There's that story of invisible artworks. Collectors, claimed Canada’s CBC, are paying through the nose for the art of 27-year-old Lana Newstrom even though you cannot see any of it. “Art is about imagination, and that is what my work demands of the people interacting with it. You have to imagine a painting or sculpture is in front of you”, the artist said. Turns out it was all a hoax. No artist, no artworks, fake news.
We may make fun of those who bought into it, but it illustrates the faith principle. At the point of praying, whatever you're asking God for is invisible, immaterial. All you have is imagery. The Bible says to keep thanking God for that invisible thing. The belief you already possess it will give material form to the image in your imagination. In some sense, faith is like the Higgs field, which gives mass to particles. (That's for the science-minded)
God is very impressed when we master the principle of faith, and it has to be mastered. Without faith, you CAN'T please God. That's because there's a moral component to faith. It ultimately boils down to believing God has integrity. He keeps his promises. Even Balak, a rather notorious pastor, said that God is not a Nigerian politician. To prove his assertion, he asked a rhetorical question: "Has he ever promised and not carried it through?"
This brings to mind the story of Thomas. He was one of the earliest sceptics. He said he wouldn't believe Jesus rose from the dead until he touched him. In philosophy, this is known as materialism. Materialism is the belief nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications. So, Thomas wanted to see modifications to Jesus - the holes in his hands, the gash on the side, all sustained on the cross. Jesus told Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
If a young man believes God for a car in January, but he buys the car in December, faith says the car was actually bought in January, not December. The material manifestation just took 11 months.
We've got to develop the habit of calling those things which be not as though they were
There's that story of invisible artworks. Collectors, claimed Canada’s CBC, are paying through the nose for the art of 27-year-old Lana Newstrom even though you cannot see any of it. “Art is about imagination, and that is what my work demands of the people interacting with it. You have to imagine a painting or sculpture is in front of you”, the artist said. Turns out it was all a hoax. No artist, no artworks, fake news.
We may make fun of those who bought into it, but it illustrates the faith principle. At the point of praying, whatever you're asking God for is invisible, immaterial. All you have is imagery. The Bible says to keep thanking God for that invisible thing. The belief you already possess it will give material form to the image in your imagination. In some sense, faith is like the Higgs field, which gives mass to particles. (That's for the science-minded)
God is very impressed when we master the principle of faith, and it has to be mastered. Without faith, you CAN'T please God. That's because there's a moral component to faith. It ultimately boils down to believing God has integrity. He keeps his promises. Even Balak, a rather notorious pastor, said that God is not a Nigerian politician. To prove his assertion, he asked a rhetorical question: "Has he ever promised and not carried it through?"
This brings to mind the story of Thomas. He was one of the earliest sceptics. He said he wouldn't believe Jesus rose from the dead until he touched him. In philosophy, this is known as materialism. Materialism is the belief nothing exists except matter and its movements and modifications. So, Thomas wanted to see modifications to Jesus - the holes in his hands, the gash on the side, all sustained on the cross. Jesus told Thomas, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”
If a young man believes God for a car in January, but he buys the car in December, faith says the car was actually bought in January, not December. The material manifestation just took 11 months.
We've got to develop the habit of calling those things which be not as though they were