Humility is one link in the chain of elements that support living by faith. Pride enters us almost from birth through contact with Satan and this world, whereas humility is a created trait that must be "put on" through God's Spirit and deliberate, loving choices to submit to Him. James 4:6-10 commands humbling ourselves precisely because it does not come naturally, and God gives grace to the humble. Biblical humility is not weakness or servility but the deliberate control of power for good, as Christ showed in being "gentle and lowly in heart." It grows from honest self-evaluation, the "poor in spirit" of Matthew 5:3, in which a person sees that he is a creature wholly dependent on God for every breath and for everything spiritually good, and cannot make himself like God. Scripture's examples include the tax collector, Isaiah, and Paul. Jesus Himself modeled dependence, saying He could do nothing of Himself and that the Father does the works, and John the Baptist accepted that "He must increase, but I must decrease." Recognizing such need, desiring to glorify God, and overcoming lead a called-out one to live by faith, drawing strength from Christ, who gives grace to the humble. God looks on the humble and contrite (Isaiah 66:2) and responds with grace, forgiveness, answered prayer, and blessing. Micah 6:8 summarizes the pattern: do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.

Living by faith rests on three steps: seeing God's sovereignty in every issue of life, recognizing that pride lurks within and comes from Satan, and growing in humility, which gradually neutralizes pride. Humility begins with being "poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3), a conscious dependence on God for spiritual needs, and only those God calls can truly have it, since His Spirit enables an accurate view of ourselves in relation to Him. God is impressed not by great offerings but by a contrite spirit that trembles at His word (Isaiah 66:2) and by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with Him (Micah 6:8). Jesus modeled this dependence, saying the Son can do nothing of Himself, and John the Baptist modeled it by rejoicing that Christ must increase while he decreased. The Corinthians show the opposite: pride led them to quarrel over ministers and, in effect, to judge God's oversight of His church. Paul answers that every gift and place in the body comes from God, who distributes as He wills. Humility is not inborn but must be put on through a deliberate choice to humble oneself before God and others. Only then does a person see God and himself truly and submit obediently, which is what living by faith requires. God responds to the humble with honor, forgiveness, and nearness, and without humility there is no family relationship with Him.

Living by faith begins with understanding that everything, including faith itself, is God's unmerited gift. Grace (charis) is God's undeserved benevolence and empowering, rooted in His character as a giver and in covenant love (chesed), not in any obligation. All He owes sinners is death, so no one is entitled to anything from Him. Ephesians 2:4-10 shows that salvation by grace through faith is wholly a gift. Faith is not humanity's contribution, since no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44) and calling and election precede any works (Romans 9). Ancient Israel, saved from Egypt yet dying in the wilderness through unbelief, shows that salvation is not unconditionally guaranteed, so believers must keep accepting God's gifts and looking to His providence. Works do not earn salvation; they glorify God and, through practice, build godly character. First Corinthians 1, 2, and 4 show that understanding and spiritual gifts are received, never innate, so boasting or harshly judging others is out of place, since God distributes gifts differently, as with the parts of a body. Because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (James 4:6), humility before the unchanging Creator is the posture through which His grace empowers a new life in Christ.

Living by faith depends on trusting that God's judgments are always just, since an untrustworthy God would make faith impossible. Scripture shows God cannot lie, does not change, and acts in love, and Jesus judges exactly as the Father does. God's standard of justice is His own holy character, not human notions of fairness, so even severe judgments like those on Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah were fully deserved. Mercy is not injustice, because it never violates His righteousness and serves the purpose He is working out. Mankind is without excuse, having His Word and a conscience, and Christians bear greater responsibility because they have His Spirit. Faith means taking God at His word, including that sin brings death. Before conversion believers were dead in trespasses, and after baptism, which pictures burial and resurrection, they still sin and must acknowledge it and return under Christ's blood. Grace is constantly flowing, yet it must not be abused through carelessness. God could justly destroy us, but He restrains Himself so that we may grow and overcome to His glory. Appreciating this humbles us and motivates faithful living. Grace can be forfeited, however. Those who turn on Christ, trample His blood, and blaspheme the Spirit lose their belief, like Israel in the wilderness. Being incapable of faith, they cannot please God or enter His Kingdom.

