch. However, it is often through our own sense of our sophistication that we lose the beautiful child-like innocence of faith so precious to Christ and stated by Him as what is required for faith.” (Sacramental Living)
“For those that have faith, no explanation is necessary. For those without faith, no explanation is possible.” (St. Thomas Aquinas)
“To look for God only in something big (rallies, churches, conferences, highly visible leaders) may be to miss Him because He is often found gently whispering in the quietness of a humbled heart…Step back from the noise and activity of your busy life and listen humbly and quietly for His guidance. It may come when you least expect it.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Kings
19:11-13)
“Faith is the step between promise and assurance.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Kings
17:13-16)
“Faith is not the supposition that something might be true, but the assurance that someone is there.” (Metropolitan Kallistos Ware)
“Faith is a principle of questioning and struggle before it becomes a principle of certitude and peace.” (Thomas Merton)
“Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.” (Paul Tillich)
“Faith is not logical certainty but a personal relationship, and because this personal relationship is as yet incomplete in each of us and needs to continually develop further, it is by no means impossible for faith to coexist with doubt…Yet doubt does not in itself signify a lack of faith. It may mean the opposite – that our faith is alive and growing.” (Dynamis 2/9/10)
“…our faith journey is a movement from seeing our faith as an “interesting uncertainty” to an “incomprehensible certainty.” (Gerald Manly Hopkins)
“In a world of noise, confusion, and relentless pressures, people long for peace. Many give up the search, thinking it impossible to find, but true peace of heart and mind is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 1:3)
“Because we are locked into time, unable to see beyond today, we cannot know the reasons for everything that happens. Thus, we must often choose between doubt and trust. Will you trust God with your unanswered questions?” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 42:1)
“…we should examine our own faith, making sure we are trusting God’s power, not our own ability to produce results.” Life Application Study Bible, Matthew 17:17-20)
“The teaching of the New Testament is that God’s grace, our free will, and our faith and good works, are intimately connected. The Holy Spirit energizes in us both faith and good works as we thirst for and seek God’s grace. Neither faith nor good works can be presented as merit before God, but only as return gifts in humility, love, and thanksgiving.” (Fr. Theodore Stylianopoulos)
"A right faith in our Lord is the essential precondition for receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. Without faith in Jesus our Lord, not even our good works will make us receptive to the leavening power of the Spirit." (Dynamis 1/18/2014)
“Only the good deed done for Christ’s sake brings us the fruits of the Holy Spirit. All that is not done for Christ’s sake, even though it be good, brings neither reward in the future life, nor the grace of God in this life.” (Saint Seraphim of Sarov)
“While good works can’t save us or even increase God’s love for us, they are true indications of our faith and love for Christ…You cannot be a Christian simply by affirming the right doctrines or agreeing with biblical facts...You must commit your mind and heart to Christ." (Life Application Study Bible, Titus 3:8, James 2:1-26)
“Deeds of loving service are not a substitute for, but rather a verification of, our faith in Christ…Right belief and right action are inseparable.” (Life Application Study Bible, James 2:15, Dynamis 6/18/2014)
“Feeling a little uncertain and afraid is at the very least understandable, but it is not a sign of weakness or faithlessness….In the book of Psalms we find numerous hymns that express the deepest levels of human anxiety and fear, juxtaposed with the eternal truth of God’s presence and protection…Yet how often in the scriptures does God tell us to "Fear not!”” (Archbishop Demetrios, Metropolitan Phillip)
“…fear, once unloosed and accepted, can either paralyze us or stampede us to great harm. In every situation where surprise or boredom dominates, Christ encourages us to trust God’s promises such as eternal life (1 Jn 2:25), rejoicing (Ps 29:5), comfort in trials (Is 43:2), providence (Rom 8:28), grace to face whatever comes (2 Cor 12:9), and much, much more. Let our first response to any hint of fear be confession and a declaration of our trust in God. It is a matter of fighting back against the weakening within ourselves by choosing to trust in the Lord, despite whatever we may feel.” (Dynamis 12/6/2014)
“Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action.” (Life Application Study Bible, Judges 6:37-39)
“Our society today has seen a dramatic spike in what psychologists call anxiety disorders. Many who struggle with these conditions wrestle with trusting, with uncertainty, with not having control. Not all who struggle with fear and worry, however, have a “disorder,” for such struggle is universal and comes with living in the world. There are many secular treatments and potential remedies for anxiety. As Christians we have all these, and much more, at our disposal in our fight against fear and anxiety. To the challenge of not having control, we have the ultimate answer and solution: God is in control. Those who deny God’s existence or who do not turn to Him in their lives, deny themselves the greatest treatment for fear, anxiety, worry and doubt. Our God offers us something that the world cannot give us, and that is His peace.