5 Ways to Foster a Relentless Faith
I have faith. Until I don’t. Because when the world seems uncertain and hard circumstances come my way, my faith is anything but relentless.
As Christians, we often teeter between standing on a firm faith in God and sinking in the quicksand of doubt.
But the Christian journey necessitates a relentless faith. So I’m learning a firm and unrelenting faith is what God desires for His people.
Yet, we often hesitate in our confidence in the Lord and His promises. Still, Hebrews 11:1 defines it exactly that way:
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (NIV)
Faith is not a receive-it-all-at-once deal. Because the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see, grows and strengthens while we live out our Christian lives on this earth.
Faith is not a receive-it-all-at-once deal. Because the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see, grows and strengthens while we live out our Christian lives on this earth. Click To TweetHere are 5 ways to foster a relentless F-A-I-T-H:
F – Find God faithful.
We come to God in faith, believing He is Creator and Lord, and accepting His salvation by faith through Jesus Christ. This faith continues in our life as we find God faithful and learn He always fulfills His promises.
Hebrews 11, often called the Hall of Faith, showcases the men and women who not only found God faithful, but who also acted on the Lord’s promises even though they died before receiving many of the things promised. A true relentless faith in the face of their circumstances.
A – Acknowledge who God is.
“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” — Oswald Chambers
We must trust Who God is…the sum total of His attributes. Yet, sometimes we only concentrate on the feel-good parts of God’s character. Such as God is love, merciful, and good.
And all those characteristics are absolutely true about God. But He is also holy, just, the one true judge, in control, on His throne, the only God, and sovereign—reigns over all things. Every one of these aspects are what make God, God.
We deny God’s full Lordship when we only celebrate one aspect of His character.
Once we acknowledge who God is, our faith fosters to the relentless level.
“Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” — Oswald Chambers Click To TweetI – Imitate Jesus.
When we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, we see faith in how He obeyed and glorified the heavenly Father, performed miracles, surrendered to God’s plan, and spoke of God’s laws and commands. Also, He ministered to people’s needs in the middle of their ordinary days.
Obtaining great faith on the Christian journey is not spiritual extra credit. Instead, it’s the process of how we mature as a believer in the middle of ordinary days, in all our todays and tomorrows.
“Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.” — Corrie ten boom
This is relentless faith.
T – Trust without hesitation.
Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes. And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy-lifting.
God continues to remind me that His timing really is perfect; His plans for me are always for my good and His glory.
Those things we continue to wait on and hope for all have a purpose to increase our faith, not decrease it.
Even hardships that test our faith lead to steadfastness (James 1:2-4). Enduring these trials is what God uses to pull us closer to himself and grow our trust.
This is relentless faith.
Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes. And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy-lifting. This is relentless faith. Click To TweetH – Hold on to truth.
Nothing anchors our faith more than a God who is trustworthy and true to His Word.
Sometimes our own thoughts, the enemy, or other people trick our heart into thinking God is holding out on us.
Maybe a prayer went unanswered in how we wanted the situation to turn out. Perhaps we feel God didn’t come through for us in what we wished for or wanted to happen.
Our circumstances should never dictate our faith, but foster our faith. In everything, we hold firmly on to God’s truth.
Because God is trustworthy, we can trust Him with our todays and all our tomorrows.
Relentless Faith
F – Find God faithful.
A – Acknowledge who God is.
I – Imitate Jesus.
T – Trust without Hesitation.
H – Hold on to truth.
Which part of relentless F-A-I-T-H stood out to you?
Last week’s post, Affirmations: Who I am in the Great I AM
Sometimes I participate in these link-ups:
Legacy Linkup/Inspire Me Monday/Tell His Story/Recharge Wednesday/Let’s Have Coffee/Tune in Thursday/Heart Encouragement/Embracing the Unexpected/Candidly Christian and Faith On Fire.
© 2021 by Karen Friday, All rights reserved
Trust without Hesitation so the T in faith really spoke to me. Sometimes I am hesitant about my trust. Thanks for the great encouragement today Karen.
