As a Christian, we want to have a better, deeper relationship with God and live our best life, however we may be holding onto fear. We tend to forget that faith can help us overcome any fear we may hold. In this article, I explain how you can grow closer to God and live without fear because your faith in him will be stronger than ever.
Steps for Growing Your Faith in God
There are times when we feel that our lives are so off track, even though we are still walking with the Lord. We have the faith to believe that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, was born of a virgin, and walked among men. We believe that he bared our sins on the cross as he died. We also believe that our God and Father, resurrected Jesus with all power and that he sits at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf. We believe that he is the redeemer of our souls, and yet we cannot believe Him for the simple day-to-day miracles.
We as Christians long deeply for a greater trust in God. We desire to grow in the Lord but our faith is weak, unsure, and unstable at times even though we want to believe. However, we do not have to long always; we can grow our faith in God. The word says, “Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord” Hebrews 11:39 (KJV). We must have faith to please the Lord, and like anything else we have to grow in our faith and most often it is a process. Learning the process is simply following what works for you in your life. Here are some basic steps for growing your faith in God and learning how to trust the Lord at the same time.
Step One: Create a Faith Journal
Writing is a powerful way to build faith. Creating a faith journal is simple. Find a book with bound blank sheets of paper and begin to journal your weaknesses. Each time you write, be sure to include the date. Journal entries should include the areas where you are struggling to trust God. Write as often as you have doubts and include your prayers asking God to help you believe. Over time, when you return to read your entries, you will find that God has resolved many of the problems in your journal. You will find that God answered your prayers which will offer concrete proof what God has done and that he will do greater things in your life. When you begin to search for faith to trust God on greater levels, you can read how God has worked on your behalf in the past.
Step Two: Devotional Time With God
Devotional time is very much needed in our lives to build our faith in God. Yes, many of us are busy and our spare time is limited in each day. Nevertheless, we must take time to spend with the Lord on a daily basis. Participating in daily devotion unto the Lord will keep your heart focused on God and the power in God. Start a daily devotion with a quiet or guided meditation, read scriptures on faith, and remember to attend your devotional services and Bible study at a church. When you feel doubtful or hopeless, grab a hold of faith through your devotional time.
Step Three: Obey God and Grow In Faith
Another necessary step to grow in faith is listening to what God has to say. When you are in line with what the Lord expects of you, then you can expect his promises to be fulfilled. There are many promises from the Lord in the Bible. However, each promise rests upon our actions and level of belief. When you are aligned with what God commands of us as his children, you can confidently rest in expectation that God will fulfill his promises. One promise from the Bible states, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” John 15:7 (KJV)
Step Four: Filter Out Impurities In Your Life
Let’s be honest, sometimes we need to filter a lot of junk out of our life that drains our faith. When we live a godly life, and walk with God, our faith will start to grow. When you walk with your entire mind focused on God and with a pure heart, you are bound to grow in faith. Our faith increases over time, and with time, it will start to spring up. However, that only comes when you have purified your heart. If you do not filter out the impurities in your life, like fear, doubt, negativity, and unbelief, it is hard to have faith in God. Instead of trusting God, we start to look at our circumstances. Just as we filter our water that it will be fresh to drink it, we need to filter a lot of the things we watch and listen to that contaminate our spirit.
As we know, “Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrew 11:1). We might not see faith, but have to know that faith is there. The scripture says we are not going to see it, we just have to believe it. God sees our shortcomings, and he knows our weaknesses. He knows that our faith will grow as we mature in Him. At times God will even test our faith. The Bible says, (1 Peter 4:12): “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you”. We are going to be tested, and we need faith to carry us through it. That is why we have to grow in faith by devoting our time, obeying God, and filtering out our lives.
Living Without Fear Means Walking in Faith
I think if I was standing in the presence of God and he would grant me “one” request as I fulfill my days on the earth, I would ask, “Lord, grant me the ability to live my life free from fear.
Fear of what you might ask.
Fear of failure
Fear of loss
Fear of looking stupid
Fear of saying the wrong thing
Fear of taking risks
Fear of lack or poverty
Fear of disease or bad health
Fear of accidents or injury
Fear of making the wrong decision
Fear of the future
Fear of losing loved ones
Fear of not getting my needs met
Fear of ANYTHING that robs me of living with God’s PEACE, JOY, and CONTENTMENT every minute of everyday.
