Okay. So, now, I wish to put my thoughts to the test when it comes to finding out ways to build and grow faith. This was always my prayer request and so, I make this my primary objective in my investigation. I have been studying the verses, and as I still continue to do so, I have reached a point now where I would like to objectively build a mind- map, that may somehow help me to work through the process of building faith.
Sure, the work required for faith building can be quite the struggle. But one must never overlook the things that can be learnt or extracted to help one get through the struggle with the objective of overcoming. It is this process that interests me the most.
Now, I must remind you, I really do have a somewhat ‘lazy’ mind. My mind, for the most part, works through intuition. It is for this reason, that I only lay out five, just five, yes five pathways or ideas, such that, if one places great energy or emphasis on them, I truly believe that efforts in these directions would yield the greatest rewards for that one.
But I am only a learner, a student at best. I speak from my vantage point. This is the sight that I was allowed to receive on my learning journey. And I wish to share with you what I have learnt through direction and observation.
Before I go on to highlight some insights that I have discovered, I find it quite crucial to first have a vision or a goal or some purpose before any effort can be potentially placed anywhere.
Before anything at all, one must first have a clear vision of what he wants to achieve. Now I go on to pull out my microscope here, figuratively speaking, that is. Having a vision is absolutely very important. It does not matter how near or far one sees himself attaining it, it does not matter whether one thinks he is not able to attain it. It only matters that you keep a promise or word at the forefront of the mind.
But, of course, there is no need to tell anyone of what you see. This is your inner sight. This is your insight. The picture or image that you see should be what resonates with you the most.
In all truth though, I really struggled for a great deal of time trying to figure out what my own set purpose in life is. Every step of the way, I grow into greater confusion and mistrust in my own decisions. Confusion, somehow, is still part of the process, before any clarity can be sought. The mind works through the emotions of past experiences to try to decipher what was real from all that was unreal.
I say then, ample time is necessary before one makes bolder moves to determine his vision. Over time, sight can be refined, moulded, transformed. It is still necessary, however to keep holding on to that vision.
I must say, it takes a great deal of faith to even isolate one’s vision. How does one stabilize on just one goal or objective when the world is constantly changing every five seconds. Every five seconds, some new rule is being added to the world’s rule book. Every five seconds, leadership changes. Every five seconds, there is some new program released for the world to accept. How can one possibly keep up every five seconds? IMPOSSIBLE!
For me, I have found great resolve in first finding sight in what is immovable and unshakeable. I need a place of stability before I can write down any of the hidden desires placed upon my heart. I rest on the unshakeable nature of God’s Law. This is where I rest and find much room to write down my dreams, fantasies, desires. I place my thoughts with Christ and allow Him to do the work for me to flesh out the ideas and the vision. My Father is eternal and so, it is from Him and His eternal place, where I work on defining eternal goals. I usually get pretty dizzy and nauseous when worldly roles and experiences keep moving around as if in a game of musical chairs. I pause for much silence…
Okay. So now I walk a step further. I go on to say now that the idea, once discovered must now walk on a path. The idea or inspired thought is the head point but there must be a tail that reaches to meet the head. It is this tail that forms the track or pathway that leads one to unite with and engage with the key idea.
But now I go asking… What? How do I even begin to formulate a clever path that takes me to my leading idea? This is a very common question, I suppose, that one most usually asks when setting out to achieve any objective. Now, I could just furnish myself with the most conventional answer I can possibly find. But through experience, this did me no good. I have come to realize at some point in my learning journey, that what might seem to be the most common sense way to go, is not actually an answer or open path to begin with. I usually laugh at the ironies that were placed in my life. Some things seem really obvious to the eye. But indeed, they are not. It is then I remember the word faith.
The meaning of faith holds a very special place in my list or vocabulary of words, for it is in its meaning, I find the greatest value for my own life. Nothing else would satisfy me as much as learning to live by faith. This is where my decision-making, and hence pathway begins to get a little obscured. I go on to explain. From much of my experiences, I have learnt to just go with my gut feeling. Some call it intuition. When I listen to my inner being, I receive the greatest fruit for my decisions. Logic alone places me in directions I ultimately do not wish to go.
But I argue here a little with myself. I do believe that what most cannot define as objective, that is, the inner voice, I do believe that it is God’s Spirit that makes much interaction with my thoughts. You see, I am not laying out my own pathway. It is by faith, which is the work of His Spirit that lays down the path for me. I am only to walk in it and follow Him.
Most of my biggest wins or favour came in circumstances when I least expected it. But I must also highlight that the path set is no easy road. In fact, it may seem like a very treacherous one sometimes. In fact, it may seem like a path that no one wants to actually set foot on, for all that comes with it.
But I do reconcile now, that the Father has made everyone differently and I am quite sure that never can I underestimate the difficulty in walking along another’s path. For I was never built to walk that road. Nonetheless, I find resolve by thinking that I walk the path that the Father Himself has carved out for me. Any other way is a no go, regardless of how simple it might seem to be to assume alternative pathways.
But I have come to realize why this is such the case for some persons. Following much reflection, I have come to realize that God, the Father, He calls his children through purpose into a relation with Him.
When one walks His track or life course, He enters into an engagement with the Father. It would be virtually impossible to walk this track alone. The Father already knows this. It just takes time for that one to realize how much the Father’s presence and direction are very much needed in order to successfully traverse the path.
There is yet another hidden jewel for the level of difficulty ascribed to one’s path. Sometimes, God calls His children to meet with Him in the deeper ends of life’s faith. Of course, it is by no means to break the spirit of that one, but instead, it is show that one and allow that one to experience how much the Father has actually put inside of him and the Father wishes for that one to express all that He has put into him. This may require faith that swims in the deep end of life’s biggest pool.