I do too, Yvonne. And any hestiation at all is not really fully trusting. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Oh what truths you’ve shared today Ms. Karen! Loved this post ma’am. What I am learning in my journey in faith is that for me to hold onto my faith when those crises come, and they always do, I must hold onto the Father. For it is from Him that I gain the strength needed to survive the storm! Have I mentioned I love this post? 🙂 Thank you so much!
Yes, J.D. Holding onto Truth, the Lord Himself, is better than holding onto the things of this world. For when our hands are empty, then we can really reach out to God and cling to Him with everything we have!
I loved all of these aspects of FAITH, Karen, but I’m so drawn to Imitating Jesus. What would Jesus do/say/think in my situation? Great question to ask ourselves. Let us never lose faith in our holy and loving God!
Blessings!
Martha, glad you brought that point out. I love the idea of imitating Jesus as well. Christ definitely modeled trusting the Father and obeying the Word.
Yes, indeed!!! “Obtaining great faith on the Christian journey is not spiritual extra credit. Instead, it’s the process of how we mature as a believer in the middle of ordinary days, in all our todays and tomorrows.” Great piece as always, Karen.
Jessica, thanks for stopping by. Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes. And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy-lifting.
Finding God faithful and Acknowledging who God is have been two important realities in my walk with Christ. The Lord has brought me through so many decades of trial and hardship, and, all along, he has faithfully been with me, loving me, providing for me, and shaping me. As a result, I launched a study of his character and nature that I’ve pursued for the last three decades, so that I am able to acknowledge who he really and truly is. Without that, I wouldn’t have a foundation to rest in him and to trust him. The Word of God is a powerful tool and treasure for those who believe. Fabulous post, Karen!
That’s good wisdom, Melinda. Finding God faithful paired with really acknowledging who He is, help make growing in our faith a reality. Even in the valleys and hardships, God. Is. Faithful. And He stays true to His character. Even hardships that test our faith lead to steadfastness (James 1:2-4). Enduring these trials is what God uses to pull us closer to himself and grow our trust.
This is relentless faith.
Trust without hesitation stood out to me most. Like you said, God is always having to teach and remind me that His timing is perfect. That is where I tend to struggle. I want things to happen in my time…Thank you for this message!
You and me both, Stephanie. We want what we want, and we want it now! 🙂 It’s a struggle between our flesh and spirit. Our circumstances should never dictate our faith, but foster our faith. In everything, we hold firmly on to God’s truth.
All of these points speak to me, but perhaps most of all this one: ‘ men and women who not only found God faithful, but who also acted on the Lord’s promises even though they died before receiving many of the things promised.” I marvel over that every time I read Hebrews 11. We know God has His own timing and purposes, but we want the answer now. But we have to trust and obey even when it seems like the answer isn’t coming.
Good insight, Barbara. Hebrews 11 really portrays what firm and relentless faith is all about. They believed even if they didn’t see. They believed even if it wasn’t fulfilled before they left this world.
Excellent check points to assure a continuous growing faith. Thank you.
Thanks, Janice.
Relentless Faith
F – Find God faithful.
A – Acknowledge who God is.
I – Imitate Jesus.
T – Trust without Hesitation.
H – Hold on to truth.
The F. Find God faithful. Sometimes we look at all the ways we think God is not faithful by focusing on our disappointments or unanswered prayers or ways we think he has let us down. But none of those mean he is being unfaithful. There are so many ways we can see his faithfulness. Most all the stories in the bible show his faithfulness. But we need to looking at his faithfulness through history and different eyes than we sometimes do. When we see things through his perspective in our next life, we will finally see that all those times we thought he was unfaithful, he really was being faithful.
I agree with your thoughts, Theresa. God is faithful–period! There’s never a moment in time God reneges on His Word or fails to fulfill His promises. It’s all in our perspective as you so well expressed. Once we possess the faith to believe God is who He says He is, and come to Him in believing faith about the gospel, it’s that same faith that carries us through life.
I love this message! My eyes kept going back to “Trust Without Hesitation”. Amen. I keep repeating those words over and over. A message meant for everyone.
I find trusting without hesitation one of the hard things. It’s worth the prayer time to ask the Lord to make us a child who trusts Him in this way.
