The True Leap Of Faith

Today's episode of Help My Unbelief talks about the origins of "leap of faith." The episode further talks about the differences between the divinely-led demonstration of faith and the worldly interpretation of leap of faith.

Transcript

Hello everybody.

My name is Jamila Perry and this is the Help My Unbelief podcast.

So what is this podcast about?

Well I like to talk about practical applications of biblical principles and the challenges that those of us who identify as Christian,

Those of us who are Christians,

Experience during our life.

Now of course this podcast is open to anyone who is willing to listen regardless of your spiritual path but just know that it is primarily focused on Christian principles.

So today's episode is called The True Leap of Faith.

Now I want to start off by saying that I have always been uncomfortable with that terminology,

Leap of faith.

Or at least I've been uncomfortable with the way that it's been applied I should say.

At least in what I have observed,

People tend to define leap of faith when they're wanting to make a drastic career change or a drastic life change,

Going in a direction that's completely different from what they've been doing or even different from the background that they came from.

Essentially leap of faith looks like suddenly taking this unconventional path.

At least that's the way I've observed the use of that definition of the phrase leap of faith.

And a lot of times in doing that it's presented that if you jump out there and do this unconventional thing,

This different thing that you feel like you want to do,

That God will come along and support that.

So just kind of fling yourself out there into this experience that you desire and God will come along and support you and get you through the experience.

And I don't know about you,

But to me when you send that kind of a message,

When you make that kind of a statement,

Oh leap of faith just jump on out there,

It says to me that a person would spend very little time in preparation and in planning.

It's kind of like,

Now I don't know this to be true,

I'm just saying what it seems to me.

But it kind of is like if I want to go and do this other career,

I'm a psychologist by career,

But let's say I want to be a deep sea scuba diver.

Okay,

I have no idea how to get to that path,

I have no idea how to walk that path.

And so a leap of faith would be to just jump out there,

Buy the equipment,

Get the boat and go into the water.

No.

No.

So when people say,

Ah just throw yourself out there,

God will be with you,

It suggests that there's very little planning involved,

Very little paying attention to details,

Or rather if you do pay attention to details,

You're not being faithful.

So the true faith is going by your gut.

It's like,

This is where I feel like I'm being led,

I'm just going to run down this road,

However I do it,

God is with me.

Now let me just say,

God is always with us,

Of course,

God loves us,

Of course.

But when we're talking about leap of faith moments,

I just have some concerns as to the way that it's currently applied,

The suggestion that you just throw yourself out into whatever this thing is that you want to do,

And then God will come along and provide whatever needs to be provided.

So one of my concerns,

Or part of the reason for my concern I should say,

Is that the leap of faith phrase is not found in the Bible.

And considering the fact that I'm a Christian,

Considering the fact that those of you listening are Christian,

You know,

We understand our faith through the Bible,

And through our life experiences,

But God's intentions for our faith,

The other demonstrations of faith that are in the Bible,

They're there in the Bible,

The faith situations are there,

But the term leap of faith is not there in the Bible.

That term actually comes from somewhere else,

And we're going to get to that part.

So one of my concerns is that leap of faith,

The term,

Is not in the Bible,

It is not a biblical phrase.

The other part of my concern is that when it comes to demonstrations of faith inside the Bible,

When it comes to demonstrations of faith in the biblical context,

These demonstrations came from God leading,

Not from people's personal desires.

So as you can see,

There's a bit of a difference here.

So the common everyday definition of leap of faith is to fling yourself into this thing,

To be led by your gut,

And then maybe let God tag along.

And then there's the Bible-based faith demonstrations that show consistently that all of these faith-based demonstrations were God-led,

Meaning they were involved with God,

God took them down a certain path,

And the people followed.

God introduced an opportunity,

And the people took that opportunity,

An opportunity that God presented and not their own personal opportunity.

So that's my concern.

So when you're looking at what people are calling a leap of faith,

And when you look at what the Bible calls,

Essentially,

A leap of faith,

Even though that phrase is not in the Bible,

I feel like people are not operating with an accurate understanding of what a leap of faith actually is.

And when you're not operating with a proper understanding,

Then that can lead to a misapplication of faith.

And that's a concern because if you misapply your Godly faith and you go out here and you do something that God didn't exactly tell you to do or lead you to do,

And you fail,

That's going to impact the strength of your relationship with God.

