Belief in God

characteristics · Oct 7, 2012

To begin this note, I should probably explain a bit about my background. I was not brought up in a Christian home. My mother was not religious at all. My group of friends were either completely indifferent toward religion, kept to themselves in regards to their beliefs, or one who was a proud atheist. Aside from some fleeting interests in teachings and philosophies of some eastern religions and ancient Greek and Roman gods, I've had little to no experience with being religious or spiritual or believing in anything even resembling a deity. I have been to Christian functions and I've known Christians. But I've never considered the stories and the teachings to be true. From the perspective of an outsider, they seem, like those of any other religion, to be myths.

Have you ever stared longingly into the sky as the clouds slowly crept across it, their white a stark contrast to the deep blue? My boyfriend asked me to do this. And he asked me to imagine that someone up there somewhere was watching. That someone up there somewhere cared.

I did. But, to me, it seemed nothing more than a fairytale. To the point where I couldn't even wrap my mind around the concept of an actual being up there watching and caring. I look up into those pillowy white clouds, and all I truly see is beautiful, indifferent, sometimes horrifying nature.

Whatever belief Christians have for God escapes me. I can certainly see why someone would desire to believe in God. But I can't.

So, Christians, how have you come to believe in God? I'm not asking for philosophical arguments the purpose of which is to convince me of the existence of God. I've tried that route. It doesn't work. Mostly because I neither understand nor care about such arguments. I'm simply asking how you came to the conclusion.

Whitestone · Oct 7, 2012

From the Bible, a person can discover whether or not they have been called by God to know Him. Most haven't been. It is only a gift for a few.

In the Bible, we find out things about ourself. The main thing, as per your question, is what God's plan is for us.

For most people, it is to fulfill their own desires and to marry have a family and finally die. During that time, folks like this will often be used by God to "sharpen" or to "hone" the skills of His few select Sons and Daughters whom He is working within to fashion them into perfection righteousness joy and peace. He fills these children with a New Spirit. He gives them a New Heart. They become unique people before Him.

The non-belivers are there to "try" and to "tempt" and to "test" the integrity of His Children, by which they can be "proved" and "strengthened" in their unique development of the attributes of Faith and Hope and especially Love.

We have a choice. A specific "slot" so to speak, is available in eternity with Jesus. It may not be you that fills it, but it has been ordained to be filled with someone. Our choice is whether we are going to be the one to fill it, or if we are going to be the enemy to the one who filles it. It is our choice.

If we choose to do nothing, that is also our choice and God will continue to Love you and make His rain to fall upon you to give you what you choose in the limited time available in a dying body.

But I don't want to die. I want to live forever. I want to know true Love. I want to know true Life. I want to know this God who promises these things. I am very intrigued by the man born of a virgin, who died on the cross for me. I want to know Him intensely. I can't imagine letting other things get in the way of that. What else could possibly matter?

I've Chosen Christ Jesus. May you be settled in your decision some day and fulfill your destiny, whether it be a temporary one on this planet of pain sorrow sin and death... or in Righteous Joy and Peace filled with a New Holy Spirit of the man resurrected from the dead Named Jesus, and Live forever with Him in Eternity.

Love and Blessings in Christ Jesus my Lord God,
whitestone

characteristics · Oct 7, 2012

Okay, but I can't really choose something in which I lack belief. I'm glad that you're intrigued by He who laid His life down for you. But I don't believe his death literally absolved me of my sins ... in which I also lack belief.

amadeus2 · Oct 7, 2012

Look carefully at what you do believe or do not believe already. Everyone believes in something, even if it is so simple as believing that your car will start when you turn on the ignition key. What is your basis for believing any of these things? These things are "proven" to you by what your senses perceive and what you brain concludes based on the things sensed. How dependable are your five senses? How dependable is your brain? Is there there nothing more to you other than the five natural senses and the brain?

When you think on these things which are perceived naturally and those things which seem to be in you or with you, but beyond the five senses, you are probably entering closer to where God is, for, I believe, that He is in a small measure in every person.

What happens to a believer is that he begins to develop other senses of those things beyond the natural five. God is in these things (as well as in the natural five) and the Holy Ghost is where an how He is able focus or magnify or develop more highly that which was only a tiny seemingly distant glimmer at the start. But... this in only a beginning. There is much more once you have your foot in the door.

