Keidra Hobley: 0:38

Welcome back to the One Yes At A Time podcast. I'm Keidra. I'm here with my friend Susan, and we are so excited to jump back into this topic of faith. Oh yeah. We have been talking about it for the last couple of episodes. We could talk about it for the rest of the episodes to come. But we just wanted to spend a little bit more time on this topic since it is so broad. And I believe it's gonna be a blessing to you.

Susan Dies: 1:00

If you haven't listened to the previous episodes, you may not know that I am asking Keidra questions about a topic that she taught back in 2016-2018. So I wanna pick back up on hindrances to faith. Okay. What are some things that keep us from growing in our faith? Things that weaken our faith? Mm-hmm. Let's start there.

Keidra Hobley: 1:21

I think one of the greatest hindrances to faith is unforgiveness. Hmm. Sometimes, we hold on to things that we shouldn't be holding onto, and yet we still think that we can operate in great faith. I mean, the Bible is very clear about that. First of all, we have to forgive so that we can be forgiven, you know? And so if you feel like your faith is being hindered, that's the place I would suggest you start. Ask the Lord, search my heart, oh Lord. Is there anyone that I need to forgive that I haven't forgiven? And know that sometimes the one you need to forgive is not outside of you, it is you.

Susan Dies: 1:54

Oh, wow.

Keidra Hobley: 1:55

And so sometimes we need to forgive ourself.. That's deep... so that we can operate in great faith.

Susan Dies: 1:59

You said that our faith will not work for us, and that God will not answer our prayers, if we're walking in unforgiveness and you were quoting Mark 11 where it says, mm-hmm..."When you stand praying... if you have anything against anyone, you are to forgive." And interestingly, this verse comes on the heels of Jesus teaching on faith. And that's a hard one. You know, we don't know what people are having to forgive. Mm-hmm. We don't know what people have been through and it says if you have anything against anyone. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I mean, that covers everything. A broad base.

Keidra Hobley: 2:35

Yeah. And I think a lot of times we think that it has to be something major. Like it has to be something big, some egregious sin, you know, against us that we have to forgive. You know, it could be something simple we're harboring that is affecting our day and everybody else in our life. And so sometimes we need to forgive the person who cut us off in traffic. Yeah. Simple thing. That's part of the anything. They don't even know that they've done anything to irritate you. Yeah. And so it's not always about going to someone because you don't even know that person that cut you off. It's just a matter of keeping your heart pure. And that's the whole point of it, is to keep your heart pure so that you can have answers to your prayers.

Susan Dies: 3:13

Right. But I love that you said it's not always the big things. Those are the things that come to our mind, but it's the little sins and the little things.. The little foxes... the attitudes. That's right. A lot of times we've just accepted"I'm just having a bad day", or"that's the way it is", or"that's the way that I am"... when in truth, those are sins in our life.. Yes... that God, wants to deal with. And so you were basically saying that when our prayers aren't being answered, we need to first just check our hearts.. Mm-hmm... and see if there's anything there, especially the sin of unforgiveness, since that's the one that was pointed out in that verse that could be hindering our prayers. And I don't think it really crosses our mind to confess our sins before we come to God in prayer. Yeah. And yet we need to because Isaiah 59:2 says that"Our sin separates us from God so that he does not hear." Now, that doesn't mean that he can't hear. Yeah. He's sovereign. He knows and hears everything, but it means in that moment the only prayer that he wants to hear and answer is our prayer of repentance.. That's so good... of our own sin. And once we deal with that... that removes the barriers keeping God from hearing and answering our prayers. So it's possible sometimes that we are the hindrance to our own.. Oh, that's so good... unanswered prayers. Another thing that you said that I thought was so good is you talked about the fact that when life is comfortable.. Mm-hmm... when we're comfortable, we're really just operating in our own strength. Yep. That it's not until we're uncomfortable that we find out if we're truly operating in faith. Mm-hmm. Talk about that.

