What does having Faith mean?

What is Faith? How does one have it ?  How does one get it? Why is it important? There are so many differen aspects of Faith.

Let’s start with the definitions. There are many:

1. complete trust or confidence in someone or something
2. allegiance to duty or a person: loyalty  – lost Faith in the company’s president 
3.  fidelity to one’s promises – sincerity of intentions – acted in good Faith
4. belief and trust in and loyalty to G-d
5. belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion
6. firm belief in something for which there is no proof – clinging to the Faith that her missing son would one day return
7. complete trust
8. something that is believed especially with strong conviction

Abstract Concept of Faith

According to Napoleon Hill, , in Chapter 3 of his  boook, Think and Grow Rich, “Faith is the head chemist of  the mind. When it  is blended with the vibration of thought, the subconscious mind instantly picks up the vibration, translates it into its spiritual equivalent, and transmits it to Infinite Intelligence, as in the case of prayer.  Hill believes that Faith is a state of mind which may be induced, or created, by affirmation or repeated instructions to the subconsciou mind, through the principle of auto-suggestion.

Hill says the following about Faith. It is the:

• basis of all “miracles”, and all mysteries which cannot be analyzed by the rule of science.
• only known antidote for Failure.
• only known agent which will give your thoughts a spiritual nature.
• element, the chemical which, when mixed with prayer, gives one direct communication with Infinite intelligence.
•  very crucial to achieving your desires and goals

And more…

• When you apply your Faith in yourself, your Faith in your fellow man, and your Faith in God, the result is a positive course of action that when persistently followed will almost always lead to success.
• All thoughts which have been emotionalized, (given feeling), and mixed with Faith begin immediately to translate themselves into their physical equivalent or counterpart.
• Faith is the basis of all mireacles, and all mysteries which cannot be analyzed by the rules of science.

Listen to Chapter 3, Faith, Visualization of and belief in attainment of Desire of Hill’s Book to understand more about this concept as present by Hill.  Click here.

Faith in Self

Some people have Faith in themselves.  How does this happen? How do they do it? Well, it probably starts with the belief that they can set out to do what they want to accomplish and that they have the skills and abilities to make something great. If a person doesn’t possess those things, s/he mut believe that they are capable of developing them, those skills and abilities.

Believing in yourself also requires leaps of Faith every day,  for the small, victories, accomplishments and successes. The doubts will creep in and along with them, the fear   that maybe you got it all wrong.

Positive affirmations also help a lot. Saying “I believe in myself” over and over and over again, even if you don’t in the beginning, you will eventually believe it.  Things like, “I am amazing.”  “I am taking charge making incredible things happen.” “I will do this.” “I am doing this.”

Get rid of the self doubt – How?

• Stop listening to people who bring you down – Some people are convinced that everything is impossible, and they are quick to shoot down ideas. They’ll poison your mind into a state of hopelessness
• Idengify and ease your doubts – learn how to talk to yourself when your self doubt takes a turn for the wors
• Recall your successes – this might be hard, but try it. Write a list of your successes and keep it by you all the time
• Trust and love yourself – stop being your own worst enemey
• Give yourself permission to try again because you will probably feel self doubt again. We all do, but it will get easier with time and practice.

Faith in G-D, not just a religious perspective

The Faith that works best for me is having Faith in G-D and knowing that HE is there for me always, no matter what.  Others may not be there for me, and I may not be there for me, but HE will always be there.

Faith in Hebrew is the word Emunah. The 3 pillars of Emuna are:

1. Everything comes from G-D
2. Everything G-D does is for the very best
3. G-d does everything for a specific purpose

When I remember these three thoughts, then the sad, the tragic, the bad, the desperate often seem less so. 

Emunah is considered the cornerstone of Jewish belief and practice.

It is not blind faith. It is an instruction from Jewish prayers, “to know that G-d is the only G-d”. We are instructed to ‘know’ that God exists. Blind leaps of faith have nothing to do with knowledge; they are expressions of what one wishes to be true, not what is in fact necessarily true.

“Knowing in our minds that our Creator is there is the first step. However, in time and with repeated practice, Emunah can melt into the heart. After we readily acknowledge that G-D is part of our life and never leaves, we can work on developing loyalty to G-D with that knowledge and slowly begin to feel it internally. Rather than pure intellectual belief, emunah should be defined as the act of being faithful or loyal. It is the basic requirement of any healthy relationship and demands constant reinforcement.” Orit Esther Riter, author of The Daily Dose of Emunah 

“Once we know logically that God is always with us, and we have started practicing this loyalty regularly, we can now engage in everyday life with trust in Him. This feeling of trust gives us a gift of security knowing that we are in perfect hands as we are being individually directed and handled by God Himself. Therefore, we can enjoy the feeling that we are being led through life by means of a personal guide, and that there is meaning and purpose to every event that occurs.” Orit Esther Riter

No matter which way Faith works for you, let it work for you!

Have Faith! It will:

• help your life in so many ways
• get through the day
• help you succeed
• make you more positive and optimistic about the world you live in, your experiences
• bring and joy to your life.
• give meaning to your life
• help you with your purpose and just make things easier all the way around.

Good luck!!

More Resources

• Have a little faith
• Believe in yourself 
• Faith in G-D, A Jewish Perspective

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