MentorsRiddle
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This is a book that I am writing. This is only a single section and a rough draft. Please let me know what you think. Of course revisions are going to be done before I am complete. Just wanted your opinion.
The Five Stages of Faith
Matthew 16:4
“A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall be no sign given unto it…”
If you are reading this book it is probably because you are looking for some purpose to your life. Well if that is the reason you are reading this then stop. This book will not give you a reason to live. It will not give you a path to set your self down. However it may be able to point you in the right direction. However the best choice for any good self improvement material is the Holy Bible.
The one thing that you will need the most to get you through this life is faith. Faith will give you the hope you need for better and brighter days. Faith will even allow you, through God, to accomplish things that most people would consider impossible. Let’s look at what the bible has to say about faith:
[i]Matthew 17:20
“If you have faith as big as a mustard seed, you shall be able to tell a mountain to move to a different spot; and the mountain shall move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”[i]
That is an awesome thing to think about. Our God has told us that if we have enough faith that we will be able to move mountains. Many people think that this is just an example that Christ gave to signify the importance of faith. But I believe it is so much more than that. I have seen people healed by faith alone. I have also seen an agnostic turned to Christ in a single day because someone had the faith they could get through to him.
From the time we are born we have began something that I call the five stages of faith. I would like to take the time to cover each one now.
Stage One: Innocent Faith.
From the time we take our first breath we are born into a world of possibilities and innocence. Because of our childlike innocence we believe in a world of the supernatural. Where things can happen that don’t require an explanation. I believe that children are so happy because they have an abundance of the one thing that I believe makes a person happy… faith…
Stage Two: Conversion to a Sinful Life.
As time goes on and children grow older they start to question their childhood beliefs and start leaning more towards a life of science and facts. They start to believe only what they can see, hear, taste and touch, and start to loose connection with their spiritual side. While once they believed in a world where magical things can happen, they now live in a world of facts and uncertainty.
Stage Three: Complete Immersion into Self.
By this point the “Science” of the world has corrupted our minds into thinking that the metaphysical is a dream. All of the violence in the world has turned peoples minds into thinking that God either can not help them, will not help them, or simply does not exist and that the only way they can make it through in the world is to fend for their selves. At this point complete faith is placed entirely in self. Now the flesh of us will take over and completely dominate our lives. Drugs usually follow this period, or drinking; along with depression, etc. This is when we start to stray from the fathers design completely and live our lives according to what we think is right.
Stage Four: The Turning Point or Toppling Point?
The turning point occurs during a period of a person’s life where they have reached extreme turmoil and hit rock bottom. At this point we will come to the decision that we need help and will choose one of three ending stages.
Stage Five (A): Return to God.
Once we hit rock bottom we will reflect to the time in our lives when we were the most happiest. We will often wonder what it was about that time in our lives that made us so happy. We will choose to find God again, and many will come to the realization that we were happy because of God and our faith in him. This group will choose to follow with all their hearts, and will work diligently to please God.
Stage Five (B): Blind to God.
This group will dive deeper into desperation and continue down the path of destruction and never place their faith in God again.
Stage Five (C): God is Punishing Me.
This group will choose to believe that God is punishing them for their past transgressions and punishing them for loosing faith in him. They will hold onto the guilt for what they have done and will again choose to keep relying on their selves for deliverance from their pit in life because they can’t truly forgive their selves for what they have done.
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With you I rise,
In you I sleep,
kneeling down I kiss your feet,
Grace abounds upon me now,
I once was lost
but now I'm found.
The gift of God dwells within,
To this love I now give in.
Posts: 1337 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Sep 2003
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