4 Routines to Build Your Faith

Just like routines in our daily lives help us grow, establishing faith routines can help us grow in our relationship with God and build our faith. The 4 routines to build your faith shared here will help you grow! Develop one of these faith routines in your life this month to help build your faith!

In his book Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas describes 9 different ways people innately connect with God. Just like we are born with varying temperaments, he asserts that we’re born with varying spiritual temperaments.

One of those sacred pathways, or spiritual temperaments, is that of connecting with God through tradition.

Did you bristle at that word — tradition? Many people do. How often in today’s culture we seek to break free of the past, put away history and begin something new.

While there is beauty and authenticity in new, our history is what informs our present and allows us to move into the future. History, in a sense, moors us in a good way, giving us a foundation from which to build or change course.

Connecting with God through Tradition and Faith-Routines

When we seek to connect with God through tradition, the goal isn’t to check off a list or mechanically repeat words or actions. We don’t seek to act without knowing. Rather, when we seek to connect with God through tradition, we follow routines or habits that help us create a sacred space. In a sense, it’s like making order out of chaos; our rhythms, routines, and traditions help anchor us as finite creatures, helping us to connect with an infinite God.

These four rhythms and routines to build your faith aren’t just for those who identify most with Christian traditionalists. These routines will help people of every spiritual temperament grow. Some may find these rhythms easier than others, but these four are essential to a growing faith.

As you seek to connect with God and grow in your relationship with the Lord, choose one or two of these faith routines and develop it in your life. As you do, you will experience spiritual growth in new ways!

Rhythms + Routines to Build your Faith

1. Consistently read the Bible.

If you want your faith to grow, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak, read the Bible.

Romans 10:17 reminds us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God”! God speaks to us when we read the Bible.

It is in the Scriptures that we read of God’s character and activity, His promises and encouragement, warnings and commands. He speaks to us through His words on these pages and through the Holy Spirit of God who connects those truths with the personal realities of our lives.

God builds our faith as we spend time in His Word! Regularly reading the Bible is one of the best faith routines you can establish if you want to grow in your relationship with Jesus.

To begin — or perhaps to get out of the rut you might be in — try these two Bible-reading routines every day this week ::

• Read the Scriptures out loud. When it comes to regular Bible reading, most people read their Bibles silently, and many more, like my husband, listen to the Bible on audible or CD. Both of course have great value, but this week, try something new. Instead of reading your Bible silently or listening to someone else read to you, read your daily portion of Scripture out loud.
• Write the Word. I have found so much meaning over the years in writing out Scripture. My journals are filled with verses and passages! Every time you read your Bible this week, pick a verse that stands out to you, or one God presses on your heart, and write it down. Use a notebook or journal or record it in the My Time with God section of your Faithful Life Planner. 

---

If you’re looking for a more structured approach to writing the Word, we highly recommend one of our Scripture-writing plans or these Write the Word journals from Lara Casey.

---

 

2. Pray Regularly

Oh, how important prayer is! What is prayer? Very simply, when we pray, we take time to be with God — to talk to Him and listen to Him and be honest and real with Him.

We can talk to God anytime and anywhere. While many have found the past traditions of prayer to be restrictive, many more have found so much freedom and grace in following these rhythms. Rather than being limiting, these rhythms open us up to the presence and power of God in ways we may not have noticed before.

This month, instead of leaving all of your prayer time open-ended and unscheduled, try one of these three suggestions ::

• Schedule prayer. Instead of leaving your prayer time to chance or what you can fit in, pick set times to pray throughout the day and stick to them.
  • I’ve found it helpful to intentionally pause for five minutes of meaningful prayer before I even get out of bed, before lunch, and before I go to bed. Of course, this isn’t the only time to pray, but building in these set times of prayer anchors me to my Helper and makes me more aware of His presence, leading, and power in my life.

• Pray a specific verse every day. A year or two ago, I was profoundly moved by the Psalmist’s request of God to “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14).
  • For the rest of the year, every morning I began my day with a simple prayer :: “Lord, satisfy me this morning and all day long with your unfailing love.” When I felt discontent grow, irritation build, or worry take root, the prayer of Psalm 90 would roll off my lips.
  • God may lead you to a different verse, but pick a verse and make it your prayer daily. Find some one-verse prayers here.

• Use a prayer book. While I find immense value in pouring out my heart to God in my own words, I have also deeply benefited and grown from using prayer books. 
  • Prayer books give form and detail to emotions, requests, and needs I couldn’t articulate or identify. Find some of my favorite prayer books here.

3. Share your faith every day.

Live out your Christian faith. Share Jesus in the way you talk, the way you act, and in all the ways you live. Our Christian faith isn’t meant for Sundays only, and it certainly isn’t relegated to the times we’re with other Believers. Nope. Like Jesus, we’re called to give our lives away, demonstrating the grace and love of Jesus. What often feels like the hardest part of this is that it requires sacrifice — 

• giving even when finances are tight,
• loving even when it hurts,
• forgiving even when undeserved,
• showing up even when it’s uncomfortable,
• reaching out even when everyone keeps to themselves.

We are to be vessels of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we receive from Him, we can freely give to those around us. We are not saved by works, but we are saved to work! True faith will show itself in action.

May we be Christians who practice the truth we know. May we not simply be people who hear the Word, but may we be those who put the Word into action.

A good question to ask ourselves each morning is this :: How will my words, actions, and choices today demonstrate the Gospel of Jesus to the people in my life?

May our lives show Jesus every day.

4. Regularly attend corporate worship.

In other words, go to church. I’ll be the first to admit that church-life isn’t always easy. We often forget that the church is made up of people like you and me. We’re broken and bloodied, bruised and beaten. We carry baggage and burdens, and though many of us have been saved by Jesus, we have years worth of old habits and patterns that are still being redeemed. Yet, what beauty and grace there is in hearing the Word of God preached, corporately praying and praising together, serving one another in love, and growing together in community. God established the church, and it is good for our benefit and His glory. We are the ones missing out if we are not invested and involved in the local church.

More ways to build your faith

Growing in our faith isn’t limited by these four routines and rhythms. However, these four are foundational to our growth.

What spiritual rhythms and routines have helped you most or have you most struggled with?

(Find out more about those 9 meaningful ways people connect with God and determine which you’re most likely to use!)SaveSave

SaveSave