What is the meaning of faith?
When we have a problem the first person we turn to is ourselves. We face up to the issues and try to find a solution. For the most, this is normally sufficient and we create independence by sorting out our own problems. It also helps in building self confidence and self esteem.
If a solution doesn’t come forth through our own efforts then we normally turn to friends, family or a professional; an expert in the field in which our problem lies. Two heads are better than one so the saying goes, and particular with regards to the expert, their wealth of experience will usually guide us in the direction we need to go.
There are times though when despite our best efforts, despite the efforts of others, an answer to our problem doesn’t seem to be readily available. For every problem there is a solution but when it just doesn’t seem obvious “who are we gonna call?”
God.
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But when we have a deep rooted faith, God becomes our strength. We can face up to any challenge if we believe and trust that God will see us through.
So in the event of a crisis we have three levels at which we operate.
1. We look for the answers ourselves. We do a bit of research and apply the grey matter a little bit harder and if that fails we revert to plan 2.
2. We ask somebody. Hopefully there is an answer out there amongst the people we know.
3. Plan 3 is to ask God. By having faith, asking God for his help and being patient, the answer will come.
So what happens to those non-believers? What do they do when they get to level 3. Emotions normally take over. Panic and quite often depression, and when anybody gets to this state it can be a downward spiral. When negative emotions cloud thinking the problem becomes the sole focus of attention, blinkering any thoughts of a solution.
I once had a boss who would say to me “don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions”. Easier to do when God walks by our side and we can think positive thoughts. Nowhere near so easy when negative thoughts run through the mind.
When we have the joy of knowing Gods love, when we have absolute faith in God helping us to find the answers, we think positively and the solutions surely emerge.
Perhaps I should have added another level between 2 and 3. “If all else fails read the instructions”. The bible.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Showing posts with label self confidence techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self confidence techniques. Show all posts
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Losing Faith in God
What is the meaning of faith?
I’ve lost my faith in God.
Why didn’t God help me?
I really don’t believe that he will save me.
Although people may not out rightly say these phrases, very often their dejected words and actions prove evidence that this is what is going on in their minds. Through times of strife they appear to lose all faith in God.
I once had a friend who was extremely successful. He had a fantastic career, a loving wife and family and a great circle of friends. His faith in God was strong; or so he thought.
One day this friend had a major disagreement with his bosses at work and ended up quitting his job. About the same time some of his friends emigrated to different parts of the world. His mood deepened and as he fell into depression his wife struggled to cope with the situation and finally left him.
I could see the troubled questions going through his mind.
What’s happening to me?
Why does God give me all these troubles?
Shouldn’t God have mercy?
Maybe there is no God?
Now at rock bottom, he firmly believed that his faith in God was lost. He stopped thinking about faith and just tried to live his life as best as he could.
A few years later, he found another job and made great progress, re-establishing a career. Some of those friends that had travelled abroad returned home, preferring the British way of life. He re-built a good relationship with another women and life became as wonderful as he had previous known. As the good life returned, so did my friends faith in God. He believed that his faith had been restored.
The truth is that his faith in God hadn’t been restored because he had never lost it. In fact he had never had a faith in God, just a faith in his life’s conditions.
Why did he lose his faith?
When life was good and full of happiness he trusted in this life style. Psychologically he believed it would last forever. In the stock market world, when the price of a stock goes up, investors believe the price will go up forever in complete ignorance of what economics are actually telling them. The price of that stock becomes exaggerated. Reality then sets in when the price of the stock starts to fall. It is then assumed that the price will continue to fall forever and that stock is sold cheaply. Here we can label the economy as being “faith in God” whilst the direction of the stock price can be called “faith in a lifestyle”.
My friend, when life turned bad asked the question,
Where is God?
His faith was never in God but in his work, his family and his friends. When he lost them, he lost his faith.