Now looking at that list you might think, wow, she’s just a fireball of fear. But that simply isn’t true. I think if we’re being honest we all suffer from feelings of fear every now and then; some of us more frequently than others.
What is so interesting about fear is that it plays on our perceptions of what might or could happen instead of what actually is. Fear always projects an unseen future usually based on imagined outcomes. Fear takes our minds out of the present moment and ushers us into a drama, a mental mind movie of devastation or misfortune. But statistically, most of the things we fear never happen.
Fear robs us of our peace and joy and replaces it with worry and anxiety and then it deceives us into believing that our excessive worrying will change the outcome. In fact, the very opposite is true. It’s more likely that worrying about a condition will produce that very thing, as Job stated “The thing I feared came upon me.”
Next, fear motivates us to take actions and steps to try and rectify our imagined dilemma (the one that only exist in our heads). How crazy is that? But we do it everyday:
- Marrying the wrong man or women for fear of being alone
- Taking a job you clearly aren’t suited for or desire when you know it’s not from God
- Hoarding your income for fear of not having enough
- Working 12 hours a day for fear of lack
Granted, each case is different and unique, but we all know when we are being motivated by fear instead of having faith to trust in and wait on God.
Most importantly, fear is not from God. Fear is a lower level emotion right out of the pit of hell and although it can be powerful, it is at the very root of every debilitating emotion or mindset: hate, prejudice, worry, jealously, control, insecurity, legalism, unbelief, doubt, depression, and everything evil.
Why Should We Have Faith in God?
Fear is the complete opposite of faith. As believers of Jesus Christ, our faith should never be in ourselves or outside influences. The Bible tells us to “Have faith in God.”
- He is the only constant in life, therefore what He said 2000 years ago applies today.
- He is God the master and ruler of everything.
- He sees the bigger picture, the beginning and the end.
- What is our alternative? He is our hope.
- Nothing is impossible with Him.
Proverbs tells us to “Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart and lean not to your own understanding.” That often requires patience and stillness, to wait on God until he answers or supplies our needs and to thank Him for everything, even those things we don’t understand or seem unfair.
Can you imagine living free of all fear? What would you do if nothing could hold you back? How would you live if you knew and truly believed God had it all under control? How would your life be different if you denounced all your fears, got out of the boat, and started walking on the water? Think about it.
So Today as We Embrace a Life of Fearlessness, Let’s Proclaim:
I trust God 100%.
I trust God absolutely.
I trust God and nothing else.
I trust God instead of appearances or what I can see.
I trust God beyond what I feel.
I trust God in spite of less than favorable circumstances.
I trust God to never leave me or forsake me.
I trust God to meet ALL my needs.
As I enter into my quiet time and into the presence of God, I release any and all fear and I affirm my trust in You.
I truly believe it is those who conquer their fears are those who will rise above their mental minutia enter into a place of peace, rest, success, and joy in God.
Today, do something that you wouldn’t normally do because of the fear of looking silly or feeling like you won’t succeed. As Nike says, “Just Do It.”
Don’t Embrace Change With Fear
I heard a minister say recently, “We only think God is at work when we’re happy about what he is doing.”
We’ve been conditioned to equate favorable circumstances with God’s favor and unfavorable ones with evil. Yet God uses both the good and the bad in our life to accomplish his purpose in the world as well as our lives.
I’ve heard numerous times that God uses setbacks as setups. He knows that as long as things stay the same, so will we. But it’s only through circumstances that stretch us and move us out of our comfort zone, that motivates us to change or take a new course of action.
I can reflect on numerous crisis’s in my life that I thought while I was going through them that the world would end. But in hind sight, what I thought was the end of the world turned out to work in my favor, and was just what I needed to receive God’s blessing or move to the next level of my Christian walk.
I remember when I had my first real elementary school teaching job and the principal basically fired me. The week prior to my evaluation and possible rehire, everything, I mean everything, was going wrong. Literally, it was like invisible forces were setting me up to fail. During my evaluation the principal told me that I should look for a different profession and that I wasn’t cut out to be a teacher. I was devastated by her comments; however, within one week of substituting I was hired on permanently at another school that happened to be open year around. This turned out to be a tremendous blessing because I could do my student teaching there and saved thousands of dollars in tuition. I also didn’t have to take out any loans for living expenses. This would not have been possible at the previous school. I ended up teaching 10 more years before leaving the profession altogether.
