BELIEF & FAITH

Belief is to faith like oxygen is to water. 

Oxygen is a part of water, but very different. 

Faith is similar. It has parts which must combine to make it faith rather than mere belief – which is a component part of faith. In my experience, the Word of God only gains control of my mind (consciousness) when my experience in God, His personal word to me, and my (at least) semi-conscious awareness or understanding of something relevant in the spirit world combine to cause faith to trump the natural. Or when the foregoing causes mere belief to become powerful faith; that is, faith in the truth revealed in the Bible. 

Faith is the vehicle through which you know and receive from God after sin separated you from Him. 

Before Adam and Eve fell into sin, they walked with God. Faith wasn’t necessary: they knew God.

Faith is a spirit thing. God is a Spirit, and faith allows us to connect with Him and with the spiritual. God uses faith to open a path between the two worlds (the spiritual dimension and the physical dimension). God designed faith, and He works through faith according to the laws of faith.

Cautionary Note: Faith in the devil, any desire to know him, and false teachings all work similarly. Ungodly faith allows access to evil (through faith you can know the very real devil) and negative faith opens the door to the unwanted (for example: catastrophe). 

THE PROGRESSION OF FAITH

In the things of God, simple faith (willingness to try) is the beginning. Faith is later confirmed through experience, understanding and knowledge.

Often a need, for which there is no solution in the natural, will compel you to look into the faith area. Once motivated, faith is the first “concrete” step that opens up the things of God to you: whether it’s a first step to seek Him or advanced steps to grow in your relationship with Him, mature in your new life with Him, and receive the things He has given you as His child. Your initial step of faith in Christ may be nothing more than openness to investigate or explore the things of God through Jesus.

In my case, motivated by a selfish need, I mentally began to explore the possibility of finding a supernatural or spiritual answer. I listened to Christian radio, through which the reality and person of Jesus was preached. As a result I began to think that Jesus was worth a try. And there were other encouragements, including the conversion of my late wife Maggie a short time before, and her insistence on Jesus. At some point, though, for me this “theoretical Jesus” had to become real. 

Experience had to confirm faith.

As an intellectual, my deep faith was, and is, a process. In the beginning I combined a smattering of faith (about the size of the proverbial mustard seed) with an inquiry. I sought to know if God existed. I encountered Jesus (my spirit to Spirit) in a parking lot in Kona, Hawaii, early one morning. He said to me in a clear voice, “You are saved and I am your friend.” 

After meeting Him I sought understanding. It came through experience (relationship) with Him. Then I sought to understand the things of God and the “why” of those things (knowledge). In the process, the world and my growing understanding of the spirit dimension began to make sense: the things of God became logical. 

This progression — from God-seeking, to faith coupled with understanding — created a certainty that the things of God were real, and created a desire for them to become manifest and to get what God had for me. 

KNOWING HIM & HIS WORD

Believing that God exists and knowing Him are two very different things. Even the devil believes God exists (and trembles as a direct result). Believing in God and believing what He says are also different.

Total faith is being absolutely convinced of something in every part of your being. Faith is strongest and most effective at that level. Some things only happen when one’s faith is total. That said, there are various levels and types of faith.

The essential part of your faith is to know God. Right behind knowing God is believing what He says. The most important part of believing what He says is to believe the Bible which is His account of mankind and Himself. Through divine inspiration, God created it and uses it as a living thing. Its function is to instruct you about God, existence, the things of God, of the world, and of evil. Aside from general instruction, He brings passages alive to speak to you. He brings laser-like focus and meaning to certain parts of the Bible to confer a specific understanding about what He wants you to know or consider. 

CRAZY LOVE

The love of God is aggressive, self sacrificing, merciful, faithful, and caring beyond all measure, reason, and emotion. The love of God is like that of a parent who puts all hurt and disappointment behind him and pursues his child.

God has left no stone unturned in his pursuit of you. He sent Jesus to rescue you. And in the continuous now He never lets go. He is faithful in His efforts to continually draw you to Himself. When you run down the wrong spirit trails, He stays with you to draw you back to Him.

It is crazy love; deeper and better than all joyful or tragic love songs. It is a love from the heart and mind, supported continually by aggressively kind and loving deeds. It is the only true love that exists... and it’s yours! It’s for you. It’s the kind of crazy love every heart desires. And if that’s not enough, He’s also your friend. He unselfishly wants the best for you. He likes you, He jokes with you (you mostly don’t get it), creates weird funny stuff for you (weird “coincidences,” ironic situations, and comic events), and He encourages, empowers and makes you who you were meant to be – who you truly are.

He is always with you, continually trying to help you. When you fail (morally or otherwise) and totally give up on yourself and want to die, He still believes in you and will put you back on the path of life. He is the cheerful, faithful friend who lifts you up. He has your back at all times: crazy love, crazy friendship.

From my point of view, God is crazy to love so much. Somehow He can risk caring so much. He can handle it. I suspect that if you and I ever truly understood the love of God we wouldn’t survive: our physical hearts would fail as a result of the magnificence of His love. Why does He care so much? Why does He care at all?

God accepts us in His love. He’s our Father. In Jesus, he made us His own; He made us part of His family, whether we, or anyone else, recognize it. We bear His name. We are His. He is your parent and He wants to teach, bless, and train you. 

– from Defeat Your Saboteurs

A RULER WHO WANTS TO BEFRIEND YOU

When was the last time the ruler of your country called and asked to be your friend? Probably never, right?

Why would the ruler and creator of everything want to befriend you or me? To allow us to know Him?

I don’t have that answer, but from all I’ve read and from my own experiences, all I know is that this is exactly what He wants to do. I can’t begin to understand what God sees in me that He considers it worth the bother. What can I possibly bring to the table?

My conclusion is that His character is love, fatherhood and relationship. 

He went to the point of moving heaven and earth through His Son’s death to reconnect with you and me, because He places great value on folks like us. 

Can it possibly be that God sees us in our defeats, battles and losses and cheers for us? Not excusing our sin, but seeing the hordes of dark evil spirits working against us and impossible odds of being saved. The Bible says that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle” than to be saved.

God, in His love, helps us, the underdogs by choosing us and caring for us.