5 Ways To GROW YOUR FAITH
Every day we strive to grow. We want to grow our bank accounts, grow our Facebook friend list, grow our YouTube, X, and other social media influencer presence. What about our faith? When was the last time you sat down and took the time to GROW YOUR FAITH? Just like a plant, we need to water our faith, we need to shine light over our faith, we need to plant ourselves and our faith into good soil, in order that we can GROW! So here are 5 ways to GROW YOUR FAITH In GOD and build your relationship with Jesus!
WAY 1 – Reading the Bible
Throughout scripture, God relates to his people like a husband relates to his wife. God see’s his people as his wife. In the Old Testament, right after God brought the Hebrew slaves out of the land of slavery, one of the first statements that God told his people was, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” - Exodus 20:2-3. Then God would go on to say this in verse 5, “for I the Lord your God am a jealous God”.
A good husband doesn’t want his wife going around and sleeping with other guys, because he is a jealous husband and loves his wife. His wife is his wife alone and no one else’s! In the same way, God doesn’t want his people going around worshipping other gods, because this is his people and no one else’s people. Israel, now the church, are his people and his people alone. Just like in a marriage relationship, you want to know everything about your spouse, you learn about them and get to know them. The way we learn about God and getting to know God is by reading the LOVE letter he wrote to us, His bride.
WAY 2 – Prayer
Prayer is this strange topic, believe it or not, many people don’t understand how prayer works; therefore, many Christians don’t pray. We tend to leave prayer for the pastor at the local church, but the truth is if you have the Holy Spirit in you, you can speak directly to God right now. With a few exceptions.
The bible gives one warning, a scary warning to husbands. 1 Peter 3:7, “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” That’s right, God will not listen to your prayers if you’re not honoring your wife. A lot of times guys in the church think they are holy and righteous and have this special place with God that their wives will never have, but your wife has a special place in God’s heart you and I will never have. We need to be honoring our wives’ men!
You can’t seek someone you don’t know and you can’t know someone you don’t seek and praying to God is a form of seeking him.
WAY 3 – GO TO CHURCH
80% of the churches across America are dying. In 20 years from now, many of the churches we see today will shut their doors. That is why I created GROW YOUR FAITH STORE. We’re on a mission to get people back in church. The age group below 50 are not going to church anymore. Here in North Wisconsin, I meet Christians all the time, they don’t trust the local church. They believe the churches just want your money and nothing more. So, it’s easy to say, “GO TO CHURCH!”.
But which one? When will the churches, pastors, and all the other leadership personnel of the churches across America wake up to the reality that we did something wrong, and we are the very reason the younger generation told the church goodbye? I’m 31 years old writing this post and it breaks my heart because going to church is 100% part of growing your faith. Yet no one goes to church anymore. In Psalm 122:1 King David of Israel wrote, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”.
I was in the US MARINES and in the military if you’re in a war zone, which I never was, but I did trainings to be ready. You have a central command and from that central command center all the officers gather and create a battle plan. The church, the local church is that central command, that is where we as Christians should meet up and create our battle plan for living this life as a Follower of Jesus Christ.
I know it’s easy to sit here and say that and I know many of you are wondering which church. I would encourage you if you can’t find a bible believing church that is pushing you to live for Christ daily, get some friends together and start a house church. Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
Way 4 – Give
Giving is one of the most painful, stressful, and itchy under our skin type of topics. With false teachers on tv claiming that if you give to their ministry, then God will make you healthy, wealthy, and happy. People give to those teachers and still give today and they are hoping that God makes them a millionaire, which is foolish.
There is though a promise in scripture that God will bless your finances if you give, but your heart needs to be in the correct spot. If you’re giving because you want more money 100-fold, you’re not getting anything. If you’re giving out of the love in your heart for the gospel to go forth, to feed homeless people, or just a random act of kindness at the store for an elderly person that their card is getting declined. God will bless you for that. Will he give you millions and take all your problems away, absolutely not! Now could he? 100% he can do that, but most likely will not do that and believe me, not giving your all that money is the blessing.
Jesus said this about giving, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:1-4. According to Jesus himself, we need to give in “secret”. This is a heart issues between you and God, not between you, tv preacher and God. You, IRS, and God. Only between you and God. I say, put God to the test on his own word and see if he is faithful. I have and I have seen his faithfulness.
Way 5 – Apply Your Faith
We are talking about growing our faith, right? When we work out in the gym, the object is to get stronger, grow our muscles, and be able to lift heavier weights. As we read the bible, devote ourselves to prayer, give, go to church, these are amazing things to do, but if we aren’t applying our faith to our life daily, we are wasting our time.
Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24 – 25.
The key words, “Put Them Into Practice”. It’s not just enough we read the bible and check it off the to-do list, but we must 100% put the teachings of the bible, mostly New Testament, teachings Jesus gives throughout the gospel, great starting point, into practice in our daily lives. I say start with the teachings of Jesus, then go to the Apostles, because a sect of Christians actually will try to follow the law of moses, which is complete against the teachings the Apostle Paul gave us.
Awesome! 5 Ways To GROW CLOSER TO GOD IN YOUR FAITH!