Let me get to the point here. For some, life may seem like the longest marathon one can ever possibly run for his lifetime. Faith is definitely needed to keep the spirit and momentum of life alive in one’s life. I speak to that one, then, of honing in to develop and grow the type of faith that leads to living life in the supernatural. For this is the end point of faith. Yet there is never truly an end to faith.
But now I ask myself, supernatural? What do I mean? Well, let me go back to faith’s initial definition.
I read from the book of Hebrews Chapter eleven:
1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household...
13 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth
I zoom into verse three explanation.
3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
By absorbing the meaning of this verse, I work out faith's meaning to mean reaching a point when there is full dependence on the Source and not just on the derivatives of that Source. That is, to say, resting on the Lord Himself for everything. I mean to say, continually being fed from an unseen place and still live. It is by faith, that one lives.
To live by faith is to live despite being hung down or weighed down by waves of resistance to God's laws or to live through the odds of adversity; the type of adversity that anticipates death. Despite the odds of life and lack of environment to grow and thrive, one is still able to find hope and joy in life.
I repeat myself. I highlight here the Olympic Games of Life that eventually propels one to meet with his eternal life. Sigh!
I have already gotten over the bickerings, infightings and machinations of all that rest in the temporary of this present world. My only pleasure now, is to reach into and meet with life’s eternal way. Quite the task!
I now go on to describe Life’s Track or Course Outline
Sure, the work required for faith building can be quite the struggle. But one must never overlook the things that can be learnt or extracted to help one get through the struggle with the objective of overcoming. It is this process that interests me the most.
Now, I must remind you, I really do have a somewhat ‘lazy’ mind. My mind, for the most part, works through intuition. It is for this reason, that I only lay out five, just five, yes five pathways or ideas, such that, if one places great energy or emphasis on them, I truly believe that efforts in these directions would yield the greatest rewards for that one.
But I am only a learner, a student at best. I speak from my vantage point. This is the sight that I was allowed to receive on my learning journey. And I wish to share with you what I have learnt through direction and observation.
Before I go on to highlight some insights that I have discovered, I find it quite crucial to first have a vision or a goal or some purpose before any effort can be potentially placed anywhere.
Before anything at all, one must first have a clear vision of what he wants to achieve. Now I go on to pull out my microscope here, figuratively speaking, that is. Having a vision is absolutely very important. It does not matter how near or far one sees himself attaining it, it does not matter whether one thinks he is not able to attain it. It only matters that you keep a promise or word at the forefront of the mind.
But, of course, there is no need to tell anyone of what you see. This is your inner sight. This is your insight. The picture or image that you see should be what resonates with you the most.
In all truth though, I really struggled for a great deal of time trying to figure out what my own set purpose in life is. Every step of the way, I grow into greater confusion and mistrust in my own decisions. Confusion, somehow, is still part of the process, before any clarity can be sought. The mind works through the emotions of past experiences to try to decipher what was real from all that was unreal.
I say then, ample time is necessary before one makes bolder moves to determine his vision. Over time, sight can be refined, moulded, transformed. It is still necessary, however to keep holding on to that vision.
I must say, it takes a great deal of faith to even isolate one’s vision. How does one stabilize on just one goal or objective when the world is constantly changing every five seconds. Every five seconds, some new rule is being added to the world’s rule book. Every five seconds, leadership changes. Every five seconds, there is some new program released for the world to accept. How can one possibly keep up every five seconds? IMPOSSIBLE!
For me, I have found great resolve in first finding sight in what is immovable and unshakeable. I need a place of stability before I can write down any of the hidden desires placed upon my heart. I rest on the unshakeable nature of God’s Law. This is where I rest and find much room to write down my dreams, fantasies, desires. I place my thoughts with Christ and allow Him to do the work for me to flesh out the ideas and the vision. My Father is eternal and so, it is from Him and His eternal place, where I work on defining eternal goals. I usually get pretty dizzy and nauseous when worldly roles and experiences keep moving around as if in a game of musical chairs. I pause for much silence…
Okay. So now I walk a step further. I go on to say now that the idea, once discovered must now walk on a path. The idea or inspired thought is the head point but there must be a tail that reaches to meet the head. It is this tail that forms the track or pathway that leads one to unite with and engage with the key idea.
But now I go asking… What? How do I even begin to formulate a clever path that takes me to my leading idea? This is a very common question, I suppose, that one most usually asks when setting out to achieve any objective. Now, I could just furnish myself with the most conventional answer I can possibly find. But through experience, this did me no good. I have come to realize at some point in my learning journey, that what might seem to be the most common sense way to go, is not actually an answer or open path to begin with. I usually laugh at the ironies that were placed in my life. Some things seem really obvious to the eye. But indeed, they are not. It is then I remember the word faith.
The meaning of faith holds a very special place in my list or vocabulary of words, for it is in its meaning, I find the greatest value for my own life. Nothing else would satisfy me as much as learning to live by faith. This is where my decision-making, and hence pathway begins to get a little obscured. I go on to explain. From much of my experiences, I have learnt to just go with my gut feeling. Some call it intuition. When I listen to my inner being, I receive the greatest fruit for my decisions. Logic alone places me in directions I ultimately do not wish to go.
But I argue here a little with myself. I do believe that what most cannot define as objective, that is, the inner voice, I do believe that it is God’s Spirit that makes much interaction with my thoughts. You see, I am not laying out my own pathway. It is by faith, which is the work of His Spirit that lays down the path for me. I am only to walk in it and follow Him.
