In this era of fast-forward religion, where people are expected to “have a religious experience” in minutes and days, it is important to step back and give my faith a honest, hard look.
I am not going to ask you to be completely honest with yourself about your faith. That would be too radical. But you can learn a lot by being honest about your lack of understanding about the faith and praying for God to open your eyes and mind to His beautiful message.
This can be done in many ways: attending church regularly, attending church services or services that are lower on spirituality than the one we are currently at, listening to audio or video recordings of church services, joining an evangelism group, etc.
Any of these can help us find the missing pieces to our faith journey and give us the opportunity to begin a conversation with God through prayer and conversation.
Contents:
Love
Love is an important word. We can create a world where love is valued, and a world where love is not.
God desires us to love him, and he desires us to love one another. When you think of what God desires, what does he desire for you?
He desires that you worship him with your heart, that you live in sin no longer, and that you follow him no longer. He desires that you obey him perfectly, that you listen to his voicemail message when he calls your phone number, and that you send him Christmas cards every year. He doesn’t want anything less than what he demands of you.
We must learn to value the word love from our own lips, but how do we prove it out? How do we make it true?
We must firstly rely on ourselves to know how much we truly value the word love in our everyday lives. If we find a proof or two from ourselves, then we will know how much we truly value the word love.
Joy
Finding joy in small things is one of the most fundamental ways to find happiness. When we focus on what we don’t have, or how bad things are, we’re likely to miss the most important thing in life: ourselves.
We all have something to celebrate every once in a while, and I’m sure you would rather this than constant complaining and down sizing.
But how do we find the joy that is inside of us? How do we know where to look for it?
The answer is: by paying attention to what we enjoy least about ourselves. What you might discover is that you really, really like what you do not do most often. You may also realize that what you don’t like most often doesn’t seem so bad after all.
You may also realize that there are many things in life that are not very difficult, and can be a source of joy.
Peace
Peace is a big word for God. It refers to everything we want him to be able to do in us, how he wants us to live our lives, and what he desires for us.
In the beginning of creation, when God created Adam and Eve, he placed a desire in their hearts that was for peace. They wanted no more troubles or hardships in their lives.
They wanted a peaceful life where they could enjoy what they were doing and where they lived. They wanted to live in comfort and ease.
That is what they desired when they looked at their world and loved what they saw. But God knew that was not what they needed. He knew that was not how they would enjoy his creation. He needed to add something into their world that would satisfy them.
Faith
“ faith” is a powerful word. When we think of the word “faith”, we imagine someone with very strong conviction that something is true. We don’t think of someone with a strong faith that something is true, but rather that something will happen if they believe it.
Faith is not easy to gain. It isn’t a belief that happens in your mind and then you understand what it means and believe it. It isn’t a feeling that comes into your heart and you believe it. It is an attitude that says, “I believe this thing is true and I will use my resources to find out if it’s true.”
Faith was created by God when He gave His people mustard seed-sized ideas and deeds to move them along the path He wanted them to walk. Your faith can be as small as the size of one idea or action, or as large as the size of one movement, manifestation, or faith covering event.
Goodness
A good name is call to righteous fame. God desires a good name and character for everyone, even you!
You can have a good name that matches your lifestyle. A character that matches your personality. A lifestyle that matches your goals.
Your God doesn’t want you to have a good name only in your mind, but in reality, he does want a good name and character for you.
A godly name may be the first thing people know about you, how you say your personaloro, and what meaning it has. A godly personaloro can be what makes you unique and sets you apart from the rest of the world.
A godly personalorp may be what people say about you when they meet you and how they feel aboutyou after hearing nothing but positive things aboutyou.
Virtue
The fourth and final type of God-desired action is virtue, or doing what is right and just. This includes being patient, loving, faithful, resilient, and selfless.
When a person does virtue, he or she exercises good moral character in society. It can be measured by other people, but more specifically by others’ feelings about him or her.
Individuals who do virtue are often very moral because of the pleasure they receive from it. They feel good when they bequeath good things to others and when they themselves are properly moral themselves.
In order for someone to gain happiness and satisfaction in life, they must do what is right and just at times. For instance, if someone commits a crime, they must go to jail in order for the police to arrest them and for the court to sentence them to jail.
They must also suffer from what they have done while in jail because of their personal morality.
Measured actions
We can create a culture that values self-worth and excellence at the same time. We can build communities that encourage and support each other in every aspect of life.
But we must if we want God to give us what he desires for us. He wants what he wants for us, and we must let him know we value his leadership by following his directions.
The way we measure ourselves will determine the way we respond to him. If our self-worth is low, then we will look for ways to increase my confidence and feel better about myself by doing things that make me feel good.
Obedience
When we ask God to do something, we should understand what He desire for us in that situation. If we are going through a difficult time in our lives, we should ask Him to grant us his peace during this time.
When we obey God, He gives us His blessing. When we sin, He penalizes us with His wrath. But when we obey God, He gives us His righteousness and joy.
We must have faith in order to receive the blessing of God.