Do you believe actually everything you read or hear? Do you trust what the Washington Post prints about anything? Do you turn to CNN for the whole truth about any happenings in Congress? Do you listen to your heart and trust it is leading you the right way? I sure hope not.
It is vital that we place our trust in the proper place in order to survive in this world of deception. It pays to make sure before committing something as important as your soul to a promise. Even then, we can fool ourselves and assume that because we nodded in assent or believed the Christmas stories and the Easter stories that all is OK. If our hearts are deceitful and they are and do have a vested interest, we will hear fake news from ourselves. There is an objective source we can compare our thoughts, desires and motives to in order to discern truth from error. If we give ourselves to the Word of God we can know our selves and understand the difference between the natural which is like an octopus with it's tentacles intertwined all around our soul and the supernatural. God's word is capable of cutting the natural apart from the supernatural and giving freedom from the fake influence of the world's news.
There are ways to check it out and see if your faith is real or if it is directed to the right place. It doesn't take any faith to stand in the middle of your yard and have no fear that you are going to fall into the sky. Nor, does it take faith to see day coming after night disappears. You don't have to think about it or know how gravity works or the speed of light or any of the laws in place to keep your feet on the ground and the world spinning.
It does take some knowing to make faith work, but faith is more than mentally assenting to facts. Faith is personal just as love is personal and it affects you. First off, Romans 10:17 says that 'faith comes by hearing the Word of God' because there are facts you need to know and understand in order to develop faith. Second, this faith has to be in the right place for it to make a difference. You can have faith in yourself to be able to walk off the top a 20 story building to cross the street and the ambulance will be picking you up shortly off the pavement below. That is a picture of misplaced faith. Real faith is placed in God and acknowledges God and yearns to know Him. Hebrews 11:6 says God rewards real faith and real faith pleases God. Thirdly, as love is active, faith is active as James 2:26 says and productive and results in good works. Your faith gives evidence in your life by so trusting God that you want to submit to His authority and follow His principles and do good stuff.
You can know if your faith is alive and well. God already knows and will give it a test to let you know how vibrant it is. Testing goes with the territory. There is one more important thing to consider regarding faith. If you have doubts about something in your life or a decision you are making, please don't continue until you have made every effort to get confirmation from the Lord. Romans 14:23 warns us that whatever is NOT from faith is sin. We do have a responsibility that faith has given us.
I am sorry that this went on so long, so many words and no pictures and I feel is still inadequate.
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