Most of my biggest wins or favour came in circumstances when I least expected it. But I must also highlight that the path set is no easy road. In fact, it may seem like a very treacherous one sometimes. In fact, it may seem like a path that no one wants to actually set foot on, for all that comes with it.
But I do reconcile now, that the Father has made everyone differently and I am quite sure that never can I underestimate the difficulty in walking along another’s path. For I was never built to walk that road. Nonetheless, I find resolve by thinking that I walk the path that the Father Himself has carved out for me. Any other way is a no go, regardless of how simple it might seem to be to assume alternative pathways.
But I have come to realize why this is such the case for some persons. Following much reflection, I have come to realize that God, the Father, He calls his children through purpose into a relation with Him.
When one walks His track or life course, He enters into an engagement with the Father. It would be virtually impossible to walk this track alone. The Father already knows this. It just takes time for that one to realize how much the Father’s presence and direction are very much needed in order to successfully traverse the path.
There is yet another hidden jewel for the level of difficulty ascribed to one’s path. Sometimes, God calls His children to meet with Him in the deeper ends of life’s faith. Of course, it is by no means to break the spirit of that one, but instead, it is show that one and allow that one to experience how much the Father has actually put inside of him and the Father wishes for that one to express all that He has put into him. This may require faith that swims in the deep end of life’s biggest pool.
Let me get to the point here. For some, life may seem like the longest marathon one can ever possibly run for his lifetime. Faith is definitely needed to keep the spirit and momentum of life alive in one’s life. I speak to that one, then, of honing in to develop and grow the type of faith that leads to living life in the supernatural. For this is the end point of faith. Yet there is never truly an end to faith.
But now I ask myself, supernatural? What do I mean? Well, let me go back to faith’s initial definition.
I read from the book of Hebrews Chapter eleven:
1 “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”
3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household...
13 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth
I zoom into verse three explanation.
3 “By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
By absorbing the meaning of this verse, I work out faith's meaning to mean reaching a point when there is full dependence on the Source and not just on the derivatives of that Source. That is, to say, resting on the Lord Himself for everything. I mean to say, continually being fed from an unseen place and still live. It is by faith, that one lives.
To live by faith is to live despite being hung down or weighed down by waves of resistance to God's laws or to live through the odds of adversity; the type of adversity that anticipates death. Despite the odds of life and lack of environment to grow and thrive, one is still able to find hope and joy in life.
I repeat myself. I highlight here the Olympic Games of Life that eventually propels one to meet with his eternal life. Sigh!
I have already gotten over the bickerings, infightings and machinations of all that rest in the temporary of this present world. My only pleasure now, is to reach into and meet with life’s eternal way. Quite the task!
I now go on to describe Life’s Track or Course Outline
Course Outline
Each person comes to the Earth to do one thing and one thing only. This is his earthly role. This role runs on a course or track. This role is itself a course or track. Each person runs his track. His track runs from beginning to end. When one stays on course or on track, there should be no room for any collision to happen. Each person runs on a separate path that is unique through separate and unique points of time. There should never be any collision. When clusters arise, from the track’s external picture, it must mean that at least more than one person are not running their set course. Staying on the course means staying on the road or path that fulfils God’s Will. God Himself has put up protectionary measures in place, so no other can overtake or sit on another’s path. Staying the path also implies the existence of detour roads, or off-paths. These are the distractions. Distractions come and go. It is ideal then, to minimize distractions, at best. Some distractions, however, are deliberately put in place to guide that one, while preserving God’s mysterious ways and thought patterns. Some distractions are deliberately put there for the purpose of pruning and refining. One must not lose heart when one encounters obstacles. Obstacles are also deliberately placed along points on the track to keep man in his humble state. Reflect then on the path. The only job of that man is to work towards remaining on the path from beginning to end.
So, now that we have a defined course outline to work with, I now jump in to briefly express five main ideas, which I consider to be leveraging factors of faith.
Idea #1 Focus
Idea #1 Focus
|| Focus
Focus is a superpower to anyone’s avail.
The beginning of focus is vision. Focus relies upon vision.
In order to have a focus, one needs vision in their lives. Vision initiates focus. Without a vision, there can never be a focus set in motion.
One needs focus in his life to accomplish all that he has set out to do, no matter the size of his mission; no matter the distance he must travel.
Focus is never truly a thing to be underestimated.
Focus marks the distinction between a succeeding and a failing event in what one aims to do in his life.
Focus is a very learnable skill.
There is no end to how far one can extend his focus.
These are some lessons about focus that I have accumulated on my learning journey.
Focus is a superpower to anyone’s avail.
The beginning of focus is vision. Focus relies upon vision.
In order to have a focus, one needs vision in their lives. Vision initiates focus. Without a vision, there can never be a focus set in motion.
One needs focus in his life to accomplish all that he has set out to do, no matter the size of his mission; no matter the distance he must travel.
Focus is never truly a thing to be underestimated.
Focus marks the distinction between a succeeding and a failing event in what one aims to do in his life.
Focus is a very learnable skill.
There is no end to how far one can extend his focus.
These are some lessons about focus that I have accumulated on my learning journey.
The Process:
_The point is to connect dots.
_Dots are milestones.
_Ask questions to purpose the milestones.
_Each subsequent thought will lead you to the milestone.
_Let the thoughts run in series. These thoughts be ordered steps that will get you to each milestone destination.
_Focus on the track that you are thought tracing out for yourself.
_Emotion gets in the way. Emotion is the resistance that may come in to slow you on your tracking activity.
_Work through the resistance as you picture yourself moving uphill. Come on! Put some muscle into it. Keep climbing.