When we are at our lowest ebb, this is when God is truly by our side. For those of us who absolutely believe in God, this is when our faith is strongest. We do not have a “fair weather” faith in God. Inevitably we find a path through our troubles and strife thus proving God will always be there for us. This is absolute faith which provides such hope, inspiration and optimism for us all.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
I’ve lost my faith in God.
Why didn’t God help me?
I really don’t believe that he will save me.
Although people may not out rightly say these phrases, very often their dejected words and actions prove evidence that this is what is going on in their minds. Through times of strife they appear to lose all faith in God.
I once had a friend who was extremely successful. He had a fantastic career, a loving wife and family and a great circle of friends. His faith in God was strong; or so he thought.
One day this friend had a major disagreement with his bosses at work and ended up quitting his job. About the same time some of his friends emigrated to different parts of the world. His mood deepened and as he fell into depression his wife struggled to cope with the situation and finally left him.
I could see the troubled questions going through his mind.
What’s happening to me?
Why does God give me all these troubles?
Shouldn’t God have mercy?
Maybe there is no God?
Now at rock bottom, he firmly believed that his faith in God was lost. He stopped thinking about faith and just tried to live his life as best as he could.
A few years later, he found another job and made great progress, re-establishing a career. Some of those friends that had travelled abroad returned home, preferring the British way of life. He re-built a good relationship with another women and life became as wonderful as he had previous known. As the good life returned, so did my friends faith in God. He believed that his faith had been restored.
The truth is that his faith in God hadn’t been restored because he had never lost it. In fact he had never had a faith in God, just a faith in his life’s conditions.
Why did he lose his faith?
When life was good and full of happiness he trusted in this life style. Psychologically he believed it would last forever. In the stock market world, when the price of a stock goes up, investors believe the price will go up forever in complete ignorance of what economics are actually telling them. The price of that stock becomes exaggerated. Reality then sets in when the price of the stock starts to fall. It is then assumed that the price will continue to fall forever and that stock is sold cheaply. Here we can label the economy as being “faith in God” whilst the direction of the stock price can be called “faith in a lifestyle”.
My friend, when life turned bad asked the question,
Where is God?
His faith was never in God but in his work, his family and his friends. When he lost them, he lost his faith.
When we are at our lowest ebb, this is when God is truly by our side. For those of us who absolutely believe in God, this is when our faith is strongest. We do not have a “fair weather” faith in God. Inevitably we find a path through our troubles and strife thus proving God will always be there for us. This is absolute faith which provides such hope, inspiration and optimism for us all.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Saturday, 14 November 2009
The Faith of Children
What is the meaning of faith?
On occasions our faith can be in need of strengthening. Life has a habit of sometimes throwing doubt at us when things don’t quite go as smoothly as we would like.
So where can we gain our inspiration from?
Where can we turn to regain that absolute faith that we have so relied on before?
The answer is quite simply all around us. For a start Gods creation is wonderfully inspiring. Despite the scientist great efforts to explain the origins of the universe, there are always more questions than answers and one can only conclude that some kind of super force is the creator of our world and the planets and stars beyond.
But just by purely observing nature we can see how creatures rely on faith to progress. Imagine being a chick in a birds nest. Eventually, one day that chick will have to flee the comforts of that nest to make its own way in the world. But first it must learn to fly.
But how does a bird learn to fly?
It’s not exactly one of those skills that can be practiced before hand. That chick has to take one almighty leap of faith and jump. Instantaneously that chick becomes a fully fledged bird with the instinct to fly.
Mother Nature provides many other instances of faith, but we can also see this happening naturally in our own children.
My son Charlie was up on his feet quite early; about seven months. He practically skipped the crawling stage. However once he was on his feet he would hold on to every piece of furniture to guide himself around the room. This he did for about another nine months until one day we were sitting on the patio at my parents’ house. My wife and I were sitting on one side on a concrete bench linked to the patio table and my mum and dad were sitting on a wooden bench on the other side of the patio. Charlie was eager for his grandparents’ attention and was stretching out for them to come and get him. I made to take him over to them but after a couple of steps I let go of his hand. He was left stranded in the middle of the patio.
