How do I get fresh faith?

Is faith like a muscle I exercise, so I get credit for something I initiated/generated?   No, faith is something granted by God.  Jack Miller once told Rose Marie that the starting place for faith, is conviction of sin.   When I first heard that back in the 80’s, on a recording of Rose Marie teaching women in her home from Romans, I was amazed, and that understanding has profoundly helped me ever since.

The starting place for fresh faith, is fresh conviction of sin.  I cannot convict myself of my sin, cannot make myself believe/repent, but what I can do, is ask for the Spirit afresh, to come and convict me of my sin, so my eyes are freshly opened to seeing the awful truth about myself, that I’m much worse than I ever imagined, so I can CONFESS my sin, and feel like the town sinner in Luke 7 who loved much because she had a sense of having been forgiven much: loved Jesus much, loved others much, even enemies.  Wow.

When I’m bummed by my sin, that’s not humility, but pride.  Satan doesn’t want me CONFESSing my sin, doesn’t want me feeling completely forgiven, wants me full of self-contempt, wants me trying harder to do better next time.  CONFESS is anathema to Satan.  And to my flesh.   ProudDave strives to fix himself.  HumbleDave enjoys himself just as he is, just as Jesus enjoys him, and he enjoys others, just as they are, even his enemies.  Wow.

–ProudDave, needing prayer for fresh conviction of the sin of pride, so he’s momentarily HumbleDave, experiencing the ecstasy/life compelling to pre-believers (please pray now)

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