Whitestone · Oct 7, 2012

characteristics said:
Okay, but I can't really choose something in which I lack belief. I'm glad that you're intrigued by He who laid His life down for you. But I don't believe his death literally absolved me of my sins ... in which I also lack belief.

I understand that from earlier. That is why I explained that the only way you can know anything by which you can then decide what to "believe" is to read the Bible to see what it is.
You have to know what something is first, to be able to choose whether or not to believe.

A blind person wouldn't know to choose whether the color purple existed, unless someone told them about it, right? After they've been informed, they can choose whether or not to believe it or not.

Jesus is more than fair in this. He sends many people to each of us. Each of us has heard from hundreds, maybe thousands of others about Jesus.
All we have to do for our own selves is to choose whether they are cunningly devised fables, or if they are true.

It doesn't matter which choice you make, just that you make a choice.

Only a few will choose Jesus. That is the much harder choice to accept because your 5 senses can't "detect" Him for He is Spirit and invisible to the flesh eyes.

But those who do, He will open their eyes to see all the Heavenly City and see the face of Jesus shining in the Glory of Salvation.

But you'll never know unless you read the Bible. If you don't read it, that is also a choice. But then you will never know to make the choice whether to believe How Jesus died so that you can Live. That would be a bummer, eh?

Peace

Thiscrosshurts · Oct 7, 2012

Okay, but I can't really choose something in which I lack belief.

I agree,I am not entirely sure we choose much at all in life.
I might choose chocolate if asked a preference for ice cream but I did not choose to like chocolate,I just do.
Some people don't like chocolate but not because they chose not to like it.
We are all under the control of influences we have no choice about but we can choose to investigate or seek.

I believed in Santa Clause when I was a kid.As far as I remember I was not given a choice,I was given an environment that that sustained that belief through stories and was reinforced by those I trusted to protect me,there was even tangible evidence under the tree.When I was faced with evidence that Santa might not exist I could choose to seek the truth or to simply believe.

It was the same with spiritual things,I believed when I was a kid but only because of an environment that encouraged and sustained belief.I stopped believing when I was a teenager because I didn't feel the evidence of what I was being told about God matched up well with the results or evidence I was seeing with the 5 senses.Later in life I met some people who not only believed in God but they showed evidence of his love and even of his power.I tried to ignore this but the evidence piled up and formed a belief that seemed to choose me more than I chose it.

characteristics · Oct 7, 2012

amadeus2 said:
How dependable are your five senses? How dependable is your brain? Is there there nothing more to you other than the five natural senses and the brain?

I depend on them a lot more than I probably should. After all, they're only electrical signals sent to my brain. It's entirely possible that this entire world doesn't actually exist, and I only exist as a brain in a large beaker that's hooked up to a computer which sends electrical impulses to control what I sense and perceive. Or we're all stuck in the Matrix.

What happens to a believer is that he begins to develop other senses of those things beyond the natural five. God is in these things (as well as in the natural five) and the Holy Ghost is where an how He is able focus or magnify or develop more highly that which was only a tiny seemingly distant glimmer at the start. But... this in only a beginning. There is much more once you have your foot in the door.

I suppose that might explain why my ability to believe in God seems impossible. But it opens up another question; how do you know those new senses are to be trusted? Even the five senses with which we're born can be confused and tricked.

Have you ever read "The Raven"?

Whitestone said:
I understand that from earlier. That is why I explained that the only way you can know anything by which you can then decide what to "believe" is to read the Bible to see what it is.
You have to know what something is first, to be able to choose whether or not to believe.

A blind person wouldn't know to choose whether the color purple existed, unless someone told them about it, right? After they've been informed, they can choose whether or not to believe it or not.

I've started reading the Bible. At least the main themes. But I don't see how, even after reading the Bible, I can choose to believe it. And this goes with any book or information, not just the Bible. If someone told me Alice in Wonderland was based on real events, I wouldn't be able to believe them - even if I truly wanted to and tried to believe them.

