Day 48: I trust You, Lord. Getting my work-out on! James 2:2-4
It’s recommended that you exercise your body at least 30 minutes daily. If you don’t exercise your brain, brain activity will decline over time. As a singer, vocal cord training is required to ensure the cords remain strong enough to continue a rigorous singing career. Athletes practice their sport of choice as often as every day. The point of all of these examples is to show that you must exercise often to achieve what you set out to do. In some cases, lack of exercise can lead to death.
The same is true about exercising your faith. You may have asked God to increase your faith. What do you think is needed to get your faith muscles bulk? Trials and tribulations are needed.
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 2:2-4 KJV
With each trial and tribulation, you will learn to lean on God. This will, in time, bulk your faith muscles to the point that nothing thrown at you will ever stress you. You’d immediately know to give it God.
You don’t want to go through anything, though. Do you? Going through things sucks big time! But let’s look at one of the examples from the opening paragraph. Singers use their vocal cords far more than a typical person does. In order for the singer to be able to withstand the stress on their vocal cords, there are vocal cord training they must endure. The vocalist will start with the basics: breathing and singings scales. They must keep their cords lubricated by drinking water, ensure correct posture, and master their breathing to improve their voice. Once these areas are covered, the singer now has a pretty decent vocal range and pitch, but how can they get better? They have to try harder ranges and pitches. They must listen to themselves to identify areas that require improvement. They also must practice very frequently. What needs to be pointed out is the singer must practice, examine their talent, and attempt more challenging ranges to go farther.
Let’s look at the example of exercising. Depending on your goals, there are certain exercises and frequencies needed to achieve them. Looking at a professional body builder, they must not only constantly train their muscles to get bigger and stronger by using heavier and heavier weight, but they must also examine their diets to ensure they aren’t ingesting foods that would cause them to fail in their bodybuilding efforts. Again, the key points are they must constantly train, challenge themselves, and examine their routine and diet to ensure peak performance.
The same is true with faith. Without trials and tribulations, how can your faith be tested and perfected. If you can’t trust God about an earache, how will you be able to look cancer in the eye and tell it where to go? If you can’t trust God for $50 dollars, how can you began to believe Him for $500? You must constantly train. You must examine your life to see where you left a gaping trust hole and fill it in quickly. And you have to look for opportunities to increase your faith.
For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12:3 KJV
When God placed your spirit in your body, he gave you faith as well. Everyone is born with some faith. Depending on the events that have taken place in your life, your faith may have grown or shrunken, but you have faith. Even an atheist has enough faith to believe there is no God (or whatever they believe). EVERYONE HAS FAITH. What are you doing with yours? Is it stuck in reverse? Is it stuck in one gear? Has it grown? Can you flex a faith muscle when needed?
It’s not always easy to go through trials and tribulations, but without these, how can you ever learn to trust. Yes, you can just put your faith in action because it was given to you. And yes, you can grow it by asking bigger. Each of these is a way to have your faith increased, but far too often you don’t have enough experience to really move a mountain out of your life without the trials and tribulations. Faith builders help you do just that: build faith. Let them do their job. And if you don’t want trials and tribulations, then learn this day to turn it over to God and have faith.
We are all given a measure of faith. What are you doing to bulk yours up?
Ever growing,
Keiyia JOYet George
Trust Walk: Walking in His Steps coming soon!