You can read the eleventh chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews to see what faith can do: it can show us the origin of this world we live in, it can put us on a harmonious relationship with God, it made Enoch escape death, man's most dreadful enemy, it saved Noah and a remnant of humanity from complete extinction, it gave Abraham a child through a barren woman, from whom innumerable descendants sprang, it saved Joseph and his brothers and their families from famine, it enabled Moses to form a new nation from the descendants of 12 brothers, it gave the Israelites courage to successfully invade Canaan, the land promised to them, it raised the dead to life, etc.
Faith is indeed powerful. It was by faith that we came into this world. Our parents believed that by their sexual union we would be born and they were right. We too produce our children by faith.
Faith is most necessary in leading a more fulfilling life. How is this done, how does the power of faith help us to lead a more fulfilling life?
Everyone Has Faith
There is no human being who has no faith. Atheists and agnostics are not exempted from this statement. They too have faith.
Faith is simply sure and certain knowledge of realities that are not visible to our physical eyes and reason, like knowledge of our worth, our talents, and our capacities. And everybody has this knowledge. The little child did not see itself coming out from the womb of its mother but it has faith that this or that woman is its mother. The atheist has faith that his ideas are correct though nobody can see these ideas in his head. So also with the agnostics, they too have faith in their learning.
I remember a famous correspondence between Fr. John Catoir and avowed agnostic Carl Sagan which lasted for more than 2 years. In this exchange of letters Fr. Catoir was insisting that Carl had no faith. In his explanation Fr. Catoir said that this man was unable to make the leap of faith. This is not true. Carl had faith. He had faith that the letter he wrote would reach Fr. Catoir, even if he did not see the priest opening his letter. Perhaps it is more true to say that Carl had no faith in the God portrayed by the priest, because the image of this God was foreign to the expectations of Carl of what God should be.
Faith Is Powerful
Faith enables us to live normal lives. By faith we know that tomorrow there is another day, although we never see the turning of the earth on its axis. It is by faith that we recognize our parents, our older brothers and sisters, our nationality, our community. It is by faith that we go to school believing that there we will learn reading, writing, arithmetic and the complexities of these three basic skills. It is by faith that we choose our work, our partner in life, our residences, our travels, our recreations.
Faith Leads Us to Lead a More Fulfilling Life
By a more fulfilling life is meant a life that is free of disturbing stress, that is more and more productive, in harmony with family members, relatives, and others. It is a life that enriches others and you know that this is so. It is one that feels and displays compassion for others, a source of encouragement for others, provides meaning to one's life and the lives of others, encouraging them to go on with life.
A more fulfilling life is one where a healthy ego or self-image is being developed, balanced in diet and exercise with self-discipline and self-control, productive, a life that makes you inventive and creative, bringing joy to others, and taking more and more control of your life.
A more fulfilling life is one where failures are looked upon not as a reflection of our incapacity but as reflection of our creativity to know the right way of doing things, as experiences for learning and growth.
It is a life of humility in success because you know by faith that it is not you who has accomplished the success but the Spirit in you.
Such is a more fulfilling life. And it is the power of faith that leads us to this kind of life.
It is faith in a being who is the origin of all that we see, one who loves us so much as to bring us to this existence or series of life, one who sustains us everyday with all the things around us. It is basically this faith which leads us to a more fulfilling life because by this we know where we came from, we know where we are going to and we know the way how to get there.
Maybe an example of such a more fulfilling life produced by the power of faith will bring home my point.
The example I refer to is George Washington Carver (1864-1943) who was born a slave and later exchanged for a racehorse as an infant. He met many difficulties in life, even getting out of slavery, going into school, teaching and doing research. But he enriched our lives by providing crops as alternative to the production of cotton which depleted the soil, inventing 145 products made from the lowly peanuts, and more than a 100 more from sweet potato, uplifting the Negro race. He achieved fame and was given many awards even many years after his death.
At the end of it all Carver said that God guided his research. He was criticized for making this statement. But it was his faith in himself and God which make his life more fulfilling both for himself and others. He said on many occasions that his faith in Jesus was the only way by which he could effectively do his research in science.
I want to end this article by quoting a passage written by an anonymous author which encapsulates what I have written here:
"Believe in yourself and in your plan, Say not - I cannot - I can, The prizes of life we fail to win, Because we doubt the power within...". Never doubt the power within. It is that which leads you to a more fulfilling life.
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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:
http://bit.ly/spiritdev for your spiritual growth
http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health
http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us
http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet
Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.
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