Chapter III - Faith - Part 2

Those of you who have not read Part 1 may want to do that before reading this post.

"When [Jesus] was going back to the city in the morning, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went over to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, 'May no fruit ever come from you again.' An immediately the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, "How was it that the fig tree withered immediately?' Jesus said to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and don't waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done.' Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."

Matthew 21: 18-22

"Faith is the 'eternal elixir' which gives life, power, and action to the impulse of thought!" "Faith is the only known antidote for failure!"

Napoleon Hill ~ Think and Grow Rich

Jesus was very serious about Faith. Now, did he want us to use faith to slake our greedy hearts? No, he wants us to use our faith to help others. That is why there is a law of nature in place to help us carry out what the desires placed in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit (Or the universe, or what ever you want to call it), leads us to do. If we follow those desires, we will be truly happy with the wealth that follows.

Immediately after the "Self-Confidence Formula" Mr. Hill makes this statement. "Back of this formula is a law of nature which no man has yet been able to explain. The name by which one calls this law is of little importance. The important fact about it is- it WORKS for the glory and success of mankind, IF it is used constructively. On the other hand, if used destructively, it will destroy just as readily." Now those of you who read the first post in this analysis of "Think and Grow Rich" should here bells going off everywhere. Does anyone want to name the secret?

One note which must be mentioned about the Self-Confidence Formula as well as the six steps to develop desire is when repeated each day, you must say them to your self with passion and conviction, because faith is what happens when desire meets emotion.

Emotion is extremely important. Mr. Hill uses the example of Abraham Lincoln, who was a nobody until he met Ann Rutledge. Ann was his true love and love is the strongest emotion one can feel. When Lincoln mixed his strong emotion with his desires, he became unstoppable.

Mr. Hill then brought up a though which I have pondered many times. He stated it in a declarative statement, but I have declared it in a question. Can you name one man, outside of religion, who had wild success in his chosen field who did not have a significant other? I don't know of one; however I am willing to listen if anyone out there has any names.

Now with the power of faith and the power of the secret, which Mr. Hill comes closest to mentioning here in this chapter, there is a warning. It sounds like a line from a Spiderman Movie, but it's true. "With great power comes great responsibility".

By affirming positive thoughts and positive language you can literally turn your whole life around. However, if you use negative thoughts or negative language you can, not only destroy your own life, you can destroy the lives of others. Be careful of, not only of what you think, but of what you say.

Let's end this post with another poem Mr. Hill chose which does a wonderful job of explaining his points in this chapter.

"If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't
It is almost certain you won't

"If you think you'll lose, you're lost,
For out in the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow's will-
It's all in the sate of mind.

"If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise,
You've got to be sure of yourself before
you can ever win a prize.

"Life's battles don't always go
to the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!"


http://littleengineblog.blogspot.com/2007/07/think-grow-rich-before-we-begin.html

http://littleengineblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/chapter-iii-faith.html