O me of little faith!

Jody and I have been going through a book called "The Pursuit of God" by AW Tozer. That book is a must read, just to let you know. Anyways, a chapter about faith, completely changed my ideas on what faith actually is. 

I don't know about you, but whenever I would try to have faith, it was more like me trying to conjure up a belief inside of me. I would try to have this belief of whatever I wanted to happen. I would put all my focus on the problem in front of me and try to pretend as though I knew God was going to take care of it. I would go around saying to myself that God had already done what I asked for. 

Just in case you were wondering, it never worked for me. Instead I looked like a fool for going around saying "Oh, I have faith and God has already done what I wanted Him to.". 

Here are some things I took out of the book:

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John 3:14-15 "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lighted up: that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life"

Our plain man, in reading this would make an important discovery. He would notice that look and believe are synonymous terms. "Looking" on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "Believing" on the New Testament Christ. That is, the  looking and believing are the same thing. 

Faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God. 

Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence.

While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves---blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing by repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ, the very things he has so long been trying to do wilt be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do. 

Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest possible thing to do. It would be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us. 

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The flood gates opened after this. It was true. Faith is looking off of your problems and putting your gaze upon God. You don't even think of your problems because you are too busy looking at Him. 

Remember what happened to Peter when he was walking on the water towards Jesus but then He stopped looking at Him? He started to sink and then Jesus asked him where was his faith. Peter's faith stopped when He stopped gazing upon Jesus. 

It makes so much sense. I had always been focused upon my problems when I should have forgotten my problems and put my eyes upon Jesus instead. It is so simple yet I had always thought it was difficult to have faith. 

What are your thoughts on this?