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.

HE HEALS HEARTBREAK

Heartbreak is awful. It was never part of God’s plan. As I explained, death and all other evil entered because of man’s choice to know good and evil. When man chose to know good and evil, the door to the Evil One opened at humankind’s behest. So in that sense, all heartbreak (a form of evil) comes from the Evil One. It is part of his evilness and his kingdoms.

That said, not all heartbreak comes directly from the devil’s hand. The death of a loved one, the loss of relationship with someone you love, sickness, etc, are often the immediate cause of heartbreak without the devil acting in a specific way in the particular event. But in many cases he has, and is, acting, and your heartbreak is simply the fruition of his hidden, long-term plan for your life. Regardless of cause, heartbreak is real. The world is full of broken hearts and heartbreak. Heaven and our future in God will be utterly free from it.

God was and is aware of heartbreak: His own for the loss of creation and His loss of so many people to their own way. He is also aware of our heartbreak. He feels it. Jesus came to open the door of relationship with God the Father so He could heal the brokenhearted (Is. 61:1).

Heartbreak is so devastating that people can, and very often do, die of it, rapidly or slowly, sometimes through alcohol or overeating. During times of heartbreak, God can and does help us. He lives in our hearts and His Presence can and does heal them. In the heartbreak process (which I know all too well through the death of certain life dreams, the loss of a marriage, and the death of my wife in an automobile accident), it is often only (or mostly) God who pulls us through. Initially, He may act by placing us into a different, best possible available situation to keep us alive; He may give us work or daily activities to do to be sure we put one foot in front of the other until we realize we’ll survive and learn to thrive again; and/or He’ll take whatever other steps are necessary to deal with us as individuals.

The key thing to know is that in our helplessness, He will provide a way forward so that as time passes He can heal us. Even in heartbreak, however, God expects us to do what we can, as much or as little as that may be. Action is what God expects/ requires of us. Applying the principles you find here will expedite your recovery if your heart is broken. One day a new view of life will be visible, a new plan will seem possible, then a new course, until one day a bit of happiness and joy will return to you.

In the fullness, He will give you the promised abundant life.

– from Defeat Your Saboteurs

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LOVE & BE LOVED

Love is the most important covering. A truly loved person feels secure, (barring other problems, generational spirits, etc.) and will be covered in many ways. Such a person is protected and in a position to make wise and safe decisions and to reject much temptation. 

Loved people know their worth to others and to themselves. This is why one of the key things devils do is to try to keep humans from understanding the immense love of God, and it is why God’s command to us is to love. The love of God and of other people prevents damage and also helps repair the damage caused by any prior lack of covering.

Love also gives us the desire and courage to go on.