Grow Your Faith: One Big Thing to Realize
(Inside: How to grow your faith. One big thing to realize that will help you grow your faith one step at a time.)
Have you ever looked at an obstacle in your life – struggling relationships, anxiety, indecisiveness, fear…etc… and concluded the reason your challenge has not moved is that you lack faith?
I get you.
Because we can think if we just have faith as small as a mustard seed, we could move the thick trunk, deep roots, and expansive branches of the tree blocking our road. Or at least that’s how I interpreted the famous verse in my early Christian walk.
Luke 17:6: “He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
So in my mind, if I had enough faith, God would reveal the end result and a checklist of steps I need to take to get there, before asking me to move. Since I never seem to see the whole staircase, my connection with God must be fuzzy.
Thank you, God, for continually teaching me because what the what? No one told me to interpret the verse that way; my brain just cooked up those dreary thoughts with its perfectionist tendencies. (Don’t Know The End Result = God is Not Talking to You = You Don’t Have Enough Faith. The end. La-te-da.)
Oh. Goodness.
This hyperbole (exaggeration) IS teaching us we can overcome huge obstacles by faith. But – ready for this – God doesn’t expect us to know the end result BEFORE we command the tree to move. And that doesn’t mean we lack faith. God most often leads His people by giving them only the next right step.
It’s how He moves.
But I like proof (I’m hard to convince), so let me share some examples of people who didn’t see the whole picture, only the next step.
Do you see the pattern? God often works one right decision at a time. For those recovering perfectionists like me, this is HUGE! God doesn’t tell us the whole picture – not because He didn’t see enough faith in us to reveal His entire plan for our situation to us – IT’S HOW HE WORKS.
When I stop and think why we only get a little info at a time, it makes sense. God is pursuing an authentic, daily relationship with us. Just like we have with our loved ones, where we achieve connection by talking, hanging out and problem-solving life one step at a time.
So we pray for wisdom, talk to trusted loved ones, analyze doors opening and closing, get in the word, then – most importantly – we still ourselves before our loving God daily and let Him speak to us from the quiet corner of our hearts. (I think people also call that “listening to your gut.” They mean God.) Then, we expect to hear from God just the next right step. We can feel nervous, unsure, and doubtful, but we know that Jesus is Lord so we command the mulberry tree in our lives to move even though we can’t see the whole staircase.
Next, we listen to our hearts and put one shaky step forward.
We wait – again – for God to reveal the next step…
Then we take that one too.
Before we know it, God has moved that mulberry tree in our life. In God’s creative and mysterious ways of getting us where we need to be, the moving of the obstacle in our lives probably won’t play out as we envisioned.
There are so many ways God could’ve helped us deal with that tree…
God moved that mulberry tree by changing our situation or by changing us.
God moved that mulberry tree by changing our situation or by changing us.
We remember how God often works.
One step at a time.
Friends, a whole tree can be moved with a sliver of courage to take the next right step.
Let’s stop stressing about the whole staircase and simply look for the next place to put our foot.
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Cheryl is a mom of 3 boys, wife, speaker, high school teacher, and author of Empowered Moms & Kids. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and is passionate about learning and teaching. On www.empoweredmomsandkids.com you’ll find inspiration and encouragement for moms raising tweens and/or teens. Read more in the “about” section of this page.
Cheryl, I enjoyed reading your thought on faith like a mustard seed. What a good idea to just focus on the next step. I always identified with the man who told Jesus he believed, but asked for help with his unbelief.
I found you via Essential Things Devotions.
Cheryl,
What an amazing post. God is so good. I would love for you to post this on my blog today for the link up for others to see too!
Beautiful words, Cheryl. I appreciated your insight into the verse about the mulberry tree – thanks for that!
Sweetly written. I have learned that without fear, there can be no such thing as courage, and without uncertainty, there can be no such thing as faith. It is the substance of things "hoped for." Lots of food for thought! 🙂
Thanks, Kim! I enjoyed looking at your blog and just linked up there too.:)
Your awesome, Liz.
Oh, I love how you said all that! Thanks for giving me food for thought!:)
I am glad that story is included in scripture. It is encouraging that you don't have to be sure of everything to still have faith. Thanks for the comment. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see"
Faith is such a confusing, amazing, crazy thing and it's such a blessing to be able to have it and to trust in the Lord! Thankfully, He's got it all figured out and we can rely on that! 🙂
Thanks for linking up with the Faith and Fellowship blog hop!
There are many uncertainties in life, but our faith fully placed in Christ will see us through the hard times. We can trust His Word when he tells us to believe. Perhaps that Mulberry bush is still being uprooted and soon it will be cast into the sea – – don't give up hope. Keep telling it to leave. Our words spoken are powerful and Jesus told us to SAY to the mountain (and bushes too) He has given us the authority to move and work in His Name! You are my neighbor at Spiritual Sundays!
Hazel, thanks for encouraging me with your thoughts!
Susannah, I love how you described faith! Thanks for letting me link up at your blog!
Exactly right. We don't have to know the whole path; we only have to take the next step. Sometimes I'm not comfortable with God working that way, but other times I appreciate the wisdom of God to not require us to know it all! Thanks for sharing this. It's difficult to make peace with uncertainty but it's necessary to faith.
Good thoughts! Thanks, Lisa!