MZD - Ep 85 Cultivating Faith

“The capacity to trust and so live with inner peace, contentment, and joy, is a Divinely endowed capacity written into the genetic code of your DNA.” ~ Dr. Steve McSwain

Have you ever wished you could live every moment of every day like in joy and simplicity?  What would that feel like?  Well the truth is, you can.  Now some people will say, now wait a minute that’s just not realistic.  And I have to ask, “Why not?”

I love the picture of the clock that shows, in place of the numbers 1 through 12, the word “Now”.  It is always “Now” and in this moment, this very moment, there are no problems, only situations.  It is the perfect time to be present.  So, welcome to this moment.

If we are living in the moment of perfection, and stay in this moment without straying, (and that is the goal), we will always find peace and joy, and be living the perfect life, now, in the moment.

Now in order for this to happen it requires a bit of faith and belief that it is even possible, but faith can be nurtured and grown. 

We all have been given “a measure of faith”, but it’s what we do with it, and how we cultivate it that is important. 

Last episode we talked about “Hope” and how it is a “feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best”; that is, something we “look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence”.

So what is the difference is between hope and faith?

Hope is the mother to Faith.  When cultivated, this feeling that what is wanted can be had, (that is – Hope), gives birth, awakens consciousness and opens the possibility for Faith to appear.

Faith is defined as “confidence or trust in a person or thing… a belief that is not based on proof”.  The book of Hebrews in ancient scriptures says, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…”.  It is a substance just as real as any substance in the Universe.  Like the wind, you can’t see it, but it is there. 

I can’t help but find a correlation between this substance spoken of in the Bible, and what author Wallace Wattles calls “thinking stuff” in his book, The Science of Getting Rich. 

He says,

“There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe.  A thought in this substance produces the thing that is imaged by this thought.  You can form things in your thought, and by impressing your thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing you think about to be created…”

Wow!  That’s a pretty heavy statement.  Really?!  You can form things in your thought, and cause the thing you think about to be created!?  That’s powerful!  And scary!

If this is really true, it sort of puts the burden on you to be really careful what you are thinking about, doesn’t it? 

But is this really true?  I guess it depends on whether you have believe that it’s true.

Speaking of faith, Jesus gave a powerful visual when He said,

“If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, (and that’s pretty darn small), you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible.”

When Jesus says, “as small as a mustard seed”, the importance is not on the size of the seed, it’s on the truth that it can grow from something very small into something very large.

So how does one cultivate faith or trust?

Is it something we can really cultivate or grow?

Here’s a thought.  You have been genetically programmed to have the capacity for faith or trust.  The more that trust or belief is reinforced, the more it grows.  By seeking and finding evidence of goodness and love and beauty and kindness and health and abundance everywhere we look, we are nurturing and cultivating our faith.

This capacity for faith, or belief, or trust, if you will, is programmed into the very fabric of our being, and, like a mustard seed, needs to be watered, nurtured and cultivated into something greater.

And that is what we are doing here today.