Living by faith requires a foundation rooted in the recognition of God's supreme nature. He is supreme in power, authority, intelligence, and in the attributes of His character, such as love, wisdom, mercy, kindness, patience, and goodness. His awareness of each individual is profound, and His purpose and plan are unmatched. To live by faith, one must acknowledge this supremacy and find a proper place in relationship with Him, answering to Him for personal conduct. A critical barrier to living by faith is pride, which is inherent in human nature due to exposure to evil influences in the world. Pride, closely associated with evil, resists submission to God and must be overcome through humility. Unlike pride, humility does not come naturally; it must be deliberately developed as a character trait through God's Spirit and conscious decisions to submit to Him out of love and a desire to glorify Him. This process of cultivating humility strengthens one against pride's destructive effects on relationships and supports a life of faith. Humility is a created attribute, developed through contact with God, the presence of His Spirit, and willing cooperation. It is a clear command to humble oneself, a choice that must be exercised despite the strong influence of pride within. Humility involves recognizing one's complete dependence on God, both physically and spiritually, and deferring to His will. It is not about deeming oneself worthless, but understanding one's utter reliance on Him for every breath and spiritual need. The development of humility is essential for growth into the image of Jesus Christ. It requires honest self-evaluation against God's spiritual qualities, revealing one's poverty of spirit and desperate need for His virtues and power. This recognition of need, coupled with faith, drives one to overcome the world, as salvation and overcoming are by faith. Jesus Christ empowers this journey, offering grace to the humble and serving as the source of spiritual strength. Humility is not a sign of weakness but a deliberate control of power to achieve a greater good, as exemplified by God and Jesus Christ. Despite His immense glory, God stoops to lift up those beneath Him, and Jesus Christ, though possessing great power, took on a servant's role. This approach promotes good relationships by neutralizing pride and reflects a genuine self-evaluation of worthlessness in relation to God's truth. Circumstances such as affliction, impending doom, and honest recognition of personal flaws compared to God's perfection can promote humility. These situations push one to submit to God, seeking His intervention and transformation. The positive effects of humility include honor and blessings from God, as He hears and lifts up those who humble themselves before Him. This foundation of humility, built through contact with God and honest comparison to His character, is vital for living by faith.

After justification, the Christian must hold a determined mindset to live the rest of his life by faith, submitting to God and fulfilling his part in God's purpose. As he runs the course, God's grace supports him and supplies his needs all along the way. Living by faith is necessary because salvation is not unconditionally guaranteed. The doctrine of Once Saved, Always Saved is deceptive, for a person can fall from grace. Israel in the wilderness shows this: many never reached the Promised Land because they did not believe God, and the word they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. Scriptures such as II Corinthians 6:1, II Peter 3:17, Hebrews 6 and 10 warn that those who fall away or sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth are in grave danger. Blasphemy against the Spirit is the denial, by the witness of one's life, of having been forgiven and given the Holy Spirit, by failing to live by faith and returning to a life of sin. Yet faith is never a work that earns salvation. Faith, trust in God, is itself a fruit of the grace God freely gives, and grace precedes it. Grace is also the power that enables the believer to live the new life in Christ, so every good work is the fruit of grace and cannot earn it.

