Act like you know him

I said in my last post that I was trying to pace myself. That's hard to do with a short book that is well written and full of important stuff. I think I did well. I finished last week and have spent the days since "processing".


I was really struck by the way the author presented one who is "of little faith". So this is really a follow-up to that topic.


If, when we don't act in accordance with what we have seen God do and heard him say, the problem is that we don't have conviction sufficient to cause us to act accordingly where does that leave us? What are we to do when we find our actions and attitudes reflecting a lack of faith? We can certianly WILL ourselves to ACT a certain way in some cases but can you just WILL yourself to have more faith? If faith is made up of things like "assurance" and "conviction" (Hebrews 11:1) then there is something about it that defies our own personal decision to simply have it or to have more of it.


So chapter three left me with these questions. Can you see the relationship of your focus and your faith? Does this thought give you any clarity in your desire to be more "faithful"? Or maybe a better question is "what should we do (practically speaking) when we lack faith"?

Oligopistos anyone?

We're about two weeks away from our next meeting. I hope everyone is enjoying the current selection.

At only 152 pages it's tempting to just stay up late one night and read it straight through, but I've chosen to take it slow and really meditate on the issues raised.

It doesn't take much spiritual introspection for me to see clearly how my own anxiety, fear and reactions to the circumstances in life reflect the "oligopistos" of chapter 3.

Looking at the make-up of our group I think this probably affects us in varying degrees and I am anticipating a great discussion complete with plenty of real life examples of how the Lord has worked in each of our lives in the area of "faith".

For me personally, I've been been seeing my anxiety and worry more as faithlessness and sin rather than just obstacles to my own peace - that changes things for me. At the same time, I am realizing how dependent I am on knowing God, knowing the scriptures and flat out crying out to Him for a remedy to being "of little faith".

How about you? Have the author's thoughts on Faith affected you these past couple of weeks?