Let’s become children with good faith

Bible verse : Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

The New and Old Testaments introduce many religious figures used by God.
Those who were preciously used by God had a good faith that pleased God.
Today, we would like to take a look at what kind of faith God used people with.

First, God treasures those who love God and praise Him highly. The person who was preciously used to praise God was King David. David was a shepherd who tended sheep when he was young. David was a man of good faith who always praised God's name even in difficult circumstances.

While he was tending sheep, he enjoyed singing praises on the harp whenever he had time. David glorified God's grace bestowed upon him by composing it into a song and praising it. Praising God is an act of faith that acknowledges His greatness and exaltation. God valued David, who praised God highly, and elevated him to become king of Israel.

Even after becoming king, David did not stop praising God.
The following clearly expresses how much David enjoyed praising God.
After David became king,
he moved the Ark of God to the City of David.

David was very happy when he saw the ark of God coming in. So he put down all his pretense as a king and danced happily. Although David was an adult and a king, he never stopped praising God like a child throughout his life. The Psalms Bible contains numerous hymns in which David exalted and praised God throughout his life.

Second, God exalts, uses and helps those who believe in God and pray.
The second person I would like to introduce is Daniel. Daniel is a man of good faith who has been praying to God since he was young. Although his homeland was destroyed and he was a captive in Babylon at a young age, he cherished his encounter with God and prayed for his country.
Three times a day Daniel opened his window towards his homeland and prayed.

Daniel was a man who prayed with faith, believing that God would solve whatever problem he encountered. There was a time when King Nebuchadnezzar found fault with people for not being able to find out the dreams he had, so he ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be killed. Even then, Daniel prayed to God.
God showed Daniel a vision of the king's dream and helped Daniel interpret it, saving many people who were in danger of death.

When Daniel became a very high prime minister, people who were jealous of Daniel made a strange law that said if anyone prayed to a god other than the king, he would be thrown into the lion's den. However, Daniel did not stop praying to God. In the end, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den. But he showed how much He loves those who pray, because God sent an angel to protect Daniel by silencing the mouths of the lions.

Thirdly, God exalts and uses people who learn and master the Word of God and have true faith. The third person I would like to introduce is Timothy. When Apostle Paul went to a place called Lystra to preach, the young man he met there was Timothy.

Timothy helped Apostle Paul in missionary work to spread Jesus. Later, in a letter to Timothy, Apostle Paul wrote about what kind of faith Timothy had in the first part of 2 Timothy 1:5,
[I am reminded of your sincere faith] Paul said that Timothy was a man who had sincere faith.

Apostle Paul then tells us that Timothy's sincere faith is due to the word of God he learned as a child. Timothy's mother Lois and his grandmother Eunice diligently taught Timothy the word of God from a young age. Timothy devoted himself to learning and mastering the word of God.

The words that Timothy learned as a child helped Timothy develop a faithful faith. The words that Timothy learned as a child helped Timothy become a person of good faith throughout his life. It is precisely stated in the latter part of 2 Timothy 1:5 that Timothy's faith was inherited from the faith of his mother and grandmother.

[a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now,
I am sure, dwells in you as well.]

Timothy enjoyed learning the word of God taught by his mother and grandmother. Those words guided Timothy to inherit the faith of her mother and grandmother. Timothy became the recipient of the most precious inheritance of faith that cannot be measured in money.

God preciously used Timothy, who had faithful faith in the Word of God.
Timothy was used as a pastor who served the Church of God through the Word. Timothy became such a precious man of faith that Apostle Paul praised him so much that he called him his son.

Today we met three people of faith. What they have in common is that they have had good faith since childhood. The faith they had as children remained unchanged even as adults. So God used them preciously.
Just because you are young, your faith should not remain young. Like the people of faith we met today, you must strive to have the right form of faith from an early age. If you decide from your heart to have a good faith, the Holy Spirit will help you make it possible. I hope that all of you, like the people we met today, will become people who have good faith from a young age.