The Soil Of Faith

The Soil of Faith

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8

FAITH CAN’T THRIVE IN ROCKY, SUN-SCORCHED SOIL. It can’t grow when smothered by thorns, drenched with poison, or trampled underfoot. Yet many of us spend much of our lives saturating the soil of our minds with worries, fears, impurities, regrets, criticisms, skepticism, guilt, shame, and unworthiness. We haven’t cultivated what is true, honorable, right, pure, and lovely. And minds that were designed for such things—to dwell on the spiritual realm and the beauty of God—have conversed instead with whatever is unholy, wretched, and corrosive. Then we wonder why faith feels so hard to come by.

Faith must be planted in good soil and watered and fertilized with the truths and perspectives of the Kingdom. That’s why it’s imperative to know Kingdom realities and dwell on them, to seek the Kingdom above all unrighteousness, to replace lies with truth, and to instill hope over despair. To do that, we have to let the Spirit search our hearts and minds.

If you really want to go deep in your faith, step back from your prayer requests for a moment and look at what’s driving them. What is motivating your prayer for provision? A sense of insecurity, embarrassment, or unworthiness, or perhaps a lack of trust in God for your future? What drives your prayer for fruitfulness? An unawareness of how loved and valued you are and a desire to compensate for whatever shortcomings you think you have? Why do you really want that miraculous answer? To satisfy a need or prove the skeptics wrong and increase your standing in their eyes? Our motives are complex, but God sees them all. The eyes of faith are content to let him.

Let him take you to those places so your faith can be rooted in pure, true, noble soil. God will meet you at every point of insecurity, shame, doubt, or pain, and your faith will become stronger in the long run. Let the King come into the depths of your thoughts; then fix them on Kingdom truths. You and your faith will be deeper, fuller, stronger, and radically transformed.

Let us learn to cast our hearts into God.