Increasing Your Spiritual Health | 3 Simple Ways to Build Your Faith

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“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith…” Jude 1:20

Churches, books, inspirational speakers, and yes, even the internet are not short on teaching and encouraging our need to have faith, but I find that it could benefit us to also give attention to the “how” of building one’s faith. We’ve all read the stories and great exploits done in faith, but how was their faith initiated? How did they get to that point of moving in faith? How was their faith built?

Firstly, one must know and understand that to be spiritually healthy, one must acknowledge and embrace the spiritual. Now, I know this can encompass many thoughts that can lead down various avenues people may reference as “spiritual.” But I am referring to the spiritual associated with God, our heavenly Father, the Spirit (John 4:24), and the source of all things holy spiritual.

With that, building our faith first begins with one’s inner man. When we are born again, we experience what is known as saving faith. That’s the faith that prompts us to turn from the world of sin to Christ. It believes in Jesus Christ as the source of our salvation through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension (see John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4; Acts 2:38; 4:12; Romans 5:8; 6:23). This initiates our relationship with Him. It opens our hearts to that holy communion and fellowship. Without this step, no other can be taken. Without our relationship with God, through Christ Jesus, one’s “faith” is null and void.

But faith does not stop there at that initial step. There is what I like to call living faith. It is the faith that prompts our daily decisions and choices. This lifetime endeavor is determined by how we nourish our faith.

To be a healthy Christian, we must realize the care it takes to accomplish that goal. Therefore, our next step is to be sure we are feeding on what is good for you and your growth. Previously I wrote, “What we put into our bodies matter. The foods we eat can either help or hinder our health… Our spiritual lives work in the same manner.  We are what we eat, spiritually.  If all that we ever digest is the negatives of this world then we are robbing our spirit of the vital nutrients that can increase our awareness and spiritual health.  The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” (Rom. 10:17).  What we assimilate in our being is what will be produced in our spirit and in our lives.” (What What You Eat/©WordforLifeSays.com) It may sound like a basic principle, but great things are done building on basic principles such as reading the Word of God, praying, worshiping and fellowshipping with other believers. All these things will help us maintain our spiritual diet, ensuring we take in the proper things we need to be spiritually healthy.

Lastly, faith must be exercised. Faith is like a muscle, if it gets used it gets stronger. It will increase. But if it is never put to the test it will not stand when it is tested. David gives us a great example of how to do this. When he faced Goliath, that was not his first encounter with conflict. It was not the first time he stepped out in faith to do the extraordinary.

He had experience in exercising his faith. Before he even knew there was a giant with a bad attitude, David knew what it was to face a bear and a lion head-on (1 Samuel 17:34-37). Those situations gave him exposure to facing unthinkable circumstances. In encountering those, he also encountered what it means to have and build confidence and faith in the God who delivered him.

Our experiences may not come by such drastic means. Sometimes it may come by taking little steps outside our comfort zones to travel into paths unknown. What may seem like unchartered territory to us is the way God may choose to lead us in increasing our faith.

Jude wrote, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith…” (1:20). This is not a passive pursuit, but it is a personal one. Something for each individual to walk and live out daily. And as with any good workout regimen, the more consistent we are, the more we do right by our spiritual health, the more positive results we will see in building a stronger faith. We may not see or understand everything before us, but God does. A mature and strengthened faith will fit us for whatever lies ahead.

I know I could have went even deeper with this subject of building one’s faith, but I believe these three basic steps can anyone, in any situation who is serious about increasing their spiritual health.

Daughters of Grace | Her Excellence Within

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As a woman of God, a daughter of grace, are we any more beautiful than when we are reflecting the character of our Father?

Graciousness, for women, often applies to her poise, her friendly and welcoming demeanor, manners, status, and more. But, oh, my friends, she is so much more. Those things may describe what people see, but her true excellence comes from within.