Then there was the time that my relationship ended with the man who I thought was the man of my dreams. This caused me to spiral down into years of depression. And although I know it wasn’t God’s perfect will for me to wallow in depression, he used it to catapult me into my Christian meditation business and ministry that has literally reached thousands of people worldwide. Through my heartache and pain, I discovered the transformative power of dwelling in God’s presence as well as how to bring every thought under the authority of Christ through meditation.
Like me, I’m sure you can reflect upon similar situations in your life where God took what was meant for evil and used it for your good. Romans 8:28 declares, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
All things meaning, our pain, tribulations, crisis, death, tragedy, illness, lack, obstacles, mountains, setbacks, trials, disappointments, and temptations. No experience we face is wasted if we will trust God and believe that He has our back.
Maintain Inner Peace By Keeping Your Eye On God
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that we will be free from pain and suffering. In fact, Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered. But God doesn’t want us to fixate on the problem or our suffering; he wants us to keep our eyes on Him. Isaiah 26:3 declares, “You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee.” We will all face the storms of life, but as long as we stay centered on God, in the eye of the storm, we will come through safely and victoriously.
We must rely on God’s promise that says, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard the things that God as prepared to those who love him.” We should meditate on this often and get it rooted deeply in our heart.
2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” As Christians we often forget that our time on this earth is temporary. Everything shall pass away. We’re just passing through. Too often we get caught up with the affairs of this life and to our own detriment. Jesus told us to be in the world but not of the world. When we measure our success and happiness by the worldly standards, we set ourselves up for disappointment. As Christians, we can’t serve both God and money.
1 Peter 4:12 declares, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trials you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
God uses circumstances to grow and mature us, fulfill his purpose, move us in new directions, and stretch our faith. When things begin to stir in our life, it is usually an indication that transition is coming. That God has something better in store for us. Just think if you had a 25-year old son who slept until noon, watched television to early evening, played basketball for several hours, and then came home, showered, and left until the wee hours in the morning, and this son lived with you! Let’s say he’s been doing this for the past year and feels no need or urgency to change. For him all is well.
But on the other hand, you know he needs a job, responsibility, and to make a life for himself. Yet, if you take no action, your son will stay right where he is until something causes him to change his mind or alter his behavior. That something might very well be you. He wakes up one day to find out he must now pay you rent, that he must do certain chores, that he has a curfew and can no longer sleep past 8a.m. Well from the son’s perspective all hell has broke loose. He is under fire. But as his parents you see the big picture, even if he can’t.
God sees the big picture too. Just like in the above illustration, when we think the ship is sinking, God may saying, I’m got to move my child to the next level; I’ve got to move him or her into her purpose; I’ve got to get them walking in a new direction; I need to get them setup for my blessings; or I need to change their perspective about this life.”
God may be thinking, I want to do exceedingly abundantly above what they could ask for imagine or think, but it will never happen as long as they stay on that job, stay in that relationship, live in that house, stay at that church, keep those same habits, hang around that friend, or live in that city. God has to get us out of our bed of security and pull that teddy bear right out of our hands to get us to move.
He does this because He loves us and has so much more for us than what we’re settling for.
God tells us to take discipline as love! God loves us too much to let us stay where we are.
So whatever you’re going through today, what whatever you are suffering through, although it may be difficult, even unbearable, try to see it as just one piece or your puzzle and not the whole picture.
God is lord over everything. He allows it to rain on the just as well as the unjust but God doesn’t do things happenstance. Today, try to look beyond the trees right in the midst in an effort to see a glimpse of the forest ahead and meditate on the possibilities ahead of you!
Has fear gripped your life? Learn more about the Christian Meditation Cd, Perfect Love Casts Out Fear.
Why Do So Many Christians Fear Intimacy with God?
I recently discovered a youtube channel called Still Small Voice that I absolutely love. Claire and her husband Ekeziel who host the channel are like modern day Jesus Callings saints. Each day she uploads an inspired word from the Lord. In addition, she also has a variety of teachings that are biblically sound and excellent and the one titled, “Do Not Fear or Reject Intimacy with God, He Desires Your Company,” is such. I have included a few of my favorites below. You may want to subscribe to the Still Small Voice Channel.There are almost 200 videos already on a wide variety of subjects. I have included the video names below and their descriptions. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
1. Do Not Fear or Reject Intimacy with God, He Desires Your Company
Video Description: The Lord of Glory aches for companionship with His Bride, but we are so often bound by fear. In this teaching I share how the Lord has led us into profound intimacy with Him. I address all the arguments against this natural need we have to fill the God shaped place in our souls, I list the Scriptural promises He has given us about intimacy with Him.
