Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is fundamental to the Christian walk, it is the essence of salvation and why we are called believers. We are told to believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. This means to trust in God and what be has spoken, to believe in Him and His promises though we may not have seen Jesus with our own eyes and we do not know the future, He has declared it from the beginning.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Praise the Lord for giving us His word and the ability to have faith in Him, millions have perished throughout history in ignorance of His word as sadly even today many still do as they lack access to scripture or a media to access the scripture (even a pastor). We can look at places like North Korea or parts of the Middle East where Christianity is criminalised and Bibles treated like narcotics.
James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
As described in the previous article on Goodness, this is only possible through the Holy Spirit, with our own works being as filthy rags. Worldly logic mistakenly puts works above faith, how many times have we heard mockers saying things like "you pray for X, I'll think for X" - but judging a tree by its fruit we can see that earthly good works carried out by sight are selfish and corrupt, whereas spiritual good works carried out by faith are pure and truly good. What good is gaining worldly things, even gaining things for others, when they lose their soul?
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Working without faith is to contravene Gods word and is sin by its very nature. Adam and Eve acted without faith when they disobeyed, not trusting God's word that they should surely die if they eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Instead they believed the devils lies and their own desires. If we walk in faith, rather than walking in the way of destruction and impossibility, we walk the way of life, and all things are possible to those who believe.
Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
It doesn't take much faith, even a grain as small as a mustard seed can work many wondrous miracles, and the more we let God grow the fruit within our spirit the greater the reward. Just think on these verses and how incredible it would feel to hear God Himself declare this about you:
Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
8. Meekness
Matthew 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Meekness is humility: to be modest and quiet, avoiding arrogance, boasting and attention seeking. Essentially it is getting on with things with your "head down", doing nice things in secret and not blowing a trumpet when you give alms as the Pharisees were said to do to get attention and praise. They have their reward in the form of praises from men, wouldn't you rather have praises of God?
1 Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
It could be nice for men to see you doing good things and thinking what a great person you are, but this leads to vanity and puffing yourself up. What is far more important than pleasing men is making God happy, the majority of men in this world are not made happy by truly righteous things but by worldly things: money, power, sex, and so on. As Psalm 12:8 goes ...the vilest men are exalted.
Matthew 6:4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
The best example of being meek is being what is referred to as a "doormat" - the world condemns this as a bad thing, that others are looking to take advantage of your kindness. However this is exactly what God wants of us and will reward us for: they might get a small reward from us, however we get a large reward from God. Many of the great men of the Bible were meek and let themselves be used, Jesus told us that if a man wants to take your coat let him have your cloak also .
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
9. Temperance
2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
Temperance is moderation and stability, similar to soberness. Think of tempered glass, how undergoing just the right heat and chemical treatment makes it far tougher than ordinary glass and so in a situation that regular glass would break, the tempered glass stays strong. Temperance is built upon a solid foundation of knowledge, and build patience upon a solid foundation of temperance.
Exodus 29:2 And unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of wheaten flour shalt thou make them.
Another metaphor is to add just enough oil to flour to in order to temper the dough to make unleavened bread. The oil is the Holy Spirit, the flour is the body, the man is the dough and unleavened bread is his completed righteousness. It is a simple recipe, but you need to need good instruction to get it right.
Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
We should be sober and avoid things which may be excessive and cloud our judgement, whether it be alcohol, drugs, food, money, or anger. Things such as anger, lust, envy, anxiety and greed warp our way of thinking and can lead to further sin such as hate, violence and adultery. Let us guard ourselves against such temptations so not to give any foothold for the devil nor excuse for men to condemn us.
Philippians 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
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