The 5 Ways I Can Grow in My Faith as a Christian 
Photo by Todd Quackenbush on Unsplash
Where does faith, prayer, devotions, worship, witnessing fit in?
Have you ever eaten a pizza? Most likely you have! Starting out as a young kid, I loved cheese pizza. Then I discovered pepperoni, then sausage and mushroom, and then “supreme!” It was a loaded pizza with all the fixins’ and just like God when He made the earth said, it was good. “It was good!”
The basic ingredients of dough, cheese, tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, etc is put together and after baking in an oven - wala- what comes out is a delicious loaded pizza to enjoy.
There are basic “ingredients” that help new believers grow in their faith. It takes these basic five and yes, a few more, but I will save them for later. Here are the five: faith, prayer, devotions, worship and witnessing. They all come together in a believer’s life, and God uses these spiritual practices to cause growth. Let’s look briefly at each one.
Faith
It takes believing faith to be a follower of Jesus. It is more than a mental ascent. It is a life transformed by the power of God. It is a heart that has expressed faith in Jesus Christ. It is acknowledging one’s sin, accepting what Jesus did on the cross and asking the Savior to enter their life, saving them and then committing to follow and live for Him.
The apostle Paul said it this way,
“9 If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.(NLT)”
I openly admit that I am a believer in Jesus Christ. He is my Lord and Savior. I know that God raised him for the dead and because He lives; I live! This is glorious news.
If you have placed your trust in Christ, then you are God’s child and you have a living relationship with God through Christ.
You are on your way to spiritual growth and maturity. But it takes more spiritual discipline than just believing, it takes prayer.
Prayer
The greatest opportunity believers have today is prayer. Praying to God, listening to Him speak. Praying for others, interceding on their behalf is a privilege and a mighty weapon. Have you ever noticed what Jesus did early in the morning? He would get up and go off to a quiet place and pray. Mark 1:35 says, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed (NIV).”
As you study the life of Jesus, you will discover he believed in prayer. He practiced praying daily. He was so effective that his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray (See Matthew 6:5-15). The apostle Paul instructed believers to pray without “ceasing”(1 Thess. 5:17).
It is vital to pray. It is a believer’s lifeline to the Lord. To bring adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication before God in prayer—this is where God refines the heart and soul of his child.
A. W. Tozer wrote, “What profit is there in prayer? ‘Much in every-way.’ Whatever God can do, faith can do, and whatever faith can do prayer can do when it is offered in faith. An invitation to prayer is, therefore, an invitation to omnipotence, for prayer engages the Omnipotent God and brings Him into our human affairs. Nothing is impossible to the man who prays in faith, just as nothing is impossible with God” (A. W. Tozer, The Set of the Sail, p.3)
The third ingredient that causes a christian to grow is the study of God’s Word, the Bible or Devotions.
Devotions
What is devotions? Devotions is that time when a follower of Jesus spends reading and studying God’s Holy Word, the Bible. It is when an individual quiets their heart and mind to hear God speak to them from the pages of His Word. God speaks to those who will listen. You can test Him on this — just ask Him in prayer to speak to you as you read His Word. He will. As God speaks, your life will never be the same. Think about what he is saying to you. Memorize the verses that come alive off the pages you are reading. Underline them. Meditate on them. Ask yourself, how do these verses or truths apply to my life today? Ask the Lord to give you understanding as you read His Word. Thank Him for speaking.
2 Timothy 2:15 states, “15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (ESV).”
One brilliant way to apply scripture is to make it a prayer. Try praying God’s promises back to Him. You can also make it a song. Try singing God’s promises back to Him. Think about songs that come from scripture and use them to sing back to God in your time of study.
This brings us to the next ingredient, worship.
Worship
Jesus responded to the Samaritan woman when she was asking him about worship. He said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth(CEV).”
In this verse, Jesus gave to his followers the priority of worship. Worship is not entertainment. Worship is being lead by the Holy Spirit. Worship will never contradict God’s Holy Word. Worship is adoring and praising God for who He is and what He has done.
It is expressing worth to God through song, prayer, and scripture. It is quieting one’s soul before God, humbly listening for Him to speak. In worship there is adoration and confession, thanksgiving and praise, correction and instruction, renewal and commitment and much more.
Worship is not a trivial pursuit for selfish gain. No, worship is entering the presence of a holy God through Jesus Christ as our High Priest. It is bringing the sacrifice of praise. It is sacred. It is joyful. It is life-transforming.
The fifth ingredient that will help a believer grow in Christ is witnessing.
Witnessing
Many people have stumbled over their responsibility to be a witness. Jesus instructed his disciples that they would be His witnesses in Acts :8 “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”(NIV)
Notice where the power to witness for Christ comes from? It comes from the Holy Spirit. How effective is Christ’s witnesses? They witness about Jesus Christ in “Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Yet, so often, believers do not tell others about Jesus or what Jesus had done for them in their life. Why?
I believe it is because of fear. People are afraid to speak the truth in love because they fear how others will react to them. They fear rejection or ridicule or persecution. But in those moments when one is prompted to speak for Christ and at the same time, tempted to keep silent, we must remember what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Is the price that Christ paid for you worth telling? I believe the answer is yes. Do not let fear keep you from telling what Jesus has done. Pray and ask God to give you strength and the words to share the good news.
You will grow as a believer as you believe, pray, study God’s Word, worship and witness about Jesus to others. You life will never be the same.
I would love to hear about how you are growing in your relationship with Christ. Let me know in the comment section below or email me.
Rejoicing in what God is doing,
Teddy
2 Timothy 1:7