2300 Living faith....
April 13, 1942: Book 32
Living faith is what people lack, but it is the most important thing, because without living faith a person does not establish a connection with God. In order to strive for God and to desire union with Him, He must first be affirmed in the heart. He must be felt as existing, therefore man must believe in Him that He is and is in the closest connection with His creatures. Only this living faith results in consciously striving for Him. And so faith is absolutely necessary and it can never be replaced, for without faith the prayer to God for strength and grace is futile. He who does not recognize God does not call upon Him. But God's call for strength cannot be avoided because man alone has too little strength for higher development, but this is the goal of life on earth. Living faith means being able to stand up for something with full conviction, which cannot be proven, and then also to live according to this conviction, i.e. to put it into practice. In most cases, however, people only have a dead faith, that is, they only affirm with their mouth and recognize everything that is demanded of them to believe; but as soon as they are supposed to live according to their faith they don't have the strength to do so because they are unable to pray, that is, to request help. And if they now seriously think about it then they realize that their inner being, their heart, is not at all in an affirmative mood, that they therefore have no living faith at all. But without this faith the human being fails in life, for now he lacks every foundation, he cannot understand the meaning and purpose of creation either, for everything that is related to God cannot be proven but must be believed, i.e. affirmed with the heart, and humanity lacks this living faith.... It may talk about the deity and supposedly profess it, but it actually only affirms the existence of a creator, since creation requires one. However, it does not recognize the connection between all things and therefore also not the relationship between man and the creator. However, the right relationship between man and the creator can only be established when man is convinced of a being Who leans towards him in love. For now he seeks to win this love for himself through prayer and devotion to his creator. Prayer, however, presupposes faith in a power Which can do anything It wants and wants everything that is good.... So the being must be omnipotent and loving.... The belief in such a perfect being can only be called a living one, for this belief only stimulates activity.... the human being likewise strives for perfection because he has the desire to come closer to the eternal deity, Which he now recognizes, but this requires the will to become active. However, where living faith is lacking, the will also remains inactive, or it sets itself a false goal.... it strives towards the world and the human being does not establish a connection with the being Who created him. The lack of faith is therefore the cause of the most diverse schools of thought, which aim to teach man's independence from the power that created him and which can therefore be called the death of a living faith. For the purpose and goal of earthly life is the conscious striving for the eternal deity, the desire for union, but this presupposes a living faith.... a faith that is a matter of the heart but can never be gained intellectually. God can only be felt, and as soon as the heart affirms Him, faith is also alive, for now the human being also establishes the right relationship with God according to this feeling, and a conscious striving for perfection is the result of this right attitude towards God. However, anyone who tries to fathom God intellectually is outside of faith, even if he tries to present himself as a believer through words. Living faith stimulates activity in the transformation of the soul, whereas formal faith lacks such and therefore cannot be called living, for everything that lives must be active or stimulate perpetual activity....
Amen
This proclamation is used in the following themebook:
| Themebook | Title | Download |
|---|---|---|
| 150 | Form Christians - Living Christians | ePub PDF Kindle |
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