Faith Forward

First of all, to all of you who have subscribed, I hope this blog has found its way into your email again. It was brought to my attention that the emails haven’t been working. So I hope I’ve gotten that issue straightened out and I apologize for the missed connection! If you want to go back and read the blogs you missed, click here.

It’s true that I’ve been writing a good bit less lately. I started out wanting to practice this as a discipline— which is still, in some sense, true, but I think I would rather practice it more as a rhythm. I’ve also heard from some of you that it’s sometimes hard to keep up. I was feeling that tension as well, so I thought let’s shift this a little bit.

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There is something really beautiful to me about finding the right community to grow in. I prayed for a group of women for years— women that were older than me, wiser, weren’t afraid to say hard things, and we were all trying to go in the same direction.

I know there are a lot of you out there who are praying for the same thing. Keep praying. The Lord will provide.

The Lord brought me together with this group of women and one of the things we have learned and studied together is spiritual gifts. We read a book on these and when I got to the chapter about faith, I literally cried my way through it. For lack of better words, I had never felt more seen.

I remember taking a “spiritual gifts test” in college and even then it told me I had the gift of faith. But, that was kinda it. I had no idea what that actually meant or what in the world I was supposed to do with it.

The chapter in the book we read in Dgroup actually spelled it out, and for the first time I felt like I saw it and started to understand it.

Now, let’s talk about the gifts of the Spirit for just a sec. And if you guys would like to me to do a longer blog on this subject, I can, but I also know it can be a bit of a spicy subject for some. So for the sake of where we are going today, I would like to keep it as simple as possible.

If you are in the body of Christ, you have a gift that comes from the Holy Spirit. Notice they are called gifts… and now notice they are not called rewards. These gifts aren’t given as a reward system, nor do they measure how well you are doing as a Christian. They aren’t meant to be put on a compare-odometer. (Yes, I just made that word up.) Meaning, they are not meant to be compared to one another as if one is better than the other. They are all different, and they are all needed.

One way the enemy loves to break out this compare-odometer, is when we get gifts from the Spirit mixed up with spiritual disciplines. Because some are the same.

For example, we are all called to evangelize. However, there are some who have the gift of evangelism.

Confession:

I, Kristen Hicks, do not have this gift. But does that mean I should never evangelize? Of course not! We are called to. But some people have the gift of evangelism and others (like myself) have to practice it as a discipline. The ones who have the gift thrive on it… it comes easily, almost naturally for them. I, on the other hand, start sweating, stumbling over my words and then my mind completely goes blank. I’m out here willing though! Woo!

It’s the same with faith. We are called to have faith, but there are some who have been given the gift of faith and others have to really practice it as a discipline.

Make sense?

See 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.

The beautiful thing about knowing and acknowledging the gifts I don’t have, is I knowing and acknowledging the people in my life who do. Over and over you will see in these scriptures references above that these gifts are meant to help each other. They are meant to edify, uplift and encourage the body of Christ. We are meant to share what we have with each other! We are meant help each other and teach each other, because we need every single one to walk intentionally together in the Way of Jesus.

When I was a kid, my Dad would tuck me in and I would say something along the lines of, “I hope it snows tomorrow, so we don’t have to go to school.” My Dad, knowing good and well it wasn’t near cold enough to snow, would tell me as such, and my response would be, “but God could make it happen.” And I believed it with my whole heart!

Then there was the time I was probably around 8 or 9. I had this huge stuffed doll, named Natalie. I wanted a sister so bad, I remember kneeling at my bed and asking God to turn my doll into a real girl! I remember believing it so much and praying so hard, I had literal tears! Y’all!!! The funny thing is, I even imagined God really doing it, and then I would say to Him, “yea, that would be really creepy and too much to explain.”

But then God did me one better. He gave a real sister who is my best friend, and I always tell her she was my first prayer God really answered!

My point is, this gift of faith has always been in me.

Now, you might be thinking, I don’t know what my gift is. Or you may be in the throws of discovering it. Let me just assure you, you are not behind and you are ok where you are. First things first, get off the compare-odometer and instead just start talking to God about it. He will reveal it to you. If there is one thing, I’ve learned it’s that the Spirit Himself has to reveal it to you (because it’s His gift to give) and teach you about it. He teaches you how to use it, practice it and He even knows exactly what it will take to refine it in you. So rest and trust Him to do so.

