Five Steps to Building Faith Part II

Though online marketing makes it possible to download about anything we need in a matter of minutes, I’ve yet to find a site offering an amazing, never before seen deal on gigabytes of faith. In last week’s post, I shared the first three steps of a faith-building model that’s worked for me over three decades of foreign service. Today, I’m excited to share the final segment of the process in five steps to building faith Part II.

I’ve trimmed down each of the first three steps from the last post to set the stage for the final episode. If you would prefer to read the first post in its entirety, click this link: Five Steps to Building Faith.

Otherwise, here’s the bottom line, reduced verbiage replay:

Step One: Follow

 To begin Faith-building, I took a solid piece of advice: Follow your own timeline—backward. That is to say, review the situations of the past to remember how God demonstrated His faithfulness to you or your family.

 Step Two: Ask

When feeling especially stressed, I ask the Lord if there’s something I’ve done or failed to do, that might be hindering the release of the measure of faith I need.

 Step Three: Identify

Once the Lord puts His finger on any area He believes hinders my faith-building during the present trial, the ball’s in my court. I examine the list from Step Two and identify any point I can make right immediately. (Note: These are often items I can see no relevance to my current need whatsoever.)

So, identified list in hand, I move to Step Four.

Step Four: Take

Having determined that I’ll do anything God points out to see my faith grow, I take action on the list. I drop the focus on my trouble or need and concentrate my energies on accomplishing that task.

The astonishing truth is that my heavy heart grows lighter as I respond to God’s personal to-do list for me. Each item pointed out by God is something He sees as an obstacle to my spiritual growth. I feel as encouraged at achieving each goal as I do when washing the layers of dirt off the windows after a long season of harmattan winds. Refreshingly clean.

Responding to anything God points out has nothing to do with working to get God to do what I want Him to do. In that scenario, I would be bargaining with God: If you do this God, I’ll do this—forever, for example. I’m amongst the multitudes that have used that approach, so don’t feel badly if that’s you.

As I mature in the Lord, I realize that only God can put his finger on what’s blocking the way to my faith building. I am confident that God will answer my prayers/respond to my need, so that’s not the issue any longer.

The reason I know I need to build up my faith is my attitude anytime I’m waiting on God. If I have strong faith, then I have unwavering trust in God’s timing, not just His response.

I discovered that the most powerful and successful way to build my faith is to simply obey God. However, I must know what’s expected of me. That takes me to the conclusion of the five steps to building faith Part II.

Step Five: Hear

In Romans 10:17, we read, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” The final step in faith building is to listen carefully and hear the word of God.

The message may come unexpectedly through my daily Bible reading. I’m still surprised when I press the power button on my little electronic Bible and find the very answer to a question that troubled me in the night. My faith is built to know God had His response waiting for me.

At other times, a friend will share a verse that spoke to her. As I listen, I realize that God has actually shown her the answer to my unspoken dilemma. Only God knew I needed to hear that very verse at that very time.

Many times when I lived in the Sacred Forest on the outside of our jungle village, I awoke in the morning and found my spirit had already been singing. I came in in the middle of a verse or at the last words of the chorus. At first, I thought it weird, and then I found it cool.

Finally, I listened in and discovered God had put that very hymn into my spirit to prepare me for what the day would bring. Let me give an example.

On the day we planned to ride with a friend to the port ninety minutes from our jungle home, the wake-up anthem pushed my Alert button. The trip had been arranged to retrieve an Isuzu Trooper from the customs area. Should have been a done-deal.

As I shook off the dregs of sleep, I recognized a favorite song in progress inside my head. “Be not dismayed what ‘er betide, God will take care of you.” I sat bolt upright in bed.

“What do you mean? God, what’s going to betide us today!”

I recounted the story in Chapter Five of Dealing with our Fears when Letting Go Seems Impossible. The story is one roller coaster ride of emotions, stretching out for days.

On the final morning of the drama, I opened my eyes with the familiar melody ringing in my ears, “He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it…” The long day ended with God completing the good work; we drove away in the vehicle.

Whether I …

• Read a particular verse of Scripture
• Have it shared with me by a friend who’s going through something entirely unrelated to my trial
• Been touched by God during the preaching of the Word in a church service or on a podcast
• Wake up to the beautiful rendition of God’s message being sung through the night

my faith is built by hearing the Word of God.

This final step completes the process and confirms that God is on the job, helping me grow my faith to a mountain-moving level.

If you’ve yet to discover a plan that works for you, I invite you to try these five steps to building faith. Let me know how you’re doing; I’d love to pray for you.