3 Signs God Is Preparing You to Take a Huge Step of Faith

Philippians 3:7-11

Here are 3 signs that God is getting you ready to take a huge step of faith in your life.

1. If God Has Given You an Abundance of Confirmation About a Decision You Know You Need to Make, This Is a Sign He Is Expecting You to Take a Huge Step of Faith with Him

I believe there is a principle in the Bible that the bigger the step of faith God wants you to take, the more confirmation God will give you. Likewise, the smaller the step of faith God is telling you to take, the less confirmation you should expect to receive.

When I say “confirmation,” I mean that God is giving you very clear indicators of what he does or does not want you to do. The first confirmation God will always use in our lives is his word. God will never lead us to disobey anything in the Bible. But oftentimes in life God will give us other forms of confirmation that are clearly pointing to a certain path in life that God wants us to take. 

Let’s say you are wondering if you should go out to coffee with someone you really want to date. That’s not a monumental decision in the big scheme of things, so you should not expect an excessive amount of confirmation telling you over and over again in different ways to just go out to coffee.

But let’s say you are asking God whether you and your boyfriend or girlfriend should get married. Now you should expect to have multiple forms of confirmation from God letting you know what he does or does not want you to do. His word, the Spirit’s personal communication to you in your heart, the observable godly qualities of the relationship, the support of your loved ones, a mutual desire to glorify God in marriage – if all these signs are present, these multiple forms of confirmation are clearly pointing to the conclusion that God really does want you two to get married.

Before God asked Moses to risk his life, the lives of the Israelites in the exodus from Egypt, and to split the Red Sea, God first confirmed his leading to Moses in supernatural ways (Exodus 3). When Jesus wanted the disciples to believe in him as the true Christ, Jesus confirmed this to them in supernatural ways (John 14:11). When God wanted Paul to turn from what he had believed as a Pharisee to then become a Christian, God confirmed this to Paul in a very clear way on the Damascus Road (Acts 9).

So when God is leading you to take a big step of faith in life, he will confirm this to you in multiple ways to reinforce the sense of direction you believe God is giving you.

2. When God Gives You a Healthy Disregard for Your Own Safety, This Is a Sign He Is Preparing You to Take a Big Step of Faith in Life

Notice my emphasis on the words “a healthy disregard.” There is an unhealthy and sinful recklessness that one can possess that is not of God. But when the Spirit is truly filling someone and moving in their life in powerful ways, that person will lose their fear of worldly dangers and will have supernatural courage to follow Christ no matter the cost. May we all love God so much that we can echo the powerful words of Paul in Philippians 3:7-11 which state:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

When you get to that place in life when you no longer care what will happen to you as long as you gain Christ and are doing his will, this is a sign God is preparing you to take a huge step of faith for his glory.

3. If There’s So Much Unbearable Pain and Confusion in Your Life That There’s Really No Other Option But to Take a Huge Step of Faith, This Is Often God’s Doing

The pain in your past can often feel like a knife in your back, pushing you forward into places you don’t want to go. But God’s purpose is to always use the bad for good (Genesis 50:20, Romans 8:28). So God uses this pain in your past to press you forward into areas of healing and growth with Christ you would never dare go with God unless that pain from behind was as unbearable as it is.

The unbearable pain and confusion in our lives is often God laying the foundation for massive growth and glory to be produced through us by his Holy Spirit. As C.S. Lewis wrote:

Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

We cannot ignore immense pain and confusion. God uses this to point us towards the direction he wants us to go in life. Notice how Paul knew he was supposed to preach because of the pain that would have ensued if he denied this calling on his life. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 he states, “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

Paul was driven by a relentless, holy pain in his life. He was pressing forward with reckless abandon because God would not allow Paul to deny his calling, no matter the cost. In Acts 21:12-14 (NIV), here again we see how Paul was driven so deeply to follow God his own life was of no consequence. Others sought to convince Paul to live safely, but he would not listen:

. . . we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’ When he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, ‘The Lord’s will be done.’”

So if God is pushing you forward by creating such a huge amount of pain and confusion in your life that you really have no option but to take a massive step of faith with Christ, take courage, for this is a clear sign God is truly moving in your life.