My belief in something basically goes through a process of:
1. Hear about it.
Seems legit?
2. If yes, further research.
Convinced?
3. If yes, I maintain a tenuous belief until something new comes along

Thiscrosshurts said:
Later in life I met some people who not only believed in God but they showed evidence of his love and even of his power.I tried to ignore this but the evidence piled up and formed a belief that seemed to choose me more than I chose it.

I like your chocolate analogy, and not just because I love chocolate. The belief process does seem more involuntary, similar to one's liking for certain foods.

What was the convincing evidence?
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amadeus2 · Oct 7, 2012

Originally Posted by amadeus2
How dependable are your five senses? How dependable is your brain? Is there there nothing more to you other than the five natural senses and the brain?

characteristics: I depend on them a lot more than I probably should. After all, they're only electrical signals sent to my brain. It's entirely possible that this entire world doesn't actually exist, and I only exist as a brain in a large beaker that's hooked up to a computer which sends electrical impulses to control what I sense and perceive. Or we're all stuck in the Matrix.

Oh, I believe that this physical world is not the real world. The real world is the one that believers in God and His Son, Jesus, see as through darkened glass. We (believers) only see what through faith toward God. Those lacking in that same kind of faith are effectively blind to the things of God. They effectively perceive almost nothing that is real. When the dirt is thrown on their faces they are finished.

Consider what you would be if you were naturally blind and deaf with no sense of smell or taste and your body was completely without the sense of touch. Within your head (what we call a "head") there would still be something, but without the senses to sense things what would your brain sort through to come to any kind conclusions?

The writer's words tell us what here?

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

The real world is the world that no man, who has only flesh and blood and the electrical impulses you mentioned, can see or even perceive fully. To see God even in part, we must get past what the five senses and our physical brain can come up with... All of the physical can be lost. A person can lose his eyes; a person can lose his hearing; a person can have his taste buds desensitized; a person can lose his ability to smell things; etc. Is the person then dead to the things of this natural world? Is the person then alive at all?

And the words of Jesus tell us what here?

"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." John 20:29

Jesus is gently telling Thomas that it is better to become a believer without the physical evidence of his natural eyes and the touch of his fingers.

Jesus had said the following words to Thomas (called by some "doubting Thomas")previously:

"...Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing." John 20:27

Are miracles, which can be perceived with the five natural senses, necessary to become a believer? No, but in the case of Thomas, Jesus pressed Thomas to touch the open wounds in the physical body so that Thomas would doubt no more.

But... even naturally observable miracles will not be enough to move many people from unbelief to faith in God. The four gospels of scripture (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are full of naturally observable miracles yet where were all of those eye witnesses to such miracles when Jesus was tortured, condemned and crucified? In scripture they were missing, or in selfish fear they were hiding or running away.

If a person's heart is really open, God can effect a change from unbeliever to believer, but you must really want it to happen before it can happen. Signs and wonders may encourage a person in that direction, but alone, they will not change a person's heart if the person doesn't want to do what God wants him to do.

What God wants us to do is to be more interested in pleasing Him (God) than in anything else. No one is instantaneously in that place in the beginning (although some are change very sustantially immediately).

All of us are naturally born selfish. (This is a necessary part of what we might call a survival instinct in the natural man... because babies are unable to survive without help.) The road from the complete selfishness of a new born baby to complete selflessness is the way a person must go to approach more closely to God. No man can walk the full length of this road alone.

Amadeus: What happens to a believer is that he begins to develop other senses of those things beyond the natural five. God is in these things (as well as in the natural five) and the Holy Ghost is where an how He is able focus or magnify or develop more highly that which was only a tiny seemingly distant glimmer at the start. But... this in only a beginning. There is much more once you have your foot in the door.

characteristics: I suppose that might explain why my ability to believe in God seems impossible. But it opens up another question; how do you know those new senses are to be trusted? Even the five senses with which we're born can be confused and tricked.

Absolutely! The natural senses can be fooled. The reason, I believe, that there are so many different supposedly Christian sects with so many doctrines, which are often diametrically opposed to each other, is that people receive something from God while retaining much of their own history, their own natural experience. They are then a mixture of the things of God and the things of man in different degrees or measures. Many people do not continue to walk by faith toward God. They reach a plateau and get comfortable instead of continuing to move forward. This is not an option with God.