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“The teaching is that our prayers matter—“we have not because we ask not”—and yet God’s wise plan is sovereign and infallible. These two facts are true at once, and how that is possible is a mystery to us. We feel that if God is completely in control then our actions don’t matter—or vice versa. But think how practical this is. If we believed that God was in charge and our actions meant nothing, it would lead to discouraged passivity. If on the other hand we really believed that our actions changed God’s plan—it would lead to paralyzing fear. If both are true, however, we have the greatest incentive for diligent effort, and yet we can always sense God’s everlasting arms under us. In the end, we can’t frustrate God’s good plans for us." (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“The world in which we live is an anxious one, rife with fear and doubt. Economic markets rise and fall, employment fluctuates, conflicts erupt in unexpected places, and each year seems to bring a threat of some new virus that threatens mankind. We are all continuously faced with events outside of our control. As time passes the future takes on greater uncertainty. Indeed, it is often our struggle with uncertainty that plagues our spiritual life and gives birth to fear and worry.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“I found myself recalling Easter Sunday when the two Marys went to the tomb where, three days earlier, they had laid the body of their beloved friend and son Jesus but found the tomb empty. An angel of the Lord was waiting for them to explain that Jesus was missing not because someone had stolen his body, but because he had been raised from the dead, just as he had predicted. The guards were terrified, and the Scripture reads they shook and became like dead men…I have always thought that was such an interesting description of what fear does to you. You become like the dead, still living, but not really living.” (Lillian Daniel)
“Nobody should live in fear and be like the dead. God wants us to live like the living, not the dead. We’re not meant to live like the dead. And we’re not meant to treat other living people like the dead either.” (Lillian Daniel)
“Jesus did not come to make bad men good; He came to make dead men live.” (Fr Stephen Freeman)
“In John 10:10, Jesus tells us He came so we can have life and have it abundantly. Fear often causes us paralysis – not physical – but mental and spiritual that can make us stagnant and afraid to do what we know we should do. We can feel stuck and listless and bit hopeless. Placing our trust in Christ, and committing to deepening our relationship with Him over time, melts away this fear and replaces it with a renewed sense of both life and joy.” (Sacramental Living II) “…Christianity is a way of life; a way of life that is frequently in conflict with that of the world around us...The world’s values are often the opposite of God’s values. This can cause Christians to feel like misfits.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin, Life Application Study Bible, John 16:20)
“From time to time, the modern culture and everything around us can weigh us down, make us feel out of place, sometimes even makes us question if we are archaic or out of touch. We should expect this. Christ said narrow is the gate that leads to life and that it is difficult (Matthew 7:14). In other words, faith can be hard. It’s difficult to “be in the world but not of the world.” (John 17:14-15). It can make us feel isolated at times unless we have solid relationships with other people of faith. This serves is an ever present reminder we are not alone and that is often comforting.” (Sacramental Living II)
“…faith is a team effort. It is not for individualists who devise their own agenda and practices, for “all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Cor 12:12).” (Dynamis 3/1/2015)
“Another precondition of the Christian life is to endure... This endurance requires us to freely choose to pay the costs of maintaining our relationship with Christ. We die to the world in order to be seated with Him in spirit “on the right hand of God” (Mk 16:19). Our life in Christ demands that we set our “mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col 3:2) We actively “seek those things which are above, where Christ is” .. for we know that “[our] life is hidden with Christ in God…” (Dynamis 1/31/2015)
“If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it’s not so bad.” (C. S. Lewis)
“…we live in a fallen world with the twin problems of sin and the passing of time…no personal relationship or spiritual experience is self-perpetuating. Each must be nourished, sustained and fanned into flame again and again or it will die.” (Os Guinness)
“Faith is a gift from God that can grow only if we cooperate with the grace that gives birth to our faith in the first place. If we idly sit by and expect God to do all the work, we find that our faith is not able to sustain us during times of great trial and difficulty. Prayer, fasting, church attendance, spiritual reading, and frequent confession and communion are all key ingredients to a lasting, sustaining faith." (Abbot Tryphon)
“The Evangelist Luke reveals how Christ authors faith in human hearts. First He creates a climate conducive to faith, encouraging us to trust in Him. Then He calls on us – and on all who are in need – to trust Him…the Lord completes trust in Himself by giving those who come to Him tangible opportunities to express that trust directly. Christ’s grace always is active, working in advance of our trust. The Lord Jesus’ grace creates faith within us, so that we may respond to Him and thus be saved.” (Dynamis 12/7/2014)
“Immersing ourselves in the sacramental life of the Church, reading the Holy Scriptures on a daily basis, and making it a practice to keep to a prayer rule are all tried-and-true means of deepening our relationship with Christ.” (Abbot Tryphon)
“Hold fast to your faith, one day at a time; faithfully obey God, even in the details of life….Each day can open the way for us to find another way to grow closer to God and neighbor. Some days the opportunity may be so clear that it will be almost impossible to ignore. Other days, we will have to search for an opportunity to grow in our faith.” (Life Application Study Bible, Ephesians 1:1, Marianne C. Sailus)
“Faith and unbelief may seem like opposites and perhaps they are. Regardless, they tend to coexist in our hearts. For most of us who say we believe in God, our attitude in life is often the cry of the man who encountered Christ and said, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief” (Sacramental Living, Mark 9:24).