He longs to speak with us, one on one, more than we can ever long for Him. He seeks the companionship of His creatures just as it was in the Garden of Eden. God has not changed, He is forever the same and having redeemed us by the Blood of the Lamb, we in a very real sense are being returned to the innocence and purity of the Garden before the Fall.
All that is necessary is commitment and the willingness to protect our very special time with Him by giving Him our best hours, our best energy, and complete attention, just as any bride to be would seek out quality time with her fiance before the wedding.
There is so much to talk about, so many dreams to dream, so much to look forward to and even now, still many choppy waters to navigate.
He waits for us with arms full of graces unknown to most. He saves the choicest blessings for the ones that will respond. He longs to be comforted for the ones He has called, and called, and called, but do not respond.
In this video is a prophetic word from Him about the graces He is waiting to shower on the Christian that wants to enter the Holy of Holies and Dwell there with God.
Don’t quench the Spirit of God and withdraw from Him, rather pursue Him with your whole heart until you have captured Him…He longs for this.
2. Hear & See Jesus, How To
Video Description: This video is a ‘how to’ on cultivating a relationship with Jesus, so that you can see and hear Him, for real. It’s based on two simple techniques that have never failed me in thirty-five years of walking with Him.
In Heaven we will see Him, hear Him and talk with Him, that’s His promise. He told us to pray ‘on earth as it is in Heaven’ and He would never ask us to do something that is impossible to us with His grace.
“Blessed are the Pure of Heart for they shall see God.” Matthew 5:8
Yes, there is purification involved, but the whole process from start to finish will yield immediate results because He rewards those who diligently seek Him. Doesn’t matter if you’ve been seeking Him for thirty years or thirty minutes. He will reward you, if only you will believe in His promises in the Bible.
Once you’ve found Him in this way, you will never let Him go. It is sheer Heaven on Earth. It isn’t hard, in fact it’s child’s play. He said, ”Unless you become as little children (I think…innocent and believing) you will never enter the kingdom of God.”
Conversing with God is promised to us in the Scriptures in many, many different places:
Proverbs 8:17– “I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
John 14:23– Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
This IS attainable and Scriptural, there is no reason to believe otherwise because the Lord taught us to pray for it. His Bride is not some remote person who only sees Him from afar. No she is the bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, and as such they have a deep loving relationship. In fact, she needs to be in love with Him, just as He is in love with her. We can love Jesus and not be in love…one preacher was told, that if she wasn’t in love with Him, she had stains on her wedding dress. I bore witness to that in my heart, this happens when we are so busy serving God but not spending intimate time with Him. Then He requests that we return to our first Love.
3. How the Lord Delivered Me From a Religious Spirit and Bigotry.
Video Description: How the Lord delivered me from a religious spirit and bigotry. What is a bigot?
1. a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions. 2. a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people’s ideas, 3. a person who is utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion 4. religious hypocrite, (and here I would say, a person who accuses other religions of the sins their own religion is guilty of.)
Tonight I received an invitation from the Lord to share the path Jesus has led Ezekiel and I to travel and how we came to this place in our teachings. It’s been roughly 30+ years of instruction from Holy Spirit to bring us to this place of Heart Dwelling and we have been led to experience many different cultures and their ways of Christian worship.
Our whole heart is that we live in reality the way life is lived in Heaven. In Heaven there is no squabbling or criticism of others and their ways we often do not understand. No bigotry or intolerance of other cultures, all worship as one in Spirit and in Truth.
4. What Is Dwelling Prayer, It Is The Prayer We Use To Get Close to Jesus
Video Description: Everyday I get inquiries from people who want to hear from the Lord the way we do. So I’ve done a short video on Dwelling prayer, which is what we call our way of praying.
As Christians, Jesus lives in our hearts, He is the gate to the sheepfold, no one comes to the Father unless they come through Jesus, so in the spirit we worship in/from the heart and encounter Jesus during worship, at one point He very often wants us to ‘rest’ in Him, or ‘dwell’ with Him, just to be there in the Shekinah glory in a suspended state of worship. Very often that’s when healings take place, and He speaks to us giving us courage and other gifts for our walk with and for Him.
I am looking to be one with God and Jesus our savior. I been listening to the king James version Bible . I pray to God several times a day. I am always praising him and thanking him. My other requests I am praying for is a healing of my body .