Keidra Hobley: 4:48

Yeah, because I mean, we can do this life in our own strength if that's just where we wanna hang out. But when we don't take any risk, and everything is comfortable, and we're fine, and all of our needs are met, not by God, but by our paycheck or by, the comfortable things that we've surrounded ourselves with. When, when we're comfortable, those are things that we can handle on our own. You know, it's those uncomfortable situations where we have to trust God. Right. We have to rely on God. We cry out to the Lord. We need Him, and it's in those situations that we really can grow our faith because when we see that he comes through for us in a way that we know we couldn't come through for ourselves, that is, the exercise of our faith right there.

Susan Dies: 5:32

You also said something that I think we're seeing more and more of, and that's that sometimes people give up on their faith. Mm-hmm. Why do you think that happens?

Keidra Hobley: 5:41

Because they get discouraged and I think a lot of times we give up on our faith when we try to believe God for more than we have the faith muscle to believe for. Mm. Okay. And then we give up on him because we think that he didn't answer. And We will give up on our faith when we aren't surrounded by other faith people because we'll start leaning towards our own understanding and our own strength, and when our strength runs out and our understanding runs out, then we have nothing left. And so it, it's important that we have other people around us who can encourage us when we get to that place so that we don't give up. Otherwise, we won't finish the race.

Susan Dies: 6:20

Unfortunately we're living in a time when many Christians are doing something called deconstruction of their faith.. Okay... because they say it hasn't worked for them... people who once held influential positions in churches... pastors and leaders, speakers and teachers... people that a lot of other people look to for spiritual wisdom. And because of that, this deconstruction of their faith has had a tremendous negative impact on a lot of people. And it makes me really sad for them... and for the people who are now disillusioned, because everything that they were taught by that person... supposedly that person no longer believes. Mm-hmm. And so now it's causing them to doubt.. Yeah... it's just causing so many people to stumble in their faith. So what would you say to those who might be disillusioned by someone who has walked away from that life of faith. Mm-hmm. And now they don't know what to believe because maybe they had their eyes on that person.. Mm-hmm... and not on God. What would you say to them about this issue of deconstructing faith?

Keidra Hobley: 7:24

Yeah. You kind of already said what I was thinking because the first thing that came to my mind is we have to put our faith in God and not in man. You know, God will use people to help us learn his word but our faith is not to be put in that person. The faith is in God. And God didn't change. And so even though it is disheartening, it is sad, it may be hurtful or whatever the case may be, the word of God is still the same. So, no matter what the person to our left or to our right is doing, it should not cause our faith to waiver if we have our eyes focused on God, and not on man.

Susan Dies: 8:00

That's good. Something I love that you said that I find really comforting is that if we think about that person in our life that we really look up to... someone who has a faith that is tried and true, the kind of faith that we know is been tested... and yet their faith still holds fast... and we're striving to have that kind of faith that we see displayed in their life.... it's good for us to remember that in the beginning of their faith journey.. Mm-hmm... they had the same measure of faith.. Mm-hmm... that we have. I heard Someone say that while we long to have the kind of warrior faith that we sometimes see in some really strong Christians that we might know, we need to be careful what we wish for.. Yep. Because we have no idea.. Mm-hmm... what they've had to endure in their life to come to the place of having that kind of faith. So it's a good desire for us to want to grow in our faith, and to become stronger, but if we're really honest, as we talked about even in our last podcast, no one wants to go through the hard things in life that we have to go through to have that kind of faith. But what's so encouraging to me... is when I look at the people whose faith I really admire... is that when my time of trial comes and it will come.. Mm-hmm... it comes for everybody... God has already given us our own heroes of the faith, so to speak, that we can look to as an example of how to go through those trials, and the testing in a way that honors the Lord and that strengthens our faith. Do you have some people like that in your life... where you just look at them.. Mm-hmm... and you say, if I ever have to go through something like that.. Mm-hmm... I wanna go through it in the same way they did it. Maybe not the exact same circumstances. Yeah. But with the same attitude.. Yeah... the same mindset, and the same heart.

