Using AI, the following spiritual definitions and characteristics are explained and expounded for your consideration.
All eight characteristics will be shared over the coming weeks and will be linked together for your reference.
Faith:
Spiritual faith is a deep trust and confidence in God. Or if you prefer, pick your favorite reference for The Divine: Spirit/God/Source/Energy are some popular ones.
This deep trust and confidence is not merely that God exists, but is based on the divine's promises based on evidence and revelation in your life even when not fully visible or understood. It involves believing in the divine's existence and character, accepting what the divine has revealed to you as true, and acting on that belief. Faith isn't simply believing that something is true it also is trusting in it and relying on it.
Neither is spiritual faith a blind faith, a faith dictated by someone to be followed by another. It is built on the evidence of the Divine's works in the world, revealed words in scripture, in the testimony of others and as displayed in our own lives.
It is a gift that the divine enables a person to believe; it is also a response to the divine's grace and revelation. To state it another way, because one may have the capability to develop a deep trust and confidence in the divine, the divine reveals itself to such an individual allowing for growth in faith. This may ultimately lead to developing a personal relationship with the divine; one characterized by trust, adherence to wisdom, and a desire to follow divine precepts.
Spiritual faith is not passive, but active, leading to good works and a transformed life; as some like to call it -- enlightenment. It is about learning about good, learning to do good, and learning to be good and then seeking to do good at every opportunity.
Some Key Take Aways:
- Faith is deep trust and confidence in the Divine.
- Faith in the Divine is based on the promises of the Divine based on evidence and their revelation in your life.
- Faith is built on evidence seen, shared, and revealed in our world.
- The divine reveals itself to allow for growth in faith. Some will respond by seeking a closer relationship with the divine.
- A relationship with the divine is characterized by trust, adherence to wisdom, and a desire to follow divine precepts.
- Spiritual faith is not a program to be entertained by, or to follow, it is an active lifestyle of learning about good, learning to do good, learning to BE good, and seeking to do good at every opportunity.
- Faith is the first step, not the last step, in building a relationship with the divine. Learning, doing, being, and seeking good before you find faith is “learning through repetition”, learning the technique without focusing on learning the art. Learning through faith first is to first learn the concepts and principles of the art and then seeking to apply them to the techniques of living life.
- Faith builds spiritual character.
NEXT ATTRIBUTE: Goodness