Just Have Faith

I've been setting intentions, naming it and claiming it, visualizing and speaking positive things into my life, but one thing I truly lacked was an understanding of faith. I've always seen faith as a muscle - one that needed to be exercised in order to be effective. Superstitiously believing that I should be careful what I asked for because...I just might get it. Ask for more patience - get more trouble; ask for more strength - get more adversity; ask for more power - get more work. I already had enough on my plate. So you can understand how even though I wanted to have more faith, something inside resisted it. After all, who wants more challenges, pain and difficulties in their lives? We're living through an era where we can't afford to hear any more bad news. Job losses are at an all time high. Businesses that have been around for decades are closing their doors. The divorce rate is high, the cost of education is skyrocketing, and the cost of living is out of control. Good, honest, hard working people are loosing their homes. People everywhere are wondering, "what happened to the American dream?" So, I definitely wasn't going to ask for any more trouble.

So my thinking was, ask for more faith - get more tests. And God knows that I've already had plenty of that. So here's a challenge - instead of asking for more faith, why not use the little faith you have? You don't need much faith to move mountains. It only takes a little to do the trick. It struck me all of sudden that I've been thinking about this thing all wrong. Having faith isn't some mystical thing that only those with superior spirituality have. It's not complicated at all. That is why the people with the most faith are children. They don't complicate matters - they just believe. Using your faith isn't difficult at all - especially when you understand what faith really is. Instead of asking for more faith, try exercising the faith you already have - so that it will grow. What is faith?

It is the substance of the very things you hoped for.

The things that you are hoping for, setting intentions about, dreaming and wishing for; the things that you are writing vision statements about and setting goals to achieve all have substance. This substance already exists. Otherwise, your mind couldn't have conceived it. Our creative minds have locked into a vision of what we will be or what we will have because it already exists. I believe that everything you need was placed inside of you on the day you were born. Through the course of our lives, we grow from experiences and challenges; we come in contact with others that help to make us who we are. However, we have everything we will ever need to accomplish our God-given vision. So your goal to own your own business has substance that is already inside of you. Your dream of becoming a great artist, activist, chef, doctor, lawyer, business person, minister or great leader, has substance that is already inside of you. Once you have a burning desire in your heart, you already have the substance required to manifest your dreams. What is faith?

It is the evidence of things that you don't see.

The challenge we face on a daily basis is that we just can't see the things that we are hoping for with human eyes. Prior to the 17th century, when Anthony Leeuwenhoek improved the microscope, no one had ever seen bacteria and tiny animals swimming around in a droplet of water. Obviously, just because we can't see microscopic germs doesn't mean they are not there. Just because our dream hasn't manifested, doesn't mean they are not real. It takes everything we have to stay focused. It's so easy to give up hope, get lax in our pursuit of the dream or to get side tracked because the thing we desire isn't yet visible.

Don't get discouraged. Even though you don't see it - it's there. Just because we don't yet have the evidence, doesn't negate its existence. Just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it's not real. But if we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it exists in spite of what we see; then we can diligently pursue it. If we look for the evidence, we are likely to find exactly what we're looking for. If we look for the evidence, we will have more and more opportunities to discover clues that lead us to its manifestation. If we pursue the evidence, we will spend more time seeing the things that are in alignment with that evidence. If we become investigators, we will follow the trail that leads directly to the evidence and the manifestation of our dream. What is faith?

It is belief in the invisible.

What is seen was not made out of what is visible. What a powerful statement. Let me say it this way: what we SEE now was made from something INVISIBLE. So, if you think about it, everything that we see today began with an invisible thought in someone's mind. God created the world from a thought. Man invented trains, planes and automobiles from a thought. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream that manifested itself in the likes of President Barak Obama. Jim Carey wrote out and carried around a seven digit check because he had a dream of being compensated for acting services rendered - the multi-million dollars came to pass in the form of compensation for a movie entitled "Dumb and Dumber." All success starts with belief in an invisible dream.

All the amazing accomplishments and wonderful things that we see today were made out of something that was once invisible. The fact that your dream has not yet manifested doesn't mean it isn't possible. It just means that it is invisible to the naked eye. You need the microscope of faith in order to see your dreams for what they are. You have got to understand that your future is made out of things you can't see right now.

There are many reasons why some things can't be seen. Maybe it's not the right time or place. Maybe you're not ready. Maybe the people who are to be served by what you have to offer are not ready. Maybe like Martin Luther King, it's waiting on the beneficiary of the dream to come. Who knows why your dream hasn't manifested yet? But the fact that you have the burning desire, tells me that the dream has substance, has a trail of evidence and will be made visible when the time is right.

Everything we see today was once invisible. Your dream, though invisible today will be manifested. Just have faith!