Hard Steps of Faith

 

Anyone who says faith isn’t hard and doesn’t require hard things from us, needs to reevaluate faith. Faith is hard. Faith requires us to step out of our comfort zones and do things we would never do apart from faith. It calls us to strength and courage when weakness and fear would normally overtake. God often uses our faith to hold us on a path pointing to nowhere according to our own conclusions. All the while God is taking us somewhere.

 

God takes us to unknown places to give us good gifts, to fulfill His promises, and to transform us more and more into the image of Christ. For the past month, I have had a song stuck in my head. A specific line from that song is on continual repeat, “Holy Spirit, make me more like Jesus.”

 

The Lord knows that is my deepest desire. I want to be more like Jesus, but apart from my faith in Him, I cannot become more like Him. Apart from faith drawing me to unknown places and uncharacteristic actions, becoming more like Jesus really isn’t possible. Jesus stretches us to reshape us and extend our reach and impact in this world, to be transformed and to share the transformation with others.

 

When God calls us to take hard steps of faith, remember the words of Psalm 37:23-24.

 

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.

Psalms 37:23-24 NLT

 

God Directs Our Steps

God not only directs our hard steps but all of our steps, and He delights in every detail of our lives. He even holds us by the hand to keep us from falling when we stumble. I love that word picture of God’s presence and guidance in our life. When thinking about God directing our steps, if we have been a student of God’s word for long, most assuredly Proverbs 3:5-6 come to mind.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

 

Yet again another of God’s promises to direct our paths. When we reject our own logic for the sake of embracing trust in God, we can know God’s hands are guiding us on the path He planned for us. A friend of mine uses a childhood illustration that always spoke to my heart about God’s guidance. When he was a little boy, he and his friends would have June bug races. They cupped their hands around the sides of their June bug racer at the start line and guided them to the finish line. My friend always said he felt like God directed his steps like he had directed the June bug. I love that analogy, and I want to be a June bug in God’s hands!

 

However, since we aren’t June bugs, God often calls us to take hard steps of faith to get us to the starting point of a path and direction He has for us. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that He is the author and finisher of our faith. God, our Creator knows the starting point of our race. He sees the finish line, and He knows our path in between.

  

Stepping Out Of Comfort

 As we think about taking hard steps of faith, we understand that the discomfort of stepping out. When you take that step, God gave us an assurance based on His promise of completing His work in us in Philippians 1:6.

 

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6

 

Recently, Jesus called me to step back into a space I had once gone and because of extreme discomfort, constant critique, and rejection, I walked away for a whole decade. That place was writer’s conferences. Early in my calling, over twenty years ago, I knew God had called me to write and teach Bible studies for women. Being called, I thought surely God would lay out a path before me, and while I didn’t expect it to all be easy, I definitely expected the path to be a bit smoother. I was wrong.

 

While I didn’t quit writing and teaching, I simply quit going to writer’s conferences. However, the beginning of 2024, I sensed the Holy Spirit saying, “It is time to return.” Of course, my response was, “Surely not Lord.” A series of God-ordained steps laid out before me and I followed them to my first writer’s conference in ten years. My prayer was “Lord, show me the right next step.” I can’t tell you how many times I heard that very phrase during that conference.” “You are here to discover your right next step.” “If you need to know the right next step,…” “This is the right next step.” Over and over again, every teach and speaker said the words, “the right next step.”

A Measure Of Faith

 

Needless to say, the Lord had my attention and I knew I was where He wanted me to be. However, two days before going, I almost backed out. I wanted to, but faith in Jesus, faith in His direction, and a faith that compelled me to take hard steps landed me in a place I would have avoided apart from Jesus. Romans 12:3 tells us that God dealt each one a measure of faith. He gave us that faith to move us out of the complacency of comfort.

 

Is there someplace you feel the Holy Spirit drawing you, calling you, nudging you? Does the measure of faith implanted in you by Jesus keep bringing something to your mind that makes you uncomfortable? Dear Sister in Christ, don’t ignore that. While your natural self feels totally uncomfortable, your God wants to supernaturally stretch you to grow you and bless you. Resist your resistance and release your fears and weakness into His faithful hands.

 

Because I followed the Lord in faith, I met some amazing people, and I signed a contract to have my next Bible study published. The funny thing is, this Bible study is about God as our potter and one emphasis of the study is how God stretches us out of our comfort zones to grow us and transform us. I did not anticipate that great blessing coming out of my obedience to return to a place of discomfort, but that is what I found.

 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

James 1:17

 

Encouragement and Prayer 

Dear Sister in Christ, God has good gifts for you. You may find your greatest blessing along the way as you take those hard steps of faith. Today, I pray that you take the hard steps of faith that you may receive and experience God’s goodness as He leads you to places unknown.

  

Prayer For You To Pray For Yourself: 

Precious Heavenly Daddy,

You know my fears and my weaknesses. You know the power comfort holds over me. Lord help me to forsake comfort to follow You. Give me strength and courage to take the hard steps of faith that You are calling me to and bless me as I do that I may see Your goodness and experience Your faithfulness once again. Holy Spirit use this to make me more like Jesus, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!