My Lifetime Faith

     My faith in God is a lifetime faith. I will believe in him and put my hope in God as long as I shall live. I will have faith in God during the happy times of my life and the sad. I will keep my faith when I have plenty or even if I have less. I will keep my faith even if my prayers go unanswered. I will wait on the Lord and accept his will. I will not leave God or throw my faith away. I will believe in God and wait on his kingdom. My faith maybe weakened through my trials and troubles but it will not be gone. My love for my God and my faith in him sustains me through my bad times and his Holy Spirit guides my way. My faith in God will always be with me for it is a faith that I will have for a lifetime. 
      In the book of Job, we can see the trials that Job had to endure and yet through it all, he kept his faith. The devil took everything that Job owned away from him and he even caused a windstorm to destroy his sons and daughters. Job lost a great deal and he was hurt deeply however he stilled held on to his faith. Job 1:21-22 "And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away, blessed be the name of the LORD." In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." Job 13:15 "Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." Job said if he were to die by his suffering, he would still hold on to his hope and faith in God. However he still wanted to asked God, why was he made to suffer?
     Daniel's friends Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego was pressured by King Nebuchadnezzar to bow down to a golden image, when music was played. However when they did not bow down to the golden image, the King order for them to be thrown into a fiery furnace to be killed. The King asked them, "And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?" This is what they said to the King in Daniel 3:16-18 "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the King, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O King. But if not, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up."
     We can see when the three men were faced with their own death, they continued to hold tightly to their faith. They refused to commit the sin of idolatry. They told the King even if they were not rescued by God, they would still keep their faith in God and obey him by not worshiping the golden image. In the end an angel of God protected the three men while they were in the fiery furnace. After they were released from the fiery furnace, the King Nebuchadnezzar said bless be their God and made a decree that no one was to talk against their God and he also rewarded them with a promotion.
     Another person in the Bible who had a strong faith in God was David. Before David was made King, he was pursued by King Saul. King Saul was jealous of David's popularity and thought that one day he would replace him as King of Israel, so King Saul tried to have David killed. Many years David had to run for his life. He prayed and relied on God's help and protection. He wrote many of  the chapters of Psalms while he was on the run. Those chapters of Psalms reflected his feelings while he was in hiding.
     David was under much stress and worry. He did not know when God would deliver him from his troubles. Psalm 6:6-7 "I am weary with moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes." Psalm 13:1-2 "How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?" Even still when he was under much emotional stress, David still held tight to his faith in God. He praised the LORD in Psalm chapter 18 for his deliverance from his enemies. Psalm 18:1-3 "I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies."
     Just as Job, King David, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego held tight to their faith in God, I will also hold tight to mine. Their faith was a faith for a lifetime and so is mine. We will go through many trials and tribulations. We will have many problems and obstacles to solve but we do not have to go it alone, we have our faith in God that he will help us along the way. We have many examples of people within the Bible, who held firm to their faith and their examples can help us in solving our own troubles. I want to be able to say those words in 2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 1 John 5:4 "For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world---our faith."