Rare Faith: The Kind of Faith that Causes Things to Happen

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Part 2

Why another book?

As mentioned in Part 1, there is a System by which God provides for His children, and obedience to the laws and principles governing each blessing activates it. However, the purpose of this book is not to explain the laws or how to use them. That information can be found in my other books, available as free downloads here:

• Hidden Treasures: Heaven’s Astonishing Help with Your Money Matters – A look at the seven universal laws, applicable to other areas of life besides finances.
• The Jackrabbit Factor: Why You Can – A story that reveals the secret behind the voice of inspiration and illustrates how dependable and ingenious that inner voice can be.
• Portal to Genius: From Vision to Reality – (Sequel to The Jackrabbit Factor) A story about what to do when things get worse instead of better.

While these books explain the nuanced ways to apply the principles in real-life scenarios, I’ve discovered something new that explains why sometimes people have trouble experiencing the System’s effectiveness.

Subtle Disharmonies

It’s been over a decade since I wrote my last book and I wasn’t planning to write another. I thought maybe I would publish a collection of newer short writings on the subject, but those are already on my blog, so there hasn’t been an urgent need to release a book containing them. 

But in that time, aware that the System has been explained by countless people throughout history in different ways, I’ve become increasingly aware that the various approaches don’t always agree with each other. Furthermore, mixing different methods together can impact a person’s outcomes in unwanted ways.

The purpose of this book, then, is to shed light on the primary camps that teach about the principles, what they have in common, where they diverge, and why it matters to know the difference.

The System, and Sourdough Bread

Imagine wanting to make the perfect loaf of homemade sourdough bread. You pull up a list of four different recipes which all promise 5-star results, and print them out for quick and easy reference. You gather all the ingredients for each recipe, and lay them all in front of you on the counter. Next, you collect your measuring tools, your roller, cloth, pans, and bowls. 

Once you’ve got everything ready, you start to combine a few of your favorite ingredients from the first recipe with a few of your favorite ingredients from the second recipe. You leave out some of the ingredients that you don’t like, and omit the sourdough starter because that part is kind of gross. 

With what you have now in the bowl, you mix it together and start following the instructions from the third. While letting the questionable mass rest, you set the time and temperature on the oven based on the fourth recipe, and hope for the best. Things aren’t looking good, but if you just have enough faith, it will all still turn out okay, right?

After it flops, you start attending bread-making classes and hear stories of other people’s successes. Inspired with newfound hope, you take another stab at it, bringing in a few more of the less-desirable steps or ingredients across the multiple recipes still on your countertop. Another flop, and you start questioning the validity of all those 5-star reviews. 

But the reviews are not fake. People really are enjoying gorgeously carved hearth-worthy sourdough masterpieces. Sometimes you’ve just got to pick one recipe and stick with it from start to finish, without giving any attention to any other recipes until you’ve succeeded. Once you know how to do it well with one recipe, you can try it with another. Each recipe will have the same fundamental components, while the extra ingredients and instructions simply add variety, beauty, and interest.

Once you’ve gained enough experience to grasp the science behind a successful loaf, you can improvise within the parameters and have fun creating something entirely different, beautiful, and interesting of your own. Before you know it, you’re sharing your own exquisite 5-star recipe inventions. That’s mastery.

Mixed Approaches and The System

The same idea applies to consciously achieving goals with the System. First, you find out that you can experience better results by thinking in a certain way. So you research what you can on the subject, and start collecting instructions from a few different resources. You take note of parts that really resonate with you, and set a goal. Then you start following instructions from one resource and a few other instructions from a different resource.

When things in the middle don’t look exactly right, you choose to trust the process (or your version of it) and hope for the best. If you’ve been sufficiently obedient to the laws connected to that desired outcome, then “keeping calm and watching what happens” is the right thing to do. But if you’ve omitted too many critical elements, then no amount of last-minute faith is going to produce the hoped-for results. The problem is, most people, when they begin experimenting with the principles, have no idea which of the factors truly matter.

Just as a great loaf of sourdough requires commitment to one well-crafted recipe, achieving a goal often demands aligning with a single, cohesive vision and process. God’s divine System universally provides for His children across all cultures, and mercifully, you can experience its power by aligning with any one of the approaches that activate it. Just pick one, and be consistent until you understand first-hand the science behind it, and then you will be able to improvise within the parameters and enjoy all the blessings, freedom, and benefits of a transcended life. That’s mastery.

Wallace D. Wattles said this about keeping your experiments pure:

“Do not listen to arguments against this idea; do not go … where a contrary concept of things is taught or preached. Do not read magazines or books which teach a different idea; if you get mixed up in your faith, all your efforts will be in vain.”