Living by faith is a profound journey of trusting in the grace freely given by God through Jesus Christ. This grace, an unmerited gift, empowers us to meet the spiritual needs and responsibilities set before us as we strive to be created in God's image. It is not earned through works, for if it were, pride could distort our relationship with Him, placing us on an equal footing with the Creator. Instead, justification by faith aligns us with God's standard, declaring us righteous through trust in Christ's sacrifice, not through our own merit. Faith, as the foundation of this justification, begins as a mental act of belief, rooted in the truth God supplies, rather than blind speculation. It does not produce works immediately but sets the stage for a transformed life during sanctification, where works follow as evidence of a changed heart. Through faith, we stand in grace, a spiritual location far different from our former state of sin and death. This standing in grace, as both Paul and Peter affirm, signifies a new position of peace with God, accessed through Christ, where we rejoice in the hope of His glory. Grace is not a static gift but a continuous flow, providing power and assistance in every circumstance. Jesus Christ Himself links this grace with empowerment, promising His disciples the Spirit to enable them to fulfill God's creative purposes. This divine assistance, coming from both Father and Son, is a personal involvement in our spiritual creation, ensuring we are equipped to overcome carnality and the world's persuasions. As we live by faith, we are called to build on this relationship with Christ, living as He lived, sinless and obedient to God's laws, not to earn salvation, but to honor the justification we have received. Thus, living by faith means recognizing our utter dependence on God's gracious provision, humbling ourselves before Him, and allowing His unearned empowerments to shape us for His Kingdom. It is a commitment to move forward, not returning to the old way of life, but embracing the new creation through the very faith of Christ that has been given to us.

Living by faith is a continuous challenge, as human nature naturally pulls us toward living by sight, which is a state of unbelief in relation to God. Unlike the ease of merely believing in a creator God, living day by day by faith is unnatural and requires God to graciously and miraculously initiate it through calling us. The new nature must be cultivated and nurtured to grow, produce fruit, and glorify God through our witness before the world. However, the Israelites in the wilderness failed to live by faith despite strong visual evidence of God's presence, such as providing manna for forty years and triggering earthquakes or sending poisonous snakes as consequences of unbelief. Their inability to submit to God as He desired shows that living by sight is insufficient. Several spiritual realities are essential for living a life by faith, including God's sovereignty as a foundation, man's pride as a hindrance, and man's humility as a counter to pride. Additionally, God's justice and grace are vital components. God's justice, characterized by fairness and impartiality, pierces through human justifications for bad attitudes and conduct, demanding careful consideration by those desiring to live by faith. This justice teaches that the wages of sin is death, that we are headed toward death at an unknown time, and that God means exactly what He says at all times. Neglect and drifting away from spiritual priorities, as seen in some congregations, lead to a degeneration of faith because faith depends on acutely hearing God's Word. Without this, unbelief grows, and the motivation to live by faith diminishes. Presumption, a sin of carelessness and neglect, often plays a significant role in drifting away from God, as individuals may not think through their conduct despite available knowledge of what is right. Even unintentional sins, resulting from carelessness or lack of attention to higher priorities, are serious and can have severe consequences. Bearing the name of God as Christians is an honor that must be carried responsibly, with dignity, to avoid negligence in this privileged responsibility. God's justice serves as a constant reminder to those living by faith that sin is disloyalty to Him, and entering into a covenant with Him means pledging our lives to serve Him in gladness and faithfulness so that He might create us in His image.

Living by faith requires submitting humbly to God despite the clever deceptions that fill the world and the twisted reasoning that arises from experiences in a Satan-devised system. The wise solution in life is always to submit humbly to God in faith rather than follow the foolish choices that may appear more attractive on the surface. Godly wisdom does not always initially appear to be the wiser or practical way yet remains wiser despite common human opinion. In paradoxical situations where the righteous seem to suffer while the disobedient prosper a person living by faith has three alternatives. One may continue faithfully enduring with much prayer and steadfast submission to God's will. The alternative of giving up in despair leads away from the relationship with God. The third choice of striving to impress God through super-righteousness arises as a misguided response to the paradox and represents a deceptive form of evil that risks self-destruction. Those who fear God escape this danger. The source of the needed wisdom is God who gives it as a gift to those who have a relationship with Him. This measure of biblical wisdom is achievable by anybody whom God calls because it centers on day-to-day living through humble faith rather than on educational achievements.