Inwardly, she is known and loved by God. Inwardly, His salve of grace has covered her wrongs, hurts, and scars. Inwardly, she has received a holy covering, and she cannot help but cover those she meets in the same manner. Inwardly, she has been touched and transformed by the Father, and in turn, she wants to touch those around her in an authentic and meaningful way.

She is true for people and not a woman of pretense. Sincerity is the rule of her heart. The changed heart inside of her won’t let her be anything but. She sees the personal beyond the people. She is solicitous in her concern for others. She pays attention to them. People and their circumstances matter to her.

She loves the way her Father taught her to love, thinking of others before herself. She seeks to put their needs ahead of her own, selflessly moving through this generation with compassion as her guide, being a vessel fit for the Master’s use (2 Timothy 2:21).

So, she shares her heart through her words, ready to bless, encourage, and lift others with the power of her tongue. She shares her heart through service, loving people through acts of selflessness. This gracious woman adorns herself not with merely external adornments of this world but with “bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering” (Colossians 3:12).

She is her Father’s daughter, ready to pour grace into the heart that needs it. As He loves, so she seeks to love. As He operates, she wants her life to echo the image of what He desires from one’s heart, will, and mind. She wants her footsteps to mimic His as she walks through this life distributing kindness, gentleness, and compassion; cultivating love, and expressing to those she meets the true beauty of what it means to be a child of God, a daughter of grace.

“A gracious woman retaineth honour…” Proverbs 11:16

Where can you pour extra grace into a life today? Your actions, no matter how small, may be the largest act of kindness another receives today. I encourage you, don’t hold back. Pour, dear daughter of God, pour out His love, and let it overflow into the lives of others. You may never know the impact it makes, but no small deed done for the Lord will ever be insignificant.

For more encouragement, check out this poem I previously wrote titled Within.

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“When You Feel There Aren’t Enough Hours in a Day!”

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Every day we are given is precious.  Every moment is a treasure from heaven.  God perfectly crafted our days in these 24 hours that cycle in and through our lives.  He fashioned each one precisely as a gift to get things done and rest and enjoy life as well.

With that being said, I must wonder why time seems so elusive to most of us.  Why aren’t we able to craftily work each section of the day for our good and still enjoy other pleasures of life that God endowed us with, things that bring the fulfillment of personal joy and happiness (ex. more family time, rest, and so on) that’s supposed to come with it?  Why do we bemoan the idea that there are just not enough hours in the day when God perfectly gave us all we need?

The problem is not with the design of days.  Nor will the problem be solved by adding more increments of time to the day.  The problem is us and how we prioritize and manage this gift of time that God has already given us.

In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are to redeem the time because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16). Everyday opportunities abound to spend the hours of our lives in one way or another.  The choice of how we use it is always ours.  Let’s look at it this way: if we have been given a bunch of money to spend, hopefully, we would sit down and think carefully about how to get the most use out of it.  That same diligence should be applied to our time management.

The hugest difference between money and time is this: for many, there are usually ways to replenish or re-earn funds to add to one’s finances if money is spent recklessly.  However, for time, that opportunity is not there.  Once time is gone, it’s gone!  Once the moment passes, it passes off the scene as a part of our personal history.  Therefore, we are encouraged to make the most of every second given.  And, although God’s grace, mercy, and faithfulness are new every morning, we are not promised the dawning of a new day.

So, whether it’s mundane, it’s a moment we won’t get back.  Treat it as the treasure it is.  If it seems trivial, remember that in the scope of all the days given, it’s a time to be honored.  Even if it seems like the most basic of all days, keep in mind there is nothing basic about the gift of waking up again and being given the chance to make the most of the time you have been gifted with.

When you feel there aren’t enough hours in the day, treasure what you have and be determined to make the most out of what God gave you.  When we do, we can make a better impact for His kingdom and in the lives of those entrusted to our care.  No matter how smart our watches become, it will always be up to us to make smart use of the time that registers there.