So the lack of accuracy in understanding what a leap of faith is or what a demonstration of faith is can affect your relationship with God because it would be faith misapplied.

The second thing that could come out of this inaccuracy is feelings of guilt for not leaping out there.

Because you don't take this huge chance or you choose to stand still rather than fling yourself off that cliff,

A person might be led to feel guilty.

They might feel internally guilty that because they didn't fling themselves off the cliff,

That it must mean that they don't trust God.

So that's why I really want to talk about today the true leap of faith,

What exactly is God asking of us versus this worldly definition of leap of faith,

Or at least the current definition of leap of faith,

Which is just kind of fling yourself out there and God will take care of you.

Okay,

So let's start with the history.

Where does the phrase leap of faith come from?

Well,

According to my lovely internet search,

The phrase leap of faith was coined by Soren Kierkegaard.

I didn't know that,

Maybe you knew that,

I didn't.

So yes,

Soren Kierkegaard,

Who's primarily known as one of the first or the first existential writer,

But he was also a theologian,

He also was a Christian.

He did criticize the church,

But primarily he would criticize the church about falling more into tradition and less into spirituality and the true teachings of Christ.

But Kierkegaard did have,

Was a Christian,

Kierkegaard every day sought to discover more deeply his relationship with Christ,

His inner struggles,

Walking with Christ,

Trying to understand life as it was.

So the term leap of faith,

So when Kierkegaard used that term,

His intention was leap of faith as in abandoning your worldly perspective,

Abandoning the material world,

Abandoning the rationality of reason,

Abandoning what's observable and turning yourself wholeheartedly to God and to the spiritual realm.

So the leap is literally leaping from what you can physically experience into,

Leave that and go to your spiritual experience,

Walking with God,

Developing a firm foundation with God,

Becoming more and more immersed with God.

So that is Kierkegaard's intended definition of leap of faith.

Has nothing to do with career,

Has nothing to do with entrepreneurship,

Has nothing to do with doing something wild and unconventional and just doing it.

It's about literally putting down the world standards that we've all been thoroughly trained in and picking up our spiritual standard and our relationship with God and letting God lead,

Letting God lead you,

Trusting God to lead you into the life that you were intended for instead of the life that you personally want to pursue,

Which is most likely colored by worldly standards like wealth,

Power and status.

Kierkegaard also went on to say that Christianity is a choice.

It's not just a label.

It doesn't just define the type of church you go to.

It's a choice.

Every day it's a choice.

It's an opportunity for growth.

And like I said earlier,

It does involve the risk,

The leap of leaving behind what you thought you knew and the leaving behind and the risking the judgment from other people and leaving behind and taking the risk of embracing something that you cannot conventionally experience with your five senses.

That's a choice that we make in walking with Christ and being a Christian.

It is a daily choice to further and further immerse ourselves in the spirituality of things and abandon these worldly concepts.

So every day is a choice.

Christianity is not just a label.

Kierkegaard also goes on to say that that leap of faith as he intended it to mean also involves praying and asking God to change our nature so that we can align with God.

Now imagine that.

Now the worldly leap of faith is throw yourself out there,

Do what you feel is right,

Do what is in your gut and then God will come behind you.

And the leap of faith that Kierkegaard is talking about is praying and asking God to change your nature,

Get you out of your self-driven,

Get you out of your gut-driven tendencies and to align with God.

So let God lead,

Let God give you these major life-altering events and not creating these life-altering events for yourself and then asking God to tag along.

So yes,

So the original intent of leap of faith is to let God lead,

Is to trust the direction that God is walking you in,

To fight off that tendency to reason,

To fight off that tendency to try to control things.

And every day in our leap of faith,

Every day we are choosing to immerse ourselves more and more into the spiritual principles that we were built for,

That we were made for,

That we were intended to follow this entire time.

That is the leap of faith according to Kierkegaard's intended use of the phrase,

Leap of faith.

So it's about flinging yourself to God and not flinging yourself into some poorly conceived,

Gut-driven,

Self-driven path.

Okay,

So now that you know the original intended meaning of leap of faith,

Of the phrase leap of faith,

Kierkegaard's meaning,

What do you want to do with it?

