Faith as a Principle of Motivation and of Creation

Faith is often spoken up as a religious principle, and this almost exclusively. The meaning of the word faith however, takes it much further than merely religious in nature, and I will venture to say that there is no area of life that is not affected by faith as a motivating principle of action and of creation in our lives.

Jesus in the New Testament often reminded people that it was not by his own power, or that alone that they were healed, but by their faith were they healed, as in the following from Luke:

Luke 8: 43-48
43 And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any,
44 Came behind him, and touched the border of his garment: and immediately her issue of blood stanched.
45 And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude throng thee and press thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
47 And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.
48 And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.

Often he said things that were hard to understand regarding faith, such as later in Luke when the Apostles asked for their faith to be increased:

Luke 17: 5-6
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this Sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

As misunderstood as faith is, it becomes central to our understanding of creation as we endeavor to make pronounced changes in our lives, or to live the Law of Attraction. When people try to apply any principle of change half-heartedly, they are in essence demonstrating their lack of faith in the process. In "The Secret" Rhonda Byrne explained at some point it is necessary for us to clear things out to make way to receive that which is on its way.

When we ask for something, we need only ask once, and then we must begin the process of receiving, which is a process imbued with faith, if it is to produce the desired result. There is no room in the process for doubt, or it gets hung up at that point, and the test becomes a miserable failure, thereby cementing in the doubt of the unbeliever, and proving their point that nothing was going to happen.

Too many times I have witnessed exactly such lack of faith applied to a test of the Law to see if it would work, and each time, the Lord's quote comes back, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."

To whomever among us that believes, all things are possible, and I have seen that if we have Faith, nothing wavering, we can see miracles. The "nothing wavering" part is what separates so many of us from the few who will see the miracle. It is possible, and we have only to seriously put his word to the test.

Walking on Water

There are many people who scoff outright at the implications of The Law of Attraction as stated in The Secret or The Science of Getting Rich. To them I say, you get what you believe you deserve, no matter what.

Most who scoff at the Law of Attraction start off with disbelief in anything that does not require them to suffer for the prize they get. To them there is no real joy in life, except for the fleeting moments after we win a prize, but then someone tries to snatch it and the struggle begins anew.

Why is it not believable that if we change the way we think, not just short-term but long-term, that it will not only change the things we see, but will change the things that come our way? Perhaps the way Rhonda portrays it in the book and the movie make it seem a little fanciful for the average pragmatist, but in my opinion, it doesn't take much to see through to the meat of it.

The Secret, and The Science of Getting Rich are books about long-term committed change in our thought patterns, not about short bursts of positive thoughts in a sea of crappy attitude. It is impossible to see the truth about the Law of Attraction without putting it to a real test. By "real test" I merely mean that we have to do more than follow the daily routine of chanting certain positive phrases, or paste a few pictures on our mirror or on a cardboard poster.

It took me a few weeks of catching myself about to engage in the same old negative self-talk that has kept me behind, and start to replace it with a positive image of having accomplished the thing I once thought was impossible. I have begun to see this everywhere I look. A recent example in the scriptures in Matthew 14:22-33 when Peter asked the Lord to bid him come walk on the water with him, he did, and for a few moments, Peter had the faith it took to walk on water. There is no indication in the scriptures that Jesus sustained him on the water while he walked successfully, but there is plenty in other verses that indicate that it was usually the faith of the individual that caused the miracle, not merely an act of Jesus, but the faith of the person being healed, or in this case, walking on water. It was only when Peter looked around and lost the vision in his own mind that he could do it, and replaced it instead with fear again of the waves, that he began to sink and had to be lifted up, after which the Lord again remarked about the lack of faith being the thing that held so many back.

Faith is no simple matter and can only be obtained in a moment, if the proper path is followed and the proper image realized.

Is there a Moral Absolute? I Believe Yes

Though I sometimes talk about events being neutral, that we are the ones that decide if an event is good or bad, relative to all other things in our world, I am not of the belief that there are no moral absolutes.

 

What I mean I feel is illustrated well by my son who recently came in for the night without locking his passenger door, only to awake and find his car had been an easy target for thieves in the night.  Not only did they take his stereo, and his iPod, they took his Marine Dress Blue coat.  I must say when I heard the news, I was shocked and alarmed because that is the first time in years that a crime has been committed on my property.

 

Then I asked him how he felt, and was surprised to hear that he was frustrated sure, but that it was all good and that he is not upset, though he will be more aware of the locking of the door.  His calmness caused me again to reflect on my deeply held belief that while there is an overall battle going on in the world between right and wrong, and we are all witnesses everyday to acts of kindness and of evil, ultimately, we are still the judges of how each event will affect us and our continued progress.

 

I am reminded about the Amish community that reached out and embraced the family of the milkman who killed himself only after taking the lives of 5 young girls in their community.  They did this to end the suffering that had lain dormant apparently long before the horrible act was committed.  They did not have to convene and decide to be kind, or to embrace the man's family.  They did not pause to think about it at all, but had lived lives of gratitude and compassion to that point that led them to naturally forgive and embrace the family of the milkman and to mourn the loss of that man, as well as the young girls.

 

As one speaker put it, the event "caused great anguish among the Amish but no anger. There was hurt but no hate. Their forgiveness was immediate."  This can only come as we train ourselves to respond to all things with a feeling of gratitude, to acknowledge God's hand in all things and to know that all things can be for a greater good, though the immediate picture might cause pain.

 

If there is no moral absolute, then a moral compass will lead us nowhere, and I am daily training mine to lead me home.

There is a Space ...

Of the many quotes I have heard recently, none has moved me more in my thinking, and in my daily preparations than has this quote, from Steven Covey's "The 8th Habit" as he quoted Victor Frankl.

 

"Between stimulus and response, there is a space -

In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response -

In those choices lie our growth and our happiness."

 

I believe we are all here for a purpose, and I believe that, to the extent we permit ourselves to remain slaves of habit and pettiness, we deny ourselves the greater good that we, with God's help can accomplish, and can bring to ourselves.  God did not put us here to be his pawns, or his mindless slaves.  We are his children, and as children, have the potential to become as our Father.

 

To this end, I am dedicating this site to the preparation of my book, The Law of Attraction as revealed in Scripture.

 

Comments will always be welcome, and to the extent that they contribute to the discussion, will be appreciated and responded to.

 

Thus, with this first post, I launch my attempt to bring a clearer understanding to those who are searching, of the Science of Getting Rich, as revealed in the scriptures.

James Williams
infohwyman.com