Growing Faith

Last week I talked about eliminating distress (worry, anxiety, physical stress) from our lives by completely surrender to God’s will.  But that isn’t as easy as it sounds.  It takes a deep, abiding faith. 

What is “Faith” and how do we get it?  

There are three types of faith:

·        Faith we are born with as part of our Intuition (God’s Gift)

·        Learned faith from life’s experiences and miracles (experiments, practices, demonstrations)

·        Blind faith which comes from ignorance, is dangerous and destructive (those who followed Hitler)

Secret:  We don’t have to get faith; it’s already inside of us.  What we have to do is remove the obstacles to our faith, namely our fears, & make our faith grown and flourish.

How many here have had a deep crisis or threat and turned to God for help? 

• Were you
•  filled with skepticism or doubt or
• did you have absolute conviction that God was there for you? 
• When you called to God, was it with
• a bold, believing voice, or
• one filled with wavering, whimpering, doubt.

Crises or threats can be acute or chronic and they can involve one or more levels of our being:  biological, social, psychological, and spiritual. 

Threatening stimuli cause us to take action, fueled by our emotions.   We get an adrenaline rush.  The more intense the emotions, the greater is the power behind the action. 

Examples of each follow:

• Acute Threat - An immediate threat to that you must react to (i.e. a car accident, an assault, a burning building etc.)

• Chronic Threat –
• Long term emotional problems (depression, fear, anger, rage, shame, guilt, denial), or
• Unhealthy habits (alcoholism, drug addiction), or other illness. 

In a crisis, do you have approach or avoidance behavior?

• Do you approach the acute or chronic threat or do you run away?  
• Or do you freeze?

In your mind, visualize your response to these scenarios:

Scenario 1: 

• If a car rolled unto a child, what would you do? 

• How would you free the child? 
• Could you lift the car?
• Do you have the faith? 
• Would you stand there screaming for help?
• Or for someone to dial 911? 

• How many here saw themselves make a great leap of faith, spontaneously running in front of the rolling car to snatch the child up without giving a thought to your own safety?
• Or were we gripped with fear that causes to freeze or runaway.

Scenario 2: 

• If a building was on fire and you could hear children screaming inside, what would you do? 
• Boldly, bravely, face the fire and try to save the children or run for help? 

Story:  How many here are climbers?  When I was a child we would go camping, weeks at a time, in the High Sierras.  We would spend all day hiking to some remote place or high elevation and camp out at night, living on trout in the streams.  One time, we had spent all morning climbing along side of a waterfall that reached several thousand feet up.  The water fell from the mountain’s pinnacle which formed a cliff that hovered over the valley below.  When we reached the top, we crossed the stream, near the cliffs edge, that formed the waterfall.  My cousins, uncle, and stepfather went first.  Then it was my turn.  When my sneakers touched the wet, smooth granite, I slid, and fell off the cliff, dropping about 30 feet onto a ledge. Without hesitation, my stepfather, jumped after me.  Being larger, he almost missed the ledge, but thanks to his bravery I am here today.

Question:  Was he stupid, gripped with fear, or did he have faith and act?    

Answer:  In the very moment that my stepfather demonstrated fearless faith, all was possible for him.  I am here today.   And all was well! 

Conclusion:  Faith is bold.  Faith is fearless.  And you already have Faith.

Affirmative Prayer:

·         I am a Divine Being of Light.

·         I am one with Infinite Mind.

·         Universal Intelligence flows in, through and around me.

·         I am a channel for Divine Goodness and Love.

·         As a droplet of the Divine, I am filled with Love, Life, Peace, Power, Wisdom, Joy and Beauty.

·         With every breath I take, my faith and conviction in my Divine Source grows.

·         All doubts, fears, and limitations fade away as they are not a part of God or me.

·         I am one with all Life and my life is filled with opulent abundance and success.

·         I am open and receptive to my good and God.  I have the highest expectation of good. 

·         My life is now filled with health, abundance, and prosperity.

·         Divine Love, Courage and Power are mine. 

·         With deep gratitude, I say thank you Mother-Father God! 

·         And so it is!