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July 24, 2025 19 mins

In this episode of the One Yes At A Time podcast, hosts Keidra and Susan continue their exploration of faith, discussing hindrances and growth factors of faith. They focus on the significant role of unforgiveness as a hindrance to strong faith and effective prayer, referencing Mark 11:25-26. They emphasize forgiveness of others and oneself as a key factor in strengthening faith. They discuss the need for a support system of other believers to help increase faith, and how a crisis of faith can affect even mature believers. They mention the 'deconstruction of faith' movement by some who were once influential believers, and the negative impact on those who once looked to them for spiritual wisdom. They highlight the necessity of placing faith in God rather than people. Other points of conversation include the significance of agreement in prayer, the danger of pushing newer believers beyond their faith limits, and the discipline of immersing oneself in God's word as the means of cultivating strong faith. The episode concludes with a prayer for God's help in strengthening faith and overcoming doubt. 

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Keidra Hobley (00:00):
Welcome back to the One Yes At A Time podcast.
I'm Keidra.
I'm here with my friend Susan,and we are so excited to jump
back into this topic of faith.
Oh yeah.
We have been talking about itfor the last couple of episodes.
We could talk about it for therest of the episodes to come.
But we just wanted to spend alittle bit more time on this
topic since it is so broad.
And I believe it's gonna be ablessing to you.

Susan Dies (00:21):
If you haven't listened to the previous
episodes, you may not know thatI am asking Keidra questions
about a topic that she taughtback in 2016-2018.
So I wanna pick back up onhindrances to faith.
Okay.
What are some things that keepus from growing in our faith?
Things that weaken our faith?
Mm-hmm.

(00:42):
Let's start there.

Keidra Hobley (00:43):
I think one of the greatest hindrances to faith
is unforgiveness.
Hmm.
Sometimes, we hold on to thingsthat we shouldn't be holding
onto, and yet we still thinkthat we can operate in great
faith.
I mean, the Bible is very clearabout that.
First of all, we have to forgiveso that we can be forgiven, you
know?
And so if you feel like yourfaith is being hindered, that's

(01:04):
the place I would suggest youstart.
Ask the Lord, search my heart,oh Lord.
Is there anyone that I need toforgive that I haven't forgiven?
And know that sometimes the oneyou need to forgive is not
outside of you, it is you.

Susan Dies (01:16):
Oh, wow.

Keidra Hobley (01:17):
And so sometimes we need to forgive ourself..
That's deep...
so that we can operate in greatfaith.

Susan Dies (01:21):
You said that our faith will not work for us, and
that God will not answer ourprayers, if we're walking in
unforgiveness and you werequoting Mark 11 where it says,
mm-hmm...
"When you stand praying...
if you have anything againstanyone, you are to forgive." And
interestingly, this verse comeson the heels of Jesus teaching

(01:42):
on faith.
And that's a hard one.
You know, we don't know whatpeople are having to forgive.
Mm-hmm.
We don't know what people havebeen through and it says if you
have anything against anyone.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, that covers everything.
A broad base.

Keidra Hobley (01:56):
Yeah.
And I think a lot of times wethink that it has to be
something major.
Like it has to be something big,some egregious sin, you know,
against us that we have toforgive.
You know, it could be somethingsimple we're harboring that is
affecting our day and everybodyelse in our life.
And so sometimes we need toforgive the person who cut us
off in traffic.
Yeah.

(02:16):
Simple thing.
That's part of the anything.
They don't even know thatthey've done anything to
irritate you.
Yeah.
And so it's not always aboutgoing to someone because you
don't even know that person thatcut you off.
It's just a matter of keepingyour heart pure.
And that's the whole point ofit, is to keep your heart pure
so that you can have answers toyour prayers.

Susan Dies (02:35):
Right.
But I love that you said it'snot always the big things.
Those are the things that cometo our mind, but it's the little
sins and the little things..
The little foxes...
the attitudes.
That's right.
A lot of times we've justaccepted"I'm just having a bad
day", or"that's the way it is",or"that's the way that I am"...
when in truth, those are sins inour life..
Yes...
that God, wants to deal with.

