How to keep faith in God during hard times - Christian Personal Development
Christians must learn how to keep faith in God during hard times. This is the focus of this interesting post. I have described my personal experiences and that of others in this post.
This present world is full of many challenges. Christians must learn how to keep faith in God during hard times. One of the major reasons for the challenges is to challenge your faith so that you can lose confidence and turn away from God.
You are not designed to lose faith in God, you are primarily designed by God to walk by faith with Him to fulfill your God-given destiny.
I have shared several on this blog how your faith walk is one you have to guard jealously because it is like the air you breathe in for survival. In our present world, there is nothing anyone can do to keep challenges away; they must come. The most important Christian vocation for you and me is to ensure we keep faith in God during a hard time.
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Section 1: Introduction to the lesson of faith during trials
What does it mean to keep faith in God during hard times?
Keeping faith in God during hard times is all about your decision to keep your trust in God and His Word whenever you are faced with some difficult situations. You have taken an unwavering decision to hold on to God in difficult times. You don’t want to use an alternative solution to get the much-needed solution to difficult situations.
Why does God put us through hard times?
I am sure you want to find an answer to that. Let us look at the following Bible verses about faith in hard times:
- “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
- ‘Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man by whom the offense comes!” (Matthew 18:7)
- ‘Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35)
If you have read those Bible passages, I want you to look at some of the reasons why God allows us to go through hard times.
- To strengthen us (“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” -1 Peter 5:10)
- So that we can be able to help others (“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
- To produce patience in us (“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope” – Romans 5:3-4
- To show us that He has the power to save and deliver us (“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” – Psalm 34:19)
- To test our loyalty (“Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart” – Deuteronomy 8:2)
Those are some of the reasons why God allows you and me to go through trials or hard times.
Related: Fear is the opposite of faith. Check the information below:
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Section 2: Practical Illustration
I believe I have been able to give you a good introduction to this lesson on how to keep faith in God during hard times. The introduction should have prepared you for the practical demonstration of how to achieve these great tasks.
Just shall live by his faith
I got very much interested in the topic of faith because of the statement I found in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently.” That statement is clear enough for anyone or any Christian who wants to get the best of Christianity.
A closer statement with almost the same meaning is the one I also found in Hebrews 10:38, “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him”.
Now let us take a look at these two statements closely and you will surely get a hint on the reason why I have published this blog post and some other books I have written on the topic of faith. After this illustration, you will completely agree with me that we need more revelational books on this interesting and important topic.
Now relax and let me just take you through this illustration and explanation.
Related: What is faith in God: a complete guide
Pleasers of God are faith walkers
The first passage:
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently. Hebrews 11:6″
We are required to be pleasers of God if we want to experience His mighty hand of power which is clearly at work on this earth. You can’t please God if you are not working or walking by faith!
I believe you can put the bits and pieces of what I just wrote above together. You will agree with me that the miracles you desire during hard times or on that issue whether, in your health, business, over your children will not manifest if you don’t learn the process or the workings of faith.
Now I just opened up something there and I am sure you did not notice that. This post is meant to show you a faith process or the way the Christian faith works which when it is mastered, you will be able to walk by faith and get the needed miracles from God or get answers to your prayers during hard times.
So please take that from me and put it in one corner of your heart and mind.
Now let me say something about the second bible passage above: “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him”. Hebrews 10:38
The just or the righteous, that is, Christians don’t have any other way to live their lives except through faith. You don’t live by doubt or worry or anxiety or fear or doubt, you live by faith. The air you breathe in is that of faith. Anything different from this is from the devil and will surely limit how you connect with God to get miracles or solutions to your problem with the power of God.
Related: How to turn your words into a divine act (video)
Is There a Faith Process?
I believe this is probably the question in your mind. Yes, there is and I am, by the help of the Holy Spirit, showing you one of these processes in this book. Don’t worry all I will write here are biblical – they are inspired by the Spirit of God.
You are expected to learn and understand this faith process so that you can always have the strength to move and overcome your troubles during hard times. When you understand the faith process, you will be qualified to run the faith races effectively.
Let me take you on the train to the next train stop on this journey of the Christian faith process. I strongly believe you and I will arrive at our destination safely.