What should he do?
For a second we could see the bemusement on his face. But he looked at my mum and dad and then went for it. His faith became instantaneous as he toddled over to nanny. From that point on there was no stopping him. His faith had provided him with a new found confidence and freedom.
We can see this faith and self confidence naturally and unquestioning in children.
But what happens to us as we grow older and our faith tends to weaken?
With life’s many ups and downs, the downsides can test our faith and self confidence if we let it. But if we take the trouble and time to look around us we can see the miracles of God all the time, and we should easily be able to recall the many times that God has helped us in our lives.
In children faith is unquestioned. They don’t think about it, they just practice it, even if they are unaware of it. This is how our faith in God should be; unquestionable.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
On occasions our faith can be in need of strengthening. Life has a habit of sometimes throwing doubt at us when things don’t quite go as smoothly as we would like.
So where can we gain our inspiration from?
Where can we turn to regain that absolute faith that we have so relied on before?
The answer is quite simply all around us. For a start Gods creation is wonderfully inspiring. Despite the scientist great efforts to explain the origins of the universe, there are always more questions than answers and one can only conclude that some kind of super force is the creator of our world and the planets and stars beyond.
But just by purely observing nature we can see how creatures rely on faith to progress. Imagine being a chick in a birds nest. Eventually, one day that chick will have to flee the comforts of that nest to make its own way in the world. But first it must learn to fly.
But how does a bird learn to fly?
It’s not exactly one of those skills that can be practiced before hand. That chick has to take one almighty leap of faith and jump. Instantaneously that chick becomes a fully fledged bird with the instinct to fly.
Mother Nature provides many other instances of faith, but we can also see this happening naturally in our own children.
My son Charlie was up on his feet quite early; about seven months. He practically skipped the crawling stage. However once he was on his feet he would hold on to every piece of furniture to guide himself around the room. This he did for about another nine months until one day we were sitting on the patio at my parents’ house. My wife and I were sitting on one side on a concrete bench linked to the patio table and my mum and dad were sitting on a wooden bench on the other side of the patio. Charlie was eager for his grandparents’ attention and was stretching out for them to come and get him. I made to take him over to them but after a couple of steps I let go of his hand. He was left stranded in the middle of the patio.
What should he do?
For a second we could see the bemusement on his face. But he looked at my mum and dad and then went for it. His faith became instantaneous as he toddled over to nanny. From that point on there was no stopping him. His faith had provided him with a new found confidence and freedom.
We can see this faith and self confidence naturally and unquestioning in children.
But what happens to us as we grow older and our faith tends to weaken?
With life’s many ups and downs, the downsides can test our faith and self confidence if we let it. But if we take the trouble and time to look around us we can see the miracles of God all the time, and we should easily be able to recall the many times that God has helped us in our lives.
In children faith is unquestioned. They don’t think about it, they just practice it, even if they are unaware of it. This is how our faith in God should be; unquestionable.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
www.whatisthemeaningoffaith.com
www.cryinthedark.org
Monday, 22 December 2008
How Our Beliefs Can Provide Self Confidence and a Better Life
Self confidence derives from a belief in ourselves and our belief systems. But what are the things that we believe in that give us self confidence and hope?
For some, it is enough to believe in our own abilities, confident that we can find our way over any obstacle and drive on down the road to success. Many more draw comfort from their faiths and religion.
What follows next is not in any way intended to offend but to provide thought and debate. These are my thoughts which have been banded about among friends and I encourage anybody to comment and provide their own thoughts.
I attend church and am actively involved by helping with communion and occasionally conducting readings. I consider myself to be Christian, trying to live my life according to a code of morals that I believe most devout followers of all the main religions would follow too.
Yet there are some elements of the old testament that I struggle to get my head around. The idea that God has created us in his own image fails to resonate with me. I truly believe that a greater force has created us but in his own likeness?
