10 Ways to Grow Your Faith

A lot of guys talk about faith in terms of something they’re missing.

– “I wish I had more faith.”

– “If I had a stronger faith.”

– “I’m impressed with people who have faith, but that’s just not me.”

– “I guess some people have it, and then some don’t.”

But faith is no different from any other attribute or skill we’d like to cultivate. It requires commitment, practice, and coaching. We can all move forward on our faith journey if that’s what we want. But, of course, it’s going to take some effort.

All Pro Dad suggests the following 10 ways to grow your faith. Most of the items on this list come from the book “GET REAL: A Spiritual Journey for Men”:

Desire: Faith must be something that we want. Faith tends to grow in proportion to the priority level belief is given in our lives.

Take a spiritual baseline: First, rate yourself. Where, on a faith-scale of 1-10, do you see yourself? If you’re a “4”, do you want to be a “6”, or maybe an “8”? Self-evaluation is always a useful prelude to change.

Make a commitment: Research confirms that decisions for personal change are significantly more effective when people make the promise public. A trusted friend? A support group? The whole world? You pick – but make sure you’re not the only one who knows.

Discipline: Desire can get the ball rolling – now add some practice to the equation. You can’t learn golf unless you’re willing to hit a few balls, or the piano without memorizing some scales. Faith is no different. Read some Scripture. Spend some time on your knees. Practice.

Join a small group: The best way to grow is to surround ourselves with like-minded people and ask for support. Questions, conversations, encouragement, accountability – it’s all there.

Study: No matter what brand of faith we want to grow, it all goes back to Scripture. Read your Bible, ask questions, and pick the brains of people you respect at your faith community for additional reading material geared toward growth.

Devotion: Desire for growth is good, a disciplined approach to learning helps – but at some point we have to allow ourselves to fall in love with our Creator.

Follow up daily: Christianity Today magazine reports that less than 10% of believers have a daily devotional life. But get this: 100% of those who do go on to say that the experience is transformational. Transformational in terms of growth in faith and effective living. You can’t argue with statistics like that.

Daring: One more in the pattern of words beginning with “D”! Desire – Discipline – Devotion – now what? This is where faith grows the most. Dare to put belief into action, have the courage to put one foot in front of the other and actually live a life of faith like we mean it.

Serve others: Faith works on the principle that we – as human beings – have been called to live as ambassadors for a Creator who cares for creation and who defines our responsibility to serve one-another in no uncertain terms.

Faith is important because…

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