Related: What is Faith? : A complete guide
A Man Who Ran a Successful Faith Race
Welcome to this train stopover on this journey. I am sure you read that title right. Are you eager to know the person who ran that successful faith race?
I know you want to know. So check it out below in this wonderful account God’s Spirit helped the writer of the book of Hebrew to put on paper in the Bible.
“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. Hebrews 12:2.”
I picked that from The Message translation. The advice is simple and direct and I am paraphrasing this way: “Check out, look out for, fixed your eyes on, search out all Jesus did to win the faith race”
Simple but tough
Though that advice and statement are simple, straightforward forward and very clear enough but it is usually difficult for Christians to understand and stick to them. There are many reasons for this: the devil and his activities, the flesh, the world, and its influence, and so on.
But we can have cheap victories over all these obstacles because Jesus has done the same and if we have the required knowledge and understanding of what He did. The next train stop on this journey will continue from where I stopped here. Let us go to the next train stopover.
You Must Be Qualified to Run the faith Race
Have you been to the stadium to watch an athletics event? Okay even if you have not been to a stadium, you should have watched an athletics event on the television or even while you are in high school or college.
Okay if you have seen an athletics meet or race, I am sure you know that those athletes you see on the 8-lane track are registered and qualified to be there. Yes, they are and that is the reason why you cannot jump out of the fans stand to test your speed ability on the track. If you do so, you will be caught and probably handed over to a law enforcement agent.
Those guys on the track were registered and lane numbers assigned to them. Then they can confidently step on the track to compete.
You must be certified to run the faith race
The case I am trying to build here is that you can’t run the faith race successfully if you are not certified qualified to do so by God. Those who try to do anything contrary to this have always failed to get results or have been badly wounded in the process.
Jesus ran the race as a qualified ‘Athlete’. He was deeply connected to God, the Father and He maintained that connection all through. I am not surprised He ran the faith race successfully.
Now, this is important for you. Jesus did not just run the race maintaining a connection to the Father; He also finished the job so that you and I can also run the race successfully. He gave His life on the cross at Cavalry shedding His blood to wash our sins. Sin was the barrier that was preventing the people from running the faith race effectively.
If you want to be qualified to run this race effectively following the process you must give your life to Jesus Christ. What do I mean by this? You must decide to forsake your sinful ways and accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Salvation first before you can run the faith race
If you want to do that now, I would like you to say this simple prayer below with all your heart.
(Hey…don’t worry this practice will not cost you anything and there is no shame in it. Many people, including myself, have done this at one point and they have good stories to tell. Are you ready now? Let us go…)
“God, I am a sinner, forgive me my sins. Use the blood of Jesus Christ to watch me clean from my sins. I know Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I know He died for my sins shedding His blood for my sins. I accept Him as my Lord and Saviour today. Thank you for answering my prayers, I know and believe that I am saved now. “
I am sure you were surprised that took only some minutes. Yes, that is the beauty of Christianity and the great work Jesus did on the Cross at Calvary to make us qualified “athlete “ who can run the faith race successfully.
You don’t need all the laborious paper works and the tough trials athletes and sports associations go through to get their athletes qualified to run a race on the tracks in a competition. You only need to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He did on the Cross.
Congratulations. You are born again. You are qualified to run the faith race successfully. This is the beginning of greater things to come and how you can begin to benefit immensely from the walking by faith with God to stand strong during hard times and to solve your problems.
Let us go to the next train stopover on the lesson on how to keep in faith in God during hard times.
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It is a Fixed Result
Welcome to this train stop. I am glad that with the action you took in the last stopover, you are now qualified to run this interesting and highly profitable race of faith. Now I would like to pass this other valuable information across to you at this stage. Let me illustrate it again with the information below:
In an athletics meet like a sprint race, for example, the eight contestants on the track do not have a foreknowledge of what the result of the race will be. All of them step out hoping to breast the tape first or be among the athletes that will end the race within the medals range.
Now, that is for the sprint race; here, the result of the race is not predetermined. However, this is not so for the faith race that I am describing in this post or the one which the Bible describes.
Faith results are fixed and settled
With the faith race, the result is fixed and it is settled. The settled result has been arranged to favor you, the Christian. I must tell you that this is what makes the faith race a delight to run. If I am going to run a race and I know that I will only have a victory result at the end of the race then I will always be ready and excited to run the race.
