when the promises are mixed with faith

"So watch your step, friends. Make sure there's no evil unbelief lying around that will trip you up and throw you off course, diverting you from the living God. For as long as its still God's Today, keep each other on your toes so sin doesn't slow down your reflexes. If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with Christ for the long haul........They never got there because they never listened, never believed.....but the promises didn't do them a bit of good because they didn't receive the promises with faith. If we believe, though, we'll experience that state of resting. But not if we don't have faith.....God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as Today...."
Hebrew 3 and 4 various verses in the Message.

I feel like we're on a bit of a faith journey right now. It's sort of hard to explain in words, especially for those of you out there in cyberspace. (so please excuse me if this doesn't make sense). I've been trying to understand the concept of the words faith and believe. Many times in the Bible those words are used. In The Message the word faith is used 162 times and believe 189 times. But what do those words really mean....I mean REALLY mean when you apply them personally to your life.

I've been noticing a pattern in my life growing up. I always based my belief on the things that I could see. Of course I believed in Jesus and God. That they existed. But when you apply their existence in your own personal life, your day to day experiences, where do they fit in? You can believe in God and Jesus but their existence doesn't effect your life in any way, shape, or form. I've known individuals who said they believed in Jesus, but it didn't change how they treated others, viewed what God blessed them with, changed how they treated those at the supermarket. Oh yeah, they believed, but they still remained in their life as if that existence didn't change anything for them. I always have based my belief on a human level, but my eyes are being opened to belief in the heavenly level. I'd like to think it's from God's perspective, at least I hope it is.

What if the things that Matthew and I desire are right in front of our faces. So reachable, but from our perspective, they seem unreachable. Unreachable because we have never listened, never believed. (real belief, not the mystical use of the word) What type of belief is that to reach those things that God is giving you but you can't see? The belief that makes things visible?

Further down in Hebrews it says : "While he lived on earth, anticipating death, Jesus cried out in pain and wept in sorrow as he offered up priestly prayers to God. Because he honored God, God answered him. Though he was God's Son, he learned trusting-obedience by what he suffered, just as we do."

We are defiently not suffering by any means, so please do not confuse me with saying our trials and complications are anywhere near the suffering of our Glorious Jesus. But I believe this verse states that we learn through troubles, just as Jesus learned, if we learn through a trusting-obedience type of relationship with God.

"Parched ground that soaks up the rain and then produces an abundance of carrots and corn for its gardener gets God's "Well done!" But if it produces weeds and thistels, it's more likely to get cussed out. Fields like that are burned, not harvested. .... And now I want each of you to extend that same intensity toward a full-bodied hope, and keep at it till the finish. Don't drag your feet. Be like those who stay the course with committed faith and then get everything promised to them."

I don't feel like we know what we're doing....really. I don't know what we should be doing, but I do know what I don't want to be doing with this present moment, this Today. I don't want to produce weeds and thistels with today. I don't want to be burned, my life, my field to be a big fat waste. I want my life to produce a harvest. A harvest of faith, of grace and mercy towards others. I want to quit this selfish lifestyle, who only serves myself. I want to live a life full of trust, faith, and belief. But Lord how do I do that?