Keidra Hobley: 9:42

And the same level of faith. You know, we don't know how to walk through things if we've never seen someone walk through it before. And so, yeah. I have one person who comes to mind in particular, like I just watch her life.. Hmm... and see how she walks through things and it just blesses me. And there's things that she's walked through, I pray I never have to walk through. Right. But if I did, I've at least seen an example of what it can look like. When we can see someone who has gone before us and we see them on the other side of, it's an encouragement to us. It is an encouragement.

Susan Dies: 10:13

It is. Now speaking of people who wanna become stronger in their faith, you talked about how we can sometimes push people past the limits of their faith. Mm-hmm. What does that mean and what is the danger of doing that

Keidra Hobley: 10:26

I think the danger of doing that is you get someone discouraged. Mm. And you cause people to think that their faith isn't working.. Mm... or that God doesn't hear their prayers and then you end up getting calls like,"Will you pray for me?'Cause God listens to you. He doesn't hear me.

Susan Dies: 10:42

I hear that sometimes. Yeah. And I'm thinking.. Yeah.. No, No, you pray. I'll pray with you. That's right. That's right. Uh, but yes, I will pray for you as well, but we want people to learn to pray for themselves. That's right. Yeah.

Keidra Hobley: 10:54

That's right. And sometimes we, with good intention, you know, encourage people to believe for certain things that they just, aren't strong enough yet to believe for those things. And so we just have to be mindful that we don't just blanketly say things to people without having an understanding of where they are and meeting them where they are.

Susan Dies: 11:14

Right. I'm glad you said that, about just meeting people where they are, because I think that's how God is with us. Mm-hmm. I think he meets us right where we are and we need to do the same. And I think it's important for us to realize that it's not our job to increase another person's faith. We can encourage it, but when we try to force someone to have more faith, as you've said, in the end, we actually wind up hurting them more than we help them. Yeah. Another point you made that I want us to touch on is you said those who have been walking with the Lord for a long time... I don't know what a long time is. Yeah, it's relative. We won't define long time.

Keidra Hobley: 11:49

Yeah.

Susan Dies: 11:50

Um, but I'll just say you made the point, we shouldn't still be struggling in our faith. We should be full of faith. Mm-hmm. At some point, if we've truly been walking with God, that we need to be full of faith. And I totally agree with that. We should be. But sometimes even those who walk the closest with Jesus can have moments of doubt. For instance, I think about the fact that the disciples walked with Jesus for three and a half years. Mm-hmm. And they saw all the miracles that he did. In fact, he even gave them the ability to perform miracles, and yet at times they still struggled to have faith. So talk about that. What causes Christians who have walked with God to struggle with unbelief.

Keidra Hobley: 12:31

Yeah. I think the fact that we have this flesh suit on is the first indication that we're gonna struggle, because we're human. And so the fact that you or I may struggle with unbelief doesn't mean that we don't have faith.

Susan Dies: 12:46

I love that. I'm glad you said that. Yeah. Because there's too many people who did walk with Jesus.. Mm-hmm... who struggled with unbelief at times. Yeah. And yet we know that they knew him.

Keidra Hobley: 12:58

Mm-hmm. And knew him intimately. Right. And so it's just yet another thing to surrender. Right? And allow it to be used to grow our faith.

Susan Dies: 13:06

I was thinking about unbelief in the life of mature Christians. I do think there are times when even for the most mature Christian we can struggle to believe. For example, when we are so overwhelmed by our circumstances or maybe when our worst fears seem to be coming to pass, it can be a struggle, mm-hmm... it's a different kind of unbelief from the person who just simply refuses to have faith. This is more of a crisis of belief that happens.. Yeah... when we face something that is so overwhelming and we have to make a choice to either focus on the circumstances or we can focus on him. And this is the kind of unbelief that I think Peter experienced.. Yeah... when Jesus invited him to step out of the boat in the middle of the storm.. Mm-hmm... and come to him, which meant that Peter had to trust that Jesus was gonna make it possible for him to walk on water. And we know that initially, Peter did have faith. As long as his eyes were fixed on Jesus, Peter was able to do the impossible. Yeah. He was able to walk on water. But the moment that he took his eyes off of Jesus. He began to sink. He focused instead on the storm, and his fears took over. Mm-hmm. And as he began to sink Jesus did reach out... and he saved Peter and they got back in the boat. But the thing that he said is, why did you doubt? Mm-hmm. And I think there's so many lessons in that story but the biggest lesson that stands out to me is that we can't focus on two things at once.

