How many times have you heard of someone who had a great idea but procrastinated too long; someone else kick-started it first, and thentheysaw it through to completion? In this case, who was really thetruebeliever?
What is it that distinguishes a ‘conceiver’ from a true believer? In a word: action! We are multi-dimensional beings, and live in an unseen or invisible world of thoughts and feelings; some people call “the intangible world”. We also live in the visible world of tangible things through which our natural bodies move. The intangible world is the world of spirit; the tangible world, the world of matter.
Unless and until we have transferred that intangible idea of spirit into the world of matter, it literally does not ‘matter’, for it does not live until it moves from one to the other. We can argue that it does live in the intangible – and in a sense, it does – but it does not live in the place where others can see it, and other tactile experiences from which they can benefit from the idea. This could only happen in the world of matter. Let me prove my point.
Shakespeare had many beautiful words flowing through his head, all in the intangible world of his mind. We would never have known them had he not taken action and brought them into the world of matter, inscribing the words upon the page that we may come to see and read them, and then hear them in our own heads.
Beethoven heard wonderful sounds in his head, and Leonardo da Vinci saw visions of fantastic inventions and wonderful works of art, none of which we would know today if they had not created their visions and transformed them into matter – a symphony – a‘Mona Lisa’. We and millions like us would never enjoy Beethoven’s Fifth or wonder at the Mona Lisa’s smile if they had not taken action.
Sure, it’s okay to believe in an idea and to have faith that it is good, but as one far wiser than me has said, “Faith without works is dead.” To conceive of an idea and to simply believe in it is not enough; without taking action, the idea might as well be dead. You see, until action is taken and it is inscribed upon the world of matter, it remains a dead idea.
Whatever tool you use to inscribe it – be it a pen, a paintbrush or a piano – it is the scribe using the tool who gives itlife. The life is expressed from the spirit into matter by the scribe transferring the inspired idea to the tool, and then from the tool onto and upon the material world, from which others can then understand and benefit from the intangible idea that has now become tangible.
Faith without works is dead faith, and dead faith is useless, for it is buried along with all good ideas that never lived. For faith to become alive, it needsactionfor it to live. It needs to be worked at, stimulated, massaged, pushed, pulled and driven, until it breaks through the veil of unbelief, andlives!
The veil of unbelief is the negativity of our minds that seeks to discourage us; whose voice may come from ourselves, or others who might say, “Give up!” or “Start it later …”
That veil of unbelief is death itself, and it rides a pale and sickly horse, and destruction follows after it. It is lazy, it is tired, and it is called by many names – “Procrastination”, “Frustration”, and even, “Later, dude.” It creeps along until it falls by the wayside into the graveyard of good ideas, taking your good idea with it to that grave.
Failure is the destruction of all your ideas, so learn to hate it, and learn to hate them both, for they are not your friends, nor should they ever be your companions. They are empowered by inaction, so when they approach you must repel them by taking action. If you knew the truth of this, you would display strength andtake action!
A man known as Jesus had a really cool and powerful idea to raise a dead man from the dead, whose name was Lazarus. This man was in the grip of the ultimate failure of life – death and the grave. Jesus stirred up the idea within himself, adding the energy of positive action, until the tool of His voice tore the veil of unbelief in two! He shouted, “Lazarus, come forth!” and Lazarus did come forth, andhe lived!
So, faith without works is dead. But faithwithworks – the kind of works that require strength and taking positive action – will cause dead matter to live! Therefore, withanyidea we have that we earnestly believe in, we must then apply the strength of our energy and the action of our positive belief to cause that idea to live.
We must work in the natural for ‘the miracle worker’ to work in the spiritual. Our faith is the cause; the idea that has become real, the effect.
Believe in your idea, work at your idea, and your ideawill live!
