Differences Between Faith, Belief, Conviction & Religion.
(Quite Some Lines To Read. Please READ THROUGH CAREFULLY. It Will Help YOU!)
Belief is a body of information that a MIND is RIGIDLY SET on, rightly & wrongly. Conviction is belief transmitted from head-knowledge into a heart-based action-ready-mode. Many have fixed mindsets on beliefs they do not necessarily practice in face of life situational confrontations. Faith is right conviction that currently & actively defy contradictions in direct moment-by-moment partnership with God. God desires people who are full of faith or are faithful to LIVE BY FAITH!
Wrong beliefs that leads to wrong convictions & wrong actions births religion. Religion can also be based on right beliefs & conviction but lacking current interaction & engagement with God by His Holy Spirit. It is impossible to please God without right belief. Endeavor To Please God! Many church-goers operate in the flesh and not by Spirit-led faith. Faith is action-steps engaged because of inner conviction.
“Without active faith, it is impossible to please God.” Heb 11:6 “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:6.
Faith is strengthened and grown by feeding on right spiritual facts. The more time a Christian spends on feeding on & digesting Gods words by the help of the Holy Spirit, the easier it gets to be propelled by deep-seated assurance of strong personal faith and not by presumptions.
Faith engages body of beliefs to practically seek a yet-to-be-seen impossible solution regardless of facts that are up in arms against it.
Faith is always seeking a premeditated change. It relies on unseen spiritual insight & guidance & patiently waits for the evidently seen to be overcome by the expected physically unseen.
“that ye may not become slothful, but followers of those who through faith and patient endurance are inheriting the promises.” Hebrews 6:12. Young’s Literal Translation
Faith is initiated in the heart of one who choose to act on God’s ability, knocks on God’s doors for divine-enabled answers, and waits on God for rigid physical circumstances to turnaround into a new testimony and miracle.
Bible faith keeps trudging on a lonely path to work out a change even when physical information or facts insists that it will not add up. The woman with more than a decade issue of blood problem, collected her miracle by personally motivated and inspired faith.
“And Jesus told the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50
Faith is spiritual insight that actively relies on God supplying desired outcome. Faith actively waits on internal guidance and takes bold steps throughout moments of hope, expectancy & turnaround.
Faith is not needed when expected outcomes are naturally certain. Faith does not underestimate physical facts, rather, it insists on superior supernatural facts derived from need for change, fired-up by right belief and convictions.
Faith is a human acting sensually foolish but with certain inner trust and continued assurance that God will show up with supernatural parts to what is hoped for.
“Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us[a] from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” Daniel 3:16-20 New International Version (NIV)
Faith is incomplete when it is all about what a human can accomplish without room for what God should add to the belief, conviction & faith equation.
Faith is usually a dangerous risky endeavor that only God’s answer or response can diffuse and turn into testimonies or miracle for the faith-actor.
Faith is not commonplace. It swims against natural inclinations for the most part. It can pitch its operator against friends, families and colleagues who most times would turn themselves into arch enemies.
Faith is a personal responsibility & engagement of divinity in human activity. Since it is rarely a secret engagement it will usually raise wrath of other close-by folks who will be intimidated, embarrassed or unhappy because of exposure of own lack of convictions.
“And Jesus said to the man, “Stand up and go. Your faith has healed you.” Luke 17:19 New Living Translation
Faith does not leave things to chance and ask God to fix things. Rather, it actively takes steps based on spiritually & scripture-ascertained information on what God already promised and assured that He will do.
Faith takes the promissory word of God on its face value and for what it is, and takes steps ahead of physical manifestation of the promise.
“Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 1 Kings 17:1 New American Standard Bible
Faith is personal and not a follow-follow reaction to what others in religious believing-crowds are engaging in. Faith is engaged-in INTENTIONALLY, for moments of necessities.
Religion is the fake-faith or false-faith that engages automatic repetitive means & permanent ritualistic methods that are assumed to please God permanently.
Faith is a forward-leaning current daily/weekly engagement with God. It seeks to be current with God’s mind as they may be freshly revealed.
Religion is backward-leaning and is always trusting to repeat past traditions that once made God respond to man’s needs. God desires daily 2-way, heaven-earth, interactions with each one of those who believe in Him. He is known to change his modus-operandi from time to time and is NOT RIGID in mathematically repeating traditions. King David in the Bible never assumed battle strategies without consulting the oracles of God. He always asked and got divine directions for EACH day & battle. God’s answers to him were not always the same regardless that his situations or circumstances were very similar. Also, JESUS sought God’s face in prayers & fellowship, DAILY. Apostle Paul did not assume he could put God in a mold inspite of the fact he was extremely close to God.
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 King James Version (KJV)
FAITH IS FRESH DAILY 2-WAY PERSONALIZED INTERACTION WITH GOD. IT IS NOT A SCHEDULED PROGRAM FOR SPECIFIED BUILDINGS OR ROOMS.
While believers (those with mind set on specific beliefs) are in billions of population numbers, those with conviction (who are ready to stand up to faithfully resist contrary beliefs) are far in between numbers, and, people of faith (those who would pay some spiritual price and make necessary “sacrifices” like being labelled extreme, being outcasted for choosing to stand out, punished for spiritual choices, etc), are rare to find.
Where are you regarding belief, conviction, faith or religion? I am personally not interested in traditional beliefs/religioon. I am keen on having a lively faith in Christ JESUS and in relating with Him, freshly, daily. I have always leaned on faith for material, biological & spiritual provisions more than physical world promises. I have tried my best to get most of my Christian livelihood, results and testimonies by staying firm with my convictions. I want to always be found hanging-in-there on daily faith and trust in a living God rather than in what is physically available by evil-propelled corrupted compromising systems here on earth.
“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” Hebrew 11:6 The Message Bible
I encourage you to personally grow your faith in the LORD JESUS Christ. I am available to help those who may be interested. I can be reached inbox here on FB Messenger or by email to bishopolaa@yahoo.com. May God bless you more & MORE!
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