Which finally brings us to where we going today.

The set up was necessary, because what the Lord has led me to share with you today, has come from a long process of Him teaching and refining the gift of faith in me. Today, my prayer is that, with His help, you will be encouraged, uplifted and edified in your faith!

I’ve heard it said that if a pilot of a plane puts in his coordinates and is 1° off, he will end up in a completely different destination than he intended.

I think this could also be true about faith.

Faith is tricky. It sounds easy. All we have to do is believe, right? But belief is something that is easily misplaced. Therefore, we tend to distribute our faith into the wrong places, things, people, and understandings. Thus, we misstep and start going 1° off in the wrong direction.

The Lord gave me this example.

There are two paths. Both are given the name “faith”; but one, if you continue down it, you’ll find isn’t actually faith at all.

We are gonna call it Child-like Faith verses Childish Faith.

So let’s break it down. Starting with the latter.

Don’t be scared.

Childish Faith— is rooted in fear, control, and insecurity. It demands things of God and then blames Him when He doesn’t succumb to those demands. It believes that in order to get God to hear and do what it wants Him to do, it must muster up enough faith. Then, when the answer or miracle doesn’t come within the time-frame it’s allotted, it believes that there wasn’t enough faith distributed. The foundation of Childish Faith is entirely built on self and outcome. It’s an endless cycle—one that produces disappointment, discouragement, even more fear, and weariness.

I confess, I lived in Childish Faith for a very long time. It hurts. It’s exhausting. It’s confusing. And it’s hard to get out of it when you’re in a desperate situation. My white-knuckled grip was strong and I refused, REFUSED, to let go and believe anything differently. I was afraid to let go. Afraid that if I did, I would be giving up completely, and then God most certainly wouldn’t answer my prayers. I thought I was surrendering, believe it or not. I thought my tight grip was on God and my refusal to let go was going to bring the victory of blessing in the form of the very thing I had prayed for— gift wrapped with the bow I had personally picked out myself. Years, I lived in this belief system. It was indeed Childish Faith and trust me when I say, I was the poster child for it.

Child-like Faith— is rooted in trust, security and surrender. It lets go of control and lays down the narrative of outcome. It walks with the humble air that says, “My Dad, my Father in heaven, can do anything and I can trust Him. Everything He does is good and perfect and I know I can rest in the fact that He works all things together for my good and His glory. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to fear, because I know He loves me more than I can imagine.” Child-like Faith believes the best about God. It leans on Him at all times, knowing that He is working, leading, guiding, and He never, EVER leaves. It’s sure-footed and steady. It knows that there is peace on the other side of true surrender. It asks for its deepest desires, because the Father has said to, but it deeply trusts that the Father sees things far better. When hard moments come, it turns to the Father not at or against Him— knowing He is the Comforter and the One who is with you and can lead you through it. The foundation of Childlike Faith is awe and wonder, because your eyes are completely fixed upon Him.

I don’t know when the Lord healed this in me. I only know He did. I remember Him encouraging me to let go. I remember Him encouraging me to be still. And I remember Him inviting me to surrender. And I think at some point, probably the point of just pure exhaustion, I did. I listened. I obeyed.

Letting go isn’t the absence of faith. Being still before Him doesn’t mean He stops working. And surrendering doesn’t mean the prayer will never get answered. I think it just gives Him a chance to get you off the wrong path and onto the right one. You stop long enough for Him to put in the correct coordinates. You still yourself long enough first Him to stop the cycle and steady you from the dizziness.

Friend, I know there are a lot of us out here believing God for some really BIG things! Myself included! But my encouragement for you today is to sit with God and talk to Him and ask Him to define your faith. Are you living in Childish Faith or Child-like Faith? I know that letting go is hard and surrender feels scary, but can I gently say that if you are living in Childish Faith, you are going in circles. The fear isn’t protecting you, the control isn’t supporting you, and God isn’t with-holding goodness from you. Childish Faith isn’t getting you to where you want to go. But hope isn’t lost. God is fully capable of getting you on the path of His peace. He wants nothing more than to give you the deepest desire of your heart. But only He can lead you there. I pray this week that you find yourself walking with Him on the path of Childlike Faith. The path of trust, surrender and rest. The path of His Presence and His love! With your eyes fully fixed on Him with awe and wonder. This is the path that will move you forward.