One thing that occurred to me as I was wishing it was easy to move forward in faith, was the comparison of an army moving through enemy territory.
I recently finished a book that really focused on battles and armies, and it revealed a couple things to me that had a parallel in faith.
First: An army that doesn’t move, starves.
It takes a lot to feed a stagnant army, so if they’re not constantly moving, they’re slowly starving. If an army stays in one place for too long, the men will eventually desert, and then all the ground you’ve already won will be lost.
Second: If you want to gain ground, you have to fight.
You could march through empty lands, but then you’re not actually winning anything valuable. You can march through areas you’ve already conquered, but then it’s nothing new.
Third: There are always casualties in battle.
You always sacrifice something when you go to war, whether it’s your time, health, money, or even your life. If you’re fighting for something you really believe in, then you count the cost as worth it, and plow forward anyways. We are told to take up our cross daily and to crucify our flesh, so Jesus already took it into account before he called us to follow him. If that’s still classified as good, then we can be confident we’re not losing anything that’s worth anything.
These are my main thoughts in this area, and it begs the question, “Are you fighting for your faith?” If you’re not moving forward, you’re not fighting, and if you’re not fighting, you’re slowly dying.
There is no way to gain ground in faith if you’e not fighting to gain ground!
What are you wanting to grow in? One way to know if you’re making progress is if you’re encountering resistance. It’ll feel like you’re not making any progress until you look back and see how far you’ve come.
The enemy doesn’t want you to grow in your faith, so he will do everything he can to hinder your progress. He’ll make you pay for every step, but everything we lose is actually a gain. Like what Paul said, “But whatever were gains to me, I now count as loss for the sake of Christ.”
So to summarize:
Stagnation = death
Walking = survival
Fighting = growth
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