Well,

What if I told you that what Kierkegaard is describing is very much aligned with what's happening in the Bible or what has happened in the Bible?

So what I did was I looked at key figures in the Bible,

The stories that we all know and love in the Bible,

And these major noteworthy events,

Major,

If you would,

Leap of faith events in the lives of these people.

And I just wanted to see how,

What's the pattern?

My question is,

What's the pattern?

What is the leap of faith pattern?

Now for the sake of this podcast and to avoid any confusion,

I'm going to alter the phrase a little bit.

So because we are so well versed in leap of faith,

Meaning what it's come to mean now in the world,

That I don't want to confuse anyone.

So I'm going to leave the term leap of faith with the world,

And I'm going to,

For the rest of this podcast,

Refer to the God-driven leaps as demonstrations of faith.

So that way we've got two different terms.

There's leap of faith that the world thinks is just flinging yourself off a cliff and thinking that God will come behind you.

And then there's demonstrations of faith,

Which are the demonstrations that are God-led.

And that's what I'm going to be talking about.

So,

And when I talk about,

I'm talking about Moses,

Abraham,

Jacob,

Esther,

Hannah,

Mary,

The mother of Jesus.

There's a pattern in all of these demonstrations of faith that come about in their lives.

The first thing in the pattern is their established relationship with God.

All of these people,

All of these people mentioned in the Bible beyond the little short list that I came up with,

They all had an established relationship with God.

They were leading God-centered lives.

Now I know if you're off the top of your head,

If you are familiar with these Bible stories,

One of the first things you're going to say is,

Well,

Okay,

I can agree.

Abraham,

Esther,

Hannah,

Mary,

Mother of Jesus,

Jacob,

Everybody believed in God,

But Moses,

Moses did not start off believing in God.

That's true.

Moses was a prince of Egypt.

Moses was brought up under Egyptian idols.

That is absolutely true.

He came to God very late after the exile,

The burning bush moment.

He was a grown man when that happened.

So what I want to say about that is quality versus quantity.

The established relationship with God is not about time in the sense of,

You know,

There are those of us who were quote unquote born in the church.

We've been going to church since we were little kids.

We've been going to church since before we can remember.

So we've been Christians since birth.

And then there are those of us who came to Christianity maybe in their 30s,

Their 40s,

Their 50s,

Even their 60s and even their 70s and beyond.

So when it comes to that established relationship with God,

We cannot comparatively say that the person who was born in the church,

The person who was born into Christianity or born into a family that was a Christian based family,

Has a better established relationship with God than the person who came to God late in life.

We cannot say that.

We cannot make that comparative statement.

We should not.

Rather,

When it comes to God,

His perspective is quality.

The quality of the relationship.

Because think about it.

We all have either personally experienced or we know someone who has been going to church for decades.

And they are,

Pardon me,

Hellions.

They are unkind.

They lack compassion.

They are difficult.

And they've been going to church for decades.

And then we also either are or have experienced a person who only came to Christ five years ago.

And their life is completely changed.

They're graceful.

They're peaceful.

They have joy.

They're compassionate.

They're kind.

They're patient.

And they've only been walking with Christ for five years versus the person who is ugly and mean and difficult.

And they've been walking with Christ for decades.

Twenty,

Thirty,

Forty,

Fifty years.

So it's not about the length of time that you've established your relationship with Christ.

It's the quality of the time that you've experienced it.

So even though Moses came to the game late,

The quality of his relationship with God is what has been established.

He established a God-led life regardless of the fact that he came to God in his adulthood.

So I just want everyone to be aware of that.

That when you come to God,

At whatever point in time in life that you came to God,

Do not feel like you are less than someone who's maybe been walking with God a little bit longer.

It's not about that.

Your relationship with God is your relationship with God.

So getting it established is between you and God alone.

And that's where you need to be focused.

Don't be focused on the people who may have been doing it longer than you because they're not necessarily doing it better than you.

Just so you know.

Okay.

So the number one thing in the demonstration of faith pattern is having that established relationship with God.

The number two thing in the demonstration of faith pattern is that in that relationship,

God was developing character traits.

God was building trust between himself and each individual through everyday experiences.

Now we don't hear specifically about the everyday experiences of Abraham.

We don't hear about the everyday experiences of Hannah or Esther or anyone else per se.

