My Faith, Your Faith

My Faith, Your Faith

Some days I believe so much that I can feel the ligh bursting forth from every pore of my being. I'm radiant, and I know without a doubt that I was born to love and to worship our Father in Heaven. No question, no doubt. No feeling that this will ever end in my heart.

...and then other days, I feel blah. Like today. I got up at 4:30 to spend 45-minutes on the recumbent bike (I'm in cutting mode now). My fingers feel too heavy to type. I have to make myself believe. Make myself want to believe. I look at my bible and think, "I'm too tired right now, I'm not in good heart."

Share with me, brothers and sisters...how do you increase your faith and maintain it on the days that you might feel "blah"?

:confused:
 
Some days I believe so much that I can feel the ligh bursting forth from every pore of my being. I'm radiant, and I know without a doubt that I was born to love and to worship our Father in Heaven. No question, no doubt. No feeling that this will ever end in my heart.

...and then other days, I feel blah. Like today. I got up at 4:30 to spend 45-minutes on the recumbent bike (I'm in cutting mode now). My fingers feel too heavy to type. I have to make myself believe. Make myself want to believe. I look at my bible and think, "I'm too tired right now, I'm not in good heart."

Share with me, brothers and sisters...how do you increase your faith and maintain it on the days that you might feel "blah"?

:confused:
Music.
 
Some days I believe so much that I can feel the ligh bursting forth from every pore of my being. I'm radiant, and I know without a doubt that I was born to love and to worship our Father in Heaven. No question, no doubt. No feeling that this will ever end in my heart.

...and then other days, I feel blah. Like today. I got up at 4:30 to spend 45-minutes on the recumbent bike (I'm in cutting mode now). My fingers feel too heavy to type. I have to make myself believe. Make myself want to believe. I look at my bible and think, "I'm too tired right now, I'm not in good heart."

Share with me, brothers and sisters...how do you increase your faith and maintain it on the days that you might feel "blah"?

:confused:

The days you do not feel it but you walk in complete trust anyway are the days your faith is growing the most- selah.

An anointed book and/or worship bring my heart to the place where it is ready to receive and partake of my Father's goodness.:)
 
Praise Him. And not just "Praise You, Lord!" or "Bless You, Lord!" But get down to the nitty gritty and describe to Him just what makes Him praiseworthy. Sometimes I have to stretch a bit, :confused:sometimes I just dont feel like it! :mad: But if I keep at it, the next thing I know, my heart is lighter, my face is lighter, the burden has come off my shoulders. And praise music helps, too.:groupray:
 
I pour my heart out about why I'm not feeling so chipper. If I have something against someone, I talk it over with God. If I'm angry at Him for some reason, I tell Him so. I yell in my heart at God, at others, and at myself. I'll rant and rave for a while until ultimately He brings me around to the point where I'm able to see Him, others, and myself in the light of His pure love and realize and acknowledge the truth of the matter, which usually turns out to be some sin of my own doing. It looks something like Robert Duvall's performance in The Apostle when he's arguing with God in his mother's house late at night.
 
I have those issues all the time. I just have to remember that my emotions don't dictate my salvation. In other words, when I feel like I am about to go super nova in my love for my Heavenly Father I am no more or less saved than when I feel like I am a cold burned out peice of coal. But what do I use? Times when I cannot bear to read the Bible, I usually throw in a CD or tune to KLOVE and feed off of the excitement of whoever is singing. That usually builds me back up. Music is a powerful tool of worship.

A funny thing happened to me once, though. I was feeling all washed up and faithless one morning. Nothing I could do would help me out of this short-lived depression. I spoke up and told God that I'll worship him with what little faith I had. I astually got a somewhat verbal response. He said, "I know." What I am trying to say is when we feel less of God's presense, it usually means he's closer than we think. Casting Crowns' East is from the West was playing that morning. That song still cuts to my heart.
 
I have inexperienced some great moves of God when I felt my most helpless and at my lowest. All glory to Him.
 