(02:56):
And so you were basically sayingthat when our prayers aren't
being answered, we need to firstjust check our hearts..
Mm-hmm...
and see if there's anythingthere, especially the sin of
unforgiveness, since that's theone that was pointed out in that
verse that could be hinderingour prayers.
And I don't think it reallycrosses our mind to confess our
sins before we come to God inprayer.

(03:17):
Yeah.
And yet we need to becauseIsaiah 59:2 says that"Our sin
separates us from God so that hedoes not hear." Now, that
doesn't mean that he can't hear.
Yeah.
He's sovereign.
He knows and hears everything,but it means in that moment the
only prayer that he wants tohear and answer is our prayer of
repentance..
That's so good...

(03:37):
of our own sin.
And once we deal with that...
that removes the barrierskeeping God from hearing and
answering our prayers.
So it's possible sometimes thatwe are the hindrance to our
own..
Oh, that's so good...
unanswered prayers.
Another thing that you said thatI thought was so good is you
talked about the fact that whenlife is comfortable..

(03:58):
Mm-hmm...
when we're comfortable, we'rereally just operating in our own
strength.
Yep.
That it's not until we'reuncomfortable that we find out
if we're truly operating infaith.
Mm-hmm.
Talk about that.

Keidra Hobley (04:10):
Yeah, because I mean, we can do this life in our
own strength if that's justwhere we wanna hang out.
But when we don't take any risk,and everything is comfortable,
and we're fine, and all of ourneeds are met, not by God, but
by our paycheck or by, thecomfortable things that we've
surrounded ourselves with.
When, when we're comfortable,those are things that we can

(04:32):
handle on our own.
You know, it's thoseuncomfortable situations where
we have to trust God.
Right.
We have to rely on God.
We cry out to the Lord.
We need Him, and it's in thosesituations that we really can
grow our faith because when wesee that he comes through for us
in a way that we know wecouldn't come through for
ourselves, that is, the exerciseof our faith right there.

Susan Dies (04:53):
You also said something that I think we're
seeing more and more of, andthat's that sometimes people
give up on their faith.
Mm-hmm.
Why do you think that happens?

Keidra Hobley (05:03):
Because they get discouraged and I think a lot of
times we give up on our faithwhen we try to believe God for
more than we have the faithmuscle to believe for.
Mm.
Okay.
And then we give up on himbecause we think that he didn't
answer.
And We will give up on our faithwhen we aren't surrounded by
other faith people because we'llstart leaning towards our own

(05:25):
understanding and our ownstrength, and when our strength
runs out and our understandingruns out, then we have nothing
left.
And so it, it's important thatwe have other people around us
who can encourage us when we getto that place so that we don't
give up.
Otherwise, we won't finish therace.

Susan Dies (05:42):
Unfortunately we're living in a time when many
Christians are doing somethingcalled deconstruction of their
faith..
Okay...
because they say it hasn'tworked for them...
people who once held influentialpositions in churches...
pastors and leaders, speakersand teachers...
people that a lot of otherpeople look to for spiritual
wisdom.
And because of that, thisdeconstruction of their faith

(06:05):
has had a tremendous negativeimpact on a lot of people.
And it makes me really sad forthem...
and for the people who are nowdisillusioned, because
everything that they were taughtby that person...
supposedly that person no longerbelieves.
Mm-hmm.
And so now it's causing them todoubt..
Yeah...
it's just causing so many peopleto stumble in their faith.

(06:26):
So what would you say to thosewho might be disillusioned by
someone who has walked away fromthat life of faith.
Mm-hmm.
And now they don't know what tobelieve because maybe they had
their eyes on that person..
Mm-hmm...
and not on God.
What would you say to them aboutthis issue of deconstructing
faith?

