The way to move faith

The way to move faith from that 'head stuff' to a living faith is Prayer. In prayer you go from thinking about or talking about God or even talking to God, to talking with God and listening when God calls. It's a trust commitment in God; who you cannot by normal earthly means even know is there. You pray trusting, or maybe just hoping, that God will act on what you pray about. The life of faith is a life of trusting that God is at work on your concerns and working on you. When you discover that the world around you is both natural and supernatural, then it make sense that communicating with God is of great value.

The Spirit moves you to turn to God in prayer and He brings to your mind that there is hope in doing so, and makes you aware of the truth and the need. The Spirit prays with you, and when you reach the point where your praying becomes too much for you, the Spirit picks it up and keeps it running.  

Praying is not a form of wishing. A wish is a desire or longing for some specific thing. Wishful thinking is expressed almost like a petition: I wish I could have it. A wish is not rooted in reality, but fantasy; it is, something the wish-er knows they can't or shouldn't have. You want your wish to come true because it's something that would please you. A wish is not entirely a bad thing; it may be the way you start to dream of what is to come. You have to be part of making it happen. It is merely a 'wish' when you ask God to send you a woman to love, yet you rarely leave your home and even more rarely meet anyone new. It is merely a 'wish' if you ask to be healthy, but then chain-smoke, lounge on the couch. God does not honor that. God honors it when you start exercising and dieting -- that is, when you take responsibility for your part in it.

When you pray and specifically trust God with the matter. You're calling on God to act, trusting that God will do what is ultimately best. It is a "thy will be done" way of being. You're asking God to expand your understanding and insight, to give guidance, to grant forgiveness, to show you what gifts have been given to you, or to act for the sake of someone else. This is not about longings or short-lived concerns. Prayer is a crucial step in your doing your part of what God is doing in this world. For in it, you discover what your part is. Your will may not be done; something better may well be done instead. God makes what is prayed for become real, by working in you and in others to make it happen.