Faith Empowered

What is Faith? How does one obtain it? Is there a limit to faith?

“Faith is building on what you know is here to reach what you know is there.”

If you were to google the very term "Faith," you would get about 463,000,000 results. The first being the definition of this very word, which states, "complete trust or confidence in someone or something," or "strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof."

Is that it? Is faith simply having complete trust or confidence? Is faith religion, doctrines, that is an apprehension that does not need proof in the existence of something or even someone? No wonder there is so much difficulty in people's lives.

Is it any wonder why there are over 4,300 religions in the world today? All anyone has to do is simply believe in the existence of something or someone, and POOF, there is a faith created. Perhaps even worse is creating a belief in something, that needs no proof, then convincing and convicting others to convert to that which a person themselves believes.

If this is all faith is, then I say keep it. Because anyone, anywhere, at anytime can say their faith is true, or that ideal is real, or that they are someone for others to believe in just for the sake of that person's insecurities to feel secured. As for me, I've been on, and still am, an ongoing endeavor of better understanding what faith truly is.

Let me begin by saying, I do not have all of the answers for this. I also do not intend on expecting you to be convinced and especially not converted to what I think about this topic. I simply wish to share with you what I've learned in order to inspire you to look deeper within yourself as well as into our world so as to Empower your life and the lives of others. That's it...

First off, let's look at the very word itself. Our english word for Faith is derived from Latin "fides" and Old French"feid," that when translated from these two other languages has to do with confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in a god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".

Religious people are said to think of faith as confidence based on a perceived degree of warrant, while others who are more skeptical of religion tend to think of faith as simply belief without evidence. Some theologians think that there are stages in faith, while others simply say it's about believing without evidence. There are also various views on faith from various religions.

Some religions see it as conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds, ultimately the acceptance of the divine authority of the Manifestations of God. While other belief systems see it as a serene commitment in the practice of the a person's teachings and trust in enlightened or highly developed beings. And there are those systems that say it comes from one single Greek word πίστις (pístis) that can be translated as "belief", "faithfulness", or "trust".

That alone shows how diverse the very concept or idea of faith really is for people today. Is faith also about believing in the existence of something greater than all of us? Perhaps, and perhaps faith is something even more than all of this. If faith is simply believing in something or someone, then why is it that someone believes they are in love with someone else and yet are not loving towards that person.

If faith is believing or being confident in the teachings of a person, then why do so many of those that have faith in those teachings not fulfill them or make them a practical part of their lives? And if faith is simply about trust, then why are there so many of who not very trusting? What if faith is not so much a "noun" as it is more a "verb."

What I mean is what if faith is not simply an internal-disposition we have but more an external-action we do. If faith is about what we do, not simply what someone says then it becomes something tangible and not intangible. It then becomes something we can place our hands on and under our feet. A kind of solid ground we can stand on.

It no longer becomes us having to convince others to believe, trust, or have confidence in something because they now see with their own eyes from our behaviors, our deeds, and actions that they can then trust and have confidence in us or in what we say.

What if faith is better described by other words like integrity, loyalty, steadfastness, or to simply it, "faithfulness." People have free will, they have this ability to choose. We cannot underrate environmental influences on people. This does not mean that individuals utterly lack free will, only that it might be more limited than some suggest.

Take for example a the child who has been raised by parents struggling with a drug addiction. It is very possible that this same child will become compelled to use drugs because of the influence of their parents with that child's upbringing and life example. The child may not see the using of drugs as wrong. Does this mean that the child then lacks faith because they are doing what some consider a sin? That they need to have faith in what we see as good or right?

No, they are faithfully doing what they believe is an Ok thing to do because those who were that child's example and teachers did it. Does this mean that the child has no integrity and cannot be trusted? No! They are with integrity and out of a trust for those who were that child's example doing what they saw or learned from their teacher(s).

When we believe something that belief becomes our way of thinking, creates certain thoughts within us. From those thoughts comes certain feelings or emotions that are directly connected to those thoughts. Fueled by those feelings and created from those thoughts come certain behaviors. The real issue here is that when those thoughts that have emotions connected to them, which come came from certain beliefs, exist and we are not aware of this we can inevitably miss-judge someone or something.

When our thoughts created from our beliefs exist and we are not aware of those thoughts we have certain feelings connected with them and those emotions can cause us to judge someone unfairly and down right wrongfully. That said, if faith is more about action, how different would our relationships with others be if we were faithful in first knowing and being aware of our own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. What if our first step in faith is not about proving we are right while others are wrong.

What if our first step in this journey of faith is more about what works? Because the question I'll end with today for your is this, "If you are so right then why is it not working?" Make sure to stick around as we continue this series on Empowered Faith.

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