But we know that they lead God-led lives through various mentions of whether they engage in prayer or they tithe or whatever it is.

We know that they are leading God-led lives.

And so based on that,

We know that not only is there a start of a relationship,

An acknowledgement of God,

So to speak,

There's also a progression of a relationship with God.

Their character is being developed.

Abraham was an honorable businessman.

Hannah was a dutiful wife and a lover of God and prayed often when she was praying ultimately for the birth of Samuel.

So we know that these individuals have been walking with God,

Have been trusting God,

Have developed certain character traits in God.

And that's something that comes over time.

Now again,

Not to be confused with the length of time that you've been a Christian,

But when I say it comes with time,

Meaning it comes with experience,

I should say.

I'll say that better.

It comes with experience.

It comes with people recognizing God's hand in their life experiences.

It comes with recognizing those character-building moments.

It comes with the experience that God has in our lives through the things that we consider to be positive and through the circumstances that we consider to be negative.

Because we know that God works in everything and God intends everything for our good.

So even the experiences that you know were intended for your harm,

If you stick with your relationship with God and you walk through it and the prosperity that God provides for you,

You can still be stronger in the trouble and after the trouble is over.

Because if anything,

Your relationship with God is strengthened because God saw you through it.

So whether this situation is something you really wanted to happen or something you never wanted to happen,

If you hang onto your relationship with God,

Your relationship is strengthened.

So the character trait or several character traits are more established,

Are stronger,

As you're walking with God through your daily life experience.

And as you're doing that,

You're learning to trust God more.

You're having more faith in God.

You're having more faith in the things that God has promised us as you're going on this walk with God.

So there are a series of experiences as a person is walking with God that is leading up to this demonstration of faith moment with God.

But again,

I emphasize those first two steps,

Establishing a relationship with God,

Regardless of when you do it,

Establishing the relationship with God,

And then walking with God,

Having that God-led life,

Having God develop certain character traits in you,

Recognizing God's involvement in your life,

Doing things through the lens of God,

So to speak.

So those are the first two aspects that you recognize,

That I saw.

And this is just my perspective.

The two elements,

Two of the elements that I saw in the pattern of people who have these large demonstrations of faith.

So the third thing that I noted here in the demonstration of faith pattern is that God presents the faith moment,

The big faith moment.

God presents that pivotal moment that changed the course of every single person's life in the Bible and that changes the course of our own lives.

God presents it.

I emphasize God presents it because it's not something that we present to God.

It's what God presents to us.

That is the demonstration of faith.

When God presents it to us,

Do we take it?

Okay,

Because a God-presented demonstration of faith moment is outside of our control.

It's outside of our influence,

But it lines up in your favor.

So you didn't rub elbows with the right person.

You didn't have the right amount of money in your bank account.

You don't have any particular status at your job or in the social community.

So the favor you're getting ready to get,

The pivotal moment you're getting ready to experience is not based on what you brought to the table or is not based on what you influenced into happening.

It is based on what God presents to you outside of your control,

Outside of your influence,

But it works in your favor.

Now,

When I say the opportunity is presented to you,

Because I do want to be clear,

Sometimes God presents opportunities to us in ways that are,

When I say unexpected,

I mean unexpected like losing your job,

Unexpected.

Like an overwhelming sense of urgency to turn in this particular direction,

An unexplainable sense of urgency to turn in a particular direction that's being presented to us that other people can't understand and that we can't explain to the people who are important to us.

So when God presents to us these opportunities,

It could be in unexpected ways,

Ways that we could misinterpret if we don't have our strong relationship with God.

But remember,

It's God presented,

God led,

And it's in line with what is favorable for you.

Let me say that a better way.

God presents it,

And even though you didn't influence it,

Even though you didn't cause it to happen,

It is still meant to work in your favor,

And it often comes unexpectedly.

Now,

I would say that the other part of the pattern that I noticed in looking at the lives of the people in the Bible,

And by extension looking at our own lives,

Is that these demonstration of faith moments kind of tend to be a final exam.

I guess it's the best way I know how to phrase it.

Final exam meaning that it is in these moments,

These demonstration of faith moments,

These pivotal moments that we demonstrate the faith that we said we had in God this whole time.

Because if you look at these extraordinary events,

They look nothing like the daily lives these people have been leading.

