Grow, Sow, and Go in Faith
BY RICK WARREN — APRIL 20, 2024
FROM DARING FAITH.
“Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
Colossians 2:7 (NLT)
God wants you to focus on growing, sowing, and going in faith.
First, God wants you to grow in faith. He doesn’t want you to be a spiritual baby. The Bible says in Colossians 2:7: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (NLT).
God also wants you to sow in faith. He wants you to learn to become generous—because you cannot become like Christ without becoming generous. The Bible says, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6 NIV).
This is the law of sowing and reaping, and it’s true in every area of life. If you sow criticism, you’re going to reap criticism. If you sow love, you’ll reap love. If you sow kindness, you will reap kindness. And you always reap more than you sow. When you plant one corn kernel in the ground, you don’t get one kernel back. You get a whole stalk. You always get back more—positive or negative—of what you put out in life.
Then, God wants you to go in faith.
Hebrews 11:8 says, “It was by faith Abraham obeyed God’s call to go to another place God promised to give him. He left his own country, not knowing where he was to go” (NCV).
Would you do that? Abraham was in his retirement phase, just about to hang it up and settle down. Then God told him to dust himself off and get ready for the greatest journey of Abraham’s life. When you live by faith, it often involves going to places you were never planning to go.
Why is it so important for you to develop your faith? The Bible explains it over and over again:
“Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).
“Let it be done for you according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29 CSB).
“Anything that is not done in faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 GW).
Everything God does in your life is done by his grace and through your faith.
How have you grown in your faith in the last six months?
What would the people who are close to you say you are sowing in your life?
Has God asked you to go somewhere in faith? Did you obey or not? What were the effects of your obedience or disobedience?
Devotionals by Tags
1 Thessalonians 5
Adversity
Attitude
Bible
Bible Study
Blessed
Choices
Confession
Empathetic
Ephesians 4
Faith
Faithfulness
Forgiveness
Goals
God’s Will
Gratitude
Growth
Guilt
Habakkuk 3
Harmony
Hearing
Hebrews 11
Impression
Intentionally
Joy
Knowing God
Motivación
Pastor Rick
Possessions
This is crazy out of all the tags that is there I choose Habakkuk 3 and look it's Colossians 2:7 !!!!!!
Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:7 (GW)
An attitude of radical gratitude is God’s will for you because it develops your faith.
How does gratitude develop your faith? It happens when times are tough—when things don’t make sense, when you can’t figure it out, when your prayers are unanswered, when everything is going the way you didn’t want it to go. It happens when you can say in those circumstances, “God, I know you’re in control. I know you love me, and I know you can bring good out of this. I’m thankful that you’re bigger than my problem.”
Anybody can thank God for good things. But if you can thank God even in the bad times, your faith will grow stronger as your roots go deeper.
Habakkuk was going through tough times. He said, “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV).
In the midst of all the bad things that went wrong, Habakkuk rejoiced. What caused his gratitude? He decided to find joy in God: “I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
When everything else stinks in life, you can be grateful because the Lord is your Savior. He will pull you out. You are not alone. He hasn’t abandoned you. Give thanks to God!
Can you thank God when life stinks? That is the ultimate test of the depth of your faith. When you’re going through tough times, don’t look at what’s lost. Look at what’s left—and be grateful for it!
You can be thankful to God just for who he is. He has promised to see you through those tough situations, and your faith will grow even stronger because of it.
Colossians 2:7 says, “Sink your roots in him and build on him. Be strengthened by the faith that you were taught, and overflow with thanksgiving” (GW).
God’s will for you is radical gratitude—giving thanks in all things. Radical gratitude honors God, creates fellowship, and develops your faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment