Journey: A New Believer's Guide to Spiritual GrowthSample

Your Hiking Bag

You’ve made the decision to make Jesus Lord of your life. That’s amazing news! Now what? Well, Jesus tells us, and He actually made it really simple. He told people to follow Him. Over and over again in the Bible, Jesus called people to follow Him:       

• He told Andrew...follow me       
• He told Peter...follow me       
• He told Matthew the tax collector...follow me       
• He told all of His disciples, multiple times...follow me       
• He told the crowds who followed Him...follow me

Here’s the thing about following Jesus: it’s so much more than a moment. It’s the continual decision to keep following, trusting, and believing in Jesus. It’s like --you guessed it--a journey! 

And “following” Jesus isn’t like following someone on Instagram. This is all about learning from, and being close to, Jesus. It’s like having a new best friend.

As we follow Jesus, He begins to teach us all about who He is. This is where God starts to transform our hearts and we start to live more as Jesus did. We start to love and serve others as Jesus did. This means as we spend time with the Lord through prayer, Bible reading, church attendance, and small group involvement, we become more and more like him!

Now let’s talk about what you need for this journey. Think of this as your hiking bag. It’s the thing that holds all the stuff you will need to keep going on the journey. 

The first thing you need on your spiritual journey is FAITH! Faith is what keeps you going in your relationship with God. It gives you what you need to climb the spiritual mountain, even when life is really hard. 

So where do you get more faith? Know this: Faith isn’t something you can find, but it is something you build. Muscles need to have resistance to become stronger, and it’s weights that help to build your muscles.

You might be thinking, that doesn’t sound like fun! Well, honestly, sometimes it’s not at that moment. But! The result? Totally worth it. You’re building endurance for the journey ahead. It builds your faith muscle! Just like…Going to the gym…hitting your nutrition goals…studying hard and getting that degree. 

It’s through this same process that faith is built. It’s when you continue to say yes to God—even when it’s hard— that your faith muscle begins to grow; when you trust, even when things are confusing! You lean into God when something disappointing happens rather than turning away from Him. 

When your faith grows, not only do you have what you need for the journey ahead, but it also becomes easier to say yes to God the next time. You’ve watched how He helped you before and it gives you the faith for the next challenge ahead. You’re building a history with God!

CHALLENGE

Try this over the next 7 days:

Identify two challenges in your life that God could be using to build your faith muscle       

• It could be something at work or in your marriage or raising kids       
• Maybe you’re a student and it’s related to your schoolwork       
• Maybe it’s something with your health or the health of a loved one       
• Maybe it’s a past event or a present addiction

Each time you think of your challenge or are actively in the middle of it, say a prayer to God, asking for His help.