Navigating Our Faith - Growing Faith

Series 3 - Navigating Our Faith

Episode 3 - Growing Faith

Transcript

Hi Everyone, welcome back to the Living on Prayer podcast. I’m Emily and I’m glad to have you back with me for another episode in the Navigating Our Faith series. Today, we’re going to be talking about growing our faith. In the past I’ve talked about our spiritual muscles and how we have to work them out and keep them in shape and develop them as a metaphor for our real physical muscles. So today I’m specifically going to talk about how we can grow our faith using this metaphor lightly again. How we can develop it, grow it from wherever it is right now. So that being said, let’s dive in.

If you can remember, I explained what faith is spiritually back in the first episode of this series. That in Hebrews Chapter 11, Verse 1, the scripture says “faith shows the reality of what we hope for, it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” And I explained that faith brings out as evidence what we can’t actually see yet so that when we’re holding on to something so tightly and believing for it, praying for it, hoping for it then faith is what brings it about and that even though we can’t see it yet we still have to hope and believe that it will happen before it will and that is faith. Now how will it happen? Will it happen magically or super naturally or through osmosis or will you get some super hero powers and be able to solve your problems? That’s what most of us want to know. We want to know how it’s going to happen. How could these hopes and dreams actually happen when it clearly looks like it can’t possibly happen. We look around and at times it can look impossible or even hopeless. We’ve had these dreams and hopes for so long. Many of us hold on to these for what seems like forever and nothing appears to be happening or changing. Well, that’s what the devil wants us to think. That’s what he pushes us to think and that’s where he gets into our minds and manipulates us, makes us believe these things. He can even manipulate resources around us to try and convince us as well. And he has to do this so that he can get us to give up on those dreams and hopes. But we can’t let him win though. He doesn’t have the answers, he doesn’t have the right solutions for our lives, no matter what he tries to make us believe. Only God has the right answers for us.

Now I’m going to tell you some things that are critical to your thinking, that are critical to override what you might have been thinking up to now so listen up. This is important to growing your faith. It’s also the extra credit to the test that the devil doesn’t want you to know and that God is hoping you’ll figure out. So here it is! The HOW it will happen isn’t important. The WHEN it will happen isn’t important. The WHO will make it happen is what’s important. Who will make it happen is where we put our faith and trust and belief. GOD WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN. God is who put those hopes and dreams inside of you and inside of me. He buried those deep in our hearts and if they are there then they’re there for a reason. He’s asking you to have faith in Him and Him alone. To not give up on Him or those dreams. How He will bring them to fruition and when is in His hands and in His timing. He’s asking only for you to have faith that He will accomplish them when it’s time. So remember that He’s in full control and the only thing you have to do is trust that He has a plan and will execute it when it’s time. He didn’t bring you this far to leave you. Have faith. If your trust in Him is shaky then I ask you to trust my experiences as a Christian. I am someone who has been through things like you and I’ve done it alone and I had to have faith in Him too but He delivers on His promises. I am a witness for Him. I will testify on His behalf. I will vouch for Him that you can trust Him. And I still trust Him and have faith in Him every day. And it’s a daily choice. Sometimes it’s an easy one and sometimes it’s a tough one. But I choose Him every day. I don’t give up on Him. I just don’t give up on the ones I love, I don’t, and I’m asking you to do the same thing.

Now what can we do in the wait? How can we grow and develop our faith so that when these dreams and goals are ready, we’re also ready? What can we do to prove ourselves to God that we know He’s working on it for us? Let’s talk about that. Faith is a process. It requires working our muscles out consistently to keep them in shape, to keep them developed, to keep them strong and active. In Romans 10:17, it says “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” What that is saying is that we can hear the message of Christ through whatever medium, whatever form of communication, and receive faith. But again it’s through hearing the word, that’s the receiving of faith. Taking it in, receiving Christ. That’s how faith comes to us. We don’t start having faith before we receive Christ. That’s one key point I want to make here. And it also states that faith comes from hearing the word. Look, you can hear the scriptures or read them but if you don’t receive them, if you don’t understand them and let them into your heart and mind to take root then faith isn’t going to grow.  It states in Matthew 13:19 “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart.” So it’s imperative that we not only read the scriptures but that we seek to understand the meaning of it so we can hold on to it. We want to bury it in our hearts so that the devil can’t snatch it from us.

