Our precious faith

​If you haven't done something before and you want to do it, you would be well-served to consult with someone who has done what you want to do.  Suppose you wanted to learn to live by the faith of the Son of God, who could you study after? During his life starting as a Pharisee and ending as an Apostle, Paul periodically testified about his life and times.
 
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
 
I want to focus on the last thing Paul said, “I have kept the faith.” Surely, Paul was a man that lived by faith. It was the only way he could live on account of what the Lord required of him. After his conversion, he had to oppose the very men he partnered with to waste the church of Jesus Christ. Early on, the Christians feared him and the Jews hated him. They had no respect for his conversion to Christ. On five different occasions they beat him thirty-nine times each. They were trying to beat Jesus out of him, but they couldn't do it.
 
Paul was never deceived. He knew it wasn't men who were out to stop him and discourage his faith. The thorn poking him in his flesh was a messenger of satan. The devil was after Paul’s faith. If the devil could wrangle Paul’s faith from him, then Paul would have been defenseless.
 
1 Peter 1:7 The trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that perishes, but your faith should be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
 
So now you know what the devil is after, he wants our faith. He wants us to stop believing in things we can’t see. The devil puts your faith on trial every day. He loves to keep the pressure turned up on us, hoping we will get discouraged and quit. The trial of Paul’s faith was more precious than gold in God’s sight. Paul kept his faith till the day he was taken to Heaven. Paul knew that when he entered Heaven he would be given the crown of faithfulness. The Lord has a bunch of these crowns laid up for those who keep the faith.
 
Hebrews 11:6 Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
 
In order to live by faith, we must believe God exists and that He rewards those who actively believe Him every day of the world. Part of believing God is believing He will do what you believe He said He would do. A lot of Christians believe in God, but they have no faith in Him to manifest in their life as God. As a Catholic boy, I believed in God, but the only involvement He had in my life was to punish me when I ate meat on Fridays or missed Mass on Sunday. When the subject of faith came up, all I knew was that my faith was Catholicism. I had no idea God had a “Word” let alone He would confirm it with signs on behalf of those who believed it. How does it make you feel when someone believes you despite having any evidence. I believe it makes God feel pretty good when we believe Him despite having no evidence.

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