On Faith:

There is a wonderful attribute in faith: just a living thought of God, a sincere faith in Him — and He is instantly with me; earnest repentance for my sins, and He is with me; kind thought, and He is with me; a reverent feeling, and He is with me. The devil enters into me through thoughts of doubt, fear, pride, anger and other emotions. Therefore, his power over me is limited and it is totally dependent on me. Should I be attentive to myself and in my prayers to Lord Jesus Christ, then he would be completely helpless to inflict any harm upon me.

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How many benefits has my faith in God brought me so far! How many spiritual upheavals and passions of my soul has it chased away, giving me an inner peace? How many times has it corrected the erroneous inclinations of my heart? How many times has it cleansed me from my sins and saved me from spiritual death. And how close God is to us. He is our air that we breathe.

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If through negligence, we do not maintain the warmth of faith in our hearts, it may be extinguished totally; possibly Christianity with its life-giving Mysteries would cease to exist for us. The Enemy’s sole effort is to extinguish man’s faith and force him to forget Christ’s Teachings. That is why we see people that are Christians in name only, but are total pagans in their deeds.

Saint John of Kronstadt