Faith : The Substance of Things Hoped For – Part 1

The term faith tends to conjure up connotations that are religious or at the very least esoteric in nature. While I personally profess faith in God – the Omnipotent Being to which we must yield and from which we can draw incredible strength, I also recognize that faith is rooted in sound physiological and psychological facts. Faith can easily be understood through the law of belief, which states that whatever you believe with feeling becomes your reality.

Believe It, Achieve It!

People of faith are those who have determined that they have the ability to accomplish things that others thought were impossible or at best, extremely difficult. They set goals, not based on what they have done, but on what they ultimately want to achieve. They don’t allow themselves to be bogged down by their current standing in life, but are buoyed by the possibilities that the future holds for them. Conversely, those who lack faith set goals based on what they can see, what is apparent and on what they think is realistic.

Norman Vincent Peal certainly got it right when he declared “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” William James of Harvard also chimes in on the subject, stating that “your belief becomes your reality.” This is not to suggest that simply by expressing a belief that your goals are achievable , they will be realized. I wish it were as simple as that, but it’s not. Our faith must be backed up by action. Faith without works is dead. The wonderful news is that faith generates in you an attitude of confident expectation, thus ensuring that you act in a manner consistent with achieving your goals.

Believing is Seeing

The bible defines faith as the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I understand that to mean that your faith is the essence, the proof, and the outward expression of your hopes, dreams and aspirations. I know that this directly contradicts the notion that seeing is believing. The more successful ones among us know that the opposite is true: Believing is seeing. The Good Book goes on to say “According to your faith be it unto you.” In other words, if you truly believe that you were meant to achieve great success in life, despite the inevitable obstacles you will face, you will keep pushing towards your goals.

You are Designed for Success

We are all born with the ability to surmount any challenge we may face. Human beings are destined to win. We are all designed for success, but over time, largely because of a lack of faith in our abilities, many of us have allowed ourselves to become programmed and conditioned for failure. Success requires that we prevent doubt, an absence of faith, from seeping into our mind because it neutralizes our power to achieve our goals.
Consider the words of this little ditty:

Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day

Doubt dreads to take a step
Faith soars on high

Doubt questions who believes
Faith answers I

Doubt comes about because of our self-limiting beliefs. These are probably the biggest roadblocks that we all have to overcome on our success journey. Your self-limiting belief exerts an enormous influence on the goals you set and the effort you make to achieve them. In fact, they often hold you back by preventing you from even trying.
You may feel that your intelligence is somewhat limited because as a student you received mediocre grades. You may feel that you are not cut out to be a business person because someone you thought to be more capable than you failed at business. It doesn’t matter what it is, the fact is that if you believe it, then it will certainly be true for you. As Henry Ford once said “If you believe you can do a thing or if you believe you cannot, in either case, you’re right.”
If you take the time to examine your self-limiting beliefs, you will note that none of them contain a shred of truth. After years of negative programming you have come to accept them as truths. In the next issue we will discuss how you can build a strong, healthy belief system and begin to live your life as a person of faith.

Keep on Pushing!