_When you reach a milestone point, picture then sliding down the hill that you have just climbed as you transition yourself into the next phase of the project, feeling positive that you just achieved a milestone. Use that momentum to help you climb the next hill.
_Keep going now! Your momentum is building.
_Okay, identify your check point. This is your resting point. In your rest, review what you have already done and reflect on what you can do to improve your performance moving forward. _Don’t try to fix the past moves yet, in fear that doubt sets in to slow you once more. Review for learning purposes only but don’t regret.
_Just keep moving forward with the main mission of connecting all your dots.
_Repeat the above steps over and over and over again, until you feel confident enough about reaching the level of focus that you wanted to achieve in the first place.
It is interesting to note also that just before hitting a milestone, one may find himself faced with a very high resistance point. Think then, how does one build muscle, is it not through progressive overloading in strength training? Don’t lose courage. Keep going. When you get fed up or think you’re at the point of giving up, it is a tell-tale sign that your minor victory is not only near, or even very, very near, but that it is already here. When you know you have the victory you can finish that milestone off in style.
Focus is something practised over and over and over again in the midst of distractions. Distractions are very much a free and abundant resource that may help to sharpen one’s focus. You see, when we are placed in a distraction-free environment, one may become a little bored with his life, to then go on to look for distractions. If we don’t find any, then we ourselves become our own distraction. You see, it becomes much harder to distinguish the self from the distraction when we become our own distraction.
Distraction reminds one of the need to focus. The bigger the distraction, the more focus demands your attention. So, if you are always finding yourself in the midst of constant distraction, it is life’s gift in letting one know that he, indeed, needs much focus; a type of focus that can be first learnt and then grown in the midst of an increasingly distracting world.
_The point is to connect dots.
_Dots are milestones.
_Ask questions to purpose the milestones.
_Each subsequent thought will lead you to the milestone.
_Let the thoughts run in series. These thoughts be ordered steps that will get you to each milestone destination.
_Focus on the track that you are thought tracing out for yourself.
_Emotion gets in the way. Emotion is the resistance that may come in to slow you on your tracking activity.
_Work through the resistance as you picture yourself moving uphill. Come on! Put some muscle into it. Keep climbing.
_When you reach a milestone point, picture then sliding down the hill that you have just climbed as you transition yourself into the next phase of the project, feeling positive that you just achieved a milestone. Use that momentum to help you climb the next hill.
_Keep going now! Your momentum is building.
_Okay, identify your check point. This is your resting point. In your rest, review what you have already done and reflect on what you can do to improve your performance moving forward. _Don’t try to fix the past moves yet, in fear that doubt sets in to slow you once more. Review for learning purposes only but don’t regret.
_Just keep moving forward with the main mission of connecting all your dots.
_Repeat the above steps over and over and over again, until you feel confident enough about reaching the level of focus that you wanted to achieve in the first place.
It is interesting to note also that just before hitting a milestone, one may find himself faced with a very high resistance point. Think then, how does one build muscle, is it not through progressive overloading in strength training? Don’t lose courage. Keep going. When you get fed up or think you’re at the point of giving up, it is a tell-tale sign that your minor victory is not only near, or even very, very near, but that it is already here. When you know you have the victory you can finish that milestone off in style.
Focus is something practised over and over and over again in the midst of distractions. Distractions are very much a free and abundant resource that may help to sharpen one’s focus. You see, when we are placed in a distraction-free environment, one may become a little bored with his life, to then go on to look for distractions. If we don’t find any, then we ourselves become our own distraction. You see, it becomes much harder to distinguish the self from the distraction when we become our own distraction.
Distraction reminds one of the need to focus. The bigger the distraction, the more focus demands your attention. So, if you are always finding yourself in the midst of constant distraction, it is life’s gift in letting one know that he, indeed, needs much focus; a type of focus that can be first learnt and then grown in the midst of an increasingly distracting world.
I would like to make a very short note here about distractions.
I seep into the five senses and the sixth one being that of emotion. The senses are usually a high point and target for much distraction. Even the words that one receives feeds into the mind; the type of food that has the capacity to bring about much emotional distraction. Distractions are everywhere. I say then, pick your battles wisely about the type of distraction one may choose to let in, while working to keep out or bar off the others. Each knows himself and knows the type that he is more than willing to endure.
I also present now, a key note on failure, which is used as a tool for distraction.
One should never sit long enough to bask in the guilt and shame of failure. I define failure to mean the activity performed that works against life’s eternal ways. That is, I pronounce sin or transgression of the laws to equal failure as it works in the opposite direction of life’s eternal way. Everyone sins. That is no surprise. By human nature, man is bound to sin and sin in abundance. What is more important however, is that one should never take the guilt and shame of it to be an unending yoke around one’s neck, thinking that he can never forgive himself for past actions.
Christ already knew man’s unending list of sins, long before they were ever committed. The Father already understands how hard and long a road it is to keep the body and mind out of sin. It is why I say, do not keep going on and on to rest in the feelings of guilt or shame, for this is one of life’s greatest distractions. Christ gave Himself up for the actions He knew that were going to be committed long after His resurrection.
So, what does one do with the guilt and shame attached to sin? The guilt and shame must be passed, but then it takes effort to re-work these, moving one to a state of repentance and true longing for certain changes to be made, either in habit or in thought processes. One should therefore handle sin from a very clinical perspective. If one certainly feels guilt or shame, this should be automatically fed into his refining process and motivate that one to call on God’s Spirit for assistance to lead him into the direction he should take.
One tactic that I have adopted through experience that proved effective was taking note of the hour when one is most likely to comply with sin. This is the hour of temptation. Wait for the hour and call on the Lord in prayer. Set up a prayer time around that hour in the night or day. It could be the temptation of procrastination. If one procrastinates a certain hour in the day or days, advance that hour for prayer time and allow the Lord’s presence to enter into the space. He will show up and fight for you. Keep in this manner, until one day, the temptation eventually tapers off.