Like still water that grows stagnant killing all life within it when it remains in one place too long, so are people who have received something from God. They must continue to move (grow) toward God or they will die (spiritually. Running water does not become stagnant.

Do you know what a talus is? If memory serves me correctly, it is slope or hill covered with small stones. If a person attempts to walk up such a slope with a rather steep incline to it, he can only continue moving upward toward the summit of the hill by walking at a steady pace. If he stops on that talus slope or walks too slow, he will begin to slide backwards.

This is comparable to a person walking with God. Standing still is not an option. You must either continue walking toward Him or you will surely slide back away from Him.

Have you ever read "The Raven"?

Yes, many years ago, but it was probably well over 50 years ago and little of it is retained in this old head other than "quote the raven, nevermore".

Thiscrosshurts · Oct 7, 2012

I depend on them a lot more than I probably should. After all, they're only electrical signals sent to my brain. It's entirely possible that this entire world doesn't actually exist, and I only exist as a brain in a large beaker that's hooked up to a computer which sends electrical impulses to control what I sense and perceive. Or we're all stuck in the Matrix.

I know,that's what I'm saying we are so dependent on our environment and what we are fed.
I've had dreams that I thought I woke up from,then something really weird happened and I realized I was still dreaming.
Our reality in this place could simply be a more consistent dream shared with other dreamers.

The Bible tells us about things that happened to us in the past that I don't remember.

Example:
Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Ephesians 2:5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 2:6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

According to this scripture you and I were dead over 2000 years ago and were raised with Christ and that we are and have been seated with him in heavenly realms.
Maybe scripture describes a reality that is more real than what my senses perceive.Maybe I was there because I read the scriptures and now that you have read them you were there also.The bible is very quantum_ish and the stories describe patterns that happen in cycles and cycles that follow patterns.The quantum world and the spiritual world are very similar in description and the Bible will defiantly be misunderstood if trying to cram it into history and logic.
It gets even crazier than that because Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world so we were there before the garden of Eden.

What was the convincing evidence?

In general science is fairly good at finding evidence of the unseen,for example particle physics shows that things look very different when the relativity of time,space,speed and gravity are removed.

I don't like to use my experiences as examples because there are so many variables in each persons life that there is little to learn from any particular experience unless all the variables are known.
I can say that what was revealed was not because I was seeking so I think it was these people I mentioned in the previous post that were praying for me.

The evidence that I saw and hope you see is that there is a difference between believers and non-believers.
If I didn't see evidence of real love I would not have bothered seeking further.

characteristics · Oct 7, 2012

amadeus2 said:
The real world is the world that no man, who has only flesh and blood and the electrical impulses you mentioned, can see or even perceive fully. To see God even in part, we must get past what the five senses and our physical brain can come up with... All of the physical can be lost. A person can lose his eyes; a person can lose his hearing; a person can have his taste buds desensitized; a person can lose his ability to smell things; etc. Is the person then dead to the things of this natural world? Is the person then alive at all?

I understand your concept of another sense. But I don't see how that sense can be trusted. How do you measure it? How do you know you're actually sensing something?

Absolutely! The natural senses can be fooled.

Yes, but at least our natural five senses can be tested against reality. What about this new sense? And if our five senses can be tricked, can this new sense as well? And what is it, exactly? How do we define it?

amadeus2 · Oct 8, 2012

characteristics said:
I understand your concept of another sense. But I don't see how that sense can be trusted. How do you measure it? How do you know you're actually sensing something?

Anything we believe to be real is actually by faith that certain things are real. Your senses tell you that there is a material world. But... you are only presuming that the perception of your senses is what you believe it is.

Yes, but at least our natural five senses can be tested against reality. What about this new sense? And if our five senses can be tricked, can this new sense as well? And what is it, exactly? How do we define it?

No, what test can prove that what you feel with you fingers tips is real? Your brain you might receive a message to that effect, but how can you know that there is anything other than your thoughts? You are presuming that there is really a material world? Your only evidence of that is your natural senses. Without your senses you would have no evidence.

characteristics · Oct 8, 2012

True. I don't have anything to prove the existence of the material world outside my five senses and confirmation from others who also have properly functioning five senses. But I don't have anything to prove the existence of a supernatural world at all.

characteristics · Oct 8, 2012

Thiscrosshurts said:
Maybe scripture describes a reality that is more real than what my senses perceive.

