The gospels recount how Jesus continually saved and healed people in response to their faith, either their own faith or that of others. He would afterwards commend their faith with words such as, “Your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22, Mark 10:52) or “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace” (Luke 7:50). Faith is a precious gift from God for which we can pray, a gift to be kept diligently and exercised daily.
God will win the victory in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones in answer to our faithful prayers. He will cause faith to arise in them and will break down strongholds of unbelief, setting them free to live and walk in His light. He is also working to bring about reformation in our government and society, to establish truth and righteousness there, as we pray and exercise biblical citizenship for that purpose.
David describes his own saving faith in Psalm 27, urging God’s people to stay strong in the Lord:
Psalm 27 (NKJV)
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
1 John 5 teaches that faith is “the victory that has overcome the world”.
1 John 5 (NKJV)
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God connects us with the One who gives eternal life:
1 John 5 (NKJV)
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Paul exemplifies a living, triumphant faith in Christ in Romans 5.
Romans 5 (NKJV)
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Faith, hope and love work together in a believer’s life to glorify God.
The relationship between hope and faith is described in Hebrews 11:1,
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When God gives you faith that the things you’re hoping and praying for will come to pass, that in itself is evidence that your hope will be fulfilled.
Hebrews 12, describes the “race of faith”, in which Jesus is both the author and the finisher of our faith:
Hebrews 12 (NKJV)
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
The song “Faith is the victory”, written by John H. Yates in 1891, beautifully portrays this triumphant faith in Christ:
Faith is the victory!
Faith is the victory!
Oh, glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.
To him that overcomes the foe,
White raiment shall be giv’n;
Before the angels he shall know
His name confessed in heav’n.
Then onward from the hills of light,
Our hearts with love aflame,
We’ll vanquish all the hosts of night,
In Jesus’ conqu’ring name.
Darlene Deibler Rose, who with her husband was a missionary to Borneo when World War II began, exemplifies a living, triumphant faith in her book, “Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II” (Paperback – November 25, 2003). She relates how she steadfastly demonstrated a testimony of faith to Mr. Yamaji, the stern unkind commander of the women’s Prisoner of War camp. When he later informed her of her husband’s death, she was able to tell him through her tears that she was not “as others who have no hope” (1 Thes. 4:13), and that she would one day join her husband, alive in God’s presence, because Jesus has overcome death. He abruptly turned and escaped into an adjoining room, where she could hear him weeping. This mean commander later repented of his cruelty and became a strong believer, giving glory to Christ in his testimony over Japanese radio.
We have the victory as we live by our faith in Christ that God has given us, as Paul describes in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Paul explains the relationship between faith and works in Ephesians 2:`
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
We will see wonderful victories as we faithfully pray for and participate in God’s work of bringing salvation, righteousness and peace to our families, communities and nations.
David Krause, dhkrause2@gmail.com, https://compellinglove.net/
Compelling Love 
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