“…Christ deliberately permits the windstorm to arise while He is sleeping in order to perfect the disciples' faith and rebuke their weaknesses, so they would eventually be unshaken by life's temptations. Here their faith is still mixed with unbelief. They showed faith when they came to Him, but unbelief when they said, “We are perishing.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Luke 8:22-25)
…Twice in the gospels it is said of Jesus that He marveled: (1) at the unbelief in His hometown of Nazareth (Mk 6:6), and (2) at the belief [faith] of this foreigner [the Centurion who trusted Christ to simply speak a word of healing for his sick servant and that he was not worthy that
Jesus should come to his house]” (Orthodox Study Bible, Matthew 8:10)
“The logic of un-belief leads inexorably to the abyss; he who will not return to the truth must follow error to its end…Our indifference to God and His church stems from unbelief, from a lack of conversion, of changing our selfish, godless ways of thinking and living. (Fr. Seraphim Rose, Rev. Fr. Michael Baroudy)
“Unbelief is one thing. Most of us have some degree of it. But, like the Disciples were, we are works in progress and hopefully our spiritual growth is on the right trajectory. Rigid unbelief is another thing. It creates an impenetrable wall between us and God that can only come down by our choice to believe.” (Sacramental Living II)
“So much did the apostles realize that everything which pertains to salvation was bestowed on them by the Lord that they. . . said: ‘Increase our faith’ (Lk 17:5), for they did not presume that its fullness would come from free will but believed that it would be conferred on them by a gift of God”… But let us be cautious here. God’s gift of faith will not flower without our actively receiving and implementing this gift. We mortal men and women must put our faith to work. We must participate with the Lord through our daily struggles until our faith becomes great.” (OCPM 11/16/2015)
“Faith must be built up little by little, much as a painter puts on layers of paint until one day, after layer upon layer, a beautiful painting is resting on the easel.” (Abbott Tryphon)
“The Christian walk is a journey. As we continue on our path, we come to know a deepening of our faith. We can eventually see God in everything and take great comfort in knowing He is there, even when we don’t understand all that is happening." (Bettie Youngs and Debbie Thurman)
“Growth in faith and trust in God is the most important growth we can make in this life.” (Marianne C. Sailus)
“God calls us to the struggle of being faithful exactly where we find ourselves in this life.” (Dynamis 7/15/2015)
“Adults considering the Christian faith for the first time will have life experiences that take them way past the ability to be as innocent as children. Jesus does not ask us to put aside our experiences, but He does require a change of attitude: adult self-sufficiency must recognize its need for the sovereign God; adult moral defensiveness must humble itself before the holy God; and adult skeptical toughness must soften before the loving God. Children do not feel supremely powerful, perfectly righteous, or totally autonomous. These are adult fantasies.” (Life Application Study Bible, Mark 15)
“We, and often the brightest minds among us, want answers by human standards and sometimes we can actually view people of faith as weak, unsophisticated, and leaning on religion as a crutch. However, it is often through our own sense of our sophistication that we lose the beautiful child-like innocence of faith so precious to Christ and stated by Him as what is required for faith.” (Sacramental Living)
“When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.” (C. S. Lewis)
“To be a blessing to our children, we simply need to become childlike ourselves—to believe God’s call and to receive God’s grace for the task." (Jack Hayford)
“To feel secure, all children need is a loving look and gentle touch from someone who cares. They believe us because they trust us. Jesus said that people should trust in Him with this kind of childlike faith. We do not have to understand all the mysteries of the universe; it should be enough to know that God loves us and provides forgiveness for our sin.” (Life Application Study Bible, Mark 10:14)
“If God wants us to do something, He will give us the strength and courage to boldly speak out for Him despite any obstacle that may come our way. Boldness is not reckless impulsiveness.
Boldness requires courage to press through our fears and do what is right.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Thessalonians 2:1,2)
“You may not receive much attention (in fact, you may receive only grief) for your service for Christ. But God wants to use you. Lives will be changed because of your courage and faithfulness.” (Life Application Study Bible, Acts 17:6)
“A Christian’s … duty is to “take up his cross.” The word cross means sufferings, sorrows, and adversities. To take up one’s cross means to bear without grumblings everything unpleasant, painful, sad, difficult and with love, with joy and with courageous strength." (St. Innocent of Alaska)
“Special opportunities may come our way unexpectedly. Don’t let the fear of what might happen cause you to miss an opportunity. Be alert for the opportunities God gives, and take full advantage of them.” (Life Application Study Bible, Exodus 2:7,8)
“God knows we have nothing to fear if we trust Him.” (Sacramental Living)
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." (2 Timothy 1:7)
“God never intended for us to be ruled by fear." (Ben Kinchlow)
“When we allow people to intimidate us, we neutralize our effectiveness for God...Fear often makes us wait for more confirmation when we should be taking action…The power of the Holy Spirit can help us overcome our fear of what some might say or do to us so that we can continue to do God’s work.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Timothy 1:6-7, Judges 6:36-40)
“Like Christ, we should have a servant’s attitude, serving out of love for God and for others, not out of guilt or fear.” (Life Application Study Bible, Philippians 2:5)
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, I’ll try again tomorrow.” (Unknown)
“True faith transforms our conduct as well as our thoughts… Prayer is the key that unlocks faith in our lives.” (Life Application Study Bible, James 2:14, Mark 9:29)
“…growth in faith is an incremental process... The life in Christ is a process of continuous growth in faith.” (Dynamis 1/14/2014)
“The mother of faith is hard work and an upright heart; the one builds up belief, the other makes it endure." (St. John Climacus)
“…faith and works are indissolubly linked. Faith is completed, i.e. made perfect, when we act on that which supports and furthers what our God-given faith discerns.” (Dynamis 10/21/2013)
“Love and faith go together. As true faith includes works, so true faith includes love. We cannot believe in God without loving others.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Philemon 1:5)
“Prayer is the destruction of worldy fear… Whoever fears God, does not fear anything else." (St. John of Kronstadt, Elder Epiphanios Theodoropoulos)
