Maintaining Faith

Maintaining Faith

One of the most important lessons we can glean from Hebrews 11 is that all believers in all times must exercise the same kind of faith.  We can do nothing without faith; we can do all that God requires with it.  You may as well be without Christ as to be without faith. In His sovereign wisdom, God has assigned to faith a work of preeminent importance.  Virtually every spiritual problem or defect in a Christian’s life is preceded by a weakening of faith.  Because faith is the most important grace, it is the most assaulted.  In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus warned Peter that he was about to be severely tested.  It was not his love or courage that needed the Lord’s support in prayer, but his faith.  That is the devil’s main target.  Faith is like a shield that guards all of the other virtues of a Christian (Ephesians 6:16).  Only by faith can we overcome the world (1 John 5:4).  All of this shows us the priority and vital necessity of nourishing and maintaining our faith every day.  Serious reading and thoughtful contemplation of God’s word is the great fuel of faith. Faith cannot be maintained or strengthened without a sincere resolve to keep God’s word abiding in our hearts (1 John 2:14).