Easter is upon us and soon Palm Sunday will occur. Whether people follow Christianity or another religion, faith is essential. I am listening to Dr. Norman Vincent Peale's
Power of Positive Thinking, a classic, grounded in best practises for individual excellence and revival. Taking his premises and infusing life experiences, one can re imagine faith.
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What is Faith?
1. Belief in a Power greater than oneself to guide outcomes.
2. The ability to let go of worry and fear and trust that outcomes will be the best for The Big Plan.
Building Faith
1. Faith is inherent and embedded in one's soul.
2 Faith, like any good character trait, needs to be continually fed and refined.
3. This refinement comes in the form of validation, education, and positive relationships.
When Faith Falters
1. Faith falters when hearts are broken.
2. Faith falters when negative acts shake the soul.
3. Faith falters when fatigue sets in.
4. Faith falters with disillusionment.
5. Faith falters when guilt takes over.
HALT: Are you hungry, angry, lonely or tired?
Faith and Apathy
1. Faith is not lack of action. Faith is persevering every day to pursue excellence and knowing that one's outcomes will be as affirmed and planned.
2. Faith can override apathy. Having faith and disconnecting can overcome a sense of apathy.
Faith and Anger
1. Bad things happen to good people. And good people get angry when bad things happen.
2. Funneling anger in appropriate ways is a matter of faith. Anger is inevitable. Funneling anger appropriately is maturity.
3. Strong faith enables one to take the high road and funnel anger appropriately.
We have a fundamental responsibility to treat people with respect and build up others.
Faith and Joy
1. Faith enables one to live with joy.
2. Faith is a belief in the common good.
3. Faith is knowing that life is ok.
4. Joy is a sense of being and can be held good or bad times.
5. Faith is finding a sense of peace through right living and positive activity.
6. Faith grows in one's safe place.
Faith and Time
1. When one questions faith, time is needed to restore. This means unplugging and reflecting on the good in one's life.
2. Faith and practises to ignite and express one's faith should be consistent and timely.
3. When one has sporadic faith, reality will come to visit and one must regroup and revisit.
Faith is Stronger than Evil
1. Strength is the word.
2. Faith and strength is quiet and private and strategic.
2. Faith and strength is not being a victim.
3. Faith and strength is not fixing blame and working through one's negativity.
Lack of Faith?
1. If one cannot find faith, self analysis is needed?
2. What is hindering a sense of faith?
3. Are we living within God's plan and timing? (Usually when faith falters, one is out of sync with the Big Plan).
4 How can one get back in the lane?
Faith and People or They Get on My Last Nerve
1. There are petty people.
2. There are people who are parasites who thrive only on the coattails of others and put on an appearance of quality but when no one is looking, have a full lack of integrity.
3. There are good people who have good will as a framework.
4. There are people who are
totally oblivious to their own dysfunction.
5. There are people who use ambition to break others.
6. There are people who are morally deformed and manipulative.
7. Sometimes these people seem to thrive for a season.
8. Faith means being able to rise above with a good heart.
9. Faith is asking God to reveal one's own faults and focusing on self-improvement rather than pointing out faults in others.
10. Faith is having the strength to do #9.
What Do We Know?
1. Pride comes before a downfall.
2. Intuition is a good teacher.
3. Teflon allows things to slide off and not stick.
4. People who talk the loudest and pontificate the most are the ones who have the most to lose.
5. Karma will take it.
6. Faith is believing the the good, sharing the good, and staying on three.
7. Faith is the ability not to lash back when one wants to lash back.
8. Faith is the ability to stay quiet and let God take the reigns.
9. What goes up must come down.
Some Famous Verses Paraphrased
1. Pluck the wood out of one's own eye before the speck in another.
2. Go ye therefore and teach all nations.
3. Pride comes before a downfall.
4. The early bird catches the worm.
5 Believe in the good things I have planned for you. Plans to help and not harm.
6. Faith is like the mustard seed.
7. Karma comes out in the night.
Faith is soul soothing and strong. Faith is a combination of trust and ability. Peale says when one becomes stale, it is time to take a faith adventure. Regardless of one's religious affiliation, faith is fundamental.
We have to take care of ourselves mentally, physically, socially and emotionally, and financially to best live in faith. We have to step out and let God take the best of us and use it to the best of others. We cannot hide. We cannot control. We cannot strive if we are set on breaking down others. We cannot be weak, but we have to let go of the negative and focus on the good. Isolation inhibits faith. Faith grows in private and is reaffirmed in community.
We can always go home. We continually recycle. When we stop growing we become stagnant and negative. Always reaffirm. That is the pleasure in faith.
Stress is trying to be too strong for too long. When faith falters, it is a message to reflect and re evaluate. We think we have a plan but the best laid plans of mice and men are only a plan. Faith is the ability to look new and spread joy in the process.