Ok, so we’ve received Christ which gives us our initial faith when we receive Him. Then we take in the scriptures and work to not only read them but to understand them so that we can retain them in our hearts to not only grow our faith but so that the devil can’t take that information from us. Now we need to understand something that I think is most critical to the faith process. The heart. Our hearts are so precious in the faith process. This is where the scripture we take in gets planted. And we’ve already learned that if God’s word is heard and understood then our faith will grow. So let’s talk about how we can take care of our hearts in the faith process. We need to be able to handle the level and depth of the planting that will be required for the kind of faith God has in store for our future. What does that mean? Think of our hearts like soil in a garden and the scripture, God’s word, like seeds. So if we’re taking in the seeds and understanding them in our hearts, our soil, then we need to ensure our soil is good soil, right? We need it to be clean, full of nutrients, and we need to be able to bury all the seeds in the soil so there’s room for growth from those seeds. Now let me use a metaphor to explain this even more. If we were planting a garden of petunias and pansies, we’d likely need some small shallow holes in the ground to plant them. We’d put some soil in those holes and we’d plant the flowers and water them. However, if we were planting something a bit larger maybe like some evergreen bushes or some boxwood hedges, we’d dig some much deeper and wider holes in the ground. We need a lot more soil with those holes too. We’d then likely plant some small maybe 5 gallon size bushes and we’d cover them up with even more soil and then we’d put some plant foot like bush stakes in the ground to give them more nutrients and then we’d water them often for a while to ensure their roots took hold into the ground. And we’d understand that those evergreen bushes or boxwood hedges are going to take a while, a few seasons even, to grow into the size bush or hedge that we truly want them to be. But that’s ok, we have the patience to wait on them because we knew that when we planted them. Those pansies and petunias though, now those were more instant gratification flowers weren’t they? So how much work did they take to get that gratification? Some right? They still required some work, some planting, some sweat, some cost. But it didn’t take as long to reap some reward. And now if these were holes to be dug in your heart that required seeds to be planted so that faith could grow and new and good things could prosper for you then which set of holes do you think would hurt the most, would require the most work, the most sweat, the most cost, would take the longest to reap the reward? And why do you think that is? Because it’s what’s needed to plant new growth in us. To dig up the earth, the dirt and rocks we don’t need anymore, to get rid of that which is within us that isn’t required to be in our hearts and minds, and to then plant the seeds of God’s word in us, then ensure we have a heart that is clean and deep and full of the nutrients we need now and for our future. But how do we really do that? How do we have that clean heart, that is deep and full of nutrients. Prayer is a key element that I’ve mentioned many times before. It’s truly the answer to so many of our problems. And if we want to increase the depth of our hearts, the depth of our soil so that the scripture can take root, so that we can bury the seeds of the Word in our hearts and keep it warm and covered so that it can grow in faith then we need to pray. We need to have that relationship with Christ that helps us to draw closer to Him so that we can continue to know Him and hear Him and understand the things He wants us to know and understand even more. Prayer is also a way to help us endure the things Satan puts us through, the trials that all mankind will face in this life. If you remember, in Matthew 26:41, Jesus said to his disciples when he found them sleeping in the garden before he was arrested “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For spirit is willing but the body is weak.” It’s a reminder that even Jesus prayed and asked that his disciples pray with him. And it’s not always an easy thing to do. They fell asleep doing it. The body is weak. We’re all weak and full of sin. So this is a reminder to keep our spiritual muscles in practice so we can continue to stay strong and discipled because the devil will stop at nothing to tear us down, to tire us out, to get us stuck, to manipulate us into believing it’s not going to happen, that it’s over, that we’re in this all by ourselves. He’s a liar! You are never alone!! 

This is where most of us have problems by the way, it’s not in our hearts, it’s in our minds. The mind starts to take over and Satan loves to manipulate the mind. He loves to lie to us. He loves to send in others to mess with our heads too. We have to understand that he does this to us and it’s in our minds. That’s where we have to go back to God’s word that we buried in our hearts. We have to pick it back up. We have to pray again. We have to tap back into the Holy Spirit who is buried in our hearts. We have to ask God for help. We have to stop listening to those crazy thoughts and understand that we have seeds that are planted within us to protect us from these things. We have to stop letting the devil lie to us, manipulate us, tempt us, or even make us worry about the things in our daily lives. We have to keep our hearts focused on Christ so that we can continue to maintain a clean environment, the clean soil, for his word to take root in order for our faith to grow. 

Ok so why can’t we see the new garden when it’s growing or at least know when it will be ready? Well, that’s not how God works. God isn’t going to tell us when the plants will be ready for us. Why? Why won’t God tell us timing? Easiest answer is because He wants our faith. He wants us to trust Him that He will do what He said He will do. He wants us to be dependent on Him and He wants us to trust Him. If we understood all the details of our garden, if we could watch it growing, if we knew when the plants would be ready would we really even need Him? Would we need to have faith in Him? No, probably not. And at times that’s what Satan might even tell you. He might try to convince you or others that we don’t need God. We can plant our own garden and take care of it ourselves. Yep, go for it. Satan will help you too. And there are a lot of people in the world who appear to be quite successful. Who appear to have it all. Who appear to have an amazing garden and be doing quite well. But let me tell you what they might not have. They might not have everlasting life. They might not leave this earth and stand before the throne of God and hear God say “I know you my child, you’re welcome here. Well done.” They might not get in through the pearly gates of heaven to walk the streets of gold for all eternity. In contrast they might get to join the devil and the other non-believers on the other side of the chasm to the place we’ve all heard about many times. Some call it hell. I don’t have to talk about it in this episode but let’s just say that it’s not heaven and it’s not where I want to go. So yeah sure, if anyone wants to believe the great liar himself, the devil, and buy what he’s selling, then they can trade in their soul too. And when they do they will probably have a better life here on this earth than what they were having before their soul trade in. But in my opinion, it’s not worth it. And I certainly wouldn’t be fooled by those lies or by those people who have done it. Just keep in mind what it might have cost someone to get that better life before you become envious of someone else’s life or before you decide you want to follow in their footsteps. 

Ok folks, I’m going to close out today’s episode with Proverbs Chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. This is a very popular scripture reference with Christians and one that fits in well today as we’re talking about faith and the heart too. It reads “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” I hope you found today’s episode helpful or insightful to growing your faith and can apply some part of it to your routine. As always, please remember how much God loves you. He is always with you and working on your behalf 24x7. He wants to communicate with you and I hope that you are reaching out to Him and maintaining that relationship with Him at all times. Read the word daily, work to understand it, pray, meditate on it, keep your heart’s soil clean and watered so that your faith can continuously grow. I’m so excited for you to grow, expand, and develop your faith! God has big plans for you so keep going!! Until we talk again, stay safe everyone. Bye for now.