I feel like I am on shaky ground with this post, but I felt a burden to address this issue of belief, and how much of it is up to us.

In all honesty, I think the answer to the question is yes and no. How can it be both, you might wonder?

Well, a lot of the beliefs we hold were ingrained in us through training, grooming, childhood experiences and messages we have heard from parents, mentors, our peers, and the media. We may not know that we actually hold those beliefs until they begin to hold us back. They are sort of ingrained in us, things we have taken for granted and accepted to be true without actually reasoning them out ourselves.

We know we believe them because when they are questioned, our sense of knowledge of ourselves and our world is rocked, and we are afraid of letting go of these beliefs, because then, we would have to do the work of building up a belief system again. Our beliefs form our sense of identity, but they can be wrong.

Can we do something about it? Most certainly!

That’s why we educate ourselves, we watch those around us and choose to heed the advice of those we admire. We can renew our minds, which inform our beliefs. There is much work that needs to be done to shape our beliefs rightly. It isn’t automatic, but essential. And as a man thinks, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).

The Bible says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10:14-15 NKJV).

Religious people, and I have been among them, say a lot of negative things about motivational speakers because they do not understand the power of beliefs and the control they have over them, or the control we have over what we choose to believe. But I’ve come to see that these motivational speakers are tapping into our agency, and helping us to do the ground work to make our minds fertile to receive and retain the RIGHT beliefs. They help us to break the hold of wrong and debilitating beliefs about ourselves, at least, in as much as they have been enlightened themselves.

Some people say just believe in Jesus! All you have to do is believe in Jesus, and you will be saved… In the same breath, they say, “You don’t have to do anything to be saved…” Well, except change your beliefs!

You can believe in Jesus, in that you believe He actually came and died for you, but if you never actually learn what He stands for, what He taught and commanded you to do, nothing about your life is going to change. You will continue to operate within the mindset of your training, environment, culture, ambitions, rather than breaking free from them to learn the truth and be confirmed by it…

“And do not be conformed [no longer] to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God…” (Romans 12:2 NKJV).

The word ‘believe’ is very powerful because our beliefs control us, even as we can control what we believe. When we believe something, we submit to its control, and when we choose not to believe it any more, it loses its power to define the way we live our lives. The fact is, if a belief doesn’t control us, then we do not truly hold that belief.

Let me give an example.

Let’s say there is a hurricane warning for your city. Your neighbours are packing to stay with family, but you stay put. A police officer comes to do the rounds and sees that you’re watching TV and not packing. He tells you that you have one hour to leave your home, as you are at risk.

If you believe you are at risk, wouldn’t you believe the officer, even if you were sceptical before? Wouldn’t you pack up what you can and leave asap? If you believe him, would you stay as you are?

The only thing that might make you stay are other things you believe more strongly than this report of doom and gloom. This is where your beliefs will battle for supremacy.

If you believe God said He would prosper you and no harm shall come unto you, and you decide at that moment to hold on to that belief, despite the warnings, then I guess you would stay put, to prove your submission to your chosen belief.

If you believe that it’s too late for you, ‘bad things always happen to you,’ and you are afraid of being caught out in the storm and would rather hide in your basement and hope the damage isn’t too bad, then that is what you will do.

If you actually think everyone is overreacting, and there have been too many false warnings in the past, you may actually decide to take your chances and stay put anyway.

My point is, what we do is the proof of what we believe (James 2:26). How we behave is the proof of what we believe. And it isn’t something that acts on us with no regard for our reasoning or preferences. In as much as the ability to believe the gospel is a gift, we have been given the GRACE to choose to believe when we have been confronted with the truth (Ephesians 2:8).

What we want is to believe what is true. If we believe what is true, we will be submitted to what is true. And if we do not believe what is true, we will not submit to it and will hinder ourselves.

The second question is; can believing something cause it to manifest, that is become our reality?

Again, I think the answer is yes and no. No, because we can’t create something from nothing. We are not God. But yes in that when we visualise something based on what we know of God’s love and will for us (through the renewing of our minds), we open ourselves up to receive it, and we position ourselves to attain in… We will see possibilities and seize opportunities that we would not see or receive otherwise.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” (Hebrews 11:1 NKJV).

This kind of faith always moves God. The Bible says, “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him…” (Hebrews 11:6 NKJV). You are not blessed because you say you are, but because God says you are, and you believe Him and walk in agreement. It won’t come to pass because we named it and claimed it. It comes to pass because we got out of the path of unbelief and choose to believe that there is nothing too big for God to do.

And if that is heresy, we have to wonder what we truly believe about God.

Photo credit: http://www.canva.com

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