Growth

Q. How have you grown in faith in the past year?

A. You can see my growth in my posts I put up here. I've grown in my love for God.

Q. How have you grown in faith in the past month?

A. You can see here and here, the things I've learnt in the past month, which have kept me growing.

Q. How have you grown in faith in the past week?

A. Um... 

I was asked to answer these questions in a conversation recently, and the last question caught me off guard. I was tempted to say, "I was busy", or "It wasn't a priority" but I knew such excuses couldn't cut it. I had 'paused' my growth during the week.

You could argue that I've been growing enough lately, or if it's only for a week then it's fine, but that wouldn't be true. I am a tree, and I want to continue growing, even if it is by a little bit at a time. I never want to 'pause' growth in my love for Jesus.

A short post today, but only because I feel some other things I want to say need their own post to develop fully. So get excited for next week!

So, what will you do to grow in faith this week?

Just Keep Knocking!

Recently I heard of a girl who pressed paused in her walk with Jesus. She didn't deny him, but neither did she follow him, she just chose not to think about him for awhile. Her one reason for doing so was that she felt that Jesus wasn't doing enough in her life. She had waited for the holy spirit which she knew was promised to her, but after the initial "spiritual high" it felt that there was nothing there anymore. She thought Jesus had left her, so she chose to let go of him.

I always feel sad when I hear of people falling away or pressing pause on Christianity. Even though I have had a fair share of times when I thought "Why don't I just drop it all?", when I compare the world's values with Jesus' values, I see where real love comes from. What most makes my heart die a little is how the world can smother someone's senses, how it can entice so much their mind is clouded with a blinding haze, while God is trying to break through, blow the mist away to reveal the open sky of his unending love.

Coming back to my first paragraph, I initially heard of this girl's story in a talk at church, and my first thought was to ignore it and let all the "half-Christians" accept the challenge that he was giving. But God nudged me to look at her in terms of myself. It occurred to me that in the next five years, I could easily become like her. You could too. Slowly trying to take parts of my life away from God, until he has nothing. How can he mould his perfect creation if the clay runs away? Blaming God that he isn't changing me, when it is just because I won't let him.

What can we do? How can we continue to make sure God is present in our lives? Well, stealing from the man's sermon again, Jesus tells us exactly what we need to do.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will opened to you." Matthew 7:7 NIV

We need to ask God into our lives. But this isn't a one off thing. As irregular humans we are, our heart often throws fits and kicks God out. So we ask God again to come back in. Ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking!

Strive forward in asking and seeking God, maybe even everyday, because pausing on Jesus is not worth it. Giving up real love for some small thrills? Let God shine through, let him in, so he can let you out of the cage that sin has created.

Letting the real you out

I had to write a memoir for the first time. A whole page, anything I wanted, something I would look back on and think, "That was so me back then...". I wrote random thoughts that were in my head. Looking back, it was totally me.

We work so hard to be someone we aren't, and sometimes we cover ourself with so many lies, we don't know who we are really underneath. A little burst of random thought, uncensored by the barrier of lies, onto a piece of paper, something readable, keeps you sane.

Try it now. See what your real self is like.

It is also useful in your core beliefs too. Write down what you feel about God. Sometimes our mind is filled with doubts or worries about what we believe in. They crowd around us, hemming us into a corner, not letting us talk back.

I wrote, God is good! He has forgiven me! He loves me! He cares for me! It pulled me back to the reality of the amazingness of God's love. I feel like shouting for joy! Go God! I don't have to make it sound good, he knows what I mean.

Doing this is a good foothold in the midst of a sinking faith. Remember what God has done for you, and try and get that through your barrier of lies. Hopefully, that might free you from your chains.