The longer I live the more I’m convinced that our journey with Christ is about learning to trust Him more. The more we trust Him, the more of our hearts belong to Him. The less we trust him, the harder our hearts become.

Trust can grow in times of prayer and in seasons of hardship. Trust can bloom when we read stories of triumph or see God’s power on display. In the past I’ve talked about what it means to trust God, but how does God develop our trust? Perhaps the thing God uses to develop our trust as much as anything is the Faith/Trust Cycle. Here’s how it works.

Steps of Faith

The cycle begins when the Holy Spirit prompts you to take a step of faith. He might lead you to apply for a new job, give generously to a worthy cause, start a ministry, launch a new church, open a new business, or share your faith with a friend (just to name a few). Life is a series of ever increasing steps of faith.

These steps of faith usually counter our feelings of safety and security. The what-if’s and what-might’s shout louder and louder as we stand at the edge of the unknown. God is simultaneously behind us and before us. He’s behind us (nudging us to jump), and before us (waiting for us to arrive). As you take a step of faith into the unknown, God is already in the future waiting on your arrival.

Increased Trust

Each step of faith reveals a willingness to trust God. You release your grip of control when you finally hang the open sign, write the check, make the move, or take the leap. All talk turns into all obedience.

Your act of obedience doesn’t make God any more faithful than what He already was. It just reveals a measure of His faithfulness you’ve never encountered. And when God’s faithfulness steps toward your step of faith, your trust in Him is bolstered. You see God for who He truly is, and you shake your head in bewilderment as to why you didn’t jump sooner.

[bctt tweet=”When God’s faithfulness steps toward your step of faith, your trust in Him is bolstered.” username=”stephenblandino”]

But the journey doesn’t end there.

We get comfortable. Life settles. What was once a step of faith is now a boring routine. It no longer requires faith because it has become your new normal. So what does God do? He disrupts the normal. He moves the line. He speaks again. He leads you and prompts you to take a new step of faith. And, just as before, the fear of the unknown taunts you and haunts you. Will you jump into the safe place of God’s will, or will you retract into the sinful place of disobedience? Will you leap forward or lean backward?

Each step of faith is hard, but each step leads to a new level of trust. Again, a relationship with Jesus is about learning to trust…again, and again, and again. When you take a step of faith, your trust in God increases…and then He invites you to take another step. Around and around it goes, maturing your faith, stretching your vision, and growing your obedience. That’s how God develops our trust…He invites us to take another step.

Does this mean you’ll never experience failures or setbacks? Nope! But even in the disappointments you’ll see the faithfulness of God on display. And with each step of faith, you’ll realize more and more just how much you can trust your Heavenly Father. What step is He leading you to take today?