When you’re expecting something to happen or someone important to arrive, what do you do? You plan. You prepare for the future. You get ready. In other words, you take action!
That’s what it means to prepare for the future. And that’s what faith helps us do.
Having faith in God or “the faith of God” calls us to act in advance. When you pray, you release your faith for something specific to happen. Believe that you receive the answer. Then, follow that prayer of faith with what the Word calls “corresponding action.”
The Weymouth New Testament (available through KCM) puts it this way in James 2:14-18:
“What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him?… So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, is dead in itself…. You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions.”
Here’s the point: If you truly believe that God’s promise is yours, your actions will reflect it. You’ll act as though the answer is already on its way. You’ll prepare for the future with expectancy.
Faith Helps Us Prepare for the Future Before We Ask
When Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee after a full day of ministry, He encountered a man possessed by an evil spirit (Mark 5:2-5). After freeing the man, Jairus, a leader of the local synagogue, fell at Jesus’ feet, begging Him to heal his dying daughter.
As Jesus went with Jairus, a woman with an issue of blood interrupted Him. She said, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed” (verse 28). She touched His robe, and she was healed.
Meanwhile, Jairus received news that his daughter had died. But Jesus replied, “The child isn’t dead; she’s only asleep” (verse 39). Then He went to the girl, took her hand, and said, “Little girl, get up!”—and she did (verses 41-42).
How did Jesus do all this in one day—teaching, healing, delivering, even raising the dead? He was able to prepare for the future through His relationship with the Father.
Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing…. I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it” (John 5:19, 12:49-50).
Jesus knew to prepare for the future by spending time with God. That preparation, fueled by faith, equipped Him for everything the day would hold.
Faith Evolves What You Believe
Throughout Scripture, every breakthrough—every healing, every deliverance—was received by faith. Faith is the consistent thread that runs through the lives of those who received miracles.
The demon-possessed man in the region of the Gerasenes was freed because Jesus acted in faith (Mark 5:1-20), fully aligned with the will of His Father. The woman with the issue of blood was healed because she believed, before she even touched Jesus’ robe, that her healing was certain. Jairus’ daughter was raised from the dead because Jairus dared to believe, and Jesus responded to that faith even when others said it was too late.
These weren’t passive moments of hope. They were demonstrations of faith that acted, that reached out, that prepared for the promise before it was visible. That’s the nature of true biblical faith: It prepares for the future because it’s wholly confident that God’s Word will come to pass. It doesn’t wait for signs; it responds to the promise.
What has God placed in your heart to receive? What are you trusting Him for in the days, months and years ahead? Don’t wait to see it before you act. Begin preparing now. Whether it’s healing, provision, restoration or direction, step forward with expectancy. Because when you believe God’s promises, faith helps you prepare for the future He’s already written.
Faith Helps You Prepare for the Future With Expectation
The Oxford English Dictionary defines hope as “the feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Hope is the blueprint of faith. It paints a picture inside your heart of what you expect and gives your faith something to build on.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”
To begin preparing for the future, make a list of what you’re believing God for. Include every area: spiritual, emotional, financial, relational or physical needs.
Then, find specific promises from God’s Word that align with each request. Write them next to your needs. For example:
- Believing for a child?
Exodus 23:25-26 reads, “You must serve only the LORD your God…. There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and I will give you long, full lives.”
- Believing for financial breakthrough?
Use Romans 13:8: “Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another.”
- Believing for a restored relationship?
Find a verse to speak, pray and confess over that situation. Because again: Faith prepares.
Faith Provides the Believer With Victory
One vital part of walking by faith is learning to give thanks before you see the result. True faith doesn’t wait for visible evidence or a change in circumstances before celebrating.
It lifts its hands in praise while the battle is still raging. Faith allows you to sing songs of victory while the answer is still unseen. Why? Because faith is fully convinced that God is faithful to His Word and that the promise is already on its way.
Jesus taught this principle in Mark 11:22–25 when He said, “Have faith in God…. You can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”
That’s not a vague hope. It is a confident expectation that moves mountains. Faith doesn’t beg God to act, because it believes He already has. That’s why faith directs us to prepare for the future with gratitude regarding the outcome, as settled before it ever arrives.
So once you’ve made your list of needs and found Scripture promises to stand on, don’t just stop at praying; begin to praise God in advance for your healing, for your provision, for your breakthrough, for the restoration you’re believing for. Your praise becomes a spiritual act of warfare. You declare that the outcome is in God’s hands and it’s already turning in your favor.
Hebrews 11:6 reminds us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (NIV). Why? Because faith honors Him. Faith takes Him at His Word. Faith refuses to doubt His character or question His timing. And when we respond to His promises with thanksgiving before the answer manifests, we demonstrate the kind of trust that moves heaven.
Faith Helps You Stay Ready
If you’re holding onto a promise, don’t let go. Keep “the switch of faith” turned on. Keep preparing. Keep expecting. Keep praising.
Because when you walk by faith, you’re not just waiting for the future; you’re preparing for it. And that kind of preparation invites God’s power to meet you there. Faith helps you act, believe and live as though what you’ve asked for is already yours. So, what are you doing today to prepare for the future God has for you?
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