FAITH AND
TRUST
Two words often used in the same context, but
with very different meanings. It is one thing
to have faith to get married, for example. The
difficult part is to maintain the same faith to
remain married. This is where trust comes in.
Trust is the continuity of faith. The greater the
cultivation of faith, the greater the trust.
I have been young, and now am old; yet I
have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his
descendants begging for bread. Psalm 37.25
King David had plenty of experience, both with
faith and with trusting in God. As a young man,
he gathered wonderful experiences through
acts of faith. For this reason, he learned how to
trust the Author of his faith. Despite the gravity
of his mistakes, he kept his trust intact. The
care he had for his faith kept him humble to
acknowledge his sin and be forgiven. This was
enough to keep his name written in the Book of
Life.
Faith depends on trust to keep what is
conquered with it. Many achievements of faith
are lost because of the loss of faith. Of course!
Those who succeed by faith, and then lose the
faith, will also lose the success achieved.
Many illnesses, healed through faith, have
returned because of an absent or unhealthy
faith. This happens because people are unaware
of the fact that you conquer by faith, but you
lose what was conquered by doubts. Those who
are foolish relax in the faith that led them to the
conquest. When this happens, doubt advances
and neutralizes the power of faith, leading to
failure.
Just as faith is power, doubt is also power. As
long as the power of faith is active, the power of
doubt loses its strength. But when the power of
faith becomes relaxed, the power of doubt will
obviously prevail.
Faith increases spiritual immunity, but when
this immunity becomes low because of the
absence of faith, the power of doubt prevails
and spiritual immunity sinks with the conquests
of faith.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God to salvation for everyone
who believes… For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is
written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans
1.16-17
This is why we must take care and maintain
our faith. Through it, a person becomes worthy
(righteous) before God. This is a crucial fact that
cannot be ignored. Faith must be cared for and
maintained so that its achievements last.
It is not difficult to conquer; the difficult part is
keeping what is conquered. This is only possible
through the power of trust.
Bishop Edir Macedo
http://blogs.universal.org/bispomacedo/en/
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