Over the last few months I have heard the word ‘Intentional’ used quite a bit. I took some time to take a deep dive into the meaning of this word. Being intentional means to deliberately do something on purpose. Having intentions means that you intend to, or plan on, or aim to do something (good or bad). You might hear someone say “That was done intentionally.” I am NOT a New Year’s resolution person. I believe we make too many ‘goals or resolutions’ with no true intent, and by February 8th we have given up on them and they are soon forgotten. Studying this I found there is a difference between the word intentions and intentional. I think we need to walk into 2022 with a new mindset. I think 2022 needs to be the year that believers looked at the word Intentional – and found it to have a whole deeper meaning. Maybe you can think of the year that you had your child, fell in love, someone important passed away, you had an accident or a surgery, and so on. May 2022 be the year that you started living with an intentional faith!
Sometimes I think we have this whole ‘faith’ thing out of order. So what does this mean exactly? Well, I think we need to walk and talk in an awareness of our faith. Do we think, speak, and act like a person of faith? Does our conversations, actions, or Facebook/Social Media posts show a faith OR an unfaith? What is our mind set on? What do we see? What is our faith set on? Is it based on the word of God, our testimony of what he’s done for us, and the assurance that he is going to take care of us no matter what we are faced with?
What is faith? Webster says ‘it is the complete trust or confidence in something or someone.’ It’s also ‘a strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.’ Faith to the believer is a firm assurance that what we believe is true, and a complete trust in the one we have faith in (our Lord and Savior). Are we living a life that demonstrates a strong faith? God needs us to be a light for him in this world. There is no greater time than to be one that intentionally lives our faith out than now, in these uncertain times.
Intentional faith is attainable. Maybe we struggle with our faith because we really don’t know what we have faith for. What do we believe God for? That bill is going to be paid. The water is going to turn on. We won’t get a flat tire. We will get there on time. Our job. That pay raise. That answer about our health. That circumstance with our kid or parent. Something we are planning for or planning to do. What have we asked him to do for us, or have we asked at all? Maybe we didn’t ask because we didn’t think it was worth our time, or maybe we felt let down because something didn’t go as we would’ve hoped. Luke 1:37 states “Faith, it does not make things easy, it makes them possible.” Our faith activates God! In James 1:3 we learn that “Because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” It is in the learning through our faith experiences where we grow our faith.
Faith in God is believing. We sometimes go through things that make it hard to understand how this verse in Romans makes any sense (Romans 8:28) “For we know that all things work together for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” Later in that 8th chapter verse 37 we also learn that “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” This should remind us that we are going to face challenges and obstacles. We can walk through the hardest of times knowing that we are going to be okay. This is because he has a purpose and a plan in all things he allows to come our way, and he walks right beside us through it all.
Someone else’s faith can be inspiring. However, it will not allow us to be where we need to be with faith. We have to have our own intentional faith. Are you known as a person who is spoken about as “______is a person of weak/okay/great/high faith?” It’s something as individuals we should be aware of. If we want others to know we are ‘faith’ people, then we need to be aware of our faith walk/talk.
Intentional faith is a practicing faith. You go to a ‘practicing’ doctor/provider because you know he/she is versed in the medical field. A practice of something is living it out. Are we practicing of our faith intentionally daily?
As we face that tough dark moment, we should bring our faith ‘intentionally’ into the matter. We can’t forget that we choose faith. We can choose to spend our time fretting, complaining, worrying, talking and speaking the difficulty, or we can intentionally ‘faith’ our way through it.
I’m going to put this out there, because it’s the truth. Too many believers today are ‘unintentionally’ advertising their lack of faith. They speak it out of their mouths when they say “I don’t know how this will ever work out.” They complain about it to others or on the internet. They act dismayed by their circumstances. How or why would we ever win anyone to a faith that isn’t strong? What do we have that they need? When our own faith is weak, we often share it by different means, and often don’t even realize that we are doing it. People are looking/watching to see how we handle our best, and most awful circumstances. It’s okay for people to know we are human, that we are delicate and built with human emotion. But it’s a challenge to each of us, that we need to be mindful of any ‘unfaith’ we display out there. It doesn’t mean we are ‘fake’ in our faith if we are real about our tough times. We can be honest that we don’t understand why God is allowing a difficult time when we are facing it, but we can also provide hope in that “but I believe God’s going to get me through this like he always does and promises.”
We do not know what is ahead of us in 2022. Not in the days, weeks, months, years, decades to come either. But we know that we have a God who goes before us. If you have two buckets sitting beside you and you fill them, one is a faith bucket, one is a doubt/fear bucket…which one gets filled up first? ‘This’ is happening, and I choose to put this into my faith or fear bucket. As each circumstance comes out way, I think we all need to take a moment to pray first, think on it, and decide what we are going to do in that particular instance. I chose to ‘faith’ this or I choose to ‘fear/doubt’ this. Faith is delicate and easier to carry – because we are allowing God to carry the load. Fear/doubt are like heavy weights. We don’t have to carry these. We can lift them in our faith and hand them to God knowing he will honor our faith as he is our guide through it.
God doesn’t want us to be people who struggle. He wants to be people that he blesses. God has a desire to grow each of us in him. As we grow in our relationship with him, we grow in him, and we grow in our faith. Sometimes we look at the relationships of those around us. “Man they are so tight.” “Wow, they have such a good relationship.” We also do this as we look at other fellow believers. God has his own desire to have a relationship with each of us based on you and him. Examine your relationship with Christ. Get to know him more. Read his word, talk to him, ask him to speak to you. What has he given to you, shown you, done for you, presented to you, etc.? It’s when we realize and know who Christ truly is within us, that our faith grows. But, it has to be an intentional growth that we desire to have. If we feel distant we are able to seek Christ and pray that he give us the ability to gain a better understanding of who he is to us. It’s about you and him, not what someone else has with him. We can be as close to God as anyone else is. Where we we are in Christ as individuals is up to us each on our own.
Be encouraged and reflect on this verse as we make our way into this new year. Psalm 37:7 says “Quiet your heart in his presence and pray; keep hope alive as your long for God to come through for you.” I encourage you to keep a journal this year. Intentionally take the time to write down the things you are having faith about. Leave a space to add how he came through for you. This goes for small things as well. There’s an old song that goes something like “Count your blessings name them one by one, count your blessings see what God has done.” Intentionally wait on God – with an intentional faith. Share your blessings more than you share your troubles. Take things to Christ first. Be intentional about growing in Christ in 2022, and he who is also intentional will help to grow your faith in him!!