Hay friend!

We are coming to an end of the series, you accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, now what? It took me years to finish. But it’s cool, as long as you complete the task at hand right? So far we’ve talked about what you can expect as a follower of Christ and also what the Love of Christ means. Just to make things clear, Jesus has always been pursuing us with his love, even if we didn’t realize it. Even if you are not a follower, he still loves you, he’s just waiting on you to notice him.

But let’s get on to faith. I’ve spoken a lot about faith, even had a post on it prior. If you missed it click Here. This is through personal experience that I can talk about this topic. I was one who lacked faith often. And most times still do. I don’t always have faith in the process I’m in. Sometimes I second-guess God on where I am. Thinking I should be somewhere else and so on. So, how could a woman like me talk to you about faith if I lack it sometimes? Simple. I’m not the person I was 3 months, or even a year ago! I grew. Can you imagine that? Burn me at the stake for admitting a flaw in my journey. Perfection is not what I am. I have no perfect faith, but I do get better as time goes on. How Sway? How did you get better? How do you grow your faith? Stop asking all these questions and let me write… thank you! Jokes.

Sometimes You Won’t Be Feeling It 

How dare you say you may not feel like exercising faith??? Gasp! Humanity! But it’s true. Sometimes when faith (in laymen’s term a deep trust in God) is required, circumstances can be real killers. Instead of relying in God for your deliverance, blessing or whatever you are looking for, it’s 10x easier to worry.  We worry our little hearts out most days about things that are not in our control. The human mind is so quick to find comfort in negative thoughts telling us to worry. It’s almost counter intuitive to have faith.

But I got some news for you. If you don’t feel like having faith, great! You’re on the right path. Why? You have identified that you don’t feel like trusting in God regarding your circumstance. It’s better to be honest with yourself, than put up a front to yourself and others. So, what do you do? You just pray for more faith.. It’s that simple.

If you believe Christ died for you, has been pursuing you with his love and is the ruler of the universe, don’t you think if you are lacking in faith he won’t provide it? I had to get in the habit of praying for more faith on a daily basis. It has to be something you ask for sometimes. Don’t feel bad or feel like a bad “Christian”. It shows transparency to God, and yourself. You identify you have a weakness. In you identifying your weakness, you can let God build it to be your strength. So it’s ok if you don’t feel like faith-ing in the moment, identify it and make sure you ask God for more! How abundant is his love that we can just ask. He will freely give.

Life Will Try and Stop Your Faith 

The awesome words of Marvin Sapp ring in my ears from the song “Praise Him in Advance” WHEN IM BROKE, I WILL.. PRAISE HIM. PRAISE HIM IN ADVANCE! We’ve all had our broke moments, our lonely moments are hurtful moments that push us to lose faith. God, what are you doing? Can’t you see I’m hurting? Can’t you hear me? Why are you not responding? I need you… I need you. Life has a hard way of bringing us to our knees. To moments we wish we could just run. Leave everything. We tend to second-guess God in these moments. Life has the “ability” to leave us shattered and broken.

But you know what’s awesome? We have a God who is willing to pick up the pieces that life has broken! We have a God who desires for us to be at peace! Yes, peace.  Philippians 4:6-7 says:

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Because we are human, we will face hardships. No matter how great of a person you are, life happens. On top of that being a follower of Christ brings its own battles, physically and spiritually. But we must pray. Pray for what you need. But, thank God for what he has done and what he will do. This is a major key to help increase your faith. Our faith grows as we praise. Even in our hardships. I’ve had moments where I was so upset with God. Things didn’t go my way, I felt like he wasn’t moving fast enough. But I’ll force myself to praise his name, even with tears rolling down my face. My faith grows when I praise.  I can look back at those moments and see how far God has taken me. If it had not been for his patience in those moments, where would I be?

If life got you messed up and you are looking for God, remember; who you used to be or where you were, and see how far he’s taken you. When you thought you were going to die, you didn’t. When you thought you could not make it, somehow you did. When you were broke and at your lowest, you didn’t stay there forever. You see, life tells you one thing, but man, God’s words are the final say. Life is still continuing if you have a pulse. Therefore faith can be made more abundant.

You Can Choose To Live By Faith

This is something I have come to learn recently. Some of us believe we automatically have faith because we gave our life to Christ. Do you know you could have accepted Jesus as the ruler of your life, yet, still live in fear? Still live in inadequacy, doubt, pain etc. You may have opened the door for him to come in, but you may have not given him the key to stay. Faith isn’t easy. It’s not. If it were, everyone would have it. But, it’s something that YOU can CHOOSE to have. It’s a way of life you can choose to live by.

You have to make a conscious decision to follow God wherever he takes you. He’ll start with small things to test your faith, and then by the time you know it, you’ve moved across the country to create a church. Jk, but it’s possible. Will your heart and soul say yes? EVEN IF you don’t know the result, get the job or promotion, can you still be obedient to your instructions?

I say this all the time that I would do it God’s way 1000 times over, rather than my own. God has an interesting way of bringing spice to life. Giving you a life you never imagined. Allowing you to see things you may never have thought up, do things you thought you were not capable of and be in contact with some amazing people you would have, on an ordinary day, pass by. The thrills of life God can bring are endless! It’s exciting to see where he will take you. But, are you willing to follow him on the journey?

It’s all a choice. There is no wrong answer, but there is the best answer. Abraham did not have to leave his hometown. The disciples did not have to follow Jesus throughout his ministry. Moses did not have to listen to the burning bush. They were all acts of faith. Trusting God would do something great in their lives. Do you trust God enough to help you let go of your mundane life and do something new? My God is not a mundane God. He is intelligent, calculated, dramatic, spontaneous, poetic, artistic, over the top yet calm type of being.

Therefore, I ask you. What will you choose? A life of faith that just needs to be activated? Or doing things your way? Remember, you have been made new in Christ. Old habits go; new transformations begin. Daily!

That’s concludes the series of what to expect when expecting… I mean following Christ. Let me know your thoughts? I really want to hear from you so I know I’m not just talking to myself. Get ready! I got a lot to say coming up soon!

Bye Friend!