{"id":1252,"date":"2013-07-19T18:03:19","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T18:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chadstutzman.net\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2013-07-19T18:03:19","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T18:03:19","slug":"4-ways-to-growing-your-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/?p=1252","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways To Growing Your Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This week I met with my older brother Brian for lunch.\u00a0 We don&#8217;t get to spend much time together anymore so it was nice to meet with him and talk about what is going on in his life.\u00a0 He is facing some big life-changing things like starting his own business, being an empty nester and getting involved in ministry at his church.<\/p>\n<p>As we talked, I could see and hear how much God has been working in his life.\u00a0 He has grown more in the last two months than he had for the last several years.\u00a0 God really has gotten a hold of him and he is following God with all his heart.\u00a0 As I heard him talk about how close he felt to God I got to thinking about how many people aren&#8217;t experiencing that kind of relationship with God.\u00a0 Brian includes God in every decision and won&#8217;t make a move without hearing from God.\u00a0 He works hard at what he knows he should be doing and waits on God for things he is unsure of.<\/p>\n<p>So here are a few keys I learned from Brian to growing our faith:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Listen &#8211; <\/strong>Most people are busy and we run from one thing to the other.\u00a0 We can fill our lives with all kinds of activities that distract us from listening to God.\u00a0 Brian&#8217;s new journey started while on vacation away from the distractions of life.\u00a0 Say no to some things so you can slow down and listen more and run less.\u00a0 Maybe its time for a short retreat to listen to God.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Read &#8211; <\/strong>Even if your not much of a reader, this is a key to growing spiritually.\u00a0 Most people don&#8217;t use much of the brain God gave them.\u00a0 I know I don&#8217;t.\u00a0 Reading the Bible and books about God, christian living, relationships and even leadership will stretch your mind and help you to grow.\u00a0 Brian told me he has read more in the last two months than he had in the last 10 years.\u00a0 He said his mind has been opened up and he is able to learn and grow like never before.\u00a0 Make a goal of reading a book of the Bible and another book on faith within the next two months.\u00a0 Reading feeds your mind and is one way to hear from God.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pray &#8211; <\/strong>That may sound simple, yet many of us don&#8217;t take the time to pray.\u00a0 When we do its a quick thought or running through a list of items we need help with.\u00a0 What I am talking about is having a real conversation with God.\u00a0 Pouring out your heart and opening yourself up to what God wants to do in you.\u00a0 Start to pray out loud even when you are alone.\u00a0 Brian has gone on prayer walks and spends time throughout the day in conversation with God.\u00a0 Make it a practice to praise and thank God every day, confess anything that needs confessed, pray for people that God brings to your mind.\u00a0 Also pray for God to fill you with the Holy Spirit and for wisdom, courage and strength to do His will.\u00a0 You might even consider fasting and praying.\u00a0 Maybe you should get on your knees or even bow down on your face and pray &amp; listen.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Do<\/strong> &#8211;\u00a0It is great to read, study, learn and pray, yet if you don&#8217;t do something you will not change.\u00a0 Brian got involved in his church.\u00a0 He volunteered for the prayer ministry and quickly began leading that ministry.\u00a0 This helped him put into practice what God started in private.\u00a0 He started praying for people and God started using him to impact peoples lives.\u00a0 He did some things that made him uncomfortable and stretched him, and God used it to change him and the people around him.\u00a0 When you listen, read and pray God directs you in what to do.\u00a0 God will give you opportunities to influence other people, serve other people, encourage other people and even heal other people.<strong> <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lead On<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> When you listen, read and pray God directs you in what to do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,10,11,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-listening","category-personal-growth","category-prayer","category-spiritual-growth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadstutzman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}