FAITH

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV)*

This definition involves the unseen and ties into your core beliefs. What you base your thought choices on is what you believe will occur. You are having faith in those beliefs to take you to a certain destination.

I love the words “confidence” and “assurance” used here. Think about how often you have confidence and faith in unseen things in your everyday life. When you do something as simple as sitting down on a chair, you are placing your faith and confidence in the belief and hope that it will hold you and keep you from crashing down to the floor.

When you jump, you have faith and belief that you will return to the ground and not fly off somewhere uncontrollably, like you could with the gravitational pull on the moon.

There are so many daily activities where you place your belief in something unseen. These are the laws of the universe that were set up before time to help everything in our world function the way it does. So just because you can’t see it doesn’t make it any less real or important. So too the spiritual principles are set up to work just the same.

The problem we often have is that we have not had as much experience in the spiritual realm as we have in the physical.  We are still learning about what works and how it works. But the basic principles are written out for us to see and gain an understanding about in the Scriptures. One thing I’ve always said about the Bible is that it is the greatest psychology book ever written. It’s much more than that, but it definitely helps explain who we are and how we should think and act in order to live a joyful life filled with love and grace. This is the abundant life spoken of in John 10:10 that is there for all of us. I should think the Creator would know how we best function, and how to be positioned to receive the most joy and blessings that he delights to give us. So my advice is to do more reading of his Handbook for Living!

The main thing keeping you from living a faith-filled abundant life is Fear.

Faith is opposed by FEAR, which some have given the acronym: False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear slams on the brakes and can paralyze you, keeping you stuck and frustrated, afraid to make the one small leap that can bust through and bring the change you want. So don’t let fear replace your Faith when you know what you need to do to move forward.

Faith will appear and be solid to stand and build your life on. Not like the fog of fear, that is a thin veil you can reach through or walk through to the place you have faith is there. Step out in faith, with confidence, assurance and boldness today! Have faith that Faith will not let you down. If you know the Author of faith and trust that he is able to fulfill all the promises he makes in the Bible, then your faith will be strengthened and empower you to act.

*If you want to read about more examples of faith to strengthen your own, read the whole chapter of Hebrews 11 and on into the first part of Hebrews 12. It helps put a whole new perspective on your own troubles, past and anticipated future and how they can be used for good!