By Rick Warren
As a pastor, I’m most often asked this question: “Why is this happening to me? I don’t understand it. I thought I was pursuing God’s dream, but now I’m ready to give up.” Sound familiar?
You see, when you don’t understand the six phases of faith, you may become resentful, even depressed. You will certainly worry. You may become fearful about the future. And, worst of all, you won’t be able to cooperate with what God wants to do in your life.
But when you understand the six phases that God takes every believer through—and he takes us through them over and over—then you can say, “Oh, I see, I’m in stage four right now,” or stage six or stage two. You will understand what’s going on, and you’ll be less likely to get discouraged when times are tough.
So let me introduce you to the six phases of faith and their role in pursuing God’s dream.
Faith Phase 1: Dream
How does God build your faith? He always starts with a dream. Nothing happens until you start dreaming. You have to get an idea, a vision, a goal, or a target. When God wants to work in your life, he gives you a dream about what he wants you to do and the impact he wants you to have in the world.
Faith Phase 2: Decision
You have to make the decision to go for it! Nothing will happen to your dream until you wake up and put it into action. For every ten dreamers in the world, there is only one decision maker. The only way to move forward in faith is to decide to take a risk.
Faith Phase 3: Delays
When you pursue your dream, there is always a waiting period. Why does God make you wait? Because God wants to work on you before he works on your project. The purpose of the delay phase is to teach you to trust God and to be patient with his timing. How you handle God’s waiting rooms of life is a clear measure of the strength of your faith.
Faith Phase 4: Difficulties
Not only will you have to wait, but you will also have problems while you’re waiting. There are problems even when your dream lines up with God’s dream, because God is working on your faith and character.
Finally, the difficulties become so bad that you come to your limit. You’ve tried everything, you’ve exhausted all your options … and now you’ve reached the fifth phase of faith.
Faith Phase 5: Dead Ends
In the dead-end phase, the situation deteriorates from difficult to impossible. If you are at this stage, congratulations! You are in good company. Even the apostle Paul experienced dead ends. He wrote, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (See 2 Corinthians 1:8-9.)
God not only can raise people from the dead physically but also can raise people from the dead emotionally. He can raise a dead marriage. He can resurrect a dead career. He can breathe new life where all hope has died.
Faith Phase 6: Deliverance
In the end, God delivers. He performs a miracle. He provides a solution. God loves to turn crucifixions into resurrections, hopelessness into victory, and dead ends into deliverance. Why? Because he gets the glory.
What Phase Are You in Today?
Has God given you a dream? That’s what phase one is about. If you don’t have a dream, then you’re not really living—you’re just existing.
Maybe you are in phase two. You have a dream from God but have not made the decision to pursue it. You’re still sitting on the fence. You think you’re waiting on God, but God is waiting on you. God’s word for you in the decision phase is, “Go for it!” Heaven is cheering you on!
You might be in phase three right now. You have a dream and have made the decision, but now it’s been delayed. You’re asking God, “Why hasn’t my prayer been answered yet?” If you’re in phase three, remember, you’re in God’s waiting room. Don’t detour, and don’t get ahead of God either. Wait for him to open the right door.
Perhaps you are in phase four—you are being tested. What difficulties are you facing while you wait for the dream to be fulfilled? God says, “I know exactly what you’re going through. I see it. I’m watching. Don’t think I’ve forgotten you, because I haven’t.”
Or maybe you are in phase five and are thinking, “I’ve hit the wall. I’m at a dead end. I’m ready to give up.” Well, you’re right where God wants you. God is saying to you, “Hang on! Keep on believing! Don’t give up!” You’re on the verge of phase six: deliverance.
Do you expect God to deliver you? God is faithful. What he promises to do, he will do. Where God guides, he provides. But it doesn’t happen overnight. You go through the phases of the dream, the decision, the delays, the difficulties, and the dead ends … and then comes the deliverance.
Look at this verse: “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (See Ephesians 3:20.) It’s as if God says to you, “Think of the greatest dream for your life—I can top it.” That’s the kind of dream God has for you. It’s bigger and better than any ambition, goal, or desire you could ever dream up on your own.
Are you ready to do what God created you to do? God’s dream awaits you.
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Adapted from Created to Dream: The 6 Phases God Uses to Grow Your Faith by Rick Warren. Click here to learn more about this book.
God has a dream for your life—and in this concise yet powerful volume, beloved pastor and trusted teacher Rick Warren explains the process God uses to fulfill the dream he gives you.
The Bible is full of stories of people whose God-given dreams became reality—but not without first going through the six phases of faith. In Created to Dream, Pastor Rick will help you understand how God uses these phases to grow people to spiritual maturity while fulfilling the dreams he gives them. Each phase is a test of your faith.
The process God uses to grow your faith:
- Phase 1: Dream—God puts an exciting dream in your heart.
- Phase 2: Decision—You make the decision to go after the dream.
- Phase 3: Delays—God allows delays to get you ready for the dream.
- Phase 4: Difficulties—You face problems that grow your character.
- Phase 5: Dead Ends—Your situation becomes impossible.
- Phase 6: Deliverance—God miraculously fulfills the dream!
Knowing these biblical six phases of faith will allow you to stop wondering, “Why is this happening to me?” and begin cooperating with God’s process of growing you and your faith. You’ll find yourself thinking, “So that’s why that happened!” and you’ll be prepared for all that God has dreamed up for your future.
Created to Dream is published by HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
Rick Warren is executive director of Finishing the Task, a global movement of denominations, organizations, churches, and individuals working together on the Great Commission goals of ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to a Bible, a believer, and a local body of Christ.
Rick and his wife, Kay, founded Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan, and Hope for Mental Health. He is the cofounder of Celebrate Recovery with John Baker. Tens of millions of copies of Pastor Rick’s books have been published in 200 languages. His best-known books, The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, were named three times in national surveys of pastors (by Gallup, Barna, and Lifeway) as the two most helpful books in print.
A Time magazine cover article named Rick Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Pastor Rick has spoken in 165 nations. He has spoken at the United Nations, US Congress, numerous parliaments, the World Economic Forum, TED, Aspen Institute, and lectured at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and other universities.
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