Faith is TRUST, not positive thinking

Your arguments are sound, and very much appreciated. TRUST IS LOYALTY? I disagree with loyalty being a component of faith, although it should be present the more we have faith in something. Loyalty is something that speaks more about our own values than the things we would have faith in. FAITH AS A POWER? Faith in itself is not a supernatural power, it is a human response. Although expressions of faith can be powerful, faith ITSELF is not an ability nor an incredient in a spell. POSITIVE THINKING? First, let me clarify. You misunderstood the word "profession" to mean that "professional". I was referring to that which one professes, or subscribes to. The point against positive thinking is that we approach faith in a way that makes it so if you "think positive", all your wishes will come true. This is known as Positive Thinking (a human potential and quite secular concept), not faith. I agree that we should not spent our lives thinking negatively. Indeed, that would be a consequence of NOT having faith. But, trust does not require one to "close your eyes and think of only good things" in order to yield effective. Trust means that I can confidently live my life trusting God's plan for my life, and living in that. Sometimes that means I get what I want. Sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I trust Him without judging the outcome. That is true faith. The alternative is that faith is this power to manipulate reality, causing things to change based on how "hard" we believe it. Let's address that below. IS PRAYER POSITIVE CONFESSION? Let's quote the scipture again: John 14:13-14 " And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. ". If one trusts in the truths of the Bible, one would have to reconcile interpretation with good reasoning. Let's put this scripture to the test. Go now and pray to God for something you want. Ask in Jesus' name. Ask for it to be given to you for the sake to exposing truth for this debate, so you will need to receive it rather quickly. Be specific and make it so that an answer to that prayer is unmistakeable from God. You will find that, like praying for a traffic light to change for you, the SOVEREIGNTY of God overrules your every request. You see, people miss the context of Jesus' teachings. He was not telling anyone here that if you want a Lexus, pray and He will give it to you. He was always referring to doing the will of God in your life. Those things that you need to fulfill His mission will always be provided for you. This is why in Matthew 6:8, Jesus states that God already knows what you need before you ask it. He teaches against long winded prayers that really don't pay off. He states that God doesn't even like listening to them. Prayer is for communion with God - to grow your relationship with Him. If you really believe that you have to pray and constantly ask God for the things YOU think you need, then I would not call that faith at all. If you really trusted the all-knowing God, you would not ask Him to change a thing about His plan - even if it affects you negatively. You would say - He knows best, like Jesus did.