Whirlwind-
If you persevere during these dry times, you will be blessed with an even stronger faith. Remember that you can't manufacture faith-- it is a gift from God.

I second the recommendation about music, also. If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll direct you to some beautiful music that I can guarantee will lift your soul. :)
 
It's strange...just the other week I was talking about how I was driving down the road singing at the top of my lungs about Christ with a song on the radio...when I just burst out in hot, hot tears! They burned, these tears did. The holy spirit touched me and it was so soft and warm, like melting wax, that I trembled inside and cried tears in joy. My friend asked me if I was okay - because I was shivering and crying and singing out for God's glory all at the same time.

Then the dry spell. Where was He? I prayed. I gave. I helped. I sang. I hiked. I spent quiet time.

Now I'm sick with something (doctors don't know what, I had a CAT scan yesterday). And oh!...there He is again!

He was right there all along!:D
 
Pretend

I think you already got your answer, Whirlwind, but I just wanted to let you know what I did last night when I was feeling empty. I just pretended that I knew He still loved me. I pretended that I was worthy, even though I didn't feel like it. And you know what, I believed it. Pretending made it so, not because it wasn't so, but because I talked myself into believing it. I slept peacefully. Whether this was right, or wrong, it worked. Bonnie
 
It's strange...when everything is fine, I start to get leary. Suspicious, even. It feels like the soda pop of my life has gone flat.

But shake things up with either good celebration for the Lord or bad troubles when I really need Him in my life, and I recognize that He's there all the time, whether I sense His Presence or not.

He is my Master, I was thinking last night in my meditations. My Strength. My Love. He is my King, my God, my Lord, my Savior. There's none higher than Him.

Thanks for the ideas, Bonnie, Bo, Sandusky, Pollo, dermasse, Fluffy, everybody.

It's just that sometimes, the world beats me down. Like when I hear stories on the news about babies in dumpsters. Or when I hear about kids stabbing each other or shooting each other. When my nephew calls me, drunk, asking me for money right after he just finished blowing his $12,000 trust fund. When my aunt is so full of bitterness that she can turn a beautiful gift into something negative. Those things, one after another, can really beat a guy down, ya know?

But God is constant. He is the Living God. It takes some work on my part, I know, but He can blow the old crust off of me and make me new again with hope and faith.

There's a way to do it...and I can learn with a little help from my brothers and sisters in Christ. :)
 
That's another thing that would help, yeah!:)

Once in a looooooooong while they'll show you a story that really makes you feel good about yourself and other people. But that's once in a looooong while.

Any other time, it's shootings this, burglaries that, so-and-so's house burned down, this star has this disease, and so on.

Pffft! Find more good stories, please? Hee hee.:p No wonder nobody out there in newsland knows how to behave. When they misbehave, it's all over the news!:D

Show me more about the sports team that carried one of the opposing team's players around to each base when she wasn't able to walk anymore. Show me more about the anonymous giver who donated his winning McD's Monolopy game piece to St. Jude's hospital. I love those kinds of stories! :)
 
Whenever I felt "blah" I would call my pastor or another friend from church and talk. That's what church family are there for to help lift us up and remember that even if we don't feel him there he is there. Other times I would just cried out to him kinda like Mordecai in Ester, though I didn't tear my clothes in anguish....I find myself talking to God more when I am in that blah state or when someone I care about is in that blah state.
 
There are times I cannot stop believing in God no matter what. I can feel is power. But at times when there is no reason to stop believing, then I have to want to believe. I can't control it but I know God is taking care of me. I usually listen to music to get through those periods of time.
 
Sometimes when I'm feeling dry or that God is no where to be seen I just let the day progress and roll with it. I find it usually passes by the next day. If it hasn't I then start to seek God in earnest. I've learnt over the years that we are emotional beings and there are some days that are just simply a drag. I have also learnt that God is always there and that no matter what I'm feeling (dry or high) I can still touch Him with prayer.:)
 
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