I believe you want to know why this race is just the way I have described it. I believe you are wondering that I am just one of those preachers or Christian authors who just want to write something to flatter or to just get their readers excited.
Okay, if you are thinking along that direction let me just show you why I strongly believe that the faith race is a fixed and settled race.
See these Bible passages
Firstly, In the book of Hebrew 12: 2, and I will be quoting the Message translation, the Bible has this: “Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.” Hebrews 12:2 (MSG)
This is a very clear message and it further demonstrates the valuable work Jesus came to do on the earth for us. Apart from offering His life on the cross shedding His blood to die for our sins, Jesus also ran the faith race for us and completed it. He won the race and credited the result to us.
This was a beautiful thing from Jesus to us. We can step onto the spiritual track today to run the faith race and be assured of having a victory result even before we start the race.
Secondly, God declared in Isaiah 55:11, “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please.”
That was a fixed or settled result declaration from God. The moment He sends out His Word to you on an issue, you can be sure that the result of victory is already prepared and delivered.
I am sure you know that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ Romans 10:17. No faith race should be embarked upon without the Word of God in place. God’s Word is the Chief organizer of a successful faith race. With His Word in place, the faith race is kick-started and the result of the race is victory.
Let me also show you what I discover in Isaiah 46:9-10 (AMP). You will love this declaration from God: “[Earnestly] remember the former things, [which I did] of old; for I am God, and there is no one else; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end and the result from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure and purpose.”
What a declaration that was from this good God.
What have I shown to you in this section of the post so far?:
- The result of a faith race is fixed.
- Jesus ran the race and got the victory for us.
- God’s Word is the starting point of a faith race.
- Never go into a faith race without having the Word of God in place.
- When it is in place, you will be able to take delivery of the result that Jesus has given and credited to your accounts.
I believe it has been a great journey and I believe this train stopover has helped you to acquire valuable information about the faith race.
Now if I tell you that the result of the faith race is fixed and that Jesus has gotten it and credited the results into our accounts already, then does that mean it is going to be a stroll in the park for us every time and we just have to step unto the faith track to run the race carelessly and lazily?
The simple answer is NO!
Let us look at the next train stopover to find out more.
Section 3: Driving the topic home
I believe at this stage of our journey together on this interesting Christian topic I don’t need to beat about the bush again. I don’t need to hold you in suspense again. I need to hit the nail on the head at this stage. This section the post is the start of the most important stages of this post and this journey on how to keep faith in God during hard times.
You need to adjust your seat and let’s go on this ride.
A process to Follow to have faith in God during hard times
The result of the faith race was magnanimously gotten and handed over to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. But that does not mean we can be careless and lazy as we take to the track to run a faith race. No. We are not. Just like everything in Christianity, there is always something you and I have to do after God has done His part.
I think this is where lots of Christians miss it. You see, it is so sweet when you get to the sprint track and you look over to the left and right and see fellow competitors warming up to compete aggressively against you and you see the flags or notices of the organizers of the event telling you to calm your nerves and relax because they have arraigned that other competitors should not give you a fight. You are advised to calm down and just stroll to the finish line to take the winners’ medal.
There is work to do
It is so sweet to have such a scenario and almost all of us want that. The truth is that the faith race is not like that, you have works to do too. You have to follow a process to claim the victory that Jesus has graciously and selflessly given to you.
I am sorry if I have given you a scare with that but that is just what I mean by hitting the nail on the head. The topic of faith and its relevance to your success as a Christian requires such a blunt and hit-the-nail-on-the-head declaration.
The fastest man in the world prior to an Olympic 100 meters event will not relax and harbor a wrong notion that it will be a stroll in the park for him to claim the 100 meters gold despite clear evidence and statistics that he has a huge edge over other competitors.
You need to ask the Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt of this world how they put in everything in terms of preparation before an Olympic. Jesus declared in Luke 18:8 “Nevertheless when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Jesus knew He was going to do the work of salvation and He knew that His sacrifice on the cross will hand over the victory result to us. However, Jesus also knew that Christians may not be able to follow the due process to run the faith race and claim the victory He was going to get for them. This was the reason why He asked that question.