Living by faith requires deliberately shaping spiritual attributes such as knowledge of God, understanding, discernment, and the fear of God into practical skill for daily life. This process begins with recognizing that wisdom ranks foremost among qualities to pursue, as it equips the converted to endure trials patiently rather than yielding to pride, impatience, anger, or discouragement. By faith the believer perceives God as directly involved alongside him in every circumstance, concluding that trials serve as positive preparation for the Kingdom rather than obstacles to escape through hasty or carnal shortcuts. Such perception produces patient endurance that values the outcome of a matter over its beginning and refuses to long for former days as superior. Instead, the mind remains fixed on what God will accomplish in the future, following the pattern of Abraham, who lived in tents despite great wealth because his heart sought the city whose Builder is God. Living by faith therefore means submitting to the Sovereign's unchangeable work, rolling with unavoidable adversity while making the best of what can be altered, and rejecting the delusion that wealth or human effort provides lasting defense. In this way wisdom, received as a gift from the Creator, supplies reserves of strength that protect against moral and spiritual evils wealth cannot touch. Cooperating through living by faith invites God to supply what is lacking, enabling steady progress in overcoming character flaws and maintaining focus on His promises amid national and personal decline.

Living by faith means living to the Lord rather than to oneself, as Paul teaches in Romans 14:7-8: whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. This runs against the individualism of modern society, where most people's reasons for living are self-centered, and even family, philanthropy, and religion can carry selfish angles. God called His people out of the most individualistic, materialistic culture in history, yet He evidently thinks living to Him is possible. It is not easy, for it takes faith, courage, perseverance, and vision to paddle against the current of the world, and progress can be slow or even retrograde, though the effort itself builds character. Living by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20), means following Jesus' teaching wherever it leads because His redemptive work gives Him complete ownership of us. When God says to come out and be separate, we reject the world's anti-God practices whatever the result, because we trust our Savior. This involves doing all to God's glory in small matters as well as large, and giving thanks always, which keeps in mind that everything comes from God and that obedience is owed to Him. Paul's words "to live is Christ" show the goal: Christ's teachings and desires fill our lives so fully that they are our lives. Striving for this prepares us for God's Kingdom and hastens its coming.

Hopelessness is the worst feeling a person can experience, yet those in Christ never have to face it, even in fearful, lonely, or helpless circumstances. Biblical hope is not wishful optimism but a strong, confident expectation that God's promises are true, including Christ's return, the resurrection, and ruling with Him in His Kingdom. Faith and hope work together. According to Hebrews 11:1, faith is the "substance" of things hoped for, a Greek term meaning a setting under, or support. Hope is what is in the heart and mind, while faith is the evidence of that hope, shown in how one lives. Hebrews 11 illustrates this with Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, who acted on what they hoped for without yet seeing it. Biblical hope is therefore no escape from reality and does not leave a person idle; it changes how one lives, as in 1 Peter 2 and Titus 2, where good works become the evidence of faith. It also changes what one values, since the heart follows the treasure (Matthew 6:19-21), and it directs how one uses talents, time, and resources. God is the God of hope and the only source of real hope, so hope placed in anything else leads to shame and disappointment. Just as compassion moves a person toward the action of mercy, hope moves a person toward the action of faith. Salvation is thus by grace, in hope, through faith.

Living by faith, stated in Hebrews 10:38 as both a fact and a command, is the responsibility every Christian must meet to persevere through trials and receive the promised reward. It rests on fully accepting God's absolute sovereignty, not as an abstract fact but as a reality working in each believer's life. Israel's wilderness failures show what happens when faith falters, while Moses endured "as seeing Him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27) because he knew God intimately. Revelation 4:11 supplies the key: God created all things for His pleasure and purpose, including each believer, and Satan could not accept this. God is the Potter and believers the clay, and He works all things in their lives according to His will (Ephesians 1:11). He answers to no one, treats individuals differently, and may choose painful or difficult things for them, as the fates of the apostles, the calamities He brings on nations, and Jerusalem's destruction illustrate. Faith therefore means trusting His wisdom and submitting to His discipline despite the world's strong pull and one's own preferences. Merely believing that God exists, without letting that belief govern conduct, is the failure Paul condemned in Titus 1:16. Though believers may be unfaithful, God remains constant, and His love is expressed through judgment and discipline. Salvation is not assured by grace alone apart from living His way. Faith requires walking faithfully toward the Promised Land, enabled by His grace.