Our belief system impacts our overall attitude toward life. When we operate from the belief that a loving, creator God cares about our lives and listens to our prayers, we live with a hope and peace that surpass normal understanding. More than that, through faith in Christ we live with a sense of forgiveness and grace that God has bestowed on us, and we in turn extend a similar forgiveness and grace toward others. Living faith of this nature creates in us a deep and abiding love and joy which can’t help but elevate our attitudes in life.
Even secular psychologists site that faith practices can elicit positive emotions such as joy, tranquility and compassion. It’s one thing to believe in the God of the Bible with our minds, but it’s another thing to lean in with our lives and trust His unfailing love for us. One of the ways we strengthen our faith is by reading His Word and spending time with Him in prayer (which we will talk about tomorrow). Consider how Paul encouraged the Roman believers’ faith, and notice the peace and hope that come as a result:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5)
Ask God to strengthen your faith in Him today.