Acts 26:18 - To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Elohiym, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by FAITH that is in me.
I've had this rolling around in my head for some time now. Faith..and I've finally decided to unpack it. With you..now don't ya'll feel lucky! ...Please don't answer that. Also, I thought the title would be more fun if I found a verse from the Book of Acts, and I found this banger. It's about faith, in the Messiah's words, AND pack full of fun. Like the
Man Himself reaching out and lighting up the path out of darkness and did you see that Great Commission hidden in there? Well, it's there, trust me..
What is faith? Do you have it? Do you even know what it is? Is faith just a word that defines how some lukewarm spirituality is being faked in a church pew somewhere? What's a mustard seed? Now, you aren't going to get the answers to all of these questions here today. But, I did hear an interesting definition of the word "faith" recently, and it resonated, stuck, and I believe I am supposed to share it with you's guys.
I will take this moment to apologize for the harsh nature of my last few publications. I have been placed amongst a community of people. In that community, there are a few people making interesting decisions. Decisions that, I believe, my Heavenly Father has put on my heart to make an example of so some of you, that are reading, may be able to either make better decisions as a result of their poor behavior...OR..be able to identify these types of people in their natural habitat. For emotional and spiritual safety purposes of course. With all that being said, welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming. Oh! And if I haven't lost all of my readers by this episode of shenanigans ..Eddy came by to say hi yesterday! It was nice seeing him.
Back to faith. Merriam-Webster throws down a few definitions of faith like:
1.) allegiance to duty or a person - LOYALTY
2.) a. belief and trust in and loyalty to God
b. belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
3.) something that is believed especially with strong conviction
They throw in a "without question" tag, with an honorable mention of the fact that "faith" is, indeed, a verb. So we do it.
I grew up in a, religious, environment where, most people, seemed to use the word faith to describe the act they put on, for an hour or two, in a building, one day a week, that most of them wouldn't see again for 7, or more, days. This being a core memory of mine makes me kind of sad. Not wanting to become a pillar of salt(here's lookin' at you Lot's wife), we'll stay forward facing here.
Within the last week, I've had many spiritual concepts wildly flying through my mind. But, during the witnessing of some questionable behavior of my peers, I was presented with the definition, of faith, being this:
Faith is Belief, with Anticipation.
"Within the last week, I've had many spiritual concepts wildly flying through my mind."
I F#@$!^% love it! Let us unpack, shall we?
So, we laid out the definition of faith already, and to understand what I just chiseled into the stone tablet there..Lettuce(I'm not fixing the spelling here..just because you want me to) take a closer look at the two newcomers to this blog post. Belief and Anticipation. We'll start with belief. Here are just a few of the definitions from the Merriam-Webster list:
1.) something that is accepted, considered to be true, or held as an opinion - something believed
2.) conviction of the truth of some statement or the reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence
Now I quite like that last one there. Let's touch on anticipation now:
1.) the act of looking forward
2.) visualization of a future event or state
Hm, we're starting to collect some pieces to put together here and they remind.. me.. of.. something.. Oh! Here it is! Mark 9:23 - Yahusha(that guy ya'll call Jesus) said unto him, if you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes. That's a pretty big statement, some may even say promise, from a pretty important guy. That guy just happens to be what an entire, not to mention all the false ones, following, and belief system is about. Faith is starting to look like a bigger picture than I was raised to believe. As a matter of fact, Mark really liked this topic. A few chapters further we get this: Mark 11:23-24 - For amein I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I say to you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. If you didn't notice, there was some anticipation sprinkled around in there as well..and if you keep going into chapter 11, you'll notice they throw in a little intention(that could start a WHOLE new blog) and further instruction on how to properly execute our newly revived version of true faith here.
"that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be removed, and be cast into the sea"
I'm going to tie this together here really quick with my, quite simple, interpretation of what I have laid out in front of us. If the verses, the last one especially, didn't get it to you.. the faith we're talking about here, I'll call it true..or at least truer faith than I explained at the top of the page, is a belief that you believe so deeply you just know it's going to happen. Sort of like hot coffee, or a floor covered with Legos. you just know for a fact, without having to touch or step on it, that it's hot/painful. Or put how it was presented to me: Faith is equal parts Belief and Anticipation.
And to be real honest guys(and gals), I think that's wicked. Well, awesome I guess is a bett...You know what I mean! there are people out here getting healed and dramatically improving their everyday lives with stuff just like what I just dropped at your feet(slide in my DM's if that's difficult to understand). You have to remember, this is a verb, an action. Not just some word you say or chant in your head next to your bed on your knees before you snuggle into sleep at night. It's much more a lifestyle that will take some serious effort and intention to get figured out at first. Especially if you're coming from the stale-christian-styled background I did.
But for real, if it's something you'd like to understand better, it's definitely a topic I'd like to have a bigger conversation about(217recovery.com/mitchell). I believe it needs to be a bigger topic out in the open no matter who, or where, you are. The collective that's moving forward is going to do so with or without you. We are getting to where we need to go. Don't get left behind(sorry Mr. Lahaye and Jenkins).
I'm saying good evening tonight with a big let's have some real faith together. It's a heck-of-a-lot like gratitude. When done right, it'll change your whole world(and that's an understatement). Thank you everyone for coming back or for trying me out for the first time. I appreciate you all more than you know.
Bye!
- P.S. No mustard seeds were harmed in the making of this publication ;)