Faith Development=Peace

Faith is one of those things that seems to be elusive to most people. Even the most devoted Christian’s faith wavers at times, especially during the challenging times of life. Remember Peter; he was walking on water toward Jesus! His sudden loss of faith results in him beginning to sink. The Bible tells us to have the faith of a mustard seed. It’s so tiny; you would think it would be easy to attain. Yet for most of us, walking in faith day-to-day is so difficult even though we …know doing so brings peace and rest. How nice it would be to live in that space of faith, free from worry and stress! Why is it so difficult to put faith into practice? Faith is often misunderstood. It is something we don’t automatically have. Faith must be developed. For example, when we were children, our parents told us that if we were good, Santa would deliver presents on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning year after year, there were presents, so we were conditioned to have faith in Santa. There was a buzz of excitement, anticipation, joy, and peace. It can be the same way with God. The disconnect with faith is that most people don’t realize it takes action and experience to cultivate it. Our faith is grown little by little when we take actions that allow God to show us His faithful favor. Asking for help finding a lost object, following an intuitive lead, or requesting a sign of confirmation about an upcoming decision, are small actions that give God the space to show out in our lives. As we experience Him in small things, our faith begins to build a foundation. Experience by experience, the foundation of faith becomes stronger. As we continue to activate faith, we can store up these faithful moments referred to in the Bible as “storing up treasures in heaven.” As we store up His faithful experiences, our faith foundation becomes unwavering, therefore allowing us to weather the storms of life. From this place of activated faith, we can begin to turn stressful situations over to Him and release control by surrendering our will to His. Personally, experiencing God’s faithfulness makes us aware that God is for us and that He works everything out for our highest good. As we continue to activate, experience, and remember His treasures of faithfulness, the buzz of excitement, anticipation, joy, and peace of life returns and are firmly rooted in the knowledge that God’s got us!