But how can you know that it does? And why do you believe that it does?

Strypes · Oct 8, 2012

I first met Jesus at vacation bible school at a Methodist Church when I was five or six years old. I really don't remember how old I was but I was a "little kid". The VBS teacher's name was Brenda (my name) and for the first time that I can remember, she told me about Jesus.

I had been read fairy tales as bed time stories but I knew that this was different. I fell in love with Jesus there and then.

As the third from the top, second from the bottom, middle of three sisters (with an older brother), one of four siblings whose Mother was DIVORCED in the 1960's (very taboo and outcast back then), I was an emotionally neglected child. My mother worked three jobs to support her four children and elderly mother. I do not begrudge her for not having the time to pour into me the love that children need. She barely had time to sleep before having to go to her next job.

But God (and I know it was God) sent a neighbor to befriend me. Her name was Mrs. Burgess. Her husband was the preacher at the First Baptist Church in the town where I grew up. She would let me help her in her beautiful yard and she taught me all about flowers and crafts and she shared Jesus with me too. She made me feel loved and poured into me a sense of worth. She would tell me I was smart and beautiful. For a child that got NO affirmation from family, I was like a sponge and listened to Mrs. Burgess for hours on end talk about God.

When I was ten years old, the first boy to ever kiss me, died the next day. Tiz true.

We had been playing fox and hounds the night before. And Bo and I were hiding in an old shed. He had a present for me. It was a beaded change purse to keep my money for camp in. And when He gave it to me, he kissed me. (my first ever kiss). He and my brother camped that night in our yard and came inside in the morning and my mother was cooking them breakfast. I was awakened by the sound of a gun shot in the next room.

There is a whole lot more to this part of my story but I will skip to the end, While waiting for the ambulance to come, Bo was looking into my eyes when he took his last breath. If being a "divorced" family was not enough community scrutiny, being the "murder's sister" (thought it was really an accident) took it's toll on me. I was twelve when I started doing drugs and being "wild".

I was bitter and I was angry and I hated everybody and everything. I didn't give a (insert expletive) about anyone not even myself.

When I was a junior in high school, there was a girl in my class named Karen Bullock. She was one of the "God Squad". She was always kind to me and I respected her. One day all my "friends" had skipped and at lunch time there was no one at our usual table. I was standing there holding my lunch tray and Karen saw me and invited me to sit with "the God squad".. And I did. It was nice not to have to eat alone.

Over the next several weeks, Karen kept telling me about this "youth night" at her church. She got me to promise that I would try to come to it. Her boyfriend was to be the preacher and the teens had control of the service. I told her I would try to make it.

And I did go. I sat on the back row (like a good baptist) and there was a moment when I was at the crossroads of life. Either I ran out the back door (which was what I wanted to do) or go down front which was where I was being drawn to. Karen came down out of the choir loft and sat beside me on the FRONT row and I do not remember what the grown up preacher said, All I knew was that I needed Jesus!

I tell you this, the person I was when I walked into that church that night was not the same when I left. I can not describe in words the freedom of being born again. I was no longer filled with hate and anger. I was born of the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus had indeed come into my heart and saved me. (March 25th 1979)

Karen gave me a bible (Good News) and she even sewed me a beautiful dress so I could have some "church clothes". God bless her!

I remember sitting out under a pecan tree that summer and reading the passage of scripture about the sower and the seeds. I remember praying to God that I wanted to be "Good seed" with deep roots and I came to understand that to be "rooted" meant to study the bible and learn it and memorize it and hold it deep in my heart. I did not realize at that time that what The Holy Spirit was doing was to have me to learn His voice from scripture. I learned to trust Him and He showed me that I was precious to Him and I was worth so much to him that He gave His life so that I could live and find freedom for my soul and relationship with Almighty God.

I have had a "stormy" life since. I have had heartache and pain, loss and misunderstandings, and though I wasn't always aware of God's presence at the time, He never left me and He always found a way to turn my sorrows into joy, my pain into healing, and loss into gain.