It was after He told the story of importunity in prayer that He made that statement. The woman in that story ran the faith race following the process and she got a well-deserved victory.
You need to read that story in the book of Luke Chapter 18.
I will be using the remaining train stopovers in this journey to discuss each of the steps in this process that can make you claim the victory that is already your right through redemption when you run the faith race.
Please let us go to the next train stopover to start this.
You Don’t Jump the Gun
I remembered how painful it was when a Nigerian athlete, Nigerians hoped would give the country a medal in one of the sprint events in an Olympic in the late eighties was disqualified. This athlete was disqualified for jumping the gun thrice. He lost the qualification to take part in the race and also ultimately lost the opportunity to win an Olympic medal for himself and his country.
I have also seen athletes disqualified for crossing lanes in a sprint race. The athletes on the track are expected to maintain their assigned lanes from the beginning of a race to the end.
If you want to start and finish successfully the faith race you must abide by the rules. You must not ‘jump guns’ and you must not ‘cross lanes’. If you do you will not be able to run a successful faith race. That is, you will not be able to follow the faith process to obtain solutions to problems with the power of God.
Faith race should be in order
You know we always naturally want to have something done for us or get solutions to problems without following due process. This is very common in my part of the world in Africa. But God and His Word and His Principles do not work that way. God’s Word says we should let all things be done decently and in order. God is a God of order and the faith race or process is expected to be in order.
Christians also naturally want God to abandon His ideals and principles just to favor them. God will not and He expects you to learn the process in order to walk effectively with Him. Some of us would do anything to follow orderliness.in our businesses, offices, homes, and even in our kitchens but we don’t care to do this in our faith walk with God or when we desire to have God’s power help us to solve a problem.
We even pay huge sums of money to attend workshops, seminars, and conferences home and abroad to learn this orderliness and ways of doing things properly in the aforementioned areas of our lives.
How Do You Jump Guns or Cross Lanes?
I am sure that with all I have written in this section you are eager to know how you don’t follow the rules in your effort to walk by faith to solve problems with God’s power and help.
There are so many ways you can do this. I have witnessed lots of examples from my many years of counseling and teaching people this topic. Let me just mention some of the ways here.
- When you start the faith race without a Word of God to stand upon: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). There will be no result if your faith race starts without God’s Word as the foundation.
- If you start with God’s Word but abandon it after you have started: It is just like how the older generations of the children of Israel failed to get to the Promised Land after they started well in Egypt. They abandoned God’s Word and lost their lives in the wilderness.
- When your confession is completely different from what you are praying about: This is important and most Christians miss it here. If you are waiting on God for healing you should never confess that you are sick again. The faith process is a spiritual experience that brings physical manifestation. Our major connection to the spirit realm is through our spoken words.
- When you associate with faithless friends: I once asked my wife to stop going to some places and also stop seeing some friends at the early stage of our marriage when we waited on God for the fruit of the womb. Faithless friends are just what they are – faithless friends. They will not help you to follow the faith process effectively during hard times or when you desire a miracle from God.
- When you stop praying about it: If you have started praying about an issue using God’s Word, you should not stop doing so until you receive the physical manifestation of what you want. Isaiah 62: 6-7 puts this very aptly: “You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest till He establishes and till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth!”
- When you go into sin: The prayer of a sinner is an abomination unto God (Proverbs 21: 27) (Proverbs 15:9). I believe this should be obvious. You can’t enjoy your sins and also expect to have God’s power available for you to solve your problem.
- When you lose hope: Hope and faith work together. You can’t effectively run the faith race to get a winners medal if you don’t put your hope in place. Hope is a partner in progress to faith. When hope is in place, it goes a long way to determine what you say, how you take your prayer lines and sessions, the plans you make, who you discuss issues with, and more.
Hey, I just gave you a list of how you can stop breaking the rules when you decide to run the faith race. I believe you have enjoyed this train stopover.
Now, let us look at some other ways you can follow the faith process to take delivery of miracles from God.
