You might consider the man who went to Tibet to be far more courageous than you are. You might look at him and say, “I just don’t have that kind of faith. I wouldn’t dare go halfway around the world just because I had a leading from God!” Okay. Would you go halfway around the block?
Would you walk halfway across a room? Would you respond to Him by making small changes at home or at work that He prompts you to make?
The Holy Spirit will speak to your heart about such things, you know. He watches over your surroundings. He cares about your family and your job. He is living inside you so He goes with you when you go to the grocery store or the daycare center. He loves you, and He is there to help you not just with so-called spiritual things but with every part of your life.
If you’ll tune in to Him, He’ll show you what to do to make your workplace better. He’ll put things in your heart that will make your marriage better. If you’ll start at that level, responding to the little leadings the Lord gives you in your everyday life, eventually your faith will grow stronger and you can go on to higher levels in God.
Many people don’t realize that. They think the only thing that affects their faith is hearing the Word of God, so they try to strengthen their faith only by reading and studying the Bible. But that isn’t how faith is developed.
Although it comes by hearing the Word, faith is developed by acting on the Word we hear. It is strengthened by doing. It grows stronger the more we respond to God.
Read Hebrews chapter 11 again and look at the people in the Faith Hall of Fame. They aren’t in there just because they heard from God and believed Him. They are there because they followed His leadings. They’re counted as men and women of strong faith because they responded to what God put in their hearts.
God can move through us today just like He did through those men and women of old. He can do the most unusual and powerful things through us if we will act on the promptings of His Spirit. So let’s build up our faith muscles. In big things and small, let’s practice responding to Him.
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11:1 – 40
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”