It is easy for me to understand a greater power, our creator. If the big bang theory is to be believed, ie. the whole universe was created by a massive nuclear explosion generated from one single atom, well who or what put that atom there in the first place?
I also struggle to see how the world was created in seven days (six really, as on the seventh day God put his feet up). I have heard it said that each day represents a period of time in the earth’s massive history. One day equals so many millions or billions of years. Yet other Christian religions follow the bible word for word. Where does the truth lie?
Does it really matter?
The fact is that a belief in any religion gives us strength, it gives us hope and it gives us a set of rules by which to lead our lives upon. If we gain self confidence and a belief that we can succeed and rise above all uncertainties and yet still remain true to ourselves, religion must be a good thing mustn’t it?
I feel the danger comes from believing that our religion is right and true above all others. Then it can lead to fundamentalism. The belief that everybody should believe exactly what we believe and condemn those that don’t is surely a recipe for trouble.
In the small town where I live I am proud of the Churches Together initiative. Like minded people gather and talk freely together and work for the benefit of the community. Yet we are free to believe the way in which we want to believe. I don’t proclaim to know much about every main religion but if we all have a belief and a set of moral guidelines on which to follow, there is no reason on earth why we all cannot live in peace with each other.
These are some of my beliefs, beliefs that give me the self confidence and the desire to drive forward on a journey through life that provides success and immense satisfaction. I remember my grandmother saying in her last days.
“I’ve lived a great life and I’m ready to go now”
My intention is to be able to say exactly the same. Through my beliefs, self confidence and energy, I know I will.
Terry Norrington
www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#terryn1
http://www.getselfconfident.com/
For some, it is enough to believe in our own abilities, confident that we can find our way over any obstacle and drive on down the road to success. Many more draw comfort from their faiths and religion.
What follows next is not in any way intended to offend but to provide thought and debate. These are my thoughts which have been banded about among friends and I encourage anybody to comment and provide their own thoughts.
I attend church and am actively involved by helping with communion and occasionally conducting readings. I consider myself to be Christian, trying to live my life according to a code of morals that I believe most devout followers of all the main religions would follow too.
Yet there are some elements of the old testament that I struggle to get my head around. The idea that God has created us in his own image fails to resonate with me. I truly believe that a greater force has created us but in his own likeness?
It is easy for me to understand a greater power, our creator. If the big bang theory is to be believed, ie. the whole universe was created by a massive nuclear explosion generated from one single atom, well who or what put that atom there in the first place?
I also struggle to see how the world was created in seven days (six really, as on the seventh day God put his feet up). I have heard it said that each day represents a period of time in the earth’s massive history. One day equals so many millions or billions of years. Yet other Christian religions follow the bible word for word. Where does the truth lie?
Does it really matter?
The fact is that a belief in any religion gives us strength, it gives us hope and it gives us a set of rules by which to lead our lives upon. If we gain self confidence and a belief that we can succeed and rise above all uncertainties and yet still remain true to ourselves, religion must be a good thing mustn’t it?
I feel the danger comes from believing that our religion is right and true above all others. Then it can lead to fundamentalism. The belief that everybody should believe exactly what we believe and condemn those that don’t is surely a recipe for trouble.
In the small town where I live I am proud of the Churches Together initiative. Like minded people gather and talk freely together and work for the benefit of the community. Yet we are free to believe the way in which we want to believe. I don’t proclaim to know much about every main religion but if we all have a belief and a set of moral guidelines on which to follow, there is no reason on earth why we all cannot live in peace with each other.
These are some of my beliefs, beliefs that give me the self confidence and the desire to drive forward on a journey through life that provides success and immense satisfaction. I remember my grandmother saying in her last days.
“I’ve lived a great life and I’m ready to go now”
My intention is to be able to say exactly the same. Through my beliefs, self confidence and energy, I know I will.
Terry Norrington
www.whitedovebooks.co.uk/index#terryn1
http://www.getselfconfident.com/
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