When temptation is calling, make it a habit to call on the Lord to show up for you in temptation’s testing hour. In fact, talk to Him way in advance, before temptation even shows up. He will pitch His tent. And I can assure you that temptation will think twice about ever coming in to invade your space. For the Lord is with you.
If possible, the quickest way to overcome guilt and shame is to just expose the sin. Talk about it with a willing person who is aptly prepared to receive such a message. The two meet in prayer discussing the events before the throne of God. The Father takes into account one’s willingness to share with Him all that troubles this one. A truly repentant heart moves the Lord. He will act speedily. The enemy abhors exposure. If one no longer sees it as shameful to just expose himself, somehow energy for it is lost over time. One overcomes the shame of it. Energy can now be re-worked to stay in line with life’s eternal ways.
Idea #2 Practising Patience
Patience is a never- ending work and mission in and of itself. Patience comes with time and effort. Both time and effort are needed. Patience is a practice. There is no end to how far patience can be re-worked. It is the ideal thing then, to have patience as a practice towards life’s eternal end. Patience allows for the time to endure and to finally meet with life’s eternal end.
If I had to build an equation for patience, it would be this:
Patience is effort applied to time.
Patience = Effort (Time)
When effort is applied to time, the fruit that is produced is called patience. Effort makes the big difference between time and patience.
A patient heart receives much understanding.
A patient mind is learnt.
Patience is very much a treasure.
A patient heart sees past the temporary flare ups of life’s flames.
Patience holds great memory and can be practised wherever and however.
Patience gives faith its meaning.
Faith rests on the solid and unyielding works of patience.
Patience is grown under the pressures of life. It is the fruit of the Spirit that springs forth this type of fruit, as one is pressed to produce that anointing oil. It is the type of fruit that ultimately becomes evident in the body, for the mind is the soil and the Word is planted in it.
Patience is sustained through the works of the Holy Spirit, who renews and provides much daily feedings to allow one the privilege of steadfastly enduring to continue on his journey.
While one waits in his downtime, a lot of teaching moments can be shared by Wisdom such that one receives deeper understanding of and appreciation for all that is being witnessed and experienced in this one’s life.
It is through the work of patience, one becomes pruned and moulded in the constant shaping and re-shaping of his character.
A patient mind that is in the continual process of being re-worked may find many restless nights until patience has its perfect way.
Patience is that enduring piece and golden nugget that affords one the ability to continue running his unique set race, despite the many falls, setbacks and failing moments.
Patience traces the longest course of life. One needs much endurance.
Patience serves to form in one, more permanent and everlasting steps, forever working towards constancy and precision; never wavering, never changing its mind. There is far less room for wavering. In this, one eventually grows firm in faith.
Patience takes into account life’s many failures and setbacks, all which work together to produce fruit that lasts.
The continual workings and re-workings of patience eventually leads one to life’s final or ultimate defining character. That is, through patience, one works towards the end of attaining an everlasting or eternal character.
Idea #3 Building Momentum
I now closely base momentum on what is written as one of life’s laws; what is in the dark must come to light, ALWAYS.
You reap what you sow.
One may sow deep
One may sow shallow
One may sow broad
And one may sow narrow
Manifest = Reveal
Each revelation has an appointed time.
This is probably the most- commonly applied law, that is usually applied by literally everybody. Some persons can recognize and appreciate the use of this law more than others. But it is a law nonetheless, that life takes on a somewhat growing and exponential nature.
Just imagine, a fetus is developed from one fertilized egg, just one. Through division, multiplication occurs and next thing you know, you have a whole baby watching you in your face in the delivery room. It must mean then, that life’s growth is by no means linear. No. This is not the case. Life has the potential for exponential growth and this can be applied to every single area of life.
It must mean, then, that it can also be applied in the equation to help build one’s faith to great heights.
One can do a lot with very little. All he probably needs is a cent of faith’s currency to start working on building and improving his eternal earnings and rewards. Yes. All one needs is a cent of faith to start his journey of building even more faith.
Similar to most growth journeys, one really needs an incentive to even begin the tribulation of such. For the path of faith can be a very discouraging one.
But, here is the trick! One must always consider faith’s definition before anything else and continue to work on looking out for the intangible rewards. I drop a thought hint for you.
The unseen is everlasting.
The seen is temporary and has a definite expiration date.
The more one plays with his imagination in looking for the unseen and intangible rewards, the more faith credits one is able to accrue on his faith journey.
The seen, one can readily steal and take away.
It is the unseen that is more difficult to reach or attack.
The unseen rests in the space of eternity. From the eternal place, rest eternal rewards. Though one really needs to think hard and long about those rewards. One can get very creative in this regard, for from eternity, anything is possible.
The trick is to keep recycling the faith earnings to receive more faith earnings by exchanging it with faith earnings. Okay. I know what I just said makes no sense. I can tell.
Let me put this differently. The more someone spends his faith credits on eternal and intangible products and services, the better he is able to keep his rewards, for he spends his credit from a place of eternity. Alternatively, if someone spends his credit to make something into the tangible, he is using up his faith credits. For he has exchanged something living for a dead and very temporary thing.
I hope one picks up on this thought pattern.
Let me go deeper here.
One can exchange their basic faith rewards for more premium rewards found in eternity.
Certain rewards can open up more doors or opportunities to access other faith rewards.
For all of these rewards, it is Wisdom who grants them. But the Law is unbiased. So, one is given incentive, but work must be applied to receive the different levels of faith rewards.
