Struggling with faith? How to get closer to God: 5 steps.

faith is tough especially now more than ever probably the number one comment I get is something along the lines of I'm really struggling with my faith I'm finding it so hard to believe and I pray but it just feels like I'm praying to nobody and I read the Bible but I don't really get anything out of it and have all these questions and doubts and where's the evidence are we all just trying to convince ourselves of something in our heads now first of all don't worry we've all in here and if we're not wrestling with

it we're not doing it but the first question I usually ask is if you knew God were real do you think you could rely on him or in other words if Jesus were standing right next to you right now do you think you could trust him I think most of us would say 100% without a doubt yes so this is where we got to get to and faith is simply making the jump across that huge Chasm from here to here now just some groundwork before we get started first faith is a choice it's a solid

concrete yes it's not a maybe or we'll see I'm not really sure it's more like an I do and it's not based on any evidence or an ideology or a feeling it's based on a person do I trust this person or not period and it's not a blind yes we have to do the homework and make an informed reasonable Choice second and this is the big one we can't make that choice on our own Jesus said it you can't come to me unless the father draws you and you can't believe in me through Flesh and

Blood only if the father reveals me so we need help and we call this help Grace I picture it like if this were my tiny intellect and this we God then Grace is him shining himself onto our intellects without this we're not going anywhere in faith and finally God gives us this Grace freely in all the time even right now as we speak but just because he gives it freely doesn't mean we receive it freely we can block it ignore it cut it off or Worse waste it so we have to do something on our

part to receive and respond to all that Grace So to put this all in Reverse we have to open ourselves up to Grace in order to see him more clearly so we can make a firm choice for Faith piece of cake right so here are five tips ways guides to help us do that have you ever seen those videos where it's a kid's birthday and he looks a little out of place and the caption reads boy finds out he's being adopted by new family on his birthday and the family brings out this huge cake and

on the cake it says something like welcome home our new son we love you and at first the kid can't really process it it's disbelief but then it hits him and his entire face Wells up in tears and he just flies across the room room and grabs the dad and it's one of those I'm Never Letting Go hugs and the whole family comes together and just Embraces him and everyone is just sobbing okay those kill me this is what happens on our baptism we are 100% officially adopted by the god of the universe think about

that for a second we are born into his spirit so listen to him saying this to you right now you are my beloved son or daughter of whom I am so pleased do I accept that and just as that little boy has to now come to accept and trust that he is a father who's going to look after him provide for him love him for the rest of his life so it is with us in our faith do I really trust that and this isn't some human love this is a powerful lifegiving eternal love that

loves us from way deep down inside deeper than we've ever traveled before and will feed us through all of eternity and the door to this love is not out there somewhere it's inside us and he's waiting outside the door right now as we speak this is the absolute fundamental groundwork if we were to build any faith whatsoever so we're born into the spirit and the spirit is born into us and Grace is God's life flowing through us it's Grace that enables us to see things we could never see know things we could never know and

do things we could never do but we got to stay connected to it and keep that Grace flowing now Grace isn't passive like we're the spoiled little child and Daddy just gives us everything we want and it's not something we earn or achieve by just trying harder God gives it to us out of his own generosity I look at it more like a master Apprentice relationship the master wants to give everything he knows and everything he is to The Apprentice and the more The Apprentice participates with the master the more the master is going to

give but The Apprentice could be lazy maybe never shows up maybe he doesn't care or thinks he knows better or maybe just never puts anything the master says into practice then what's the master going to do Grace takes two it's in finding that Harmony that resonance between the Loyalty of the good apprentice and the gift of the Divine Master The Advocate the Holy Spirit remember before Jesus left he said it's better that I'm leaving so you can have the Divine spirit in you do I really grasp that so how do we keep the grace flowing

we'll try these three things every day first in the beginning of the day read a little scripture or a good spiritual book just a paragraph or two but approach it now as I'm sitting here with the Divine teacher of the very same Grace that inspired all these words in the first place and before you read it ask what is it you want to show me today and read it a few times and let him unlock the words and some phrase or thought will stick out that's your message chew on it the rest of the day

