10. What is Faith? - Part II
Chapter Four
The Victory of Faith
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.1
Freedom is the foundation of faith. We were created with the capability and responsibility to be free, consciously directing every action of our lives. However, freedom is not automatically given to everyone. It is only through our faithful exercising of the soul that we give birth to freedom.2
During the course of my investigations, I saw (more often than I wanted to admit) that I was a “slave,”3 acting merely in accordance with my physiological needs and desires, automatic instincts, and the endless stirrings of my undisciplined mind. Rarely did I steer my thoughts, words, and deeds with focus and effort. To be brutally honest, I was like a machine, mindlessly marching on toward a life of ever-increasing passivity and automation.4
Then I saw how freedom could emerge. From the luminous mist in my soul, I began to gradually rise above habitual living and have moments of living consciously. Slowing myself down, I sought to decide which thoughts I wanted to think, which words I wanted to speak, and which behaviors I wanted to perform. I started cultivating freedom where once there was only blind submission.
The more I worked to be free, the more I discovered that this foundational labor of faith requires a tremendous amount of personal responsibility. It is very easy for me to follow the path of least resistance by letting habits and instincts dictate my behavior. However, when I made choosing my actions a priority, I took real ownership of my life. Jesus told his followers, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”5 Jesus did not die upon the cross so I could set my cross down. I alone must carry the burden of my life.
Unsurprisingly, it did not take long for me to feel the true weight of this cross. As the weakness of my untrained mind became increasingly self-evident, I complained to God saying, If this is the path, who then can be faithful? Jesus, of course, had already answered my question: “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”6
Looking again at the luminous mist in my soul, I saw that whenever I chose my thoughts and actions, seeds of Life suddenly appeared within me. To my astonishment, I repeatedly observed that because I made conscious decisions with sustained focus and effort, Life entered my soul and enlivened my labors of faith. In a remarkable collaboration, when I laid the foundation of faith, God gave the seeds of Life, strengthening me to live the next moment in freedom.
The same was true of the golden light. Every time I consciously turned away from selfishness in thought, word, or deed, seeds of Light appeared. My faithful work of repentance became an open doorway through which Light began to shine within me. As Light illumined the golden aspect of my soul, I saw that the darkness within me, which had made selfishness seem so easy and appealing, started to disappear.
Throughout his Gospel and epistles John described this spiritual response of darkness when presented with Light as the work of “overcoming.”7 To overcome means to conquer another completely, such that the other is deemed powerless.8 The word is often used in the context of war, when an enemy is utterly defeated9 and victory is achieved. John used “overcome” when he wrote about our approach to the Deep:
This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. Little children, you are of God, and have overcome [the spirits of the antichrist]; for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.10
By God dwelling within us, we have the ability to not only stop acting selfishly, but also to conquer the source of selfishness.11 Herein lies the essential relationship between “repentance” and “overcoming.” Through our faithful labor of repentance we consciously lay aside all selfish preoccupations, and, as we do so, seeds of Light shine within us and conquer the darkness that blinds our spiritual eyes. Because of our repentance, God speaks the Word within our hearts, thereby empowering us to “overcome the evil one.”12 Our faith is our victory.
And yet, victory over the Deep is not an end in itself. God strengthened my freedom with Life and armed my repentance with Light so that I may love. As I stood unshackled within my heart, able to see the heart of another, I reached out. Through the outward gesture of my soul, generously welcoming the other into a spiritual embrace, seeds of Love sprang forth from my heart and held us both in glistening whiteness. Through my act of love, Love was spoken.
Faith in His Name
But to all who received [the Word], who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.13
Throughout the visions recorded in Revelation, John saw a “name” written upon the faithful saints of God. He described these men and women as the “hundred and forty-four thousand who had [the Lamb’s] name and his Father’s name written upon their foreheads.”14 They are “chaste” and “spotless,”15 conquerors of evil,16 and they “shall reign for ever and ever” in the new Jerusalem.17 According to John, the name on their foreheads is a “seal” or mark placed by an official signet, indicating that they belong to God and are protected by God.18
Remarkably, Jesus claimed to have God’s seal upon himself as well:
Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.19
Jesus described the nature of his seal by saying that he came not in his own name, but in his Father’s name.20 Jesus was a representative of the Father,21 living on Earth to make known the Name of the One who dwelt within him.22 Jesus, who was the Word made flesh, bore the fulness of the Word within him as the stamp of God’s own signet. By revealing the Name of the Father to the world,23 he made God’s Word known.
In the same way, we bear God’s Name whenever we act in faith. By choosing freedom, repentance, and love, the Word abounds within us. Through the soul’s faithful labors, we receive the seal of God’s Word and are thereby given the power to become sons and daughters of God.
Ask, Seek, and Knock
Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.24
What is this door if not the gateway of pearl that Jesus established within us? How do we knock upon it except with the action of our souls? What do we find in the open doorway if not God’s very presence spoken as the Word? Therefore, let us ask with unceasing faith, so that we may receive God without limit.
(Click here for Chapter Five…)
1 John 5:3–4
John 8:31–47
John 8:34
Notably, many modern psychologists acknowledge that we have limited control over bodily instincts and our history of learning and conditioning. Instead of acing in freedom, these academics suggest that we spend most of our lives in an automatic state, reacting predictably to the world based on a history of learning and adaptation. According to that perspective, the subjective experience of freedom is largely, if not entirely, an illusion.
Mark 8:34
Matthew 19:25–26
nikao in Greek
Luke 11:21–22
Revelation 6:2
1 John 4:3–4
Revelation 3:21
1 John 2:14
John 1:12–13
Revelation 14:1
Revelation 14:4–5
Revelation 3:12
Revelation 22:4–5
Revelation 9:3–4
John 6:27
John 5:43
John 12:44–50
Mark 9:37
John 17:26
Matthew 7:7–8