Jesus has been my best friend and being friends with the creator of the universe is a life's journey that I wouldn't trade for anything. When life got hard, He was with me. When times were good, He was with me. When I didn't know what to do, He would guide me. When I was sad, He comforted me. When I was wrong, He would correct me. I have learned to trust Him in all things, and I am in love with Jesus just as I was when I first came to know Him in Vacation Bible School so many years ago.

Atheist demand "evidence" of God's existence. The ones I have known are as bitter and hate filled as I was before Jesus saved me. It has been my experience that they have already made up their minds to deny God and my "subjective" evidence is not good enough for them. It doesn't change the fact that God is real and wants everybody to know Him and to experience love that endures forever.

Thiscrosshurts · Oct 8, 2012

But how can you know that it does? And why do you believe that it does?

The same way that scientists know that quantum reality exists.
By attaining tangible repeatable results.
Faith is measurable

Example:
Fred asks to borrow $20.00 until payday and you both work at the same place and even cash your checks at the same place after work so it only takes very little faith to believe you will see your money again.
At the other end of the spectrum Fred says his wife left him and he wants to borrow $10,000 so he can buy a motorcycle and tour the country and he will pay you back sometime in the future.That would not be faith to believe you will see that money that would be stupid.
So there is an optimum faith somewhere in the middle at maybe 33% believable/ 67% unbelievable.

Jesus said to his disciples you believe because you see.Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe.

Yet at some point faith drops off exponentially and turns to foolishness and then on to stupidity.
There must be at least some evidence to leave the realm of foolish and find faith,just enough evidence to step out yet not enough to see.

You are already operating in faith spending the time and mental energy you have already spent here trying to gain an understanding of what we are talking about.We have thrown some heavy stuff your way and there is the added confusion of all the different religions and their respective beliefs and all the new things believers are having opened up because of the internet and the ability to study the scriptures and understand their original intent.

We sure do need people who are not afraid to ask why we believe what we do.

characteristics · Oct 8, 2012

Strypes, I appreciate your response, and I'm sorry all that happened to you. I can understand negligent parents, though. And I'm glad you found something to hope for.

ThisCross, I'm not all that confused, and I think that's the problem.

LLME · Oct 8, 2012

characteristics said:
But how can you know that it does? And why do you believe that it does?

Because faith is perceived outside of the 5 senses, it's an internal knowledge of something greater than ourselves. The reality of a believer is not the reality we live in.

God has placed in each one of us an internal knowledge of Himself.

Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

characteristics · Oct 8, 2012

But how do you know it's real?

LLME · Oct 8, 2012

characteristics said:
But how do you know it's real?

He is alive and active, He reveals Himself to me every single day! I'm not sure I can describe it because it's not something of the human nature. The Bible says that the carnal mind can not comprehend the things of the spiritual. A person needs the Holy Spirit to understand, the Holy Spirit understands the things of God and searches God, He then reveals those things to us.

I didn't use to have faith, I used to question just as you. See, God draws us first and perhaps He is drawing you to Him now, I don't know. Once He draws us to Himself, then we have a choice to make.

If I were you, and I'm not telling you what to do, just what I would do if I were you, is to pray and ask God to draw you to Him. Just be honest with Him, tell Him you're not sure if He exists, He already knows anyway. Read the Bible and see where He leads you.

I'll be praying for you characteristics!!

amadeus2 · Oct 8, 2012

characteristics said:
True. I don't have anything to prove the existence of the material world outside my five senses and confirmation from others who also have properly functioning five senses. But I don't have anything to prove the existence of a supernatural world at all.

Ah, but I do have proof that something exists beyond the reach of my five senses. Can I prove it to you? No, only God can prove it to you. If I share with you a testimony it will be accepted as real and true by you only if God is showing it to you through me. When something is inspired by God in a person that person knows it is truth. The truth a person receives from God is not transferrable unless God is in both sides of the transfer. In other words, I cannot convince you of a truth I have received from God unless the Holy Spirit which works in me also works in you. It may sound circular, but it is not. The following verse makes it as clear as it can be made short of having the Holy Spirit working in you:

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Hebrews 11:6

It starts with faith, and where from comes the faith?

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17

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