Faith It Until You Make It

Can you faith it until you make it?

After all . . .

It takes Faith to make a thing go right. It takes two to believe things out of sight.

Or something like that.

My mind tends to wander through incorrect song lyrics and remade mantras when I’ve had too much coffee. The other night was one of those nights.

The pastor made some great Guatemalan coffee to go along with our weekly meal and study time. I had two cups because someone had to finish the pot, right?

I RARELY drink caffeine at night.

I NEVER drink two cups.

There’s a good reason. My mouth doesn’t always wait for my brain to translate. And that night, I laughed as we talked about what we needed to tell ourselves so that we could start living what we were believing.

“Faith it until you make it.” I nudged my husband and nodded just in case he didn’t realize how clever I was being.

I think he took my coffee away.

But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it.

I never wanted to fake it until I made it. I don’t like fake. And if you are going to be your authentic self, then you can’t start off by faking who you are.

How to Faith It

But FAITH it until you make it is part of my daily walk. “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

1. Don’t worry. It’s not that Worry won’t show up unannounced now and then, but you don’t have to invite Worry in for dinner, and you DEFINITELY don’t have to invite Worry to stay overnight (or worse, for an extended vacation). Focus on what is in front of you at this moment, and Worry has a more difficult time staying where it’s not acknowledged.
2. Build a foundation of truth. The Truth of who you are and what you are extends beyond what the eyes can see. It even goes beyond what you’ve been told or experienced. The more you pile up these truths of Whose you are and how the Master designed you, the stronger your faith bridge becomes.
3. Close your eyes. You need an infusion of faith that only comes with a willingness to trust in Who is guiding you. Plus, when we close our eyes (or put up blindfolds), it’s harder to see the distractions trying to detour you from your destination.
4. Feed the hope. Nothing makes the way more than a dash of hope. With a little bit of hope, the spark is lit, and the light shines. When light is shining, darkness has to run.
5. Accept your all access pass. Once you accept Christ, you have the ticket you need for all that you are called to do. “Stop thinking you need a different ticket than the one you already have.” – Bob Goff

It takes practice to walk in Faith. Most of our lives have been an overwhelming bombardment of demands that we deal with the here and now. See what you can see. I’ll believe it when I see it. But the bold and purposeful life walks in Faith, not by sight.

It Only Takes One Step

How many steps did the priests take into the flooding Jordan before it parted? Just one. (Read Joshua 3 – 4). Although, it had to be tough for the guy going first. “You want me to step in where?”

Still, it took one step, and he was willing to take it. And that’s all we have to do is take a step in the direction God points.

I used to run track back in high school. When I ran, I listened to each step. I concentrated on each step. I let the rhythm of one step after one step keep me focused on the next step.

Always with the finish line in the back of my mind but focused on the one step at a time.

The priests took the one step. They may have been thinking about getting to the other side, but they had to focus on that one step, and when they did, the water parted. They had to Faith it to make it.

After the One Step

But God didn’t just part the waters. He backed up flooding waters so the priests could walk into the middle of the riverbed and wait for the others to pass through.

Did you catch that? With all that water backed up above them, the priests stood in the middle of the riverbed and waited.

It may not make sense, and the world will try to keep you looking up at all that water ready to tear loose. But the more you Faith it, the easier it will be to wait for the direction to move on to the other side.

You can Faith It

You don’t have to faith it all at once. You just have to faith it for one step. Focus on the one step. Listen to the rhythm and remember the movement of the one step. Let that momentum and experience carry you into your next step – always in tune with the One that is directing you to your other side.

Can you Faith it? Yes, you can.