[Faith] is the solid, massive, secure experience of God, who keeps all evil from getting inside us, who guards our life, who guards us when we leave and when we return, who guards us now, who guards us always.

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, p. 46

    For some
    it is all darkness; for me, too,
    it is dark. But there are hands
    there I can take, voices to hear
    solider than the echoes
    without. And sometimes a strange light
    shines, purer than the moon,
    casting no shadow, that is
    the halo upon the bones
    of the pioneers who died for truth.

From R. S. Thomas, "Groping"

C. Michael Patton discusses whether Roman Catholics are regenerated.

Isaiah 26:3-9 (NEB):

Thou dost keep in peace men of constant mind,
in peace because they trust in thee.
Trust in the Lord for ever;
for the Lord himself is an everlasting rock.
He has brought low all who dwell high in a towering city;
he levels it to the ground and lays it in the dust,
that the oppressed and the poor may tread it underfoot.
The path of the righteous is level,
and thou markest out the right way for the upright.
We too look to the path prescribed in thy laws, O Lord;
thy name and thy memory are our heart's desire.
With all my heart I long for thee in the night,
I seek thee eagerly when dawn breaks;
for, when they laws prevail in the land,
the inhabitants of the world learn justice.

I heard a message on this passage (2 Kings 6:1-7, ESV) yesterday.

"Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us. Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.” Then one of them said, “Be pleased to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I will go.” So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.” Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. And he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it."

The preacher pointed out that the God of this passage is the same today, and He still honors simple faith. The preacher gave story after story of times when he has prayed, in simple faith, "O Thou God who made the axe head swim, please ____," and had seen God answer his prayers in amazing ways (specifically, of his tour in Vietnam, and once when he lost his keys in the ocean on vacation in Hawaii).

Your faith in Jesus is not the measure, but the token of your inheritance in Him.

Spurgeon, Morning and Evening, Oct. 19