How Do We Make Faith Ours?
Day 1—Personal ownership of faith versus passive observation
Psalm 119:56 — Personal Ownership
“This has become mine, because I keep Your precepts.”
When I read this, I stopped in my tracks. The psalmist isn’t just reading about God’s commands—he’s taking possession of them.
“This has become mine” means I’ve lived it, tested it, proven it true.
Trust leads to obedience, and obedience transforms God’s Word from theory into personal treasure.
We must have ownership.
Faith isn’t an idea to admire; it’s a life to live.
One of my favorite characters in Scripture is John the Baptist. He embodied ownership.
He didn’t just preach repentance—he lived it.
He didn’t just point to Jesus—he staked his entire life on Him.
Even in prison, his question—“Are You the One?”—didn’t come from disbelief but from faith seeking deeper confirmation. John’s heart still trusted, even when his circumstances didn’t make sense.
How Do We Make Faith Ours?
When I listen to the Christian West (and I raise my hand here because this used to be me), I often hear things like:
“I’ve never read through the whole Bible.”
“I go to church.”
“I pray at meals.”
“I prefer to form a relationship before telling someone about Jesus.”
But what I really hear echoes G. K. Chesterton’s famous line:
“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried.”
Modern culture treats Christianity like a philosophy to sample, not a covenant to enter.
We talk about faith but rarely train it.
We admire Jesus but rarely abide in Him.
And so we miss the transformation that comes only from doing what He says (John 14:15; James 1:22).
Too often, when we hit another dead end and God helps us up again, we jump right back into what our flesh craves—comfort—and get sucked back into the world.
The Bridge Between Psalm 119 and Today
Psalmist: “This has become mine.”
John the Baptist: “He must increase, I must decrease.”
Modern believer: often says, “This is true,” but not, “This is mine.”
Ownership begins when trust replaces trying and obedience replaces observation.
When we consistently practice what we profess, the Word ceases to be a truth and becomes our truth.
That’s when faith catches fire.
The Joy of Obedience
When obedience stops feeling like an obligation and begins to flow from love, faith becomes joy.
The psalmist didn’t keep God’s precepts to earn favor—he kept them because he had already tasted God’s goodness.
The more we walk with Him, the more we discover that obedience is not a burden but a pathway into freedom, intimacy, and delight.
That’s when faith becomes personal—it becomes ours.
Never Finished Challenge
What happens when a child tries to remove their last name or run away too soon from their parents’ authority? Nothing good I’ve ever heard.
The same is true with God.
Stop running away and start learning to stay.
Ask Him:
“Lord, teach me how to stay in Your presence seven days a week instead of just one or a few. Give me strength to pursue You.”
Journal the time you spend with Him. Learn to say no to the things that will rob you of that time.
The enemy knows—when your time with God becomes consistent, true life and true transformation begin. And he hates that. In some ways, so does our flesh.
But God…
What Does Today Say About God?
Giving.
If I were God, I might keep all the good stuff to myself—and especially not share it with people who don’t deserve it.
But praise God, I’m not Him.
God is perfectly generous.
It’s in His nature to give, even when we don’t deserve it (Romans 5:8; James 1:17).
What a Father!
What a King!
What a Friend!
Thank You, Jesus.
This is only the beginning. Over the next few days, including going live on Friday at 6 am, we’ll walk through what it truly means to make faith ours—trust, discipline, perseverance, and abiding. Stay with me; God’s about to deepen our roots.