Keidra Hobley (06:46):
Yeah.
You kind of already said what Iwas thinking because the first
thing that came to my mind is wehave to put our faith in God and
not in man.
You know, God will use people tohelp us learn his word but our
faith is not to be put in thatperson.
The faith is in God.
And God didn't change.
And so even though it isdisheartening, it is sad, it may

(07:08):
be hurtful or whatever the casemay be, the word of God is still
the same.
So, no matter what the person toour left or to our right is
doing, it should not cause ourfaith to waiver if we have our
eyes focused on God, and not onman.

Susan Dies (07:22):
That's good.
Something I love that you saidthat I find really comforting is
that if we think about thatperson in our life that we
really look up to...
someone who has a faith that istried and true, the kind of
faith that we know is beentested...
and yet their faith still holdsfast...
and we're striving to have thatkind of faith that we see

(07:43):
displayed in their life....
it's good for us to rememberthat in the beginning of their
faith journey..
Mm-hmm...
they had the same measure offaith..
Mm-hmm...
that we have.
I heard Someone say that whilewe long to have the kind of
warrior faith that we sometimessee in some really strong
Christians that we might know,we need to be careful what we
wish for..
Yep.
Because we have no idea..

(08:04):
Mm-hmm...
what they've had to endure intheir life to come to the place
of having that kind of faith.
So it's a good desire for us towant to grow in our faith, and
to become stronger, but if we'rereally honest, as we talked
about even in our last podcast,no one wants to go through the
hard things in life that we haveto go through to have that kind
of faith.

(08:24):
But what's so encouraging tome...
is when I look at the peoplewhose faith I really admire...
is that when my time of trialcomes and it will come..
Mm-hmm...
it comes for everybody...
God has already given us our ownheroes of the faith, so to
speak, that we can look to as anexample of how to go through
those trials, and the testing ina way that honors the Lord and

(08:45):
that strengthens our faith.
Do you have some people likethat in your life...
where you just look at them..
Mm-hmm...
and you say, if I ever have togo through something like that..
Mm-hmm...
I wanna go through it in thesame way they did it.
Maybe not the exact samecircumstances.
Yeah.
But with the same attitude..
Yeah...
the same mindset, and the sameheart.

Keidra Hobley (09:04):
And the same level of faith.
You know, we don't know how towalk through things if we've
never seen someone walk throughit before.
And so, yeah.
I have one person who comes tomind in particular, like I just
watch her life..
Hmm...
and see how she walks throughthings and it just blesses me.
And there's things that she'swalked through, I pray I never
have to walk through.
Right.
But if I did, I've at least seenan example of what it can look

(09:28):
like.
When we can see someone who hasgone before us and we see them
on the other side of, it's anencouragement to us.
It is an encouragement.

Susan Dies (09:35):
It is.
Now speaking of people who wannabecome stronger in their faith,
you talked about how we cansometimes push people past the
limits of their faith.
Mm-hmm.
What does that mean and what isthe danger of doing that

Keidra Hobley (09:47):
I think the danger of doing that is you get
someone discouraged.
Mm.
And you cause people to thinkthat their faith isn't working..
Mm...
or that God doesn't hear theirprayers and then you end up
getting calls like,"Will youpray for me?
'Cause God listens to you.
He doesn't hear me.

Susan Dies (10:03):
I hear that sometimes.
Yeah.
And I'm thinking..
Yeah..
No, No, you pray.
I'll pray with you.
That's right.
That's right.
Uh, but yes, I will pray for youas well, but we want people to
learn to pray for themselves.
That's right.
Yeah.

Keidra Hobley (10:16):
That's right.
And sometimes we, with goodintention, you know, encourage
people to believe for certainthings that they just, aren't
strong enough yet to believe forthose things.
And so we just have to bemindful that we don't just
blanketly say things to peoplewithout having an understanding
of where they are and meetingthem where they are.