“Fear is a powerful enemy of our faith and a strong deterrent to the believer’s peace of mind…We can overcome fear by trusting God for his protection in our darkest hour... Faith in God keeps us from losing hope and helps us resist fear…yet faith needs time to mature.” (Life Application Study Bible, Isaiah 8:11-15, Psalm 3:1-2, Psalms 11:1-4,1 Timothy 3:1-6)
“For moods will change... I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods “where they get off,” you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion.” (C. S. Lewis)
“Because faith is built on an encounter, it is not something that can ever be coerced, whether by force of reason or any other kind of force.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“...we should trust God because He is God and not our personal assistant or life coach. We should trust Him because it is his due, He is worthy of it, not because it will get us something ...trusting God when we do not understand Him is to treat Him as God and not as another human being.”” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“…open-ended obedience to God’s call constitutes the nature of true faith. First, we obey. Only afterward do we grasp what God intended all along. Faith is stepping forth into the unknown so that we may learn to experience directly the mind of God. Genuine faith…consists in trusting God over the course of many years of seeming contradictions. True faith waits on God for the outcomes that He promises…. To have faith means acting obediently, with open-ended trust in God, never fully knowing how it will all work out. Faith holds an element of adventure.” (Dynamis 3/28/14)
“The life in Christ is a series of choices and actions undertaken after the manner of Abraham. It is a journey that carries us far from the measurable and the familiar, directing us toward a new way of life.We learn to follow this new way by means of sustained obedience over many years.” (Dynamis 3/28/14)
“Obedience is not to carry out this or that order that you were given, while you object on the inside. Obedience is to subordinate your soul’s convictions so that you may be freed from your evil self. Obedience is to become a slave in order to become free…Herein lies our problem: “listening” to our thoughts creates struggles – a raging storm of contradictory ideas and impulses.” (Dynamis 3/19/2014)
“Obeying God is often a struggle because it may mean giving up something we truly want. We should not expect our obedience to God to be easy or come naturally.” (Life Application Study
Bible, Genesis 22:3)
“This is real faith: believing and acting obediently regardless of circumstances or contrary evidence. After all, if faith depended on visible evidence, it wouldn’t be faith.” (Charles Colson)
“Is anxiety a disease or an addiction? Perhaps it is something of both. Partly, perhaps, because you can’t help it, and partly because for some dark reason you choose not to help it, you torment yourself with detailed visions of the worst that can possibly happen.” (Frederick Buechner)
“Remember one is given strength to bear what happens to one, but not the 100 and 1 different things that might happen...Not all the things you fear can happen to you: the one (if any) that does will perhaps turn out very different from what you think.” (C. S. Lewis)
“Often we waver between faith and fear. When you feel so discouraged that you are sure no one understands, remember that God knows every problem and sees every tear.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 56:8)
“Persistent, faithful, plodding belief and hope are necessary if we are to remain free to give. Despair, which descends by dungeon steps to depression, is one of the major afflictions in our society. People seek relief from it sometimes in entertainment, sometimes in violence. Christians make their way out of it step by step, sometimes with great effort, on hardly visible footholds of sharing. The besetting temptation of the life of the Spirit is simply to quit.” (Eugene H. Peterson)
“God does not exempt believers from the day-to-day circumstances of life. Believers and unbelievers alike experience pain, trouble, and failure at times....Unbelievers have a sense of hopelessness about life and confusion over their true purpose on earth. Those who seek God, however, can move ahead confidently with what they know is right and important in God’s eyes. They know that God will keep them from being moved off His chosen path.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 16:8)
"The deeper a relationship we have with God, the stronger our Faith will be. Our Prayer Rule helps to open us to the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Our goal as Christians is to get rid of all that holds us back or scatters our attention, so that our whole life might be focused on God alone." (Abouna Justin Rose)
“Your faith is like a muscle – it grows with exercise, gaining strength over time.” (Life Application Study Bible, Genesis 50:24)
“First and foremost we understand that faith changes the heart… Second, faith reconfigures behavior… Third, faith in the living God re-orders the entire personality.” (Dynamis 4/2/2014) “Believe in God and you will have to face hours when it seems obvious that this material world is the only reality: disbelieve in Him and you must face hours when this material world seems to shout at you that it is not all. No conviction, religious or irreligious, will, of itself, end once and for all this fifth-columnist in the soul. Only the practice of Faith resulting in the habit of Faith will gradually do that.” (C. S. Lewis)
“God gave us minds that should be developed and used. To ignore intellectual growth is to live a stunted and naive life...Faith is reasonable, though reason alone cannot explain the whole of it. So use your mind to think things through. But leave room for the unexplainable works of God.” (Life Application Study Bible, Hebrews 11:6)
“Christianity is not something to be studied and only approached through the mind and intellectual reasoning as if God is something philosophical that we can understand through our brains only…Yet this does not mean that our ability to reason is without value for it too is Godgiven.” (Sacramental Living)
“Reason is a powerful tool in the right hands and in the right situation.” (Life Application Study
Bible, Acts 18:27-28)
“...people come to a place of faith not against reason but through it… Reason serves as a type of immune system helping us sort out helpful beliefs from harmful ones…Faith involves reasoning, remembering, and researching or study. Faith is hard work.” (Rice Broocks)
“… we must always keep in mind that in order to really live Christianity, we have to accept mystery that is beyond our current comprehension…this humility, which we attain in part through our ability to reason, is essential for true understanding. Complete trust in our own human reason and insistence that we cram the entire truth of God into our human rationale is really what gets in our way of understanding and knowing God.” (Sacramental Living)
“...mystery satisfies something in us, but not our reason.” (Peter Kreeft)
