First, God wants you to grow in faith. He doesn’t want you to be a spiritual baby. The Bible says in Colossians 2:7: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (NLT).

God also wants you to sow in faith. He wants you to learn to become generous—because you cannot become like Christ without becoming generous. The Bible says, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6 NIV).

This is the law of sowing and reaping, and it’s true in every area of life. If you sow criticism, you’re going to reap criticism. If you sow love, you’ll reap love. If you sow kindness, you will reap kindness. And you always reap more than you sow. When you plant one corn kernel in the ground, you don’t get one kernel back. You get a whole stalk. You always get back more—positive or negative—of what you put out in life.

Then, God wants you to go in faith.

Hebrews 11:8 says, “It was by faith Abraham obeyed God’s call to go to another place God promised to give him. He left his own country, not knowing where he was to go” (NCV).

Would you do that? Abraham was in his retirement phase, just about to hang it up and settle down. Then God said, “No, dust yourself off, and get ready for the greatest journey of your life.” When you live by faith, it involves going, often to places you were never planning to go.

Why is it so important for you to develop your faith? The Bible explains it over and over again:

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV).

“Let it be done for you according to your faith” (Matthew 9:29 CSB).

“Anything that is not done in faith is sin” (Romans 14:23 GW). 

Everything God does in your life is done by his grace and through your faith.