FAITH 101

Wouldn't it be nice to be one of those people who has 'faith to move a mountain'? How about moving just one irritating classmate, one upset stomach or moving a decimal just one place in my checkbook. How do you apply that verse about moving mountains, or were we even meant to? Maybe it was just a saying for a few of Jesus' friends. Why is so much of the Bible devoted to talking about having faith and yet so few of the people who read it today move their own attitudes, let alone anyone else's or any thing else?

I am going to put some basic "Faith for Dummies" statements out there, along with some verses to study on your own. I pray that as you read, study and discern your way through this topic, that you stretch your boundaries and try to apply these things as a test. The Word will speak to you in truth. My words are only here to save you time in cutting right to the topic.

It is also possible that you may have some opinions formed already based on what you have seen and heard in your environment. I want to warn you that it is a dangerous and deadly adventure to paint a picture of God based on hearsay or circumstance. If we all did that (and I believe most people do), we would have a pretty wide variety of scary God's looming over us. Instead, I plead with you to gather a view of him based on who He says He is. If you form your understanding of Him in this way, He will surely be consistently accurately and overwhelmingly good.

WHAT IS FAITH?

Faith is simply acting based on knowledge.

We can have faith in the physical world and we can have faith that activates God's Spirit to overcome the physical world.

You should know that everything in the physical world, existed first in the spiritual 'world' or realm first (verses "gen God spoke, and called out that which ...)

We spend the majority of our life exercising faith on basic physical scenarios:

• sitting on a chair knowing it will hold us

• showing up to work or school knowing we have a place there

• typing a popular web address and expecting to see it appear online

The more times we participate or witness these things come to pass, the more data or proof we have to affirm that it is indeed knowledge and that we can count on these things to hold true every time. For example, I have faith that my couch will hold me when I sit on it all of the time. I have faith that I can order food on my phone most of the time but not all of the time. Faith in these things in my physical world is based on knowledge. This knowledge is based on information, data, facts... or truth.

However, when you understand the power that is available to you, and the authority that has been gifted to you, then you quickly realized the responsibility you have to apply faith beyond merely receiving the benefits from it!

FAITH VS. WISHING

Depending on your personality you may spend more or less time dreaming and wishing for physical things or scenarios

• social scenarios

• future events

• new purchases

• new job, car or home

I want to draw a line here between faith and wishful thinking. They are different ways of thinking. Faith is applying action to knowledge. Wishful thinking, dreaming, and using your imagination is a small but critical piece to faith. It is the "what if?" or "maybe?" part of thinking that is on it's way to knowledge. It may or may not involve action but it certainly isn't action based on knowledge-that is faith!

So let's draw some lines. It takes imagination to get us thinking... and information to get us to knowledge,,, and knowledge is what propels us to act...

Let's talk about more important things than sitting in chairs. Things we really need faith for and what we can have faith for vs what we can only wish for. Can we even know what to have faith for? Maybe you're saying to yourself the same things I did before I really knew God's Word. "I thought I had faith on some really good things in the past but it didn't turn out like I wanted."

First of all, I want to reassure you (begin laying a foundation of knowledge) that God loved us first (verse), and he spoke to us first(verses), and he desires for us to know Him and His will(verses).

Second, I want to stress(add another layer of knowledge) that if you have really important, 'only God can do it' kind of needs, you can most assuredly have faith that he cares for you and your needs. He cares for you more than you care for yourself. And, He is willing to meet your needs regardless as to whether or not you belong to Him, or love Him, or know how to trust Him yet. He loves you and wants to provide for you regardless of why you have the need. I can attest to that myself!

Finally, the secret to knowing what to have faith for is knowing what He wills toward you (verses). Once you KNOW He loves you and what he wills toward you and what He has even promised you, you can ask Him for any of His goodness and He will not refuse it(verse with hold no good thing). Please do not confuse this with a fountain of youth or a jeannie in a bottle. What I am saying is that knowing what He wills is the knowledge you must seek. Applying meditation and worship to this knowledge is enough action to bring things that surely exist already in the spiritual realm, into your physical realm.

Knowing God is a process but a joyful rewarding one. Worshiping or thanking Him and keeping your mind on His good will rather than your need has it's own learning curve but it is a skill imperative you master! Our culture has trained us to be self-centered beings but let me encourage you to see the end goal: God's goodness is so much bigger than your problem if only you take a moment to look. Your eyes are like magnifying glasses: what ever they look at gets bigger and bigger until your eyes can see little else in view. What would you like to see and what would you prefer disappear?

You must know His mind and what He wills. This is the knowledge that is vital to act upon. If you merely want something and act like you're going to get it because you want it, your guess is as good as that-a guess!

It must be noted that he did set in motion natural laws. Faith can supernaturally can bypass nature but only under certain conditions. First, you must have knowledge of God's will if we are in alignment with His heart but remember that our will is truly that and if we are not purely operating in His character, our own will may very well just re-submit to the destruction of this world that caused your need in the first place.

You must know his character too because you'll have to interpet His character in your everyday life. He isn't going to tell you what your facebook page should look like or the topics you should be discussing with your co-workers but He does say what you should be always thinking upon and that out of the soul, the mouth speaks. He does set the example by how He treats you and I and those who stand against him. (though I caution you to examine the fact that we all stood against him and that is why Jesus came...this should not be confused with how he will treat His enemies when the end of time comes) He gives approving and unapproving example after example of how people in the Bible treated others. We should desire treat all others: family, friends, bosses, and even enemies in a way that resembles our Creator if we believe we are rightly His Heirs.

Supernatural Spiritual

So let's draw some more lines. It takes imagination to get us thinking... and information to get us to knowledge,,, and knowledge is what propels us to act...smarter people have more faith...? But The word says children have greater faith. Hmmm.

Jesus's teaching that children have greater faith is a

God's word tells us plenty about what our minds should be thinking about!

More often times then not, I hear people relating faith in their life to situations they recognized are out of their control, and they begin begging God to give them what they wish for and they mix in some, "I've gotta have faith" or "You've gotta have faith" with all the wishing.How often do you spend time researching and meditating on what you have found God has promised you?

that you have proof of.

If you don't believe there is absolute truth I'm afraid you are out of luck here. You see without truth, there is no knowledge and therefore no faith. You have no reference point. May try for a minute to consider God's word is truth and try it out as a reference point. Where does that leave you? Hows that work out?