“The virtue of obedience is near to God’s heart, for Christ our God states, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15)…God is tolerant of our struggle to reach agreement with Him. He waits patiently for us to obey Him. He longs for us to become like obedient children…of our own free will.” (Dynamis 8/13/2014)
“Obedience transcends mere submissiveness, with which it is commonly confused. The virtue of obedience occurs within the context of loving trust and personal relationship [with] Christ.” (Rev. John Chryssavgis)
“The essence of obedience, according to Christ our God, is expressed by three concepts…to relent, to believe, and to enter…To obey means first and foremost that we repent – we change from the heart…The child of God listens with an open heart, reconsiders, changes his perceptions, and becomes convicted. Conviction, in turn, manifests itself in God-pleasing behavior. Obedience is a process of conversion.” (Dynamis 8/13/2014)
“Practicing obedience becomes the solid foundation to weather the storms of life.” (Life
Application Study, Matthew 7:24)
“Obeying and trusting God often require a measure of patience." (NIV Men's Devotional Bible)
“We don't move toward God through solely our intellect and reasoning. We don't understand to experience. We experience to understand.” (Sacramental Living)
“We often take truth and try to refashion it to make it make more sense to us, to make it palatable to our brains. Sometimes when we do this we trend away from God and to self in the sense that we are trying to force fit Christ and His truth into our brains or on our own terms. It is a start toward a lack of humility to dismiss what we can’t initially explain…Many of us just can’t accept sacramental truths because they offend our sense of modern thinking and seem almost superstitious or ridiculous.” (Sacramental Living)
“The natural man is one not yet joined to Christ, unenlightened and unregenerate. For such people, divine things appear to be foolishness because they inquire into divine things by human and natural reasoning rather than receiving these by faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, 1 Corinthians 2:10-14)
“A man can eat his dinner without understanding exactly how food nourishes him." (C.S. Lewis) “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." (Corrie Ten Boom)
“When new situations or surroundings frighten you, recognize that experiencing fear is normal. To be paralyzed by fear, however is an indication that you question God’s ability to take care of you.” (Life Application Study Bible, Genesis 46:3-4)
“Faith in God must touch all the practical areas of life.” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Samuel
8:5-6)
“I do not want merely to possess a faith; I want a faith that possesses me.” (Charles Kingsley)
“Unbelief is the root of many sins and problems. When you feel lost, it may be because you’re looking everywhere but to God for your help and guidance.” (Life Application Study Bible)
"Unbelief is an accident and faith is the only permanent state of mankind.” (Alexis de Tocqueville)
“God never leaves himself “without evidence of himself and his goodness.” Rain and good crops, for example, are evidence of His goodness....this evidence in nature leaves people without an excuse for unbelief...When in doubt about God, look around and you will see abundant evidence that He is at work in the world.” (Life Application Study Bible, Acts 15-18)
“Unbelief can result from failing to remember. Jesus performed many miracles, such as feeding thousands of people from a handful of bread loaves and a few fish. Time and time again, although His disciples had experienced miracle after miracle, they would forget Jesus’ power as soon as they faced another challenge. The unbelief of the disciples was the result of not thinking clearly and not remembering. Sound reasoning can restore your faith in God.” (Rice Broocks)
“Belief requires assent not only of the mind but also of the will. While many non-Christians have honest intellectual questions, we have found that many more seem to have a volitional resistance to Christianity. In other words, it’s not that they don’t have evidence to believe, it’s that they don’t want to believe.” (Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek)
“When the Holy Spirit takes up His abode in our bodies, then He becomes Lord over us, and not we over ourselves…However, such an unqualified surrender runs against the grain of American values, which emphasize personal independence and “doing one’s own thing.” It runs contrary to our ego’s deep desire for self-actualization and self-expression…We often live mindlessly, with only a vague awareness of God. Rarely do we place our decisions, activities, and relationships under the scrutiny and direction of the Holy Spirit, who is waiting to guide us toward what is best.” (Dynamis 6/27/2014)
“We are constantly worried about the lack of this or that thing, a state which plainly reveals how little we trust the Lord. The plunge into humility of which Saint John speaks requires that we admit ourselves to be “little-faiths” – those who do not fully trust Christ with our lives.” (Dynamis 7/29/2014)
“In spite of the fact that we expect young children to trust adults that they cannot understand, most modern people are horrified to be asked to trust a God they cannot understand.” (Pastor
Timothy Keller)
“As we recognize our limitations, we will depend more on God for our effectiveness rather than on our own energy, effort, or talent. Our limitations not only help develop Christian character but also deepen our worship, because in admitting them, we affirm God’s strength.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Corinthians 12:9)
“The best place any Christian can ever be in is to be totally destitute and totally dependent upon God, and know it.” (Alan Redpath)
“When God breaks through the ordinary to confront us, holy fear is our natural and life-changing response.” (Dynamis 9/28/2014)
“As we struggle to please Him [Christ], a healthy fear of the Lord grows within us and reveals whatever separates us from Him.” (Dynamis 1/9/2014)
“True perfection consists…in having but one fear, the loss of God's friendship." (St. Gregory of
Nyssa)
“To fear God means to respect and revere him as the almighty Lord. When we trust God completely to take care of us, we will find that our other fears—even of death itself—will subside.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 112:7-8)
“Though fear and faith are interwoven, faith is born from our willingness to obey despite our fear and reluctance. Faith actualizes itself when we override our misgivings and hesitations and submit ourselves to the will of God.” (Dynamis 8/10/2014)
“We could say that fear of punishment is a self-absorbed kind of fear. It happens to people wrapped up in themselves. Those who believe the Gospel—who believe that they are the recipients of undeserved but unshakable grace—grow in a paradoxically loving yet joyful fear.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“When a ray of sunlight enters the house through a crack, it lights up everything inside and even shows up the finest dust in its beam. So it is with the fear of the Lord, when it enters a human heart, it reveals all the fallibility still lurking there." (St. John Climacus)
