Use Your Faith to Give Someone a Pump!

By Christy Fitzwater

Growing up in church, I took several spiritual gift inventories over the years, and I always scored high on the gift of faith. 

So I always thought, “Okay. I have a lot of faith.” That was as far as my thinking went. 

But a few years ago I read 1 Corinthians 12:7, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” For the first time it occurred to me that I had been given a lot of faith for the benefit of other people, to offer as a service to them. 

I chewed on that idea for a long time. How do I use my faith to serve someone else?

I decided it's like the pumping motion required to pedal two people on a single bike. I can propel someone forward in her experience with God, by applying the power of my own faith. 

Soon I realized God was always bringing people across my path who were in a crisis of faith. I had always found this annoying and thought, What’s you’re problem? Why can’t you just believe God and take Him at His word? When the idea of serving with faith entered my thinking, I began to understand God didn’t want me to be annoyed with people –He wanted me to use my faith to help them get through the challenge they were facing. 

Maybe you don’t have the spiritual gift of faith, but as a pastor’s wife you can serve your church family with the amount of faith you do have, even if it’s only the size of a mustard seed. So I’d like to offer some suggestions about how to use your faith to build up your sisters in Christ.   

FIVE STEPS TO GIVING SOMEONE A PUMP:

1.    When God brings someone across your path who is in a crisis of faith, consider it an opportunity to serve her with your own faith.

2.    Find a principal in Scripture that absolutely would be true in the person’s circumstances. 

3.    Take that Scripture and add some imagination!  Speak to the person how you can imagine that Scripture coming true in her life. Approach the crisis as an adventurous story that is going to have a God-ordained conclusion.

4.    Make a commitment to pray the person through the adventure of relying on God, and remind the person often that you’re praying.

5.    Celebrate with the person when she gets to the other side. Acknowledge God’s work in her life and speak faith at the end of the matter. This declaration of faith will lay a foundation for the next time she struggles with trusting God.

If you follow these five steps all the way through, you’ll find that not only have you encouraged someone else to believe God, but your own faith will be bolstered by the experience.

-Christy Fitzwater is a pastor’s wife in Kalispell, Montana.  To get to know her visit http://www.christyfitzwater.com/.