Belief and Trust Equal Faith | self improvement directory

Atheists rail against Christians because they believe in an invisible God for whom they believe there is no evidence. But this is a mistake since faith itself is evidence. I am not saying that belief is evidence for itself, but that faith, which is far more than belief, is a kind of evidence that confirms a Christian in the belief in God. And because atheists cannot distinguish between faith and belief, they never see this kind of evidence and how powerful it is.

Faith is more than belief because it also entails trust. You could believe in God for instance but not trust God and hence not have faith. So faith is more than belief. Faith is trusting in God?s promises that they are real and reliable. Faith is based primarily on promises, not on evidence. To show the difference between trust based on promises and belief based on evidence, let me use marriage as an example.

A spouse has confidence that the other spouse is faithful since faithfulness was promised on the wedding day, rather than because the spouse has proven that they are faithful in the past because past actions do not prove that future actions will be the same. Thus, the confidence one has in the faithfulness of the spouse is grounded not in experience because there is no experience as of yet of future actions and in the present the spouse might not be telling the truth about an affair. On the contrary, the trust in one?s spouse?s faithfulness is grounded in the promise to remain faithful and this sort of trust then gets confirmed in everyday living. A spouse will probably remain faithful in an environment of trust rather than distrust.

Thus faith is essential to the experience of marriage and to the experience of all relationships including the relationship to God. Faith equals more than just belief in the existence of the other person, but includes trust in all promises whether they are uttered or not. Next, reflect on faith in God. We can find tons of promises in the bible. Beginning with Abraham we see how promise already was present when God promised to make him a blessing to the nations. Later, the Israelites were promised to have God?s protection and blessings if they agreed to follow him. Coming to the New Testament, we see that eternal life is promised to all who have faith in Jesus Christ. Such a promise of paradise was also given to the man who was on the next cross when Jesus was crucified. The experience of the fulfillment of the promise of eternal life can also be confirmed in the quality of life we have now. Trusting God?s promises results in the fulfillment of those promises everyday.

Having faith in Jesus Christ is more than belief that he existed and was resurrected and was the Son of God. It is trusting in the realities that Jesus lived. Jesus trusted God and not himself. He lived a life of prayer and servanthood. He trusted the plan that God had for his life, which included dying on the cross. He trusted the promises of God that he would be vindicated. So faith for us includes living the life of prayer and servanthood and dying to ourselves. It means trusting that all things really will work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purposes (Romans 8:28). When one actually trusts God in this way it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Faith confirms faith. One actually does experience eternal life in the good quality of one?s life, when the promises of God are confirmed in one?s everyday life.

Learn more about Jesus Christ. Stop by Holly L Wilson?s site where you can find out all about faith and what it can do for you.

Source: http://www.selfimprovementdirectory.info/self-improvement/spirituality/belief-and-trust-equal-faith/

happy thanksgiving dwts cnn debate kennedy assassination kennedy assassination jfk assassination pie crust recipe