Decide to grow in faith

Romans 15:13 says: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” . 

In this verse, we see that God wants to fill us with His joy and peace. In an abounding way. Jeremiah 29:11 also says: “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. That is a declaration from our Father! He wants to make us prosperous and peaceful. He wants to guide us in every area of our lives. Nothing lacking; everything complete. 

However, I want you to pay attention to one detail in Romans 15:13. Here, it says that “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him”. That means, considering the amount of trust you put on Him. God wants to bless us! He wants to give us peace and joy completely. He wants to be the God of our lives. However, we have to open our hearts to Him. He is not going to impose His plans on us! We can only open ourselves to God through faith. 

Some Christians do not see any transformation in their lives. They get frustrated and they blame God for their lack of progress. However, how much faith and trust in God do they have? Some people question God for every bad situation that happens in their lives. As if God was the author of everything in their lives. This shows that they do not know God! They do not know who God really is! 

Psalms 107:8 says: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind”. James 1:17 says: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows”. On verse 13, James also says: “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me’. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone”. That means that evil DOES NOT come from God.

If anything bad happens in your life and you blame God, it shows that you lack knowledge about His character and what He is willing to do. James 1:6-8 says: “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do”. The one that has doubts in relation to the character of God lacks faith. Those verses say that a doubtful person is like a wave of the sea and, therefore, should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Due to the lack of faith, this person is unstable. In fact, this person actually does not know what to expect from God; therefore, this person cannot expect receiving anything from Him. 

If you want to have transformation in your life, you need to decide to believe in God. You need to decide to believe in His character. You need to decide to grow in faith. How can you do it? Through meditation on the Word and growing in the relationship with Him. There is no other formula! John 5:39 says: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me”. The Scriptures testify about God! 

If you study the Word, you will discover God. His character and goodness will be revealed to you, and, instead of doubts, you will be full of conviction about Him. John 4:24 also says that “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth”. Who are His worshippers? Us! We, who have accepted Jesus Christ inside of our hearts, are His worshippers! And we worship God in the Spirit and in truth! What does it mean? 

It means that our relationship with God is not based on feelings or on thoughts but in the spiritual connection we have with God. When we accept Jesus inside of our hearts, our spirit gets connected with the Holy Spirit! Now, we are open to receive His guidance inside of us! So, the more we seek this deeper relationship with God, the more He reveals Himself and His guidance to us in a profound way! 

It is not related to hearing voices, seeking dreams or having extraordinary out of the body experiences. We can have a supernatural relationship with God by allowing ourselves to be spiritually guided by Him! It is all ready to happen inside of us, through faith! 

Another point is that this true worship is in truth! It means based on the Word! The Word of God is the truth. We cannot doubt the Word because it was inspired by God to us! If we read with care and meditate on His Word, we are going to discover the profoundness of His goodness! He made a plan to send Jesus! He prepared the way to send Jesus to Earth to restore us, giving us a new hope, new nature and restored honor! God cares for us deeply; and through the Bible, we can be sure of that! 

As I mentioned, our relationship with God is through faith! There is no other way to please God! Having faith means having confidence in His promises. That is the only way to enjoy all the blessings that we can get by having a relationship with God! Remember: He is our Father! And He wants you to have everlasting peace and joy! Let’s trust in His Word and get to know His character!