Speaking about people who pay no attention to the camps and their differing approaches, Wattles added this:

“… while they have some notion of science, they have become so swamped and lost in the maze of metaphysical and occult theories that they do not know which road to take. They try a mixture of many systems and fail in all. … If you begin to mix with the occult, you will start mental cross-currents which will surely bring your hopes to shipwreck.” (Wallace Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich)

Now that Wattles’ book is in the public domain, a number of teachers have created derivative works from it to help people understand the System from their perspectives and belief systems, including Bob Proctor, who wrote a seminar based on the book (for which I was a facilitator many years ago), and Rhonda Byrne, who created a movie called The Secret based on it. 

Parts of Wattles’ book didn’t fully resonate with me, so I created derivatives of my own: an ebook called “The Science of Receiving“, and a year-long coaching program called “Achieving the Impossible”.

Selective Study

Once I had finally discovered and gained enough experience with an approach that worked for me, I lost interest in other people’s writings on the subject. It’s like, once you figure out how to ride a bike, you just want to ride, and you never forget how. Naturally, you are no longer as curious about bike-riding instructions as you were before.

For the record, by no means am I an expert on all things related to the System, but I’ve found a recipe that works for me, and at least for now, I’m still playing with variations of it to identify the most important ingredients. 

After finding a recipe that made sense to me, I preferred pondering the seemingly infinite implications of what I had discovered, over reading about all the ways the System can be activated. I found that the act of pondering for new insights was more easy, fruitful, and interesting than the work it took to assimilate other people’s explanations and conclusions second-hand.

(I do have a short list of favorite resources that I will read and re-read to keep me on track, and find that I have a very short attention span for anything else. Occasionally I’ll come across something that I can add to that short list, but it’s been rare.)

Anyway, coming to that place, I finally understood why Bob Proctor told me that, once he began producing his own teachings, he no longer spent valuable time consuming anyone else’s. He kept his experiments pure and became a tremendous leader by staying in his lane and remaining focused on his own approach.

When the student is ready, the teach appears

The System and its governing principles are unchanging and absolute. However, because the concepts are abstract, the way they are explained is naturally colored by each teacher’s perspective and personal experiences. Similarly, learners approach the material with their own backgrounds and worldviews, making it nearly impossible for any single teacher to present the concepts in a way that resonates perfectly with every student.

Ultimately, it would be a beautiful thing for everyone on the planet to become aware of the System in whatever way makes sense to them, test and prove the principles, and then share what they’ve learned with a like-minded audience in their own way.  Because when people know about it, it helps them worry less, trust in Providence more, and enjoy the benefits of the Father’s ever-present supply (whether or not they believe in Him).

I believe that for each person who is ready to understand and apply it, there is a teacher prepared to explain it in just the right way.

In my opinion, the more people writing about it from various perspectives, the better (even if they don’t appear to fully agree with each other). This is one reason why I have our program facilitators write articles as part of their training.

I say: Let all people discover it in their own “language”, align with it, experiment with it, talk about it, and get the laws down into their bones. It’s my hope that everyone would have access to resources that teach it in ways that align with their background, belief system, and core values. It’s only fair.

A Need for Discernment

That said, while there are various perspectives that lead to the same universal truths, not all teachings point us in that direction. One immutable principle is that there is opposition in all things. So while there is a divine force that wants us to have all the knowledge, wisdom, and supply we need to achieve our highest potential, there is also an opposing force that wants to keep us in the dark, foolish, and lacking, so that we can’t reach our highest potential. 

But even the existence of that opposition is by divine design, because it’s in the struggle between those two forces that we gain strength, experience, and wisdom to aid us in each future endeavor according to our choices. So while there are many different teachings that can help us discover and operate within the System, there are also counter-teachings that can cut us off from it, and it’s not always obvious which is which. 

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Part 3 will address the commonalities in various teachings about the System, and then we’ll look at where they diverge. If you are enjoying this book so far, please let me know below. Your feedback helps me keep going!

All parts released here are drafts and may be subject to change. 

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Leslie Householder

Leslie Householder is the award-winning, international best selling author of The Jackrabbit Factor, Portal to Genius, and Hidden Treasures: Heaven's Astonishing Help With Your Money Matters. Since 2002, she has helped people all over the world discover and apply the Rare Kind of Faith that causes things to happen for powerful life changes. Through story and shifts of perspective, Leslie aims to help her readers crush every challenge, achieve every goal, and vanquish every monster under their beds. Above all, Leslie is a dedicated wife and mother of seven children.

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