You Must Set Your Eyes on the End Result You Desire
I watched a television documentary about how Ben Johnson ran the 100 meters race of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The camera focused on his fixed attention and focus on the finish line. Though he was stripped of the gold medal because he failed a dope test for using banned substances, I still got inspired with some lessons with the way the camera captured his unbridled attention and focus from the start of the race to the finishing tape.
It helped me to understand how anyone getting involved in a faith race must set his eyes fixedly on the settled or fixed result he wants to get for embarking on the faith race.
Remember that I told you that Jesus ensured we have a settled or fixed result for any faith race we decide to run following the process. He ensured this with His cross sacrifice where He shed His blood to wash away our sins. He got the result and credits it to our account.
Results will come
Let me inform you that whatever problem you are expecting God to solve for you with His powers will get to you when you follow the process to run the faith race. God says in His Word: “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please” Isaiah 55:11.
There will always be a solution and a miracle you will get if you walk by faith. It is fixed and it is settled.
Now your duty is to set your eyes and attention on this fixed result as determined by God’s Word. Don’t ever take your attention and eyes away from it. It will surely come to you. Paul showed the relevance of this idea when he said, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14
You need to focus dangerously
There is so much for you to gain when you follow this advice. The faith race is one that requires lots of focus and concentration if you really want to take delivery of your expectations. Daniel, in the Old Testament, started out to run the race in Daniel 10:13-21. However, unknown to him, there was serious evil opposition in the spiritual realm to stop him from receiving his expectation.
The answer to his prayers had been released right from the first day of his prayer session but the devil hindered it from getting to him. Thank God Daniel persisted and focused on his prayers and the faith process, he would have missed the result of his faith race.
There is surely serious opposition to our faith race on this earth from the camp of the devil. They know you will always have the results when you embark on a faith race because of the victory Jesus has given to us so they began to use the strategy of getting you distracted.
You must set your eyes dangerously on the set goals and expectations for your prayers until you receive it physically.
I want you to check out an interesting book I wrote some years back on how to maintain focus and concentration. It is a short book but it is filled with lots of useful information. I discussed in this book the types and categories of distractions that can get you distracted in the course of your walk with God.
I will be taking you to the next train stopover now but first I hope you are not feeling intimidated or scared about what I wrote about the devil and his cohorts in the business of distracting you from running a successful faith race. You don’t need to. In fact, you need to be happy that whatever the devil will throw at you, you will always be a victor in Jesus Christ.
So don’t be scared, you can always stay focused to run successful faith races on this earth.
You Need Regular Exercise
If you have to burn off some fats from your body and a dietician or a doctor asks you to do one or two kilometers of work daily, I am sure you will gladly.do it. Most people, especially women, don’t like that extra fats building up in their bodies. They can go to any extent to get it off their bodies.
Now, if you devote such attention and seriousness to the advice of your doctor in order to maintain a slim figure, I hope you will devote the same attention to spiritual exercises if I tell you that it is extremely necessary to your running a successful faith race.
In athletics and in Sports generally, you need stamina and so regular exercise is important. You need to see the training or exercise schedule of the world’s number ones in all the sports, you will understand how maintaining a good and consistent exercise or training schedule is one of the secrets of their successes as athletes.
I once read about how Cristiano Ronaldo has kept his slim figure and fitness intact as a footballer. I am not surprised he is one of the greats of the round leather game.
Consistent spiritual exercise is needed
Those who run successful faith races all through their lifetime are people who maintain a consistent spiritual exercise schedule. It is one of the secrets that made them win lots of victories over problems, obstacles, the devil, and his cohorts.
You should just check the likes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; they were always in the presence of God. They were always building altars and sacrificing to God on them. They were always hearing the voice of God. It is the same way with all the prophets in the Old Testament.
Jesus was also always in the presence of the Father. He once said, “I can of my own do nothing as I hear I judge.” John 5:30. This clearly shows that He relied heavily on the Father for His day-to-day decisions and actions. If this is so then He had to keep a consistent spiritual exercise and schedule.
When footballers sustain injuries, they are made to rest from the game and even excused from training to receive adequate treatment. After they must have fully recovered, the coach does not push them straight into the fray on match days. Sometimes they are made to start doing light training and also to have some practice sessions with the reserve team.
The purpose of this is to make them regain full fitness. If they are pushed straight into the main matches, their lack of fitness will be evident. They will be match rusty and will not be able to give good performances on the field of play. They may even sustain a worse injury.
