Belief is a Requirement of Faith

I know, this sounds so obvious right? But I wonder if we believe as much as we think we do. To believe is defined as having confidence in the truth, existence or reliability of something.

If my brother called me and told me he was flying into Ft. Lauderdale airport tomorrow @ 5pm and needed me to pick him up, I would be there because I believe he is coming. If I believe there is going to be a downpour of rain tonight and I know I have a long walk from my car to my front door, I will remember to keep an umbrella in the car especially for tonight. The fact of the matter is simple; when we believe we act accordingly. If we do not act according to what we believe, we really don’t believe as much as we think we do; instead we merely accept it as possible but without any real conviction.

This is a big pitfall in our faith because possibility without conviction causes us to be passive, while belief because of conviction pushes us to be active. We already know that the Bible says in James 2:17 that faith without works is dead, but not just any kind of ‘works’ will do; it must be works corresponding to what you believe. If you think about it, it would benefit nothing if I decided to pick my brother up from Miami Airport even though he told me he was flying into Ft. Lauderdale. My belief could be misguided if I wasn’t listening properly.

This is why spiritual discernment is so important to living a victorious life of faith. The greatest example for understanding spiritual discernment is Jesus Christ Himself. He made one simple statement over and over. “I only do what I see My Father do.” So before Jesus could “do” anything, He had to see and believe that it was from His father first. Jesus had the mind of God, therefore God’s thoughts could flow through Jesus even while He was on earth in the flesh. This is why we pray Philippians 2:5 which says, “let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”

As I close, I just want to say that having the mind of Christ strengthens our faith because we now have an assurance that the thoughts we are believing are actually the thoughts of Jesus Himself. In addition to this, I again encourage us to move past accepting what is possible, to believing it with conviction and acting accordingly. It is then that we will be able to say, “I only do what I see my Father do.”

Faith v.s. Sight

From personal observation, I have noticed that our generation has problems with ‘living by faith’ because we ‘live by sight’.

Let me explain this: This is the grandest era of the TV Generation. Everywhere we go, stores are marketing the newest wide screen plasma and high definition televisions that we just HAVE to HAVE… Now, let’s put this in proper perspective, I don’t see anything wrong with having a nice television, but just like anything else, the abnormal use (abuse) of anything does more harm than good. So if I’m not against TV, then why bring it up right? Well, simply because we have literally become glued or addicted to the screen. And, if this is where we spend the majority of our free time, (translation: anytime we aren’t working) we are using our visual capacity as the “guiding light” that, whether we know it our not, dictates to us our way of life. As a result of this, we are using less of our cognitive brain. (the capacity for thinking, reasoning, remembering, imagining, or learning).

Now I didn’t say we aren’t using our cognitive brain at all, I said we are using less of it. How? Well, because if you see a photograph on TV with your physical eyes, you really don’t need to exercise imagination to figure out what that photograph looks like; you already saw it. Reading a book however, pushes the boundaries of your imagination because all you see are words, and it is up to your cognitive brain to transform those words into a photograph in your mind; thusly exercising your ability to think, remember and imagine.

Obviously I am not ‘downing’ the use of movies etc. as a means for entertaining or learning or the like, but this should be viewed in moderation so as to push us to think and imagine on our own. The troublesome aspect of TV that I am referring to is when we make it the ‘greatest’ means of entertainment, relaxation and enjoyment, above all else. The real issue is not with the TV itself, the issue is that everyday, we are reaffirming that we are living by what we see. How can I make such a statement? Unplug any television set that you watch TV on for a week, and everyday for that week, or how ever long you can last, record a journal of how you felt, whether cut off from the world etc, what you did in place of watching TV and then whether or not you feel television plays a large role in your life.

Trust me, I could have written a book on ‘justifying’ my need for TV; but it only caused this reality to hit me that much harder.

Simply put, we have become a generation that makes its life revolve around our visual senses.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen (unseen in the natural realm, but seen in the spiritual realm) Hebrews 11:1

Faith, on the other hand works a little different, a lot different actually. Faith works without using our natural visual capacity. Faith is an assurance that we have (in the spiritual realm) what we do not yet see manifested in the natural realm. That is why apart of our faith requires us to ‘hope’ or the Greek translates to mean ‘expectantly wait for’. We don’t ‘expectantly wait’ for anything we don’t believe will come; simply because we expect it to come. (Rocket scientists may have a hard time catching that last statement.)

Living by faith isn’t a new concept; we just need to understand the requirements that facilitate this lifestyle. Here is an example to better help you understand this:

Back in the old days, (someone reading this may have been alive in the time of this example so I hope I don’t offend you by calling it the ‘old days’. You have to excuse me, at my age, anything before Nintendo is pretty much ancient.), so back in the old days, when a woman got pregnant, she expectantly waited for the birth of her child. All this sonogram technology didn’t exist back then, that is why I think we can learn so much about ‘real life’ concepts just from talking to older members of our family about the past. In any event, all the ‘expecting mother’ knew was that something was growing inside her. Early on, there is no physical evidence that a baby is growing inside of her womb. She had never seen the child before, yet based on her actions (sex) and the signs/feelings that followed, she gained an assurance or a certainty that she was going to have a baby.

So here’s the thing: This same concept of childbirth applies to each of our lives, not just women. Based on our actions, we position ourselves or create atmospheres in the womb that fertilize the seeds sown into our lives, that will, according to the accompanying signs/feelings that many of us ignore, birth something that resembles the seed, but is also affected by the condition/atmosphere of the womb. The thing is, because we ignore the signs/feelings that accompany our actions, we create lives that we may not have intended to, or are unaware of.

Our time spent in front of the TV for prolonged periods of time, because it has become like second nature, creates the atmosphere in the womb of our minds that subconsciously says, “ Constant visual receptivity is a normal way of life; it makes me comfortable; what I see, it what I get; the more of this I get, the better I feel.” So, when this kind of atmosphere is in the womb, it fertilizes the seeds sown in our minds (the actual TV programming) but our habits and speech are those signs that usually go unnoticed that would make us aware that we are in the process of creating a life that resembles or is influenced by the seed sown, and characterized by the conditioning of our minds.

The significance of all this goes back to the problem at the opening of this communication:

“…our generation has problems with ‘living by faith’ because we ‘live by sight’”.

We are living or creating lives that are not conductive to living by faith; if we have allowed ourselves to live in front of the TV, our subconscious is telling us that ‘seeing is believing’. Therefore when we ”sporadically choose” to try and use faith to bring about an end, we have constant miscarriages or defective births because the atmosphere or condition in the womb is simply incapable of producing or birthing what we were hoping for, or like the Greek translates, ‘expectantly waiting for’. Many times it is not the issue of our faith itself, but instead the condition of the womb.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Romans 1:17.

Is your womb conditioned to live by faith, or by sight?