Having Abraham move out into the desert looks nothing like the successful business life he's been leading.

Having Moses serve as the mouthpiece and the liberator of the Hebrew people looks nothing like the palace life he had been leading.

So these demonstration of faith moments that come up,

They're like a final exam.

It's like,

Okay,

You trust God,

You believe God,

You've studied God,

You've walked with God,

You've seen God work in your life,

You know what's going on,

You know how God has shaped and shifted things into your life.

Now,

Here's a demonstration of faith opportunity that is going to just pivot your life in a direction that is unexpected and yet wonderful.

Will you take it?

And the thing is,

God's demonstration of faith moment is something that's going to have a huge impact,

But it is practically effortless on your part because the primary ingredient to having this demonstration of faith moment is acceptance.

Abraham had to agree to move.

When Abraham agreed to move,

Then he did it and his life changed forever.

Moses had to agree to be God's mouthpiece.

It was only when he agreed that everything happened after that.

Even when the children of Israel were walking through the wilderness or getting ready to walk through the wilderness and they were going to cross the river Jordan,

They had to agree to put that one foot into the water before the waters parted.

It's the agreement.

That leap of faith,

That demonstration of faith moment is the agreement.

I trust where God is taking me and I agree to go.

So it's not this huge throwing yourself off a cliff.

It's not this huge sacrificing your bank account for no reason.

It's not this huge moving your family across the country for no reason kind of situation and then inviting God into the decision.

A God led situation,

A God led demonstration of faith,

A God led demonstration of faith starts with agreement.

That is the demonstration.

Do you agree?

I'm going to do it.

I'm in.

I'm going to do it.

What's the next step?

Because you've got to agree first before God shows you anything.

God is not going to show you the whole plan.

God does not do an elevator pitch.

God does not sit here and outline to you,

OK,

So this is what's going to happen here.

The projections here,

The liabilities here,

The assets,

Here's the projected income,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah.

God doesn't take you through an elevator pitch.

He presents you with the opportunity.

If you agree with it,

Then you go from there.

So that's your demonstration of faith moment.

That is the moment where you say,

I believe.

Where God,

That God is ahead of my life,

I believe that whatever direction God has taken me in,

Whatever this experience is going to lead to,

It is for my good.

So,

Yeah,

Your biggest sacrifice in a God led demonstration of faith is your willingness to believe and your willingness to exercise your faith.

So how do you recognize your demonstration of faith opportunity?

OK,

Just a couple of ideas.

Now,

Of course,

You're always communing with God.

You're always communicating with God,

Praying with God and letting God lead.

But from my observations of demonstration of faith moments that have happened in my life.

The first way I recognized the demonstration of faith opportunity was it was something that was presented to me outside of my control and outside of my influence.

Now,

That,

As I was saying earlier,

The opportunity that's presented outside of your control and outside of your influence can be surprising.

A lot of people would like to believe that it comes in this lovely package of something really,

Really positive.

And sometimes it does.

But I know in my life,

A lot of times these opportunities outside of my control or outside of my influence has been a job loss,

Has been some kind of shift,

An unexpected shift that propelled me down the path when I accepted that this shift was happening,

Propelled me down a certain path.

That was God led.

So it's your demonstration of faith opportunity is outside of your control,

Outside of your influence,

But meant for your good.

Often the opportunity is in line with what God has been preparing you for.

I want to emphasize that because as you've been building up certain character traits,

Not the ones that we all need to have,

Well,

Including the ones that we all need to have,

Like kindness,

Patience,

Love,

Compassion,

We all need that.

But there may be certain experiences that you and God have been walking through that build up certain skills,

Certain specialization,

Certain gifts that you have.

And so when this opportunity presents itself,

You are prepared for it.

So,

For example,

Let's say that someone offers you something that you're completely unprepared for.

You're not built.

I won't say not built for.

That you're not prepared for.

You haven't thought about.

You don't necessarily have a gift for.

Let's just say that someone walks up to you and says,

Hey,

I own a coffee shop business and I want to give it to you.

You have no business training.

You drink coffee,

But you don't know anything about selling it.

You don't know how to supervise employees.

You don't know how to do any accounting or bookkeeping.

You don't know anything about even having a business.

Haven't even thought about going into business for anything.

