Baptist City Blog

Growing Your Faith in God

Ezekiel 47:5

"Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over."

One thing you will not avoid in the Christian life are hard times.  Hard times come for everyone.  You can do everything in your power to avoid hard times, but they will eventually come.  The benefit of the hard times is that they grow your faith in God.  While growing your faith you are also strengthening yourself as a Christian.  Therefore, the hard times are good for you.  

In the verse above, you can learn some things about hard times that will be helpful to you as you go through them.  In Ezekiel 47:3-5, Ezekiel talks about a man taking him through the waters. It is interesting to notice as you read these verses that each time he went through the waters they rose to a different level. The first time the waters were at his ankles. The second time the waters were to his knees.  The third time the waters had risen to his loins.  The last time the waters were over his head, therefore he could not pass over the river.  

This illustrates how God grows our faith. First, you will notice that God brought him through the waters. God did not just tell him to do it alone, but God was with him as he went through the waters.  No matter what God allows you to face in life, you will not face it alone, for He will be with you. God is not One Who tells you to do something and doesn't go with you; no, He will always be with you as you go through the waters of trial and endeavors.  

Second, God only allows you to go through what you can handle. Notice that the waters were at the ankles, then the knees, and then to the loins. God is showing us that whatever your faith can handle is what He will put you through. He will not put you through waters to your loins when you can only handle the waters to your ankles.  He only brings you through the portion of the waters that you can handle.  

Third, God gradually grows your faith. Notice that God did not initially bring him to the waters that were over his head, instead He brought him gradually to those waters.  Christian, you don't need to worry about waters that are over your head if you are at the waters that rise to your ankles.  Worrying about something that you are not facing is foolish.  God is with you where you are, and He will grow you to the point when you can face the greater waters of life.  

Finally, you must be willing to grow your faith in order for it to grow. You can know all about how God grows your faith, but you must be willing to step into the deep waters to grow your faith.  Let me ask you, when is the last time you stepped into a big task for Christ? You will never grow your faith by walking on the shoreline. You must be willing to step out into the waters of soul winning, church building, giving, faith promise, God's will or some great task for your faith to grow.  God presence is there to help you through the waters, and He will protect you from getting into waters too deep if you will trust Him.  

I challenge you to step out into deeper waters in some area of your life and watch your faith grow as God leads you through those waters.

Details

Ezekiel 40:5

"And behold a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an hand breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed."

One of the greatest mistakes that I see in churches and people is how they treat the details. When you read the verse above, you see that God is One Who believes in details.  God showed Ezekiel the details of the future temple. You will notice when you read this chapter that God didn't just tell Ezekiel about the temple, but He went into detail about everything in the temple.  When you study the character of God, you will find that He always gives attention to details.  

Your success in life, and every pursuit in which you endeavor, will be determined by how well you give attention to details.  When I was a boy, my mother used to always make sure that I took care of the details.  When I cleaned my room, she went in after me to make sure that I did a good job.  She lifted items off of the dresser to make sure that I picked them up when I dusted.  She checked the top of pictures to be sure I dusted there. Though at the time I thought it was ridiculous, my mother was teaching me to take care of the details. She understood that my future would be affected by how well I gave attention to the details.  

When I preach in churches, probably one of the greatest mistakes I see preachers make is that they don't give attention to the details. I have seen men who have great personality and talent, but don't pay attention to detail and hurt the growth of their church. Any pastor or Sunday school teacher who avoids taking care of the details will struggle in the growth of their class or church.  

Businessmen who don't take care of the details will find their businesses struggling. Many businessmen have gone out of business because they didn't think that the details were that important, only to find that the unheeded details destroyed their business.  

Finances are made or broken by how well someone takes care of the details.  When you think a penny is not that important in your finances, that is when you will find yourself losing money. Every penny and dime is important to your financial success.  

Likewise, your future will be determined by how well you take care of the details. Your life is filled with details that are important to your success. When a Christian disregards the details of the Christian life, he will end up hurting his walk with God.  You must not overlook and disregard the details in life.  If you will treat every detail in life as important, then the one detail that propels you to success will be treated importantly, thus success will be experienced.  

If God believes that every detail is important, then you need to become a person of detail. Don't fall trap to disregarding the details. The best way to make sure that you become a person of detail is to treat everything with importance.  Schedule your life and plan every detail of your pursuits. By doing this you will have a better chance of treating each detail with importance.

Checklist of a Right Heart

Ezekiel 36:28

"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God."

When a person desires to get right with God it is always difficult to know how sincere they are, but often their actions will tell if they are sincere. Though you should not judge the motives of people, their actions will tell you a lot. In Ezekiel 36:24-28, God shows us what a person must do to get right and the results of their getting right.  

First, if a person is going to get right with God, they must separate from the old crowd.  Verse 24 says, "For I will take you from among the heathen..." You will notice the first step for Israel to get back to a right relationship with God was separating from the heathen.  You will never get right and stay right with God and still run with the old crowd. I often hear people tell me that the old crowd are their friends.  That may be true, but those friends are the ones who pulled you away from God. You can't play in mud without getting muddy. A person will never be, or stay, right with God when they run with the old crowd who pulled them away from God.  

The second step in getting right with God is confession of sin and avoiding the sin. Verse 28 says, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you." You must confess your sins to God in order to be right with Him, but confession alone won't keep you right. You must also avoid the sin's that you were committing. Yes, that is changing your lifestyle to avoid that sin.  

The third step in getting right with God is new desires.  In verse 26, God talks about a "new heart." Once you separate from the old crowd, confess and avoid sin, then new desires will start coming into your heart.  You will notice when a person comes to this step that their thinking process has changed. Their desire for the old is not driving them like their desire to do right. Desires tell a lot about a person.  

The fourth step in getting right is a good attitude. God talks about a "new spirit" in those who get right. If a person still has a bad spirit, then they are not right with God. When you get right, and the load of sin and guilt is lifted, a new spirit of obedience and excitement is immediately found within.  An attitude that wants to do right will immediately come.  A person's attitude reveals their heart.

The fifth step is a tender heart. Here is a step that cannot be manufactured.  God talks about the "heart of flesh." This is a tender heart for the things of God. When people once were never moved about the plight of others, now they become emotional when they see others hurting. This is when you will start seeing tears in the eyes. You can't hide a tender heart just like you can't hide a cold heart of stone.  Preachers can tell in their preaching when someone is cold because they show no emotion.  Nothing ever moves them! A tender heart is a sign of getting right with God.  

The next and final step is a Spirit-filled life that daily strives to live like a Christian.  When a person is right with God, they will live in God's will for their life.  Like the verse above says, they will "dwell in the land" where God wants them to live. When a person is right with God, they want nothing other than to please God in all that they do.  

Go honestly through this checklist and see if you are right with God.  Many times we fool ourselves, but a checklist like this reveals when we are straying from God. If you find yourself failing in an area, then it is time to get right with God and get back to where God wants you to be.