I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God.

—Romans 15:14-19a (TNIV)

Here we see Paul talking about how faith has manifested itself in his life. He has dared to remind the church at Rome what is their heritage and promise. He glories in being an apostle (apostle means “sent”) to the Gentiles so that God’s plan of reconciling the world to himself might be further accomplished (notice here how God uses human agency to help him accomplish his good will and purposes). Paul glories in Jesus Christ because Paul knows he owes his life to Jesus—literally. His faith in the saving efficacy of the cross is the one and only reason he labors so diligently for the sake of the Gospel.

This also explains why Paul was so willing and eager to suffer for the sake of Christ. First, when he suffered for Christ’s sake, he was imitating his Master. Second, when Paul suffered for the Gospel’s sake, he knew he was doing what Christ had called him to do and that brought great joy to Paul.

All of this, of course, is predicated on Paul’s faith. He could prove none of it but he knew it to be true nevertheless. This gave Paul joy, purpose, and meaning to his life, even in the face of the most daunting circumstances. The same joy, purpose, and meaning that was available to Paul is available to you too, and you don’t have to be an apostle to claim it. You simply have to live your life as an expression of your faith in the saving work of Christ and rely on his Presence in you to help you do just that.

Faith gives life to the soul; and they be as much dead to God who lack faith, as they be to the world whose bodies lack souls. Without faith all that we do is but dead before God, although the work seems ever so gay and glorious before man. Even as a picture graven or painted is but a dead representation of the thing itself, and is without life or any manner of moving; so  be the works of all unfaithful persons before God.

—Homily of Good Works

For it is not true, as some say, that sacraments confer grace by themselves, without a good movement of heart on the part of the user; for when persons in their reason use the sacraments, the user’s faith must be present also, to believe the promises, and receive the things promised, which are conveyed through the sacraments.

—Thomas Cranmer, Architect of the Book of Common Prayer, Of the Use of the Sacraments

This is why we do not give unbaptized people bread and wine and why open communion in this context is such lousy theology. This is also another example of faith manifesting itself in works. It makes absolutely no sense to come to Christ’s table to feed on his body and blood if you do not believe he is in the elements of bread and wine.

To be an enemy of the cross is to set ourselves against its purposes. Self-righteousness (instead of looking to the cross for justification), self-indulgence (instead of taking up the cross to follow Christ), self-advertisement (instead of preaching Christ crucified) and self-glorification (instead of glorying in the cross) – these are the distortions which make us ‘enemies’ of Christ’s cross.

—Dr. John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ 351.

God withholds an answer to our prayers not only when they are unworthy but when he finds in us such greatness, such depth—depth and power of faith—that he can rely upon us to remain faithful even in the face of his silence. I remember a young woman with an incurable disease and after years of the awareness of God’s presence, she suddenly sensed God’s absence—some sort of real absence—and she wrote to me saying, “Pray to God, please, that I should never yield to the temptation of building up an illusion of his presence, rather than accept his absence.” Her faith was great. She was able to stand this temptation and God gave her this experience of his silent absence.

Remember these examples, think them over because one day you will surely have to face the same situation. I cannot give you any exercise, but I only want you to remember that we should always keep our faith intact, both in the love of God and in our honest, truthful faith, and when this temptation comes upon us, let us say this prayer, which is made of two sentences pronounced by Jesus Christ himself: “Into Thy hands I commend my spirit. Thy will, not mine, be done.”

—Anthony Bloom, Living Prayer

Perhaps the greatest demonstration of faith is perseverance in prayer when God seems conspicuously absent or when he does not answer our prayers as we hope or desire. Here Bloom reminds us that this is an indication that we are maturing in our faith. To continue to pray in the face of God’s silence is surely faith put into action.