“The only way to become truly wise is to fear (revere) God....Too often people want to skip this step, thinking they can become wise by life experience or academic knowledge. But if we do not acknowledge God as the source of wisdom, then our foundation for making wise decisions is shaky, and we will be prone to mistakes and foolish choices.” (Life Application Study Bible,
Psalms 111:10)
“Keeping a record of sins (or holding a grudge) is like building a wall between you and another person, and it is nearly impossible to talk openly while the wall is there. God doesn’t keep a record of our sins; when He forgives, He forgives completely, tearing down any wall between us and Him. Therefore, we fear (revere) God, yet we can talk to Him about anything. When you pray, realize that God is holding nothing against you. His lines of communication are completely open.” (Life Application Study Bible, Psalms 130:3-4)
“...sin is something that prevents us from loving God fully, not something that prevents God from loving us fully. This difference of focus is often the difference between a relationship with God that breeds a truly contrite heart in which self-forgiveness is possible, or an unhealthy fear of God that breeds a lingering self-condemnation that mistakenly creates a mindset that “God can’t possible love me” which is the farthest thing from the truth.” (Sacramental Living)
“When new situations our or surroundings frighten you, recognize that experiencing fear is normal. To be paralyzed by fear, however, is an indication that you question God’s ability to take care of you. (Life Application Study Bible, Isaiah 46:3,4)
“…he who trusts in God is the most blessed.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Proverbs 17:18)
‘Regardless of how life looks now, God controls the future, and everything will be made right…This hope for the future becomes ours when we trust God with our lives.” (Life Application Study Bible, Malachi 4:2)
“We, too, can have a right relationship with God by trusting Him. Our outward actions – church attendance, prayer, good deeds – will not by themselves make us right with God. A right relationship is based on faith – the heartfelt inner confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. Right actions will follow naturally as by-products.” (Life Application Study Bible, Genesis 15:6)
“One of the most beautiful sights is watching an infant. And when an infant sees his parent he just reaches out, opens his arms; he is helpless, but he knows that his parent will lift him up. That’s how we must be before God!” (Father John Zeyack)
“...religion and faith are first of all about God acting in our lives, about God leading us and saving us, about God moving our minds, our hearts and our wills, and drawing us to Himself.” (Father John Zeyack)
“The amount of faith is not as important as the right kind of faith…a small amount of genuine faith in God will take root and grow.” (Life Application Study Bible, Luke 17:5,6)
“Faith in God should be the controlling principle for your understanding of the world, your attitude and your actions.” (Life Application Study Bible, Proverbs 1:7-9)
“This recognition of the necessity of faith is then the prologue to faith.” One who is grasped by the limited usefulness of living by rule-keeping is ready to “unite himself unto Christ” and to receive the life in Christ. (Father Nadim Tarazi, Dynamis 10/29/12)
“Faith must be more than belief in certain facts; it must result in action, growth in Christian character, and the practice of moral discipline, or it will die away.” (Life Application Study
Bible, 2 Peter 1:5-9)
“Our faith must go beyond what we believe; it must become a dynamic part of all that we do.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Peter 1:9)
“...we must come to the realization that it is not enough to simply believe in God; we must believe God. We must believe who He is and what He says, and trust that He will keep his promises in our lives.” (Kasey Van Norman)
“Trust overcomes fear. Genuine trust in God says, ‘Whatever mess I’m in, my heavenly Father will lead me.’” (Life Application Study Bible, 1 Peter 4:19)
“The end point of our doubt/faith journey is a place of faith and trust - a trust in God no matter what. I am talking about no matter what happens in life, no matter how bad things get that we ultimately trust God even though we don’t understand why things are happening the way they are and we may feel absolutely wretched. The depth of our trust in God is often in direct proportion to our fear.” (Sacramental Living)
“…godly fear is the blessed interior state closely related to faith or trust in God…Fear of the Lord begins in the heart and guides infallibly along the Lord’s way of blessing, teaching one to hate every sign of evil, pride, or arrogance that may arise within one’s self…On the basis of fear of the Lord, a man chooses readily and naturally to serve Him.” (Dynamis 2/26/2013)
“Perfect love, we know, casteth out fear. But so do several other things—ignorance, alcohol, passion, presumption, and stupidity. It is very desirable that we should all advance to that perfection of love in which we shall fear no longer; but it is very undesirable, until we have reached that stage, that we should allow any inferior agent to cast out our fear.” (C.S. Lewis) “The faith that saves is a complete faith, not just the mind and the tongue but the whole man trusting in the living God. This means our faith and our relationship with God—our justification—are dynamic and living. Our faith grows and affects our actions, or it dies. “Faith alone”, static faith, does not save. We must nurture our faith in God and love for Him through our works.” (The Orthodox Study Bible, James 2:14-19)
“Infants are the standard of faith by which adults receive the kingdom of God, and not the other way around. “A little child is not arrogant, he does not despise anyone, he is innocent and guileless. He does not inflate himself in the presence of important people, nor withdraw from those in sorrows. Instead, he lives in complete simplicity” (Orthodox Study Bible, Luke 18:15-
17)
“To feel secure, all children need is a loving look and gentle touch from someone who cares. They believe us because they trust us. Jesus said that people should trust in Him with this kind of childlike faith. We do not have to understand all of the mysteries of the universe; it should be enough to know that God loves us and provides forgiveness of our sin.” (Life Application Study
Bible, Mark 10:14)
“How can you “receive the Kingdom of God like a child?” [as Jesus states we should]…Jesus does not ask us to put aside our experiences, but He does require a change of attitude: adult selfsufficiency must recognize its need for the sovereign God adult moral defensiveness must humble itself before the holy God; and adult skeptical toughness must soften before the loving God.” (Life Application Study Bible, Mark 10:15)