But now, I ask myself… why do I even need such rewards? I now tell myself. Knowledge brings peace of mind. There is nothing more freeing than just knowing. It is knowledge that sets the bars or levels of rewards. Interestingly though, the more one knows, the more one seeks to know more. Do I make any sense?
Growing into knowledge pushes for that one further incentive to know more. The objective is to first endure life’s challenges through patience. But ultimately one wishes to know more to the point of reaching life’s eternal ways. Christ Jesus is the Teacher and earthly connection to reach and meet with these life rewards.
In this way, momentum is needed to sustain the life of the believer.
One can take baby steps in his walk. But with a little time, effort and consistency, he can be overwhelmingly amazed by how many steps he has actually taken. In the presence of Christ, one can walk confidently in his momentous path.
Momentum is an incredible thing. I have learnt through physics that a body running on high momentum is a body that is not easily stopped. One can utilize the growing returns of momentum to fuel more momentum. This leads to acceleration and exponential growth. It is the same as tapping into the eternal realm. For time is just eternity slowed down.
So, this is the activity that I now propose. Start off with one task. Make it simple. Do this task each day, adding a little extra time, say two minutes or more on each subsequent day. Slowly, this will build over time, until you reach the point of satiety to maintain the rate of flow. Stick with this rate. Over time, momentum builds, despite working at a sustained rate as one progresses through the course of his learning curve. Don’t let setbacks or failures be a deterrent to endure. Just keep enduring. Remain fixed in what you are to do and do it consistently.
Idea #4 Repetition of God’s Word
Wait! I only now remembered. I said I was going to only briefly express my ideas. I work to now rectify and implement compensatory mechanisms. I press on.
Faith comes by hearing the Word over and over again.
I utilize this truth to feature this next leveraging point.
I just jump straight into the activity.
Consider contemplating the verses of Scripture that sticks with you the most and brought much meaning to your life. But I suggest going much deeper into those verses. Most likely, it is God’s very Spirit bringing these verses to your closest attention.
I say, then, prepare a list of the top twenty to twenty- five verses you would like to keep with you wherever and however you go. Marry yourself to these verses. Let these verses be a motto and definition for your life. You stand by these verses. It is important, then, to spend a great deal of time, sitting with these very verses as you try to unravel its mystery for your life.
Try to figure out who is actually speaking in these verses. What is the character and nature of that person speaking? Life is a reflection. It must mean that there is something about those verses you find rather peculiar and your heart is telling you to sit with yourself and explore further in much thought. Always keep those verses by your side. Take those verses to sleep with you, who knows? Maybe more may be revealed to you about you, through those same verses.
Enough said.
And now, I have reached my final point. Sigh!
Idea #5 True Belief
Belief sits at the highest point to allow God’s Spirit to do anything, anything at all, through the human body. It is paramount that man believes. Belief opens the doors to the supernatural.
A crucial part of faith is belief. Need I say more?
Yes, let me push it a little further.
Belief is crucial, but sustained belief? Well, that is faith.
The job of sustaining belief when there is nothing more to believe in with the physical sight, this is the perfect definition of faith.
One does work not because he sees. He works because he does not see.
Man trusts not because he sees. He trusts because he does not see.
Man relies heavily on the sight and senses of the Father’s Spirit to endure all that he himself is just NOT able to endure.
Man now enters into a very intimate relation with his God. Man begins to assume his Christ-like disposition operating through God’s eyes. He no longer thinks the way man does, but he moves and acts as though he is some eternal being. It is only God’s Spirit can uphold such a person for sustained periods of time. It is like making the impossible possible.
It is the belief that allows God’s Spirit to perform the Father’s work. To believe is to open the gates of the supernatural. Disbelief works to impede God’s Will for what He longs to do on earth.
Faith: not using any of man's effort but allowing the power of the Spirit to flow through the vessel. Man keeps himself patent through sustained belief to allow the Spirit's power to flow through. Man is not doing anything. It is the Spirit that is moving him.
It is through the angels and through man, that God effects change on the earth. If only man be willing to receive power through sustained belief.
Time is the element that tests sustained belief. One must endure to the believing end as much as is possible. Though without God’s Spirit, this will be a certainly impossible task. For the body alone, cannot endure what the body itself cannot endure. The Spirit comes alive and take action when the body is no longer willing or is able.
A strong element of belief brings on songs of praise directed towards the Father for man certainly trusts that certain actions must indeed, take place according to God’s laws. For man, belief is confirmed through praise and worship. Praise and Worship are man’s final acts when he closes his prayer. Man’s prayer is not yet complete until He gives thanks and praise. For he indeed, believes.
So, now I conclude with the mapping of my mind when it comes to a few of the leveraging factors of faith.
I seep into the five senses and the sixth one being that of emotion. The senses are usually a high point and target for much distraction. Even the words that one receives feeds into the mind; the type of food that has the capacity to bring about much emotional distraction. Distractions are everywhere. I say then, pick your battles wisely about the type of distraction one may choose to let in, while working to keep out or bar off the others. Each knows himself and knows the type that he is more than willing to endure.
I also present now, a key note on failure, which is used as a tool for distraction.
One should never sit long enough to bask in the guilt and shame of failure. I define failure to mean the activity performed that works against life’s eternal ways. That is, I pronounce sin or transgression of the laws to equal failure as it works in the opposite direction of life’s eternal way. Everyone sins. That is no surprise. By human nature, man is bound to sin and sin in abundance. What is more important however, is that one should never take the guilt and shame of it to be an unending yoke around one’s neck, thinking that he can never forgive himself for past actions.