Inspiring Your Time:

“This is the beginning of a new day.  God has given me this day to use it as I will.  I can waste it – or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.” – W. Heartstill Wilson

Pray: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – Psalm 90:12

Pray: “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” – Psalm 39:4

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.” – Colossians 4:5

Tethered in Hope

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Hold on, dear friend, for He is present — your solid source of dependence through it all. Whether the days are of peace or as turbulent as the harrowing storms, there is a God we can wholly link to and rely upon. He will never fail you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He is your steady rock, your hope realized, and He is everything and anything you need in this journey called life (Exodus 3:14).

You may experience ups and downs, but your days are not spent in futility, as if you are fighting against the wind. The Author and Anchor of your soul is holding onto you as you hold on to Him. As the waves crash about, He buoys your head above the waters, keeping you from going under.

No one wants you to have a successful Christian journey more than God the Father. Today, we lean into Him and secure our faith in Him, holding on to His promises, for they are as sure and reliable as He is.

His holy Word encourages us: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3). When we depend wholeheartedly on the immovable power, strength, and grace of our God, my friend, we are kept.

Tired of being wind-tossed? Your safety and surety are in the One who’s never moved, shaken, or stirred by what this world is experiencing. His throne is forever (Ps. 45:6), and He is your forever help (Ps. 48:14). Tether your heart to our dependable God and be filled with peace, establishing your hope and faith on Whom you rely: “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

“And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” – Psalm 39:7

“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.” – Psalm 31:24

“The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.” – Psalm 147:11

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” – Romans 15:13

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Trust

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Friends, sometimes directions can get the best of us. Be it trying to find a destination, build a creative project, or bake a new recipe – directions come in handy because they tell us the best way to perform the tasks ahead to get the desired results we are hoping for. Some directions we may not understand until we get to the middle or end of a project and then we realize why they said to do a certain thing (and if you are like me, sometimes you have to pull it all apart and start over the “right way”). What’s true in the natural is even more true in the spiritual. Every instruction, correction, direction, or command we read in the Bible we may not understand, but one thing we can always understand is, that God knows what He is doing. He knows how to get the end results we desire. Our job today and every day is to just “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5, 6). God knows what He’s doing in your life.

~Word for Life Says

Standing on the Edge

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Sometimes you may come to a place that seems impossible to pass.  This is a place that edges the border of what we have been delivered from to where we are being brought to.  It is in situations like these when God shows up, there is no doubt that His hands have been working something extraordinary through it all.  The waters may crash on the shores before and the enemy’s army may be rolling behind, but God sees you, standing there on the fringe, in a world where these two impossibilities meet, yet in Him, there is nothing impossible.  In Him, there is always a way.  In Him, you are not in a helpless position.  In Him, the victory is already won.  Before you ever came to this place, He already knew what He would do.  So rest, weary one, in His sovereignty.  Rest in His plan.  You may not understand it, but He does.  You may not know how it will work out, but He does.  This will be performed by His strength, His wisdom, and His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6), not by anything we say or do.  In getting past this place, all glory, honor, praise, and credit go to God.  He is the one who will get you to the other side in peace and wholeness, with singing and rejoicing (Exodus 15:1-21).  To you who are standing on the edge, in Him, you are not standing alone.

 “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.” Exodus 14:13-18

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Originally Published October 26, 2022

God’s Unexpiring Word

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Friend, look into your cabinet now and see how many things have an expiration date. But as children of God, we have His unexpiring word to cling to. We have this blessed assurance in every promise God has bestowed on us. Sometimes the journey will be harder than we would like it to be, yet the assurance remains the same, for “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). Even if your days feel like you are standing on shakey ground, His promises are still immovable. Even if you don’t understand, His words are still true and will hold through the test of time, even to the very end: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

