Thoughts on Faith

I have a reached another milestone in my life.

Tuesday I wrote on the last page of my prayer journal. This is the first time I've committed to keeping one and actually done so. My shelf has numerous prayer journals that were never completed thanks to my inability to remain consistent in writing in them throughout the years. And apparently I'm a bit of a perfectionist because I was totally opposed to opening my first journal and picking up where I left off, seeing as my handwriting or maturity level would be more advanced.
But this time I did it. My pen has been consistently scripting prayers, ideas, thoughts, etc... since December of 2008 and the last page of journal filled and it has been such a neat process going back through the journal and seeing how God has worked and is moving in my life.

An interesting, reoccurring theme throughout this journal has been the idea of faith. Numerous times I asked that God would allow me to be more faithful, that He would teach me to have eyes of faith, and that He would allow me to trust in His faithfulness.

The following are some thoughts on faith I wrote in my journal:

• Faith is rooted in God's Word
• Faith obeys, influences, and perseveres
• Faith is NOT based on our feelings
• God doesn't demand that we have blind faith but abandoned faith
• Faith hopes in who God is and in His eternal promise

The following are Bible verses on faith I penned as well:

"Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord..."
Isaiah 50:10

"We live by faith, not by sight... we make it our goal to please the Lord."
2 Corinthians 5: 7, 9

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Hebrews 11:1

But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

James 2:19-26

Hebrews chapter 11 is filled with people who were commended for what they did by faith. By faith, Noah built the ark. By faith Abraham obeyed and went. By faith he became a father and sacrificed his son to God. By faith, Moses and his people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. By faith, Rahab protected the spies and was not killed. They lived by faith. It wasn't an idea, but an action. What a simple, yet vital thought in our Christian walk. So as I start afresh in my new journal with its crisp, clean pages, I hope to succesfully fill in this blank:

By faith, Jessie ______________.