second prayer prayer is the breathing of Faith but look at it now as like I'm just sitting here alive in the Holy Spirit who wants to share himself with me and let go of everything else shut off your brain and just sit there you don't have to say a word and don't expect results or a feeling or am I doing this right just let go and finally at the end of the day take a mental inventory of all your thoughts and actions throughout the day where was I more like him and where was I less

like him and what opportunities were missed and go over it with the spirit but not in a guilty judgmental kind of way but in a loving encouraging way and come up with a game plan what am I going to do better tomorrow and let's be disciplined with at least this and obedient to what we learn and not to some Doctrine or ideas or a bunch of rules and regulations but to a person [Music] okay now the Divine Life is flowing through us but picture it like arteries there's a lot we can do to block and

obstruct and clog Our arteries we call this sin and sin and Grace don't mix so well if we want to go deeper in faith we have to clean up the sin as best we can how just keep going to his Mercy confess place all our sins At His Feet humbly no matter what it is or how many times God is Mercy and he can't resist a humble and contrite heart when the prodigal son was out blowing all his father's cash on booze and women imagine him at that point saying where are you Dad give me

more money dad do you even exists Dad no it wasn't until he returned fell down on his SCE and confessed father I've sinned against heaven and I've sinned against you then he was instantly restored and everything the father had was once again his now I just want to say something quick about doubt doubt comes from two places it could be an intellectual thing and if that's the case find the answers they're out there there's over 2,000 years of this stuff and this second place is from the enemy he's going to sprinkle his little doubts everywhere

and the closer we get to real Faith the more he's going to hit us with heavy doubts if we're dealing with these type of doubts just ignore these see them for what they are Temptation and just throw them out and some of these attacks can be serious and really bring us to our knees and we'll think I just don't have the strength but he does and God's going to allow it not so he can see how strong our faith is he already knows but so we can if I could literally Scream one thing off the

rooftops it would be this faith is not about a feeling ask yourself do you really think Faith which is purely spiritual has anything to do with human emotions some chemicals firing off in my body do you think any of the earliest disciples the thousands of saints who shed their blood for Christ did it because of a feeling Mother Teresa used to say I feel nothing but she did it anyway now I get it we all want to feel his presence to confirm our faith Faith but that's not really faith and feelings are deceitful fleeting up

and down they come and go and could just depend on what we ate that day oh yeah faith has to be grounded in something much deeper than our shifting feelings and hit that Bedrock of our soul now feelings are powerful God knows it he gave them to us but the enemy knows it too and he wants to keep us in this area here now feelings aren't bad and they may or may not follow Faith but never the other way around and really they're meant to enhance our faith but never confirm it it's when we can

say I don't really feel you God but I know you're there is when our faith is the strongest so the question should be not am I feeling it but am I doing it and it's far far better to know his presence than to merely feel it eventually we just got to make the choice and say yes and don't look back it's really that simple it's no longer well I'm not really sure it's I know I know God is real and is in the room just as I know this microphone is in the room the room

I know God is closer to me than I could ever even be to myself I know he hears even my smallest prayers and he'll answer it however he sees fit I know his Spirit his life is alive in me even right now as we speak I know he forgives me no matter all the stupid stuff I do all the time and I know he loves me in the same way he loves his only son imagine that and how do I [Music] know because he says so and I trust him more than I trust anyone else

in this entire universe and beyond that is faith not waiting for some sign or a feeling or evidence that's not Faith sorry blessed is he or she who believes without seeing or hearing or feeling or touching but by trusting faith is based on a person do I trust this person or not period thank you so much for making it this far I really hate this part but we need your help we're completely supported by people like you if you'd like to help this Channel and help us to reach more people in more countries I've posted

some links below of how to do so I am so very grateful for every one of you and I literally pray for anyone who watches these videos that his message gets through and I don't screw it up so God bless you I know God loves you and so do I