~Word for Life Says

Don’t Miss the Visit

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Friends, it only takes a moment to miss a prime opportunity. In the blink of an eye, what could have been is no more a possibility. Many of the Pharisees who were looking for the Messiah missed the meaning and life of the person of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, whom they continually attacked and rebuked. When others in the crowd shouted, “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38), their shouts were one of trying to quench their praises because they did not recognize Jesus for who He really was. Jesus wept over the city and the people (Lk. 19:41) and spoke these words: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes… thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Lk. 19:42, 44). A clear vision of Jesus is imperative to our Christian faith. Don’t miss the visit. Whenever and wherever you see God moving and revealing, lean into it and refuse to let the opportunity slip through your fingers, especially if it is a decision of salvation.

~Word for Life Says

The Infighting Must Stop

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There is an old hymn written by Joseph C. Ludgate titled “Friendship with Jesus.”  In this hymn, the refrain sings out the sweetness of being in fellowship with the Savior:

“Friendship with Jesus!
Fellowship divine!
Oh, what blessed, sweet communion!
Jesus is a Friend of mine.” (©Ludgate,1898.)

But what about our fellowship with one another?  How often have the hands of division ripped away the core foundation of our Christian faith by seeking to tear apart what Christ has established: fellowship among those who are recognized as being of Him; that blessed, sweet communion with one another?

Unity among the body of believers was so important that Jesus prayed, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me,” (John 17:21).  Jesus knew that if His disciples would ban together as one they could positively impact the world, helping many believe in Him.  Vice versa, if divisions and contentions prevailed it would not work to draw people to Himself, to His kingdom message; rather, it would repel.

How often are we fighting amongst ourselves, in our congregations, or even with different denominations because they serve differently than we do?

John, the disciple of Jesus said one day, “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we fobade him, because he followeth not with us.  And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us,” (Luke 9:49-50).

Instead of rebuking the one who was accused of: “he followeth not with us,” Jesus set the record straight among His own disciples that they should not be focused on a reason for division. Jesus said, “For he that is not against us is for us.”

Too often great emphasis is put on how one group may do things differently as opposed to another group, or how one may work the gift that God has given them over another.  One may not care for the way another does something for God’s kingdom but Jesus Himself said, “For he that is not against us is for us.”  If someone is working to build up the kingdom of God, do not forbid them just because they are not following what you are doing.  Don’t forbid them just because they are not in your clique.  Don’t forbid them because they worship differently than you do.

There is no room for division in the body of Christ.  There is no room for infighting among the members of God’s family.  The Apostle Paul put it like this by saying, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).

In 1 Corinthians 1:12-13, attempting to squash division, Paul said, “Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”

Over and over again we see the Bible proclaim unity among God’s people and division to be put away with. While we may have differing doctrinal beliefs, love must be the motivator for addressing those differences because Jesus also said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another,” (John 13:35; see also 1 John 4:20-21).  

Remember Jesus’ prayer that I quoted above, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me.” Is this why the world can’t see the Christ in us and believe because there is too much infighting?  Does our rejection of another who “followeth not with us,” push the world away from believing in the Christ we proclaim and follow?

Regarding the Scriptures, and seeing Jesus’ prayer, I would have to conclude that it can play a part.  Let us learn from our Lord and say, “For he that is not against us is for us.” Let us work to build up God’s kingdom together.  We are all fighting in the same war.  Let’s edify one another and not tear down.

Disagreements Don’t Need To End In Disaster

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Get Uncomfortable

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Friends, this is the season when one seeks coziness and comfort. With the chill, and sometimes frigid temperatures in the air, warm blankets and hot mugs call us to snuggle inside. While much pleasure can be taken in this time of “tucking in,” in our walk of faith we may be called to unwrap ourselves from comfort to get uncomfortable. We may be asked to shed our comfort zone dwellings to step into new territories the Lord has for us. Like Abraham, our life must be directed by faith more than comfort: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Hebrews 11:8). Where will you allow God to take you with your “by faith” moment?

~Word for Life Says