Our faith grows as we take truths from Scripture and put them into practice.
Last week we focused on faith and how it is defined as trust in God. The more we trust God, the more faith we have. Is your faith growing? We are all a work in progress and this series will focus on different elements that help our faith to grow IF we put them into practice.
This isn’t about rules we obey. This is about internal formational change. The kind of change that only God can do. However, we can be about readying the soil and being prepared to receive the seeds that are planted. Another good way to look at it is that the Christian journey and growing in faith isn’t about trying harder. It is about training. Pastor Adam mentioned how you cannot run a race tomorrow morning. You have to prepare and train and be ready. Similarly, there are spiritual practices we can partake in that, in and of themselves carry no magic, but they can prepare the “soil” of our heart, mind and soul for what God desires to plant. They keep us in a state of being trained and “in shape” for what God has planned for our lives.
God desires for our faith to flourish and grow. The categories we will cover in this series to help “cultivate the soil” in our hearts and souls are: 1) Practical teaching (current teaching); 2) Providential relationships; 3) Pivotal circumstances; 4) Private disciplines; 5) Personal ministries. All these things can provide light bulb moments when things travel from our head to our heart and we begin applying them. It goes beyond just believing and moves into doing and applying in our lives. This is how and when our faith grows and matures! Are you ready?
INVITATION: Practical teaching from reliable Biblical sources helps us grow in faith. We learn and understand, and then have a better idea of how to apply and live out the teaching. As mentioned in last week’s study, this goes beyond just “knowing” in our head. In fact, scripture tells us that “knowledge puffs up.” Pray for God to help you not just learn this week, but to hear how the “still small voice” is inviting you to APPLY the scriptures and what you are shown in your prayer time.
MONDAY: John 14:1: Jesus tells us we can trust him. He is telling us to “believe” in God - not just a generic god but “the Father” to whom he leads us. We make a choice to trust him and the father to hear our troubles and to guide our lives. Consider today take the prayer, “Lord, I choose you” into your day. Take the prayer and repeat it many times during the day. Allow God to shoulder your cares and troubles. Jesus is promising that you will not be orphaned and left to face them alone. Do you trust that?
TUESDAY: Matthew 5-7 - This is known as the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus lays out the way that believers are to live. You are invited today - - or perhaps in the weeks to come - - to look at a “red letter” version of the Bible and focus and pray through the words and teaching of Jesus Christ about the way to live a Christian life. When put into practice, this will cause your faith to flourish, mature, and grow.
It is said of St. Francis not merely that he prayed, but that his life became a prayer. Such lives don’t just accidentally happen. God can - and will - break through any time we are willing to surrender to HIS way of living through us. Would you like your life to become a prayer?
WEDNESDAY: Matthew 7:24: When your faith intersects with God’s faithfulness, that is where feet are put on theology and is made practical and powerful. Are you ready to ask God how you might apply God’s word in your life? Are you ready to obey? If so, are you ready for your faith to grow?
THURSDAY: Matthew 7:25: The house stood, because the people did what they were supposed to do. They did the “training” and the preparation. They built on rock. Is your life built on the rock, i.e. on solid ground? If so, you will withstand the elements that will invariably come into life. John 16:33 promises that “in this world you will have trouble.” No one escapes it. On what are you placing your faith and trust? Is it on Jesus Christ? Are you trusting in Him or are you trusting in economics, material things, the government or some other form of what you think brings security?
FRIDAY: Matthew 7:26-30: Are there words from God that you have been ignoring and not putting into practice? How might you pray about that today? Jesus shows us how to put this life into practice, he doesn’t just speak it with “authority" like the teachers of the law. How can you begin to take Jesus with you each and every day?
SATURDAY: John 3:30: How can God become greater in your life? Is the Holy Spirit inviting you into greater areas of trust in your life?