“Why is it that God does not show Himself to us in such a way that doubts and fluctuations would not arise within us? This is because it is not possible for us, being carnal, to come so close to God. Here is a comparison: our life—as is all life on earth—is fed by the sun; yet if we were to come into contact with it we would immediately be incinerated. On the other hand, how tenderly and gently does it nurture even the smallest blade of grass!” (Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky)
“Because we are locked into time, unable to see beyond today, we cannot know the reasons for everything that happens. Thus, we must often choose between doubt and trust.” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 42:1)
“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” (René Descartes)
“When Jesus talks about unbelievers, he means those who reject or ignore him completely, not those who have momentary doubts.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 3:18)
“…in urging them [the Disciples] to overcome their doubting nature, Jesus never harshly condemned them because of it. In other places in the Gospels He did condemn rigid unbelief and that’s why He attacked doubt sternly but also gently, dealing with it before it evolved to a hard heartedness and lack of faith.” (Sacramental Living) “You cannot get all the way to faith with reason alone, but you can’t get to real faith without it. Why? Because mature faith is an act of a whole person, so your intellect has to be committed as well as your will and emotions." (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“No matter how much faith we have, we never reach the point of being self-sufficient. Faith is not stored away like money in the bank. Growing in faith is a constant process of daily renewing our trust in Christ.” (Life Application Study Bible, Mark 9:24)
“Faith in God does not make troubles disappear; it makes troubles appear less frightening because it puts them in the right perspective.” (Life Application Study Bible, Acts 17,18) “It’s also easy to measure God by our fortunes and misfortunes in this world, but that is a worldly way of measuring our faith. Christ makes it clear that we will have struggles but that we should take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). We should never lose sight that God’s love and grace are always available to us, though sometimes we have to go through struggles.” (Sacramental Living)
“The faith of a flawed person who clings to God is more valuable than the personal integrity of an unbelieving person who does the right things for the wrong reasons. Read the Parable of the Publican and the Pharisee (Luke 18:10-14). The Pharisee did all the right things – he fasted, prayed, and gave money – yet the Scripture reads that he went to the temple and prayed with “himself” not God. He did his deeds for self-satisfaction not as a natural outgrowth of his faith in God. The publican knew he was flawed and asked for heartfelt forgiveness.” (Sacramental Living)
“Jesus wasn’t asking people to believe in him; he was asking people to build their entire lives around him.” (Richard Stearns)
“...following Christ is not simply a momentary decision or the observance of outward religious practices, but a whole way of life.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Acts 9:1,2)
“The more time we spend getting to know Christ, the more we will understand and appreciate who He is....We may find that words of faith come easily, but deep appreciation for Christ comes with living by faith.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 1:35)
“To believe that God exists may be engaging; but to say, “I believe in God” is quite another matter. To believe in demands commitment of ourselves, each other and all our life unto Christ our God.” (Dynamis 5/15/2013)
“Those who [truly] follow Christ are not known by a building; they are known as those in whom the Spirit of God lives. The church is not where believers go, it is who they are.” (Life Application Study Bible, 2 Corinthians 6:16)
“...faith is living, dynamic, continuous—never static or merely point-in-time. Faith is not something a Christian exercises only at one critical moment, expecting it to cover all the rest of his life. True faith is not just a decision, it’s a way of life.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Justification by Faith)
“...faith is a way of life. The righteous...are those who not only believe, but live righteously in accordance with their faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 1:17)
“...it is not what we believe that counts most to God but, rather, what we do with those beliefs....“The essence of becoming disciples is to turn our right beliefs into right behaviors.” (Richard Stearns)
“Faith is a gift that grows as we use it.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 4:53)
“No two people come to faith in exactly the same way.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“As in God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are undivided, so also in prayer and in our daily life the thought, the word, and the deed ought to be undivided." (St. John of Kronstadt)
“Actions teach much more than words; they teach even without words. Words not confirmed by action inevitably lead to the impoverishment of faith in those who hear them, when they see how greatly actions differ from the words that they have heard.” (Hieromonk Nektary)
“Faith without works and works without faith will both alike be condemned, for he who has faith must offer to the Lord the faith which shows itself in actions. He who loves God both believes truly and performs the works of faith reverently. But he who only believes and does not love, lacks even the faith he thinks he has; for he believes merely with a certain superficiality of intellect and is not energized by the full force of love's glory. The chief part of virtue, then, is faith energized by Love." (St. Diadochos of Photiki)
“It is by works that we effectuate our faith, thus making it known to ourselves as well as to others. Works are the proof of our faith. Without them, faith is empty words that avail nothing.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
“...faith is a way of life. The righteous...are those who not only believe, but live righteously in accordance with their faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 1:17)
"Accepting what we cannot change is not passive resignation; it is, rather, a choice to trust that God is in control." (Father Jonathan Morris)
“As long as we are in this world, we will have trials and tribulations. The way through them is found in prayer and repentance, not in denying that they exist." (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
“Christ did not come to take away challenges, but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems from God’s perspective.” (Life Application Study Bible, John 4:15)
“We must never rely solely on our own wisdom or skills. But it is equally wrong to sit and do nothing when there are still actions we can take to overcome certain problems. Do all that you can to fix the problem. Then trust God to do his part.” (Life Application Study Bible, Acts 27:29) “Our strength comes from trusting God with our weaknesses.” (Ryan Shook & Josh Shook)
