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Blank mind, blank heart, blank sheet – aka FAITH. 😉 Or in other words, our faith may have no other basis than……….the power of God, as our friend and brother Paul said here,

“And I, when I came to you, brothers,1 did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:1-5 ESV)

How do we get there?

To be honest, simply by being stripped off from everything which is not from God. Indeed, a painful experience for the flesh that suffers when God’s Spirit cuts away any effort of the Old Adam and Eve to DO something for God or at least to HAVE something in themselves to get in touch with God. His divine fire burns incessantly in the hearts of those who should learn to primarily trust in God and not in themselves, until all self-will and false (spiritual) strength of fallen human nature has died.

Jesus’ disciples faced the same problems we face today when we wonder whether we have true faith or not. Yet our Lord made it clear where our faith should come from, for it is written,

“One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?”” (Lk 8:22-25 ESV)

Why asked Jesus where their faith was? Not that He really wanted to hear a response, I guess. Instead, it seems that He wanted to make them aware of the fact that there was a lack of faith inside them and thus He displayed where the power to believe springs from……….only from Him who calmed the wind and the water!
We might also think of the situation where Jesus simply said to the worried ruler of the synagogue,

“Do not fear, only believe.” (Mk 5:36)

Beforehand that man had to realize that his daughter had died. However, there might have been a tiny mustard seed of hope in the midst of his pain and struggles that caused him to further “trouble” Jesus until Jesus saw his need, spoke, and acted. And THEN, the miracle happened. Not before. Actually, what would have happened if the ruler of the synagogue had not left his house and bothered Jesus? Although the ruler’s daughter had been dead, her body could not resist the resurrection power of Jesus’ touch and words because her father had left his house, the center of his former old life, and had been searching for the only ONE who could help him. Don’t we all admire the power of God in Jesus?

“Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.” (Mk 5:41-42 ESV)

We should go and seek Him who gives us genuine faith instead of “sitting at home” and watching all things perish that are visible to the eye. We ought to leave our old life and human thought patterns behind and trust in Him whose paths are not yet known to us. May God help us all to do so.

In closing, I’d like to add another quote from one of Oswald Chambers’s daily devotionals that offers a short glance at the things that eventually spring from true faith.

There are areas in our lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.

If you like, read more here http://utmost.org/the-faith-to-persevere/

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Eph 4:11-14 ESV)