Christ already knew man’s unending list of sins, long before they were ever committed. The Father already understands how hard and long a road it is to keep the body and mind out of sin. It is why I say, do not keep going on and on to rest in the feelings of guilt or shame, for this is one of life’s greatest distractions. Christ gave Himself up for the actions He knew that were going to be committed long after His resurrection.
So, what does one do with the guilt and shame attached to sin? The guilt and shame must be passed, but then it takes effort to re-work these, moving one to a state of repentance and true longing for certain changes to be made, either in habit or in thought processes. One should therefore handle sin from a very clinical perspective. If one certainly feels guilt or shame, this should be automatically fed into his refining process and motivate that one to call on God’s Spirit for assistance to lead him into the direction he should take.
One tactic that I have adopted through experience that proved effective was taking note of the hour when one is most likely to comply with sin. This is the hour of temptation. Wait for the hour and call on the Lord in prayer. Set up a prayer time around that hour in the night or day. It could be the temptation of procrastination. If one procrastinates a certain hour in the day or days, advance that hour for prayer time and allow the Lord’s presence to enter into the space. He will show up and fight for you. Keep in this manner, until one day, the temptation eventually tapers off.
When temptation is calling, make it a habit to call on the Lord to show up for you in temptation’s testing hour. In fact, talk to Him way in advance, before temptation even shows up. He will pitch His tent. And I can assure you that temptation will think twice about ever coming in to invade your space. For the Lord is with you.
If possible, the quickest way to overcome guilt and shame is to just expose the sin. Talk about it with a willing person who is aptly prepared to receive such a message. The two meet in prayer discussing the events before the throne of God. The Father takes into account one’s willingness to share with Him all that troubles this one. A truly repentant heart moves the Lord. He will act speedily. The enemy abhors exposure. If one no longer sees it as shameful to just expose himself, somehow energy for it is lost over time. One overcomes the shame of it. Energy can now be re-worked to stay in line with life’s eternal ways.
Idea #2 Practising Patience
Patience is a never- ending work and mission in and of itself. Patience comes with time and effort. Both time and effort are needed. Patience is a practice. There is no end to how far patience can be re-worked. It is the ideal thing then, to have patience as a practice towards life’s eternal end. Patience allows for the time to endure and to finally meet with life’s eternal end.
If I had to build an equation for patience, it would be this:
Patience is effort applied to time.
Patience = Effort (Time)
When effort is applied to time, the fruit that is produced is called patience. Effort makes the big difference between time and patience.
A patient heart receives much understanding.
A patient mind is learnt.
Patience is very much a treasure.
A patient heart sees past the temporary flare ups of life’s flames.
Patience holds great memory and can be practised wherever and however.
Patience gives faith its meaning.
Faith rests on the solid and unyielding works of patience.
Patience is grown under the pressures of life. It is the fruit of the Spirit that springs forth this type of fruit, as one is pressed to produce that anointing oil. It is the type of fruit that ultimately becomes evident in the body, for the mind is the soil and the Word is planted in it.
Patience is sustained through the works of the Holy Spirit, who renews and provides much daily feedings to allow one the privilege of steadfastly enduring to continue on his journey.
While one waits in his downtime, a lot of teaching moments can be shared by Wisdom such that one receives deeper understanding of and appreciation for all that is being witnessed and experienced in this one’s life.
It is through the work of patience, one becomes pruned and moulded in the constant shaping and re-shaping of his character.
A patient mind that is in the continual process of being re-worked may find many restless nights until patience has its perfect way.
Patience is that enduring piece and golden nugget that affords one the ability to continue running his unique set race, despite the many falls, setbacks and failing moments.
Patience traces the longest course of life. One needs much endurance.
Patience serves to form in one, more permanent and everlasting steps, forever working towards constancy and precision; never wavering, never changing its mind. There is far less room for wavering. In this, one eventually grows firm in faith.
Patience takes into account life’s many failures and setbacks, all which work together to produce fruit that lasts.
The continual workings and re-workings of patience eventually leads one to life’s final or ultimate defining character. That is, through patience, one works towards the end of attaining an everlasting or eternal character.
Idea #3 Building Momentum
I now closely base momentum on what is written as one of life’s laws; what is in the dark must come to light, ALWAYS.
You reap what you sow.
One may sow deep
One may sow shallow
One may sow broad
And one may sow narrow
Manifest = Reveal
Each revelation has an appointed time.
This is probably the most- commonly applied law, that is usually applied by literally everybody. Some persons can recognize and appreciate the use of this law more than others. But it is a law nonetheless, that life takes on a somewhat growing and exponential nature.
Just imagine, a fetus is developed from one fertilized egg, just one. Through division, multiplication occurs and next thing you know, you have a whole baby watching you in your face in the delivery room. It must mean then, that life’s growth is by no means linear. No. This is not the case. Life has the potential for exponential growth and this can be applied to every single area of life.
It must mean, then, that it can also be applied in the equation to help build one’s faith to great heights.
One can do a lot with very little. All he probably needs is a cent of faith’s currency to start working on building and improving his eternal earnings and rewards. Yes. All one needs is a cent of faith to start his journey of building even more faith.
Similar to most growth journeys, one really needs an incentive to even begin the tribulation of such. For the path of faith can be a very discouraging one.
But, here is the trick! One must always consider faith’s definition before anything else and continue to work on looking out for the intangible rewards. I drop a thought hint for you.
The unseen is everlasting.
The seen is temporary and has a definite expiration date.
The more one plays with his imagination in looking for the unseen and intangible rewards, the more faith credits one is able to accrue on his faith journey.
The seen, one can readily steal and take away.
It is the unseen that is more difficult to reach or attack.