“Underneath the loud, public assertions of skepticism there was a lot of covert spiritual searching going on.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“I’ve always appreciated skeptics’ arguments and the invaluable role they play in defining and clarifying what is unique about Christianity. It bothers me when Christians dismiss these questions glibly or condescendingly. Taking the time and effort to answer hard questions gives believers the opportunity to deepen their own faith while creating the possibility that doubtful people may become open to the joy of Christianity.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“Just because you have questions doesn’t mean you can’t have faith.” (Crystal McVea & Alex Tresniowski)
“Healthy doubts often become the building blocks for a faith that lasts.” (Ryan Shook & Josh Shook)
“Skeptical, incredulous, materialistic ruts have been deeply engraved in our thought, perhaps even in our physical brains by all our earlier lives. At the slightest jerk our thought will flow down those old ruts. And notice when the jerks come. Usually at the precise moment when we might receive Grace.” (C. S. Lewis)
“...the road between belief and doubt is traveled in either direction at one time or another by many thinking believers.” (Verlyn Flieger)
“Even people of great faith may have doubts.” (Life Application Bible, Genesis 17:17-27)
“Faith is a gift from God; it is more so a decision. We decide to believe in God, whom we cannot see with our eyes or touch with our hands as did St. Thomas before he believed. We decide to trust in God when circumstances are beyond our control. We decide to be followers of Jesus Christ when the world around us dictates otherwise.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
“Faith provides a sea-anchor for our souls when tossed by the tempests of life, and a safe harbor from the storms of temptation.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
“Hope is more than wishful thinking, more than optimism. It is settled confidence concerning things to come.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 8:24)
“Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our performance for God.” (Life Application Study Bible, Romans 3:28)
“Faith orients us towards God. Our deeds grow out of our faith and show our faith to ourselves and to those around us.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
“Faith transforms the whole person, heart, soul, mind, and body.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 10:5-13)
“...faith is not merely a set of “views.” Rather, religious faith is a whole way of life, a purposeful way of living that has at its heart a certain set of goals that inform everything in that way of life.” (Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick)
“...the beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that.” (Richard Stearns)
“Human beings are hope-shaped creatures. The way you live now is completely controlled by what you believe about your future.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“We may sometimes wonder if God will ever respond to our prayers. But we must never doubt Him or give up hope.…though we may think we are at the end of our rope, we are never at the end of our hope...God never abandons us.” (Life Application Study Bible, Galatians 4:4, 2 Corinthians 4:8-12)
“Don't lose hope. When you are down to nothing, God is up to something.” (Faith In God (@PrayInFaith)
“...Christianity holds out a hope unlike any other. The secular view sees no future good of any kind, and other religions believe in an eternity or heaven that is a consolation for the losses and pain of this life and all the joys that might have been. But as we have said, Christianity offers not merely a consolation but a restoration—not just of the life we had but of the life we always wanted but never achieved.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“It is t when life is good enough for us (i.e., comfortable enough) that we no longer think we need to hope for something beyond this life and our focus is just to tweak our conditions here to improve them and make our existence here more comfortable. Comforts can breed complacency, not just of body, but of mind and heart. The danger of this complacency is that it often blinds us to our true need for the hope in something better that Christ offers us because we consciously, or unconsciously, think and act as if our true need is just merely to improve our situations, not salvation.” (Sacramental Living II)
“Have you ever had any doubts about your faith? If you have, consider yourself very normal. If not, I assure you there may come a time in your life, or many times, when you experience doubts about your faith. This still happens to me even after years of dedicated commitment to Christ. Wrestling with doubts can and often does lead to a deeper faith…” (Sacramental Living) “…everyone has doubts to greater or lesser degrees that creep into their thought sometimes. Even as committed Christians, we are exposed to a myriad of different religions and philosophies that exist in this world and, if we are intellectually honest, it does sometimes cause us to reevaluate what we believe and thus generate some doubts.” (Sacramental Living)
“...there are two kinds of doubts: dishonest doubts and honest doubts. Dishonest doubts are both proud and cowardly; they show disdain and laziness. A dishonest doubt is to say, “What a crazy idea!” and then just walk away. “That’s impossible” (or its more contemporary version, “That’s stupid”) is an assertion, not an argument. It’s a way of getting out of the hard work of thinking. But by contrast, honest doubts are humble, because they lead you to ask questions, not just put up a wall. And when you ask a real question, it makes you somewhat vulnerable.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“Doubts in the mind can grow along with pain in the heart.” (Pastor Timothy Keller)
“If you find yourself doubting God, remember that you don’t have all the facts. God wants only the very best for your life. Many people endure great pain, but ultimately they find some greater good came from it. When you’re struggling, don’t assume the worst.” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 10:12,13)
“The central issue of life is what we believe about Jesus. Other spiritual questions are irrelevant unless we first decide to believe that Jesus is who he said He is.” (Life Application Study, Luke 20:41-44)
“Faith unites a person not only to Christ but to all who are in Him..." (Orthodox Study Bible, Philemon 1:6)
“Faith is the name of the relationship that gives us full participation in the life of Christ and in His resurrection." (Orthodox Study Bible, Philippians 3:9-11)
“Faith is believing and trusting in Jesus Christ and reaching out to accept His wonderful gift of salvation.” (Life Application Study Bible, Romans 4:5)
“We have choices, and can choose to live in communion with Christ, even amidst the fallen world around us.” (Fr. Joseph Irvin)
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