What Is Faith?

SAT., MAR. 18, 1995, 7:15 AM
FARM, STUDY

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So said My servant Paul these many years ago. Is this still a good description? What is faith for you? Is it important to have faith? Hear Me on a bright, nearly Spring morning, o son.

Faith and hope are not the same, but they are rather closely related. Hope can be an emotion, a feeling of desire for something to happen… to come to be. More fully, however, hope is a spiritual feeling, a response of your spirit to Mine. In various ways I can influence you, pointing you toward goals I would like you to embrace. Your spirit responds with hope that such will be.

Yet some of what is hoped for may seem, to your rational mind, unattainable or too far in the future. Such hopes would likely be lost if it weren’t for faith. Faith is a fundamental component of spirit. You have it in proportion to the development of your spirit. A mature spirit has faith abounding. New, just developing spirit has very limited faith. I can give it, as I give hope, but your spirit must assume it, and its capacity to do this is directly related to its state of maturity and its rate of growing. Each affects the other. Spiritual maturing is characterized by faith. Faith is essential to continuing spiritual development.

You now have faith that as you come, in a time of quiet, to a pad like this, with this pen (or a specially designated other) that you will write what you hear Me, the Holy Spirit, saying. You don’t hear an actual voice, so you can’t say that I am a resounding bass… or a mellow feminine tone. What you hear can’t be monitored or verified. You hope that what you write is actually from Me and is accurately transcribed. But if you only had hope it is unlikely that you would be here today. There is not enough verification from family and church to keep this hope alive. Faith can and will. Faith brings you here… for Teachings that flow rapidly and for those that poke along.

Still, it can be said that no one knows what I would say if I were speaking in this last decade of the 20th century. Conservatives would hold to the standard that I wouldn’t say anything counter to what is written in Scripture. After all, didn’t I inspire the writers, through hundreds of years, and didn’t I guide those who translated and those who finally determined the present canon? I did, but I, as Almighty God have allowed many changes in the earth, and some new responses from Me are needed.

I raised up prophets who said things that did not match the Scriptures of the time. Some of what these prophets said are now Holy Writ. You are not such a prophet, but I still give you words that don’t match some Scriptures, or interpretations thereof. You must have faith… accept the faith that I offer and make it your own… that you and I are One in this “action.” Continue later.

( 8:06 AM / 2:40 P )

In one sense, then faith comes from within, for I am within you, as well as outside. This has been, and continues to be a mystical experience, one like unto several of the stories in My Holy Scriptures. Throughout history I have spoken directly to people. A few have not accepted My “invitation”, but since I am outside of time and “presiding over” eternal life I often wait for a more opportune situation. Occasionally I over-estimate the faith of a person… but not often.

I certainly have led you to know that acceptance of death is a challenge to and an evidence of faith? This is especially true in your culture where there is so much official denial of the wonderful transition that death can be. You have to have faith, for the dominant messages are “do everything possible to keep the body alive” and “maybe there isn’t any continuing life.” Faith assures you that it is much more of an opening than a closing.