Keidra Hobley: 14:33

Mm. That's good.

Susan Dies: 14:34

We can't focus on two things at once. We can't focus on Jesus and the storm at the same time. We have to consciously choose which one we're gonna focus on, which one we're gonna set our thoughts on, and our choice is gonna dictate whether or not our faith grows stronger in the storm that we're facing... or if we're gonna find ourselves drowning in our circumstances and needing to be rescued by Jesus. Yeah. But we could, instead, be walking confidently toward him.. Mm-hmm... in our storms. That's what stood out to me. What do you think about that?

Keidra Hobley: 15:06

I'm sitting here trying to take notes as you're speaking because I love the fact when you said we can't focus on two things at the same time. I never really thought about it like that. But that is why he is constantly telling us, keep our eyes stayed on him. That's right. Like focus on him. Anything outside of him, it's gonna be a distraction. It's gonna cause us to sink. It's gonna create room for doubt. But if we keep our eyes focused on him, then there's no room for doubt.

Susan Dies: 15:33

That's right. I think it's Isaiah 26:3 that says,"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you." Mm-hmm. And that's talking about just keeping our eyes focused on Jesus. For instance, we're going through something really tough in life. Mm-hmm. We can choose to dwell on thoughts about that thing that is consuming us, or we can consciously choose to redirect our thoughts to God, and to prayer even if it's just,"Lord, help me." Yeah. Even if it's just Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We can't focus on the issue that we're consumed by.. Mm-hmm... and focus on Jesus at the same time. Yeah. And whichever one we choose is the trail that we're gonna go down. Mm-hmm. I'm gonna choose Jesus. So good. So just to change gears a little bit, talk about the importance of belief, especially as it relates to two people agreeing in prayers that we're offering in faith. Mm-hmm.

Keidra Hobley: 16:30

Yeah. It, it's impossible to pray a prayer of agreement when there is no agreement. Mm. I mean, that's the bottom line of it, right? How can two walk together unless they agree? I mean, so we can't even pray, you know, in unity if we don't agree. And so I just mentioned that so that we know what a prayer of agreement is... when the two people that are praying are believing for the same thing. We're trying to create a multiplication effect through our prayers when we are united and agree in prayer. And so that's the point.. Right... is so that we can be on the same accord, asking for anything, believing for the same thing. And I believe he wants us to come to him. He wants to be able to help us. Right? And then when we can get to the point where we no longer have that unbelief, then he gets the glory for it.

Susan Dies: 17:16

That's right. Yeah. I think that's a perfect place to end this episode. We're outta time. I hope that our listeners have gained a greater understanding of just how multifaceted our faith life is and to be encouraged that we all have a measure of faith. Mm-hmm. God has given everybody, a measure of faith, and our faith grows based on what we choose to do with it. So if you don't hear anything else that we've said in these last three episodes, just remember, faith comes by hearing the word of God. We've got to get into God's word... find out what he says about our circumstances and everything that concerns our heart, and really everything about our lives. Mm-hmm. The Bible is the book that God has given to reveal his heart to us, but also how we can live a life that honors him, a life that he wants to bless. And as we do that, as we hear God's word, as we meditate on it, as we memorize it, as we put it into practice... we're gonna see that God's word is absolute truth... and over and over again we are gonna find him faithful. Amen. And that is what is gonna grow our faith. Keidra. Pray us out.

Keidra Hobley: 18:25

Amen. Father, we thank you for this word. Thank you for your instructions on how we can grow our faith. Father, even in our belief, help our unbelief. Yes Lord. We pray right now, dear Lord, that anywhere, in our hearts or in our minds where there is doubt... that you, Father, you are the God of answers that you would reveal to us what it is that we need to have revealed to us so that we can eliminate the doubt, dear Lord. And even despite the doubt that we still will choose to believe you, to trust you.. Yes... and to receive your word without question. Dear Lord, we thank you for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.