Susan Dies (10:35):
Right.
I'm glad you said that, aboutjust meeting people where they
are, because I think that's howGod is with us.
Mm-hmm.
I think he meets us right wherewe are and we need to do the
same.
And I think it's important forus to realize that it's not our
job to increase another person'sfaith.
We can encourage it, but when wetry to force someone to have

(10:56):
more faith, as you've said, inthe end, we actually wind up
hurting them more than we helpthem.
Yeah.
Another point you made that Iwant us to touch on is you said
those who have been walking withthe Lord for a long time...
I don't know what a long timeis.
Yeah, it's relative.
We won't define long time.

Keidra Hobley (11:11):
Yeah.

Susan Dies (11:11):
Um, but I'll just say you made the point, we
shouldn't still be struggling inour faith.
We should be full of faith.
Mm-hmm.
At some point, if we've trulybeen walking with God, that we
need to be full of faith.
And I totally agree with that.
We should be.
But sometimes even those whowalk the closest with Jesus can
have moments of doubt.

(11:32):
For instance, I think about thefact that the disciples walked
with Jesus for three and a halfyears.
Mm-hmm.
And they saw all the miraclesthat he did.
In fact, he even gave them theability to perform miracles, and
yet at times they stillstruggled to have faith.
So talk about that.
What causes Christians who havewalked with God to struggle with

(11:52):
unbelief.

Keidra Hobley (11:53):
Yeah.
I think the fact that we havethis flesh suit on is the first
indication that we're gonnastruggle, because we're human.
And so the fact that you or Imay struggle with unbelief
doesn't mean that we don't havefaith.

Susan Dies (12:08):
I love that.
I'm glad you said that.
Yeah.
Because there's too many peoplewho did walk with Jesus..
Mm-hmm...
who struggled with unbelief attimes.
Yeah.
And yet we know that they knewhim.

Keidra Hobley (12:19):
Mm-hmm.
And knew him intimately.
Right.
And so it's just yet anotherthing to surrender.
Right?
And allow it to be used to growour faith.

Susan Dies (12:28):
I was thinking about unbelief in the life of mature
Christians.
I do think there are times wheneven for the most mature
Christian we can struggle tobelieve.
For example, when we are sooverwhelmed by our circumstances
or maybe when our worst fearsseem to be coming to pass, it
can be a struggle, mm-hmm...
it's a different kind ofunbelief from the person who

(12:49):
just simply refuses to havefaith.
This is more of a crisis ofbelief that happens..
Yeah...
when we face something that isso overwhelming and we have to
make a choice to either focus onthe circumstances or we can
focus on him.
And this is the kind of unbeliefthat I think Peter experienced..
Yeah...
when Jesus invited him to stepout of the boat in the middle of

(13:11):
the storm..
Mm-hmm...
and come to him, which meantthat Peter had to trust that
Jesus was gonna make it possiblefor him to walk on water.
And we know that initially,Peter did have faith.
As long as his eyes were fixedon Jesus, Peter was able to do
the impossible.
Yeah.
He was able to walk on water.
But the moment that he took hiseyes off of Jesus.

(13:31):
He began to sink.
He focused instead on the storm,and his fears took over.
Mm-hmm.
And as he began to sink Jesusdid reach out...
and he saved Peter and they gotback in the boat.
But the thing that he said is,why did you doubt?
Mm-hmm.
And I think there's so manylessons in that story but the
biggest lesson that stands outto me is that we can't focus on

(13:53):
two things at once.

Keidra Hobley (13:55):
Mm.
That's good.

Susan Dies (13:56):
We can't focus on two things at once.
We can't focus on Jesus and thestorm at the same time.
We have to consciously choosewhich one we're gonna focus on,
which one we're gonna set ourthoughts on, and our choice is
gonna dictate whether or not ourfaith grows stronger in the
storm that we're facing...
or if we're gonna find ourselvesdrowning in our circumstances

(14:17):
and needing to be rescued byJesus.
Yeah.
But we could, instead, bewalking confidently toward him..
Mm-hmm...
in our storms.
That's what stood out to me.
What do you think about that?

