The Bible informs us in Proverbs 16:33 (GWT) that “the dice are thrown, but the Lord determines every outcome.” God doesn’t play odds. God doesn’t take risks. God knows everything. He monitors every heartbeat of every creature at every moment. He knows where every drop of water has been since creation. He knows every thought everyone has ever had. He knows everything about you and, more importantly, how to develop your full functioning capacity and help you achieve your full potential—He has a plan. God plans to develop your faith. Have you ever asked God to help you achieve your full functioning? What about asking the Holy Spirit to guide you to achieve your full potential? God desires you to follow His plan and live a significant and meaningful life, but it requires faith. 1 Corinthians 13:13 (AMP), “And now there remain: faith [abiding trust in God and His promises], hope [confident expectation of eternal salvation], love [unselfish love for others growing out of God’s love for me], these three [the choicest graces]; but the greatest of these is love.”
These three attributes—faith, hope, and love—are designed by God to be mutually reinforcing. First, you learn to let God develop your faith by expanding your capacity for faith, and then you can increase your level of faith with practice. The focus of this book is the faith part, which shapes the context of the discussion. Learning to build your faith can take a lifetime. However, as God grows your faith, He also seeks to increase your level of hope. You learn to let God expand your capacity for hope and then increase your level of hope with practice. So, first, faith and then hope. Third, God wants you to love Him because He loves you and wants you to experience that.
Satan has utilized four significant deceptive weapons to distract your understanding of God’s love: power, position, intelligence, and beauty. Beauty has four sub-aspects: pleasure, popularity, possessions, and prestige. Seeking God’s love should not be for any of these reasons. It’s not about money, abundance, materialism, or other Americanized versions of living your best life. God seeks to expand your capacity to love Him and others.
This is the spiritual journey, learning to practice faith, experience hope, and express love at the deepest levels possible in this broken world. The design of these three attributes is constructed in a way that to diminish any of the three is to undermine their integrity. You need faith, hope, and love; remember that love is the greatest of these attributes. True love comes from a heart full of hope and the habitual practice of faith. Do you believe that you have extraordinary faith?
You will experience a much-needed renewed hope. In this book, you will learn the theological principles and psychological applications that develop your faith. You will know what to practice and how your faith is reinforced to develop a full-functioning faith. You will realize that with time, your faith can be developed to a level of habit-strength behaviors of trust and confidence. The Holy Spirit will be a fresh functioning influence in your life that will expand your capacity for faith and increase your capability for faith to function fully. You will experience a new level of confidence and trust, resulting in joy because you will experience working in partnership with God.
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