Sharing a Few New Thoughts on Faith

Article Title: Sharing a Few New Thoughts on Faith
Submitted by: Craig Lock
Category (key words): Faith, inspiration. words of inspiration, spirit, spiritual writings, belief
Craig's new blog with thoughts and extracts from various writings is at craiglock.wordpress.com and
http://en.search.wordpress.com/?q=%22craig+lock%22
Other articles are available at:
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/user/15565 and
http://www.ideamarketers.com/library/profile.cfm?writerid=981
(Personal growth, self help, writing, internet marketing, spiritual, 'spiritual writings' (how 'airey-fairey'), words of inspiration and money management, how boring now, craig)

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SHARING A FEW NEW THOUGHTS ON FAITH:

Now I'll share some quotations on faith - ones that have deep significance to me in my journey down "the river of life"*...

* that's a metaphor,btw!

"You are as great as your faith, as small as your ego."
- Shimon Peires (former Israeli Prime Minister).

"Faith sees the invisible, follows the unfathomable...and achieves the impossible."
or

"Faith is the pillar of strength that allows man to achieve the impossible, reach the unattainable and solve the unfathomable."

It is my strong faith in the Almighty, An Infinite Power,which gives me my strength and purpose. I truly believe God is behind all of our thoughts...and I know that He* has a purpose for my life. He controls and fills my soul, which is the sum total, of my mind, my will and my emotions (thanks Colleen and Tony!). I believe we all have some purpose and it is the spirit of God which breathes life into all of us through enthusiasm and inspiration.

* For simplicity I have used the masculine and prefer this 'term of adress' to "It", though Infinite Spirit has no gender.

Make positive statements of faith.
So many people say: "Show me, let me see it, and then I'll believe it. "Achievers in life say: "I'll believe it and then I'll see it."

"God without man is still God. Man without God is nothing."

"Everything is possible for him who believes."
- Mark 9:23

Famous American philosopher RW. Emerson once wrote: "All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen."

"Doubt sees the obstacles;
Faith sees the way.
Doubt sees the darkest night
Faith sees the day
Doubt dreads to take a step;
Faith soars on high.
Doubt questions, 'who believes?'
Faith answers,'I'."

When you have faith in God and in yourself, it is easier to have faith in others.

Faith is total commitment.

"Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe."
- St Augustine

If we BELIEVE, all things are possible!

Our grand business in life is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. God will supply, but we must apply.
- anon

"Only he who can see the invisible, can do the impossible!"

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"There are those who spend all their time working, those who spend all their time dreaming, and those who dream for an hour a day before going to work to fulfill their dream. In the third category there's virtually no competition, so that's the way to go."

Wonder which category "old" Joe Bloggs fits into?

No matter...

Shine YOUR own bright light on the world (humanity).

Shared by Craig Lock ("Information and Inspiration Distributor, Incorrigible Encourager and People-builder")

"God is a mystery, the 'mystery of life', a Creative Presence, Who/That allows me to be who I really want to be and become."

"God, the Essence of Life, is the great mystery in the vast unknown; yet He(??) is understandable."

"If a man is called to be a street-sweeper,
he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted,
or Beethoven composed music,
or Shakespeare wrote poetry.
He should sweep streets so well,
that all the hosts of heaven will pause to say,
here lived a great street sweeper
who did his job well.

- Martin Luther King, Jr

"Success. It is open to each individual to choose the goal and go after it - growth and human essence known as character. Perhaps the ultimate purpose of life itself is the testing of the human spirit, to develop out of it something better, more nearly perfect. For after the sands and the dust of the human body has been buried, only the human spirit is left to go on. Each individual in his or her lifetime is entrusted with a fragment of that human essence, to be a spark of his own existence from birth to death.
Rich? Has he or she enriched the life spirit, which was given to them?
Successful?
Has he or she made the spark glow more brightly."

- Howard Whitman in Og Mandino's 'University of Success'.

"If I can throw a single ray of light across the darkened pathway of another;
if I can aid some soul to clearer sight of life and duty, and thus bless my brother;
if I can wipe from any human cheek a tear,
I shall not have lived my life in vain while here.

If I can guide some erring one to truth, inspire within his heart a sense of duty;
if I can plant within my soul of rosy youth a sense of right, a love of truth and beauty;
if I can teach one man that God and heaven are near,
I shall not then have lived in vain while here.

If from my mind I banish doubt and fear, and keep my life attuned to love and kindness;
if I can scatter light and hope and cheer, and help remove the curse of mental blindness;
if I can make more joy, more hope, less pain,
I shall not have lived and loved in vain.

If by life’s roadside I can plant a tree, beneath whose shade some wearied head may rest,
though I may never share its beauty, I shall yet be truly blest –
though no one knows my name, nor drops a flower upon my grave,
I shall not have lived in vain while here."
– anonymous

Today, don't just try to make a living... try to make a difference

"If the Lord makes you successful, I'll keep you humble."
- a wife (I won't say whose)

"Life each day as if it's your last...
and one day you're sure to be right!"

As they carry me to my deathbed, I'll be saying:
"Lord,
Can you just give me one more hour to finish off one last article or book, PLEASE!"
- craig (as inspired by the quote of singer, Barry Manilow)