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Faith: What is it and how do I get it? Since without faith it’s impossible to please God, one of our highest priorities should be to grow in our faith, because you really want to please him, as do I. The first symptom to a lack of faith we looked at is doubt.
Another symptom is the need to control everything. Are you a controlling person? I tell you honestly that I am. Certainly there are many things I should be controlling—myself mostly and my walk with the Lord. But when I try to control every person in my life and manipulate circumstances all the time, it is evidence of lack of faith on my part.
If you share this controlling tendency, think about it: Why are you trying to control every situation? Because you believe you know best and you believe that you can make things better and you are convinced that you are capable of straightening things out, if you were only in control? If so, where is your trust: in God or in yourself?
Did you ever realize that this controlling obsession is really lack of faith to believe that God knows what he is doing, his way is best, and you can trust him? When you and I keep trying to control everything, it is evidence of our lack of trust in our Heavenly Father who has told us to cast all our cares on him, to give him our heavy burdens, to let go and allow him to work.
What do you do if you’re a controlling person? Well, you pray about it every day and ask God to help you with this tendency. You’ll have to change some thought patterns and continually be conscious of the fact that when you’re trying to control, you’re not pleasing God because it shows a lack of faith, and without faith you can’t please God. I have found that this simple reminder helps me greatly in my tendency to be an excessively controlling person.
So, what is faith? It is the opposite of doubting and controlling. Does that mean if you ever doubt or try to control, you have no faith? No, it just means that your faith needs improving. It’s got some holes in it that need repair. That’s true of all of us. None of us has perfect faith at all times about everything. But since having faith in God is so important, you and I need to be aware where our faith is weak and start shoring it up.