The unseen rests in the space of eternity. From the eternal place, rest eternal rewards. Though one really needs to think hard and long about those rewards. One can get very creative in this regard, for from eternity, anything is possible.
The trick is to keep recycling the faith earnings to receive more faith earnings by exchanging it with faith earnings. Okay. I know what I just said makes no sense. I can tell.
Let me put this differently. The more someone spends his faith credits on eternal and intangible products and services, the better he is able to keep his rewards, for he spends his credit from a place of eternity. Alternatively, if someone spends his credit to make something into the tangible, he is using up his faith credits. For he has exchanged something living for a dead and very temporary thing.
I hope one picks up on this thought pattern.
Let me go deeper here.
One can exchange their basic faith rewards for more premium rewards found in eternity.
Certain rewards can open up more doors or opportunities to access other faith rewards.
For all of these rewards, it is Wisdom who grants them. But the Law is unbiased. So, one is given incentive, but work must be applied to receive the different levels of faith rewards.
But now, I ask myself… why do I even need such rewards? I now tell myself. Knowledge brings peace of mind. There is nothing more freeing than just knowing. It is knowledge that sets the bars or levels of rewards. Interestingly though, the more one knows, the more one seeks to know more. Do I make any sense?
Growing into knowledge pushes for that one further incentive to know more. The objective is to first endure life’s challenges through patience. But ultimately one wishes to know more to the point of reaching life’s eternal ways. Christ Jesus is the Teacher and earthly connection to reach and meet with these life rewards.
In this way, momentum is needed to sustain the life of the believer.
One can take baby steps in his walk. But with a little time, effort and consistency, he can be overwhelmingly amazed by how many steps he has actually taken. In the presence of Christ, one can walk confidently in his momentous path.
Momentum is an incredible thing. I have learnt through physics that a body running on high momentum is a body that is not easily stopped. One can utilize the growing returns of momentum to fuel more momentum. This leads to acceleration and exponential growth. It is the same as tapping into the eternal realm. For time is just eternity slowed down.
So, this is the activity that I now propose. Start off with one task. Make it simple. Do this task each day, adding a little extra time, say two minutes or more on each subsequent day. Slowly, this will build over time, until you reach the point of satiety to maintain the rate of flow. Stick with this rate. Over time, momentum builds, despite working at a sustained rate as one progresses through the course of his learning curve. Don’t let setbacks or failures be a deterrent to endure. Just keep enduring. Remain fixed in what you are to do and do it consistently.
Idea #4 Repetition of God’s Word
Wait! I only now remembered. I said I was going to only briefly express my ideas. I work to now rectify and implement compensatory mechanisms. I press on.
Faith comes by hearing the Word over and over again.
I utilize this truth to feature this next leveraging point.
I just jump straight into the activity.
Consider contemplating the verses of Scripture that sticks with you the most and brought much meaning to your life. But I suggest going much deeper into those verses. Most likely, it is God’s very Spirit bringing these verses to your closest attention.
I say, then, prepare a list of the top twenty to twenty- five verses you would like to keep with you wherever and however you go. Marry yourself to these verses. Let these verses be a motto and definition for your life. You stand by these verses. It is important, then, to spend a great deal of time, sitting with these very verses as you try to unravel its mystery for your life.
Try to figure out who is actually speaking in these verses. What is the character and nature of that person speaking? Life is a reflection. It must mean that there is something about those verses you find rather peculiar and your heart is telling you to sit with yourself and explore further in much thought. Always keep those verses by your side. Take those verses to sleep with you, who knows? Maybe more may be revealed to you about you, through those same verses.
Enough said.
And now, I have reached my final point. Sigh!
Idea #5 True Belief
Belief sits at the highest point to allow God’s Spirit to do anything, anything at all, through the human body. It is paramount that man believes. Belief opens the doors to the supernatural.
A crucial part of faith is belief. Need I say more?
Yes, let me push it a little further.
Belief is crucial, but sustained belief? Well, that is faith.
The job of sustaining belief when there is nothing more to believe in with the physical sight, this is the perfect definition of faith.
One does work not because he sees. He works because he does not see.
Man trusts not because he sees. He trusts because he does not see.
Man relies heavily on the sight and senses of the Father’s Spirit to endure all that he himself is just NOT able to endure.
Man now enters into a very intimate relation with his God. Man begins to assume his Christ-like disposition operating through God’s eyes. He no longer thinks the way man does, but he moves and acts as though he is some eternal being. It is only God’s Spirit can uphold such a person for sustained periods of time. It is like making the impossible possible.
It is the belief that allows God’s Spirit to perform the Father’s work. To believe is to open the gates of the supernatural. Disbelief works to impede God’s Will for what He longs to do on earth.
Faith: not using any of man's effort but allowing the power of the Spirit to flow through the vessel. Man keeps himself patent through sustained belief to allow the Spirit's power to flow through. Man is not doing anything. It is the Spirit that is moving him.
It is through the angels and through man, that God effects change on the earth. If only man be willing to receive power through sustained belief.
Time is the element that tests sustained belief. One must endure to the believing end as much as is possible. Though without God’s Spirit, this will be a certainly impossible task. For the body alone, cannot endure what the body itself cannot endure. The Spirit comes alive and take action when the body is no longer willing or is able.
A strong element of belief brings on songs of praise directed towards the Father for man certainly trusts that certain actions must indeed, take place according to God’s laws. For man, belief is confirmed through praise and worship. Praise and Worship are man’s final acts when he closes his prayer. Man’s prayer is not yet complete until He gives thanks and praise. For he indeed, believes.
So, now I conclude with the mapping of my mind when it comes to a few of the leveraging factors of faith.
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