This is so good, Karen! I appreciate the Acronym F-A-I-T-H and this truth, “The Christian journey necessitates a relentless faith. So I’m learning a firm and unrelenting faith is what God desires for His people. Faith is not a receive-it-all-at-once deal. Because the confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see, grows and strengthens while we live out our Christian lives on this earth.”
Glad this encouraged you, Lisa. All the bumps in the road, detours, curves, and uphill climbs on our Christian journey are meant to foster a relentless faith in us!
Love how you use the word FAITH to define what it is!
And I have to join many of the others who commented that the T (Trust without hesitation) spoke volumes to me.
Thank you, Ava. Sometimes we seem to lag in trusting the Lord. I want to follow the example of Jesus others in the Bible who “immediately” obeyed and trusted. Remember the hymn? “Trust and obey.”
Karen, I love how you approach our faith with the fullness of who God is. All of His attributes and qualities that make Him God. I also appreciate how you acknowledge the hard parts – we don’t always have our prayers answered with a “yes” or in the way we hoped. This is when humility and trusting His heart and His plans for our ultimate good and His glory. One day we will see all the amazing details He was weaving together. Even if that day is in heaven. God is worth it all.
Melissa, love how you expressed this, “One day we will see all the amazing details He was weaving together. Even if that day is in heaven. God is worth it all.” Amen! Until then, we ask the Lord to remind us that His timing really is perfect; His plans for us are always for our good and His glory.
Such an uplifting post, Karen!
With my recent diagnosis, I find myself leaning into God’s promises like never before.
Thank you, Beckie. I think about you and pray for you daily. I was awake very early this morning, not able to sleep. And I remember a minister said once, never waste times in the night or early morning hours you can’t sleep. The Lord may just have you up for a reason. Then I read about what scholars call watch hours, particularly 3 and 6 AM. Amazing how that’s the times I’m normally awake. Rest assured you are loved and prayed over to the matchless name of the Almighty!
Trust is the biggest one for me. I’ve been walking the journey back to trusting God after overwhelming grief that seems to just keep coming. I wonder sometimes if that’s why God keeps allowing these things to come into my life or if I’m unintentionally making choices that sabotage my peace. Prayers please.
I’m so sorry to hear about your great loss and grieving, Candice. I am praying for you and God’s peace. Because God is trustworthy, we can trust Him with our todays and all our tomorrows.
Amen and Hallelujah Karen!!
God bless, Kristi Ann. “Faith is deliberate confidence in the character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time.” — Oswald Chambers
These thoughts reinforce so well what I am reading in 1 Peter right now.
Michele, I loved studying 1 Peter with Jen Wilken’s Bible study, “A Living Hope in Christ.”
Karen, Thank you so much for these reminders. Thank you for your insightful and encouraging words. Blessings.
Appreciate you stopping by to read and comment, Paula. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 1:1 (NIV)
I’ve seen this one trip people up (ahem, and me too?): “Sometimes our own thoughts, the enemy, or other people trick our heart into thinking God is holding out on us.” But remembering that God is always good, and will never hold out on us, brings me back to my senses.
Oh, yes, Lisa. The enemy will use whatever he can, even others, to convince us God is holding out on us, but not others. So grateful good is not only what God does, but who HE IS.
Karen, what a great post! You brought out many great truths in each of your points. This one stood out to me:
“Our job as a Christ-follower is to trust God’s power, ways, and purposes. And God’s job is everything else. He does the heavy lifting.”
Thank goodness, God doesn’t expect us to “do it all.” Learning to trust Him is a lifelong process. I’m glad God is there to do all the other things.
Jeanne, I’m glad too. Sometimes it’s hard for certain personality types like me who want to control and are perfectionist. 🙂 But to trust in myself or others is so futile. And you’re right, it is a lifelong process!
I LOVE the acronym! I often struggle to trust without hesitation. I’m a facts kind of gal and want to know everything before I make a decision. You’d think I’d know by now that God is trustworthy!
I relate to your comment, Anita. It’s easy to only make a move on what we know and see instead of what we can’t see and don’t know. Lord, help us trust you without hesitation!
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