Keidra Hobley (14:28):
I'm sitting here trying to take notes as you're
speaking because I love the factwhen you said we can't focus on
two things at the same time.
I never really thought about itlike that.
But that is why he is constantlytelling us, keep our eyes stayed
on him.
That's right.
Like focus on him.
Anything outside of him, it'sgonna be a distraction.
It's gonna cause us to sink.

(14:48):
It's gonna create room fordoubt.
But if we keep our eyes focusedon him, then there's no room for
doubt.

Susan Dies (14:54):
That's right.
I think it's Isaiah 26:3 thatsays,"You will keep in perfect
peace him whose mind issteadfast because he trusts in
you." Mm-hmm.
And that's talking about justkeeping our eyes focused on
Jesus.
For instance, we're goingthrough something really tough
in life.
Mm-hmm.
We can choose to dwell onthoughts about that thing that

(15:15):
is consuming us, or we canconsciously choose to redirect
our thoughts to God, and toprayer even if it's just,"Lord,
help me." Yeah.
Even if it's just Jesus, Jesus,Jesus.
We can't focus on the issue thatwe're consumed by..
Mm-hmm...
and focus on Jesus at the sametime.
Yeah.
And whichever one we choose isthe trail that we're gonna go

(15:37):
down.
Mm-hmm.
I'm gonna choose Jesus.
So good.
So just to change gears a littlebit, talk about the importance
of belief, especially as itrelates to two people agreeing
in prayers that we're offeringin faith.
Mm-hmm.

Keidra Hobley (15:51):
Yeah.
It, it's impossible to pray aprayer of agreement when there
is no agreement.
Mm.
I mean, that's the bottom lineof it, right?
How can two walk together unlessthey agree?
I mean, so we can't even pray,you know, in unity if we don't
agree.
And so I just mentioned that sothat we know what a prayer of
agreement is...
when the two people that arepraying are believing for the

(16:12):
same thing.
We're trying to create amultiplication effect through
our prayers when we are unitedand agree in prayer.
And so that's the point..
Right...
is so that we can be on the sameaccord, asking for anything,
believing for the same thing.
And I believe he wants us tocome to him.
He wants to be able to help us.
Right?
And then when we can get to thepoint where we no longer have

(16:34):
that unbelief, then he gets theglory for it.

Susan Dies (16:37):
That's right.
Yeah.
I think that's a perfect placeto end this episode.
We're outta time.
I hope that our listeners havegained a greater understanding
of just how multifaceted ourfaith life is and to be
encouraged that we all have ameasure of faith.
Mm-hmm.
God has given everybody, ameasure of faith, and our faith

(16:59):
grows based on what we choose todo with it.
So if you don't hear anythingelse that we've said in these
last three episodes, justremember, faith comes by hearing
the word of God.
We've got to get into God'sword...
find out what he says about ourcircumstances and everything
that concerns our heart, andreally everything about our
lives.
Mm-hmm.
The Bible is the book that Godhas given to reveal his heart to

(17:23):
us, but also how we can live alife that honors him, a life
that he wants to bless.
And as we do that, as we hearGod's word, as we meditate on
it, as we memorize it, as we putit into practice...
we're gonna see that God's wordis absolute truth...
and over and over again we aregonna find him faithful.
Amen.

(17:43):
And that is what is gonna growour faith.
Keidra.
Pray us out.

Keidra Hobley (17:47):
Amen.
Father, we thank you for thisword.
Thank you for your instructionson how we can grow our faith.
Father, even in our belief, helpour unbelief.
Yes Lord.
We pray right now, dear Lord,that anywhere, in our hearts or
in our minds where there isdoubt...
that you, Father, you are theGod of answers that you would
reveal to us what it is that weneed to have revealed to us so

(18:09):
that we can eliminate the doubt,dear Lord.
And even despite the doubt thatwe still will choose to believe
you, to trust you..
Yes...
and to receive your word withoutquestion.
Dear Lord, we thank you for thistime.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
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