Stoke Your Fire Of Faith By Increasing Your Godly Knowledge

Word-of-the-Day: “Blessed are those who put their trust (or take refuge) in Him (Jesus)”. (Psalm 2:12b)

To the new Christian, there is an excitement in having Jesus coming into your life, and often in a church the ones who seem the most eager to share the Word are those who are new to the Faith. Unfortunately, for many new Christians, their fire is tampered down by the older Christians who were like them at one time, but got discouraged by rejection from those who they tried to share the Word with in their early days of newfound Faith.

Many older Christians have Faith and belief in Christ, but their early discouragement stunted their growth, aided by the older Christians before them who did not provide them fellowship or avenues to grow. Some churches are full of people who come Sunday morning to check their ‘Christianity’ box for the week, and then put it aside to live secular lives for the next six-and-a-half days, never sharing the Word with others or their knowledge of the Word in fellowship.

This is not how Jesus wants the members of His flock to be; both the new and the season Christian should both have the same excitement, the same fire, to serve Him and to share His Gospel message with others. It is important for all Christians be active in three important things to grow in Faith and knowledge: pray continually, read and study the Bible, and fellowship with other Christians (in and outside of church).

Stand firm in the Word of our Lord, and do not walk or talk in fear, but walk and talk in Faith!  How can we do that?  This last half of verse 12 tells us how.  There is nothing we can do without Christ; we cannot overcome our fears – of rejection, of persecution, of going hungry or thirsty, of suffering illness or injury, or speaking publicly the Gospel – without Christ.  We cannot do it in our own power, but with His backing us, we can. 

Jesus has our back, He watches our ‘six’ as we move forward.  Faith over time turns belief into knowledge; I first believed in Faith that Jesus protects me, and over time and seeing the results of His presence, I increasingly know Jesus’ hand is over me. 

This process of Faith turning belief into knowledge is sanctification, as God chose us ‘to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the Truth‘ (2 Thessalonians 2:13). In other words, it is not for a person to simply state belief in Jesus, but having the Spirit provide a desire within the believer to learn more and develop Godly and Righteous knowledge in order to act more Godly and Righteous in obedience to Christ.

This is why we must encourage all believers, young and old, new and seasoned, to perform first the ‘theory’ (read the Bible, pray to our Lord, and fellowship with other Christians) and then ‘practice’ (go forward without fear in the Faith and growing in knowledge that Jesus is with you; sharing the Gospel with others). Many new believers are often very excited to share their new-found Faith, but without having the growth or experience of the Lord’s knowledge, they get discouraged when they find it difficult to share their belief with others.

It is part of our charge as ‘seasoned’ Christians that through fellowship they build upon their Faith to believe, and then over time building upon their belief to develop their knowledge, as well. With Faith & knowledge, we develop the common sense that comes from the Lord, listening and evaluating advice from other Faithful people, and then we can shield ourselves from discouragement and fear when we share the love of Christ.  

Pray for discernment and God’s common-sense, and for the Lord’s protection as you go, so you can know you can go without fear – and be successful with your Godly intentions to fulfill His desire in your life by your never-ending journey in Sanctification, through sharing with non-believers the love of Jesus and sharing and learning more about Jesus through prayer, study, and fellowship.