10 Simple Ways to Grow your faith NOW

Spiritual Disciplines are not only markers of our faith, but also catalyst to growing our faith daily.

As believers it is essential for us to be bearing much fruit, for it is in the fruit that those of the world see that we are His disciples (John 13:35). That is the purpose of abiding in Christ. We must develop a desire for more of God’s nature in our lives, so that we can reflect his son and glorify our father. Spiritual disciplines help us to disciple ourselves and therefore, develop Godliness.

The calling of our lives is to become spiritually mature and spiritually effective. Our faith can not be one that is tossed upon the waves (James 1:6) and full of doubt at every struggle or trial. If we are to go into the world and share the gospel, we need to be sure that we are effective in our evangelism.

“The calling of our lives is to become spiritually mature and spiritually effective.”

If you want to grow your faith NOW, it is time to discipline your life and practice these spiritual disciplines daily. If you are already doing so, maybe bump it up a notch!

We can go to church and lead Bible studies and serve in various capacities, but the work of discipleship that is happening in your prayer closets or prayer chairs is where the deep connections to God really transcend. It is in those steep places where we climb to the mountain top and find the presence of God. It is in practicing spiritual disciplines that we are given hinds feet, where we can leap into His presence and truly find the abundance of life and joy, for “In Your presence is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore,” Psalm 16:11 NKJV.

“...the work of discipleship that is happening in your prayer closets or prayer chairs is where the deep connections to God really transcend. ”

*Each week I host a “Cultivate the Culture chat” on my Instagram Stories. We have been discussing each of these spiritual disciplines, which you can find on my story highlights. Follow @dreaportilla

10 Simple ways to begin practicing Spiritual Disciplines now.

The Spiritual Discipline of Prayer

8 Scripture for Meditation

Simple Steps to use the 5-5-5 Method for Prayer, Confession & Meditation

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Set aside anchors in your day to pray. In the morning when you rise and in the evening at the end of the day. Or, perhaps before lunch, or in your car as you commute or while you are doing simple tasks of laundry or dish washing.
Stack the habit of prayer. Habit stacking is the idea of taking a habit your already have and adding another habit on top of it. For example if you already brush your teeth, you can add flossing to that habit until it becomes second nature, or a new habit. I have a friend who prays while she brushes her teeth! If you have a habit of walking every afternoon, add to it the habit of prayer while you walk. Or perhaps you have a habit of lighting a candle every morning, take time to pray after you light that candle.
Plan for prayer in your life. If you plan and schedule time to pray, you will become more consistent and more inclined to do so. Set your watch on a timer so that when the timer goes off, you stop and take time to pray.
Ask 2 question when you pray. God, what do I need to know, and what do you need me to do? Ask God these questions for every circumstance and situation in your life. Remember that prayer is having a conversation with God. It’s not a one sided conversation! He wants to be involved in your life. He wants to take part in your life and he KNOWs before you even ask Him (Matthew 6:8). Then wait for his responses to these questions.
Pray God’s word with BOLDNESS! Use God’s word and pray the scriptures over your spouse, your children, your home, yourself, your job, your finances, everything. Write the scriptures down and pray over your life. There is nothing more powerful and more bold than when praying in the power of the Holy Spirit and through God’s word.
When you are not sure what to pray, pray a Psalm. Pray a Psalm or even the Lord’s prayer out loud. This allows us to connect our heart to God in prayer, especially when our minds or emotions are struggling to connect with God. Pray Pslam 91 for protection and peace, pray Psalm 23 when you need to trust God, pray Psalm 138 for prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude.

The Spiritual Discipline of Confession

7. Confession is simply, Truth Telling. allows us to put our trust in God in a deeper way. It is part of the process of sinking deep into the depths of his heart and in the stillness of Joy. Tell the Lord the truth of what you are experiencing, your emotions, your feelings, your hurts, you insecurities. God wants to be a part of every aspect of your life and so truth telling is an important step in confession because you are telling the truth of all your thoughts, hopes, desires and fears and surrendering them into his hands, trusting that he is going to be faithful in every circumstance.

8. God’s Truth provides for our Testimony. When we confess, when we tell God the truth of all of what we are thinking, we allow the Lord to intervene with HIS Truth. His Truth establishes our faith, His truth, fortifies our hearts, His truth abolishes our fears, His truth speaks into who he created us to be and what He calls us. We are His, beloved. When we come to realize and truly know His truth about our circumstances and situations, our Testimony becomes ALIVE! We can testify to who God is and what he can do. God is faithful, he does what he says he can do because when I was doubting, when I was struggling with lies, the Lord placed me on firm ground, he came through, he is powerful and that is how we become a living testimony and evangelize to the whole world.

The Spiritual Discipline of Meditation

9. Meditate on God’s word. Psalm 1 says that our “delight is in the law of the Lord; and who meditates on his law day and night.” To meditate is to allow your soul to gaze upon the Lord and in those moments of meditation, your soul is mingling with God’s. When you meditate you want to think about how to devote yourself to God and reflect Him in all that you do. Take a Scripture from your reading and think about how you can reflect God in the scripture. Ask what does this scripture say about you and your sinfulness and what does it say about the heart of God.

10. God needs to be the center of our meditation. . To meditate is to simply think on the Lord and his ways, his heart, and his very nature. When we meditate, our thoughts should always be toward God and his world. The world has taken this idea of meditation and has internalized it, making it more for self in the forms of mantras, self affirmations and even manifestation. All of these take God out of the equation and are pointing towards self and your power, your control and what you can do which goes against the very word of God. Remember Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I encourage you, if you have not made time for these spiritual disciplines, take the time to do so today. It does not have to be complicated, in fact it can be very simple. My husband always encourages the young men that he disciples in the 5-5-5 method. 5 minutes in worship, 5 minutes in bible reading and 5 minutes in prayer. I am going to modify this for the sake of spiritual disciplines and encourage you to, along with bible reading and study (which we will talk about more next time) try 5 minutes in prayer, 5 minutes confessing or truth telling (and listening) and 5 minutes meditating on His word. When we practice these discipline, you will see the fruit of your life come forth in abundance, transformation will happen and you will reflect the heart and love of God.