Don’t be rusty spiritually
The same thing applies to the faith race. If you are spiritually rusty you will not be able to compete successfully in a faith race. Match rusty footballers usually are withdrawn in a match. Spiritual rusty Christians will not be able to finish faith races.
This is the reason why most people have not been able to stand on the Word of God to receive solutions from God over their problems. I advise you to take the issues of your spirituality very seriously. It is very relevant to your faith walk with God. Remember you can’t please God without your faith. Your ever-improving spiritual life will always help you to run the faith race successfully.
What are the Spiritual Exercises?
Spiritual exercises are:
- You need good health: For good health, you need good food. You need to eat a balanced diet. A clear indication of good food in the scripture is the Word of God. You need to be a consistent student of the Word of God. It is only if you know the Word of God that you will know the will of God. When you know the will of God, you will know how you will pray effectively. You will also be able to know your rights as a Christian. You can’t really run an effective faith race if you are not a good student of God’s Word. Jesus said the Word that I speak to you”
- You need a good coach: God’s Word says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise.” Proverbs 6; 6. I also read in James 1:5-6, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. God clearly wants us to learn consistently to improve our spiritual strength. Usually, top athletes have good coaches attached to them. Most times these coaches are people who have accomplished great things in the sport. Top football clubs go to any legal and possible extent to hire good coaches for their teams.
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Holy Spirit is a Coach
Holy Spirit is the Coach of all coaches. He is the Coach you must have in your team if you hope to run successful faith races consistently. Jesus in John 16:13 said, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears”. John 16:13.
You must be born again and must be baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. You must also ensure you consistently get filled with the Holy Spirit. You must cultivate an improving relationship with Him. He coaches with passion those who have an improving relationship with Him.
No Christian can successfully live a victorious Christian life on this earth that is full of darkness without the Holy Spirit. Jesus, when He was about ascending to heaven after His resurrection, warned the disciples not to leave their abode into the world until they have received the Holy Spirit (Acts 1).
You see there are sharks and beasts out there that are determined to stop you from running the faith race successfully or walk by faith with God. With the Holy Spirit, you can always have the right mentorship to run your faith races successfully.
Other sources of learning are from your pastors, parents, from anointed books, seminars, conferences, etc. You can’t do much with faith races if you are not a consistent learner. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth…” (Matthew 5:5).
Now let me put it all together under this section before I continue to the next train stop. I told you that you need
- Consistent spiritual exercise in order to run successful faith races.
- Then I showed you that you need a good diet to maintain good spiritual health. The regular study of God’s Word represents this balanced diet.
- I also showed you that you must be a consistent learner and therefore you need coaches.
- The Holy Spirit of God, your pastors, good books, etc. are examples of coaches that the Bible prescribed for you.
All these will help you to maintain a regular spiritual exercise in order to run consistent faith races that will make you keep faith in God during hard times.
I will be driving you now to the next train stopover. At this stopover, I will be concluding the teaching I started on how you can maintain a regular spiritual exercise.
Play the Right Competitions
Athletes that desire to be well ranked by the sports association must learn to take part in the right competitions. The same thing applies to football and most of the other sports.
In football, countries are ranked according to the type of competitions they get involved in. If a country ranked tenth compete and defeats the number one ranked country, the tenth-ranked country will get a big lift in her ranking when the next ranking is done.
How does this apply to run a successful faith race?
Now how does this apply to your desire to run successful faith races?
If you want to maintain a healthy spiritual exercise, you must learn to get involved in the right spiritual environment. The right spiritual environment is when you ensure you are regularly on your knees conversing with God in prayer. The prayer platform is one you can’t toy with if you really want to always run successful faith races.
When you talk to God in prayer He talks back to you. This type of relationship goes a long way to make God’s quality rub on you consistently. When you become more like Him, you will always want to trust Him with your request and in your faith walk with Him.
Prayer is a useful spiritual exercise
Only lazy and unserious Christians take lightly the need to pray consistently to God. This is a most useful exercise for faith walkers. Lazy and unserious Christians will not run successful faith races.
