Have you watched paratroopers flinging themselves from the safety of an aircraft into the vast skies at a very unsafe height? To accomplish their mission, they just . . . JUMP! Paratroopers are equipped and trained to do something super scary and hard for most people. But for them, it’s as natural as walking. In the same way, living by faith can seem super scary and hard. It takes a daring leap. But with practice and determination, you can be just as equipped and trained as a paratrooper. So, are you ready for a faith jump?
(This is Part 2 in a series on faith. See below for the entire Faith Series articles/podcasts links.)
How God Sees Faith
To make your faith jump, you need to know how God sees faith? It’s something He came up with.
God has no favorites when it comes to faith jumps. No person is better at faith than another person. It’s something everyone can do. In other words, this one’s for you!
There are principles that make faith valuable. Let’s explore four.
1. A Faith Jump is the only way to have a relationship with God.
How is your relationship with God these days? Are you close to Him? Do you know His heart? (He knows your heart – inside out.) Do you enjoy His love? (He loves you deeply.)
You’ve probably figured out many relationships are unreliable. As years go by, people and life circumstances tend to shift, which changes relationships. There is one relationship, however, you can depend on 24/7. It’s safe and stable. This heart-to-heart connection will never be severed – if you stay in faith. Relationship with God is the most reliable in your life.
Eph. 2:8-9 says, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith . . . not of yourself . . . a gift of God . . . not by works so no one can boast.” To be saved from sin, death, a broken life, being a failure – you need faith in Jesus. This act – the faith jump – puts you in the safe skies of God’s grace.
Acts 16:31 says, ” . . . believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved . . . “ In other words, only by believing Jesus can you know God. But as soon as you faith jump into Christ from your heart, you become part of God’s family. 1 Jn. 3:1 puts it this way – “. . . that we should be called children of God.”
Have you made your faith jump into the friendly skies of God’s grace? Are you pro-actively going after relationship with Him?
2. A Faith Jump connects you to God’s power.
Faith in Jesus gives you something you didn’t have before. Forgiveness, eternal life, and relationship with God is only the beginning. A faith jump also gives you connection to God’s power, the greatest force there is. There is nothing God cannot do – nothing He does not know. We already know when you trust Jesus at the cross, His Spirit comes to live inside you. But do you really “get it?”
If you get what it means to have God living inside, you live differently. You have power to break old dysfunctional patterns and build new godly habits. You will have found “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13) The power of being a “living sacrifice” becomes your secret. (Rom. 12:1)
A huge bonus – you actually begin to resemble your Heavenly Father’s character. You start acting like Him! (very cool)
Have you made your faith jump into God’s power?
3. Faith is strategical, practical, and miraculous!
Let’s take these one by one.
STRATEGICAL – A faith jump is something you purposefully do to know God, to be transformed into Christ’s likeness, and to live for God’s agenda rather than your own. It doesn’t just happen on its own. A faith jump means renewing your mind – aligning it with God’s mind. (Rom. 12:2) You bring every thought captive to align with God’s thoughts since they are higher than yours. (2 Cor. 10:5; Is. 55:9) God’s strategies become yours.
PRACTICAL – All the zeal in the world is worthless unless it’s practical in daily living. Faith helps you bring together the impossible with the possible. It nurtures healing of heart, body, mind, soul. A practical faith jump connects you with your original design and purpose. You need practical action steps to carry out daily responsibilities. Faith ensures your success as you apply practical Scripture action steps and stay in God’s love.
MIRACULOUS – A true faith jump is a miracle you participate in. You can’t do it without God. With God, you can literally fly with wings like the eagle. (Is. 40:31) The sky that once felt dangerous becomes your play ground, your practice terrain. And as you train under Jesus, you change!
4. It is impossible to please God without a Faith Jump.
Heb. 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” In other words, there is no way to know God, to please God, and to build a meaningful relationship with Him – without faith!
You could do amazing things, be a great philanthropist, complete a triathlon, invent an important thing, or travel the world. That won’t get God’s attention like simply putting your faith in Jesus in the details of each day.
This next point is critically important. Jude 1:5 says, “. . . I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered His people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.” In other words, faith is on-going, all your life. The faith jump affects every issue, every need, every detail of everyday life. Stay in a faith jump.
Not only will you find yourself pleasing God as you live by faith; you will also have an Alive and Active Life.
What, Really, Is A Faith Jump?
Although we could get very complicated answering this question, we will choose a simple answer. Faith is throwing yourself – all of you – into the safe love of God (His skies of grace). You jump into Jesus with all your life. You let go of you to grab onto Jesus. This is a jump into eternal salvation that works into the tiny nitty gritty things of every day.
This is how Jesus put it – “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for My sake will find it.” (Mt. 10:39) Are you giving your life up to Jesus – losing yourself on purpose into Jesus’ purposes? Doing life His way? Trusting and obeying? Why not find your true self?
In case you doubt, let me say:
- Faith really works.
- It has powerful properties.
- It is free, but costs your “all” to live in it.
- Faith is only misused if it is not used as Scripture intended.
- A person(s) who may have told you faith in God is bogus – didn’t have the real thing.
The Truth About You And Faith
The truth about you and faith is this: you are already oozing with it! You cannot be human without faith. God’s template for a human person puts faith in the most central place of your design. God intended you to be intimately connected to Him in these ways.
- He made you with needs. He intends to meet them.
- You lack wisdom? He intends to give it to you.
- You are limited. God wants you to apply His unlimited love and resources.
- God’s human template is fragile. The design is – you find unstoppable strength in Him.
- Feel incomplete? God completes you.
All this only happens with a faith jump. Your trust is never misplaced in God. There is no mistake adopting God’s original design and living in it. Jesus, the God-man, is a picture of what you were created to be. Use your will to fit hand-in-glove into God’s design. Ask God to fill you. Watch the old pass away as the new comes alive. (2 Cor. 5:17)
Doing A Terrible Job
God is in full control of this broken world. If you don’t believe He’s doing a good job – you’d quickly lose that opinion if He were to suddenly stop what He IS doing! God is amazingly able to take blunders and sins of people – and still bring about good. His creative power and love brilliantly shape people, time, and eternity.
To address any doubts about Him – my best suggestion is a faith jump. It’s a decision, and these things will likely happen.
Your –
- Mind will not understand.
- Heart will struggle to process.
- Logic and feelings can’t sort through.
- Experience isn’t enough.
- Abilities are less than adequate.
Don’t let those things stop you from making a faith jump! You are right where you need to be to make the leap into safety!
Application Questions and Thoughts
You have some decisions to make.
- Have you made your faith jump into the friendly skies of God’s grace?
- Are you pro-actively going after relationship with Him?
- Have you jumped into God’s power?
- Why not do a faith jump? It’s strategic, practical, and miraculous.
- Are you living an Alive and Active Life?
I invite you to jump into faith. Even though it may feel scary, it’s a simple decision.
Faith Series
Here are links to the entire Faith Series articles/podcasts. Lots of encouragement, help, and hope!
- Ever Run Out Of Heroes?
- Faith Jump
- Fresh Faith For You
- Grow Up In Faith – 4 Tips
- Faith and Family
- Who Can You Trust These Days?
- True Story Of Faith
Visit our website for devotional materials, articles, podcasts, and resources to help you make a Faith Jump. Pursue noble character and an Alive and Active Life.