Most likely that is not the demonstration of faith opportunity.

And I say that because that would be such an unusual presentation that you really would not be sure.

Now,

Of course,

Pray about it.

Always pray about anything that's presented before you that you're unsure of.

But if God has not been establishing a certain pattern in your life,

A certain pattern of experiences and what have you,

It's likely that that is not the God led experience.

But again,

I say pray.

Essentially,

What I'm encouraging you to do is don't just take it because it's unusual and it's interesting.

And it's like,

Oh,

Well,

That kind of goes back to that original leap of faith.

Oh,

I have an opportunity to take on this coffee shop.

Well,

I'm going to go for it.

And God will just follow me.

No.

Make sure it's God led.

And usually these demonstrations of faith happen within the context of the experience and the relationship you've been building with God,

The character traits you've been developing,

The experiences you've been having.

It's yes,

It's a little bit further than what you would expect it to be,

But it's kind of still in line with where God was already taking you.

But again,

Pray about it.

Always pray about a demonstration of faith moment to be sure that that is your demonstration of faith moment.

Now,

What happens,

Though?

Let's say it's definitely your moment and you miss it or you mess it up a little bit,

A little bit,

You know,

Because we're human.

Well,

So first and foremost,

God loves you.

Always know that God loves you.

God not only forgives you,

God made you.

So he knows you.

He loves you.

And so if you mess up,

If you make a mistake,

If you miss your opportunity,

It's not really a surprise to God.

So God isn't going to stamp his foot and,

You know,

Get angry and be like,

Oh,

What's wrong with you?

You should have been paying attention.

No,

God loves you.

And God says,

OK,

Let me just bring it back around one more time.

Let me you know,

God knows us.

God loves us and God knows us.

So if you miss an opportunity and you realize it,

Most likely another opportunity is going to come and just continue to maintain your relationship with God.

Do not beat yourself up.

Do not feel guilty.

Say,

God,

I'm sorry,

I didn't realize I was missing an opportunity.

And keep walking with God.

The opportunity will come again because God is always forgiving.

And like I said,

He wants the best for us.

Now,

Let's say you figured out your demonstration of faith opportunity.

You take it and you kind of mess it up somewhere along the way,

However way you mess things up in your own unique way.

Well,

There's grace.

Grace is there for when,

You know,

We're trying our best to walk with God as well as we understand God and we make a mistake.

That's what grace is there for.

It covers our mistakes.

God knows our heart.

So if you had great intentions,

Just the wrong action,

God knows how to kind of sort that out for you and so that you can keep moving forward.

So if you miss your your demonstration of faith moment,

Talk to God.

You'll have another opportunity.

If you get the moment,

But you mess it up some kind of way,

Then there's grace.

You can keep moving forward.

You don't have to abandon anything and you don't have to be fearful that somehow this wrath is going to come down on you and everything's going to be taken away from you because you made this mistake.

So true leap of faith comes in believing God,

Trusting God,

Being led by God and demonstrating that faith in Him.

So if you're wondering right now whether or not you have a leap of faith moment or a demonstration of faith moment or some opportunity to take your life in an unusual and an interesting direction,

Talk to God.

Your relationship with God is always first.

Your pursuit of God is always first.

Anything that happens in your life,

Big or small,

Pivotal or mundane,

Needs to be God led.

All of your steps need to be ordered by God.

And so always keep that in mind and you won't go wrong.

So don't feel guilty if there's a major event that you don't participate in and don't feel guilty if your life doesn't have this big boom or this big huge experience in it.

Trust God.

Trust the path that He has you on and your life will always be better than what you imagine it to be.

So thank you so much for tuning in.

Again,

My name is Jamila Perry and this is the Help My Unbelief podcast.

Now if you have a question or a topic that you would like to hear me discuss,

Please email me.

I can be reached at helpmyunbelief19 at gmail dot com.

That's helpmyunbelief19 at gmail dot com.

Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next episode.

Reviews

Thank you, great insights

♥♥♥♥♥ Thank you will have to listen again so I can take notes, This was what I needed today.

Love this! Thank you so much for your insight and encouragement.

That was wonderful. Very comforting to listen to. Thank you 🙏

Thank you! That was very helpful!! You have a great gift for breaking things down and teaching how to apply into real life💛 God bless🙏