Even Jesus was always on the prayer platform during His short ministry on this earth (Luke 6:12). Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing.” Both of them demonstrated how to successfully run faith races on this earth.
Obedience to God is important too
Another important way to get involved in the right spiritual environment is when you learn to be obedient to little instructions from God and His Word. In the spiritual environment, so much attention is given to the practice of obedience. It determines the ones who are truly great faith soldiers.
Even the devil and his kingdom are also interested in this. They know you can’t really trust God for big instructions if you have not been obedient to simple instructions. The age-long evil strategy of the devil and his cohorts has always being to make Christians disobey God. They know that once disobedience has set in, they can have the opportunity to perpetuate their evil plans.
Ben Johnson, despite running a great race to win the top prize at the 100m sprint event of the 1992 Summer Olympics was disqualified because of disobedience. He disobeyed the rules that instruct athletes not to use performance-enhancing drugs. He ran and won the race but did not collect any prize. He even attracted a ban from the sports association.
The Bible says, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 15:22. King Solomon, an ancient king of Israel, wrote, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your mother.” Proverbs 1:8. “Jesus said the greatest commandment is, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart.”
Only lovers of God run successful faith races
You don’t truly love God if you are a disobedient child. When obedient children and lovers of God make mistakes or disobey God, they will always regret their actions and take a decision to avoid the mistake again. They always cry to God’s Spirit to help them when they are consistently disobedient to God in one area of their lives.
If you are an obedient child of God you will always be a good player in the spiritual environment. When you are very competitive in this environment, you will always have the strength to run successful faith races.
Oh! We are almost at the end of this journey. I can see the last train stopover in front of me. I believe you have enjoyed this ride. All the train stops have given some important information on how you can keep faith in God in hard times and how you can run successful faith races that will give the miracles you desire or the solutions you desire over your problems.
The faith races have been designed by God to give us winners medals. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross ensured it. If you can help yourself to learn effectively from all I have shared with you in this short book, you will be able to run your faith races with joy and great expectation of having the winners medal or to get the miracle you desire before you embarked on the faith race.
Let me take you to the last stopover on this journey. Don’t worry it’s going to be a short stay at this train stopover. Let’s go…
Master the Process and Get the Results Always
I hope your chocolate is before you now. Yes, you need one to celebrate the expected victory you will begin to have now in your faith walk with God. I say congratulations to you in advance.
Again, I want you to read the way the Message translation document the passage in Hebrews 12: 2, ”Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.”
Jesus was ready to put up with anything in order to run His faith race to the cross. Jesus understood the relevance of following the process. He knew that if He failed to follow the process, He will not be able to get the winners medal. He did not lose sight of where He was headed. He kept the sure end result in His sight and He eventually got the winners medal.
The message is simple: If you don’t follow the process you will not be able to run successful faith races! I have discussed the process here with you in this post.
What Happens When You’re Failing in the Process?
I will answer this question again quoting the Message translation of Hebrews 12, “When you find yourself flagging in your faith, go over that story again (the Jesus story), item by item…”.
The idea here is that you must always be an organized, dedicated, and consistent student of God’s Word. God’s Word contains the story of Jesus Christ. Read, study, and meditate on the gospel books that share information about Jesus’ birth, suffering, death, and resurrection.
Study the other portions of the New Testament which shares information about the relevance of salvation and the meaning of it. Study the Old Testament which shares information about people that received the promise of what Jesus would come to do and who lived their lives walking by faith with God.
Thank You for keeping Me Company Throughout This Journey
Finally, you should settle this in your heart: there is a settled result that you get when you run the faith race. Let your eyes and attention be focused on it. When you are at this stage, all you will want is the result and any obstacle that comes against you during the process will not stop you. You will deal with them according to God’s will.
Thank you for keeping me company during this journey. I believe you enjoyed the journey. I am wishing you all the best with your faith walk with God and with your faith races.
Let me read your comments and I would like you to do me a big favor – share this post on social media with your friends.
Resources on how to keep faith in God during hard times
- Get a Copy of How to Get a Miracle from God With Your Faith: A practical story Illustration of how I and my wife walked by faith to solve our childless problem. Click here to read more
- Holy Spirit and His Gifts by Kenneth Hagin
- The Believer’s Authority Kenneth Hagin
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