Faith uplevels and inspirits life
Spirit-tuned faith effectively invokes and combines human and Divine will for the upleveling of life and circumstances. Such faith is a more than a prayer, it is a double dare -- a dare to oneself AND God. The dare says: "I know WE can do it."
Faith has two ways of fulfilling its dare: with a radically different IDEA, or with a wonderfully different TONE.
1. What faith accomplishes with a deviant (different) IDEA. Faith can provide ideas that inherently uplift because they so far transcend the ordinary, conventional presumptions of what is possible. And note this intriguing relationship between deviance and effectiveness: SO LONG AS credibility and credence can be maintained, the more outrageous the idea, the more potent it is in uplifting thoughts and accomplishments.
Out-sized or otherwise fantastic assertions really appeal to something in God's children. Grand ideas capture people's imagination, and inspire them to act, to cooperate, to persist, to transcend their limits. Some of mankind's greatest achievements, including wonders of the world, came into being partly because their conception was outrageous and, precisely on that account, INSPIRING to men. The Pyramids. The Taj Mahal. The incredible cathedrals of Europe. The first man on the moon.
No wonder human beings, being chips off the old Creator block, often appreciate ideas that are way out of the box. Our heavenly Father is nothing if not "out of the box." Look at the scale on which the Universe was created! We live in a galaxy containing BILLIONS of stars like our sun. And within the universe, there are countless more galaxies like ours.
"Deviant" faith convictions, then, are not just targets for skepticism and evidence against the validity of faith. Deviance provides opportunity for the spirit to express itself and its kinship with the Divine. The more deviant, the more outrageous the idea, the more joyful, interesting, uplifting, galvanizing, exciting, and EFFECTIVE a faith conviction can be.
2. What faith accomplishes with a deviant (different) TONE. Often, faith uplevels tone not by DEFYING appearances, but by simply REINTERPRETING them. Faith can provide new, upleveling interpretations of the MEANING and SIGNIFICANCE of apparently ordinary ideas. Giving of new meaning to old experiences and views of life raises life; it transposes us into a higher key of living.
Example: A worker says, "We've got trouble, boss." His supervisor replies, "Well, thank God we've got SOMETHING going for us. Now that we've got trouble, we've got a challenge. We've got iron to pump -- something to push against." Both men shared the same idea: "We've got trouble." But the MEANING of trouble and the tonal response to trouble was different for each of them. For one, trouble was the beginning of the end -- an absolute disaster. For the other, trouble was an opportunity, a benediction, even.
Now, without a doubt, the higher toned response of faith can produce any number of beneficial results, when translated into action. The power, direction, and impact of action comes from its spirit, and from the conviction behind it. When the new tonal contribution of faithful consciousness inspirits an action, the impact of the action shifts in keeping with its new spiritual core.