“The deeper meaning of “faith” (pistis) is “trust,” total and unwavering confidence in God’s utter faithfulness towards us. In response to our trust, expressed through the worship by which we “bless” Him, God bestows upon us still further blessings. Our relationship with Him involves a reciprocal movement. Through worship we offer ourselves to Him, yet through that same worship He offers Himself to us. We “bless” Him by our thanksgiving, our adoration and our praise; and we are blessed by Him through the continual outpouring of His divine grace.” (Fr. John Breck)
“Through a right faith in Christ we become known by Him (Matthew 21:23). Our heartfelt cry to Him is essential, but we must unite it with the desire to know Him, to “unite [ourselves] unto Christ” and “believe in Him as King and God.” We are called to surrender from the heart, as Saint Peter discerns: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68). When we know the Lord Jesus and are known by Him, when we have a life-giving relationship with the Him, our heart acquires a new orientation from which good works and virtues naturally develop.” (Dynamis 6/17/2020)
“Christianity is indeed founded upon the revelation of God, but the power and the truth of that divine revelation must be made manifest in the life and thought and speech of every Christian…Yet this is not to say that we should rely upon reasoned argument and discourse alone to somehow “prove” the truth and goodness of Christianity. Rather, we must obey the command of the Apostle to “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” This means that our answer must flow above all from inner sanctity and unwavering faith in God. If people do not encounter divine beauty in our lives as Christians, then it is almost certain that they will not encounter it in our words.” (Hieromonk Gabriel)
“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)
“Let us have unwavering confidence and hope in God’s promises, even when events seem to run contrary to His word. For God’s word is capable of overturning our sensory impressions and even achieving what statistics assert to be impossible. Let us have unwavering hope in God…” (Dynamis 6/6/2018)
“…we live in a fallen world with good behavior is not always rewarded and bad behavior is not always punished…To be unshakeable, faith must be built on the confidence that God’s ultimate purpose will come to pass.” (Life Application Study Bible, Job 1:1)
“And how, you say, can faith increase? It does so when we suffer something horrible for the sake of faith. It is a great thing for faith to be solidly established and not to be carried away by some sophistry. But when the winds assail us, when the rains burst upon us, when a violent storm is raised on every side and the waves follow upon one another, the fact that we are not shaken is a proof that faith grows, grows abundantly and becomes more exalted.” (Saint John Chrysostom)
“Unshakeable faith is not something we develop overnight. Christ uses the mustard seed many times in the Gospel as a metaphor for the type of faith He says we need to acquire. St. Ambrose reminds us that for the mustard seed to grow from the tiniest of seeds to one of the largest of all plants it first must be bruised or crushed. It is through the trials of life where we experience suffering that we are bruised or crushed but not defeated. The daily prayerful choice to have faith, especially during our worst times, is what enables our faith to grow over time into something unshakeable that will both sustain us while attracting others to Christ.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)
“…we must stand with unshakeable certitude that all historical storms and suffering will only serve to cleanse our spiritual impurity and to clear the spiritual air.” (Ivan Ilyin)
“We must have our gaze fixed on heaven. Then nothing here can shake us.” (Elder Amphilochios Makris of Patmos)