How does one cultivate faith?

[Miss Hepburn]

Ha, I thought of this thread when i came across this youtube!
I haven't watched it yet - pretty short, I have 2 hour ones to watch first.

How to increase your faith -Bentino Massaro about 13 min

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SY4Narq5Lw
(Lately, you can't click on the links I place here, I don't know why.) *shrug*

[Molearner]

Originally Posted by paragon

While I’m not really a subscriber to the Law of Attraction, I believe firmly that good things will happen to us if we trust and believe with conviction that all things are here to help us.

Despite believing that intellectually, I find it almost impossible to apply in my day-to-day life. If I pray for something, I can cultivate a faint glimmer of hope and trust, but always at the back of my mind there is a deeply rooted belief that I’m not going to receive the thing I asked for. Then when my belief comes true and I don’t receive anything, of course it makes it doubly harder to have faith and trust the next time I ask. Even in the times when I’ve been feeling the most positive and confident, I receive absolutely nothing and then my confidence quickly wanes.

It feels to me like some people are born with faith, and some people are blessed with a miraculous, improbable event that instills faith in them. Then there are others who appear completely immune to all supernatural events. Making the leap from apparent spiritual abandonment to a firm faith seems like an impossible thing to do when you have an abundance of previous experience telling you there is absolutely no logical reason to trust God/the universe. How do you make the switch?

Thank you very much for reading and for any replies.

paragon,

You ask how does one cultivate faith......the very question obviously presupposes that you have faith which indicates that, indeed, you do believe in God. You want to know how to cultivate it and, therefore, make it grow. I would suggest pursuing awareness. Awareness to always be looking for God. The normal course is to look for God in nature, in the faces of others but especially looking and seeing love. God is love.....when you see love you are seeing God. Nature confirms the wisdom of God that He has a plan which is defined by order that can only come from and all loving and all powerful God. Do not get hung up on expecting the exact answer that you wish. God works in mysterious ways that might be beyond your current understanding so you must be open to the way that God answers your prayers. Because He loves you His method is for your ultimate good.

[zastrakoza]

IMHO faith can be cultivated. How much faith one has is dependent on experience in the relationship. As you said, if your experience is that what is asked for is not received, there will be little if any faith developed.

The LOA is a universal law that functions in integration with other universal laws. If we understand these laws and their interrelationship, we can have a high confidence in desired outcomes.

To build faith, we must seek knowledge and understanding. We ask and we observe the response. In time, we learn what to ask for and how to ask for it.

It seems obvious to me that a person can't harness the power of the universe to serve themselves. Perhaps for the purpose of service to others, we will cultivate faith that will ultimately bless us. That is my hope.