Foundation of Faith

Please carefully read the questions below and the following message. These thoughts can have a positive impact on our families. God truly wants to bless our families, but the right foundation of faith needs to be laid.

      • Do we sometimes wonder what life is all about?
      • Do we sometimes reflect on how to experience genuine happiness in this life?
      • Do we think about including God in our day-to-day routine?
      • Do we ever question if He really loves us and is watching over us?
      • Do we ever wonder whether there is a God who created us and this world and all that is in it?
      • Have we ever thought why there are times of sorrow and strife and suffering?
      • Do we ever ask ourselves if there is a secret to real, true peace of mind? Or is it meant for only a special few to enjoy?
      • Do we wonder if there is any way that we can call on God to help us overcome our troubles and worries?
      • If any of us do wonder about these things, there is good news for us.
      • For here we will read of the most wonderful of all stories – the story of how God created the world, of how He put man and woman in this world, and of what God’s will is for His children!
      • We will learn that God does love us and our family! God does care what happens to us! God does want us to be well and successful and happy!
      • It will be discovered that all we have to do to receive God’s manifold blessings is to learn what these guidelines are and live them out by faith.

“In The Beginning” – Let’s start with the very first words of the Bible itself. For it is within the Holy Scriptures we find what God wants us to know, and how He wants us to live. If we want the truth – the secret of real happiness, success, and contentment, all we have to do is look in the Bible and there it is! Opening our Bible to the first page, we find this beautiful passage, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).

These words and the rest of the first chapter of Genesis form the foundation of our life of faith in God. For that chapter contains the reassuring story of God’s love for us and of the glorious abundance which He created for us! Could anything be more beautiful than the story of the creation of man and woman? Could God have shown His love for us any more clearly?

We have only to read and understand the first chapter of the Bible to know that God never meant that His children should suffer pain and sorrow and lack. And yet we all know that men and women have suffered. We know it because we have suffered, and we see people throughout the world suffering every day.

How does this happen? Well, the answer is quite simple, and is told in the Bible. The answer is that when God created the world and mankind to live in the world, He also made some rules by which we should live, rules such as the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule and all the wise teachings of Jesus. We know well what happened. We know that throughout all history men and women have been breaking the commandments of God.

When we stop to realize that it isn’t hard to understand why there is suffering and sorrow and poverty in the world. And yet, even after humanity has been disobeying God for hundreds upon hundreds of years, God still loves His children so very much that He gives them another chance. He gives them the powerful channel of prayer!

Let’s just suppose that we decided to build a nice, lovely house. Once we had finished building that house, we would not walk away and abandon it! We would not leave it to decay and ruin. We would take good care of it and no doubt love and cherish it. Well, surely the same must be true with God. After creating this world, God has not walked away and left it.

Despite all mankind’s mistakes and wrongs, God remains. And He keeps open that powerful channel of prayer to communicate with Him, to ask His guidance and to express our love and thankfulness to Him. Could anything be clearer or more positive? Could anything be more thrilling? God still cares! He cares about our life and the problems we face during our entire lifetime.

The extent of which we can overcome those problems and to which we can have health, happiness, and success, really lies in the extent to which we can develop our Faith in these two things:

1. That in the beginning God created a world of abundance and happiness… that He loves us and wants us to have our share of this happiness and abundance.

2. That prayer is the channel by which we get in touch with God to seek His help, to refresh both our minds and bodies, to gain courage, strength, and blessed peace of heart.

Yes, FAITH is the answer to problems. If we will only realize this great truth, how different our lives can be. We can meet and overcome difficulties and have confidence because of our true FAITH in God’s love. We can share to a far larger measure in all the blessings of health, happiness, and abundance that God has provided out of His endless love if we will but keep FAITH in Him and with Him!

Now putting this in the form of two rules for all of us to follow, we have:

1. Turn our lives over to God in childlike trust from this day on.

2. Spend at least a few minutes each day with God in humble, sincere prayer and Bible study.

As we can see, there is nothing at all hard about these two rules. All we need to do is get started and then follow them out every day until they become a habit. We can’t begin to imagine what a remarkable change in our lives they can bring until we do this. For no longer will we have to struggle and strain. Because trust in God means that we know God loves us, that He will always do what is right for us, and that He is ever near to us. Have that trust in Him. That is the first rule. The second rule to observe – those important daily minutes of prayer, the time we devote to Him. Often people think that prayer is a very complicated thing, but really it is very simple to understand. Prayer is just talking to God!

Now when a dear friend who loves us is near, we may say, “but how can I have that kind of strong Faith?” Well, the answer is straightforward. It was given to us by Jesus, Himself, in the words He spoke to His Disciples when they asked Him the question: “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” For when they asked Him this, Jesus called a little child to Him and set that child in front of them and said: “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). “Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:4).

Do not try to keep silent. We want to talk to Him, to tell Him our hopes and plans, to ask for His help. Well, when we have real, true, abiding Faith in God, we know that He is the best and dearest Friend we will ever have. We know that He, too, is always close, always ready to listen to us. We know we can always tell God, our greatest Friend, all our hopes, our plans, and our problems. We know we can always ask Him for help and that He will be ready to give it to us. That is talking to God. That is prayer!

Some people feel that a church is the only place to pray, and indeed it is an inspiring place to talk to God. God is happy when we talk to Him there. But that is not the only place God will listen to our prayers. Jesus prayed in numerous places. He prayed at the home of His disciples and followers. He prayed alone in the garden and in the desert. And Jesus prayed at all times – in the morning and at noon and in the evening. Whenever we think of God, in times of sorrow, in times of joy, in times of nervousness, in times of worry, in all times, speak to God and ask for abundance, health, peace, and contentment!

We do not need to think of long, complicated prayers. Such prayers do not always come from deep within. Our heartfelt prayers are what God loves to hear from His children. God honors the humble prayer of a little child. Simple conversations with God will be most effective when we speak to our Father about our sorrows, our joys, and our problems. Simple prayers can be beautiful expressions of love and faith.