What is faith? — "On Earth, As It Is In Heaven"

I tell you now, it could not be more beautifully planned.

What is "faith"?

Ask, and you shall receive, a range of ambiguous answers which do not help in the effort of going beyond the realm of abstract knowledge into that of practical application. We are instructed to "have faith"... Well, I would like to, but what exactly does that mean?

How do you know if you have faith? How can you check? What are the symptoms? What does it feel like?

We don't get as much detail on that.

But, I think I have found the answer. 

Not for the first time in history, of course, just for the first time in my life. I've reached a point where I believe I can provide a sort of skeleton for the practice of having faith. Something you can check against to know if you are having faith, or are not. 

I build it for you quickly, through several key ideas.

Key #1: worry not about the future

"If the birds and the flowers are doing just fine, what are you worrying for? O ye of little faith?"

Having faith has something to do with NOT worrying about the future. Yes, this is a common intellectual understanding, but it is important to cement it for this conversation.

Key #2: worry not about the sides

Why were you afraid, Peter?

You had little faith. 

You looked around you and saw the waves, saw the storm. You looked around and saw that you had nothing to hold to. You looked around and saw nobody else who was "normal" standing beside you. You saw how far you were from the boat. You saw that you were doing the impossible.

And doubt came.

And you fell through.

Neither should we look to the future, nor should we look to the side, if we want to be in faith.

Why were you afraid? Because you looked to the side.

"Thine eye be single, and thy body shall be full of light"

Isn't it so?

Like a horse with its blinders.

We look only at loving God. Single-eyedly.

That we may be in the world, and not of it.

Key #3: worry not about the past

Our sins have been forgiven. 

"It is done", said our Captain. It is done. 

We have, already, been forgiven of our past transgressions. 

Thus, we need not worry about the past. 

We need not cringe about the past. 

We need not lash ourselves about the past. 

We need not regret about the past. 

We need not, in general, think about the past.

We can let it go. It is what it was.

We must let it be picked up and taken by the wind.

Key #4: bring out your full being

"But seek first the Kingdom of God, and all else will be added unto you."

Hm... the same Kingdom of God which is within? 

"seek"... meaning to actualize. 

To seek and to find, right? Seek and you shall find. 

So, bring forth what is within and all else will be added unto us?

To put it into what I consider reasonable different words: 

"Focus on blossoming the Kingdom of God within you, and all else will be added."

"Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."

I will list the keys:

Key #1: worry not about the future

Key #2: worry not about the sides

Key #3: worry not about the past

Key #4: bring out your full being

So, we see that, if we have faith, our mind will be clear of worry.

If we have faith, we will be focused on seeking our Kingdom of God within, seeking to fulfill and accomplish our divine drive. 

And the higher we go, the higher we can seek. 

If we have the faith that Jesus asks us to have, we shall be always in the zone of proximal development.

a.k.a. "in the flow"

a.k.a. "in the present"

See?

Here's the answer:

To have faith is to live in the moment.

That is how you know.

To have faith is to live life "on the edge". 

To live standing on the water.

It is to live life on Plan A.

Jesus invites us to live a life where we are ALWAYS in the zone. 

Can you imagine that?

When we have no worries, but we seek to bring forth our best. 

How do you have faith?

You do your best, at every thing, at every moment.

You immerse yourself fully into every activity and every person.

And you are able to do that, because you keep your mind clear.

You fall neither into the anxieties nor the comparisons nor the daydreams.

That's the scary part, right? Anxieties. 

It seems a sort of betrayal to not attend to the anxieties. To not converse with the "what if"s. 

Because "What if I let go of the what ifs?"

"I'm worried about what might happen if I stop worrying."

Isn't that something?

Yet, WHO is anxious?

WHO is afraid?

If your God, your Creator, your Father, says "do not be afraid" more than He says anything else, then WHO is afraid?

If you are made in His image, then WHO is afraid?

If He clothes the flowers in better garments than Solomon could obtain, then WHAT is the worry?

If He feeds the birds who do not even sow, then WHAT is the worry?

If you seek the Kingdom of God within, you will be just fine.

If you ride the wave, you will be just fine.

If you live in the moment, THAT is the "edge" of experience itself; it's the edge of reality, the edge of existence.

That is faith.

When you are in the flow, time is both fast and slow.

When you are in the moment, time is neither fast nor slow.

In the Kingdom of God, there is no time.

To have faith is to trust God. 

Which is let go of the future and the past.

And to put on blinders.

So as to keep your eye single, upon blossoming the Kingdom of God, so that His will may be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, through you.

We have faith when we live in the moment. 

When we let go of the rumination, the expectations, the fears.

This IS living life on the edge.

When we do not know what will come next. 

When we give all we have to what is in front of us.

When by the time the end of the day comes, we gave ALL we had.

We left it ALL in the ring.

See?

It could not be more beautifully planned.

To do the thing we search for most, fulfilling our life's adventure, we must come right back to what we are most commanded to do.

Love God with all your heart. Be not afraid. Have faith.

The ultimate human experience is when we are in the flow. 

Everything great we do is when we are in the zone. 

Life is most enjoyable when we are present in the moment.

This is because it's THOSE times when we are practicing faith.

Matthew 6:25–34 (KJV)

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount:

25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no [worry]* for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking [worry] can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye [worry] for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no [worry], saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no [worry] for the morrow: for the morrow shall take [worry] for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Isaiah 41:13 (KJV)

For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

*in the original Greek, the word for "thought" used in this passage of Matthew is more particularly translated as thoughts of worry or anxiety. It does not refer to mentally developing the optimal tactics to accomplish a task.

https://biblehub.com/text/matthew/6-25.htm