Happy Sunday my dearest reader!
I have such a soft place in my heart for our Sunday blog posts. The Sunday Series was my first blog series, but it is also the series where I get to talk more about my faith! Today we will really be diving into this topic as I thought I would finish writing a blog that I've had on the back-burner for awhile.
A wonderful reader reader of mine asked me "how do you incorporate your faith into your everyday life?"
When she sent me the question, it took me awhile to formulate an answer. I know it sounds weird, but I was kind of stumped! Aside from the obvious advice to pray, read your Bible, and worship God, I just didn't know what to say.
After a few days, and a chat with God, I realized why this question stumped me: I don't "incorporate" my faith into my daily life because well.. faith just IS my life.
I don't have to think about faith or try to remember to include it because it's just... well, part of everything I already do!
Faith is my life. I cannot separate it anymore. It is woven into every single aspect of how I live my daily life. Today I'm going to share with you all the details on why this is, and also how I do that in a practical sense.
Let's go!
Like I said before, everyone always says "pray and read your Bible" when asked the question, "how do I connect more with God?" I think those are great first steps, but WHY does we prayer and scripture connect us with God?
We do these things because scripture and prayer create an open connection and line of communication between us and God.
We pray and read our Bible to include Godly wisdom, instruction on Biblical living, and an incredible amount of wisdom, encouragement, and Godly love into our lives. By praying and reading our Bible, we commune closer with God, develop greater intimacy, and ultimately become sanctified.
As we grow in our faith and experience the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, we are CHANGED. This is the ultimate goal of connection with God: a changed heart and life.
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are changed from the inside out, and our lives no longer become "ours." Our lives from that point on are to be lived for the glory of God, and according to His will. We must surrender everything to Him, and choose to live for Him, despite anything that happens in our lives.
Personally, I don't like doing anything half-way: I refuse to be a one-foot-in-one-foot-out kind of person. If I am going to call myself a believer, I want to be ALL in. I want to live Biblically, impact others for Christ, and above all else, unite with the Lord in deep intimacy. It's not enough for me to live for myself with the exception of church on Sundays: I want my faith to permeate everything.
So circling back to the question at hand: "how do I incorporate my faith into my everyday life?" I incorporate it by including it in everything and allowing it to truly change me: it affects what I eat, what I wear, what I listen to on Spotify, how I speak to my husband, what I read, what I watch, where I go, and who I spend time with.
I allow my faith to fully and completely permeate my life so that I may grow closer to Christ, and into the woman he has intended me to be.
Please keep in mind that this post is all about how I live out my faith. This is not a list that I think EVERY Christian woman needs to follow. I believe that you should seek that knowledge between you and your Savior. I am not the Bible, and I am not perfect. I am just a woman who loves God and is trying to live out my faith!
Also, I would encourage you to avoid thinking that I judge anyone who does not live their faith the way I do: I don't condemn. Your faith is between you and God. Go to Him above all else to see how you should live life.
You all know that I like to give practical advice wherever I can, so today, I wanted to share how I let my faith practically inform my life and decisions.
1. Scripture Reading
I read the Bible every morning and night: not a ton, just a few verses or a chapter. I am trying to be more faithful in this area, as I can feel the difference in my life when I am feasting on the Word versus when I am just sampling it. Scripture informs my life, and I love to soak it in every day. Without it, I would be bereft of God's voice, His wisdom, or a compass to guide my decisions.
2. Constant Prayer
I pray throughout the entire day. I regularly speak to my "Father," on the things that are bothering me, my thoughts, my dreams, or to tell Him how awesome I think He is. I consistently ask for protection for Grant when he goes to work, and I always surrender my pain to God. I may seem like a wacky lady when I'm folding laundry and murmuring to God, but this is truly how I convene with my Lord every da.
3. Christian Community
I also practice my faith by actively seeking Christian community to surround myself with. Christian community encourages me, helps me, and inspires me in my faith.
I do this by being involved with church, christian friends, accountability groups, mentors, and small groups. I also help lead a weekly Bible study with my husband, and actively pursue ministry opportunities. Serving and volunteering in the church always encourage me in my faith because I have the accountability of being part of leadership, and people looking at my life. It's so encouraging to live life in the community of believers, but this doesn't mean I ONLY have Christian friends.
4. Guarding My Mind & Spirit
I actively try to guard my mind and spirit from negative influences: this may sound a little "woo-woo" but hear me out. Scripture calls us to think about things that are "lovely and noble." This means excluding hedonistic or perverse entertainment and media from my life.
I avoid media that glorifies gore, horror, perversion, casual sex, or raunchy humor, among many other things. I recently had to stop listening to a comedy podcast because it glorified extremely casual sex, objectified men, and promoted bad decision making. These things are simply not conducive to my beliefs, and by extension, I feel like they are a negative influence on my spirit.
5. Practicing Modesty
I dress modestly and am careful to keep appropriate boundaries with men who are not my husband. Hello side-hug city! But in all seriousness, I feel that this is an important part of practicing my faith. It is a public show to God that I am living for HIS attention and love, not for the fleeting attention of men.
We are encouraged in Scripture to be modest, and to let our virtuous character and love for Christ speak louder than our outer beauty. We are not to be a distraction or stumbling block to our brothers in Christ. However, I have ALWAYS felt very uncomfortable in immodest clothing, so this has never really been an issue for me.
6. Addressing My Sins Daily
To me, a huge part of Biblical living is about growing and being sanctified in Christ's love and forgiveness. In order to do this, I must always invite the conviction of the Holy Spirit into my life and gratefully receive his movement. I pray quite often for God to convict me of my sins, and to relieve me of shame towards things that are not sin. He is faithful to show me where I need to repent, and I always seek to do this so that I may enter into greater intimacy with Him.
I also try to create frameworks in my everyday life that prevent me from entering areas of temptation where I would be more likely to sin. I actively avoid situations where I would be tempted to gossip, slander, or complain.
7. How I Treat My Body
I treat my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit by what I eat and how I exercise; basically, I try to be healthy. Obviously this is not an extremely strict thing where I cannot eat cake or something, but I always try to consider my body a Temple of the Holy Spirit.
Our bodies were given to us by God, and it is up to us to care for them and be stewards. We can practice this by nurturing our bodies through diet and exercise, and always taking time to listen to them by getting the sleep we need.
There are SO many more areas that are influenced by my faith, but I think I'll leave it at 7 for now. These areas are a daily part of my life, and actively help me grow closer to God.
I hope this post can inspire you to begin looking at your faith differently: to see that it is so much more than "pray and read your Bible." Faith can be lived out in EVERY aspect of our lives, from what we eat to who we hang out with. Allow God to work in you and to show you the life He wants for you.
xoxo,
Cait
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