Increasing Faith
In my last sharing, “A Lack Of Faith,” I spoke of how a lack of faith hinders receptivity. It doesn’t render God powerless or do away with His willingness it simply renders the person powerless to receive and be a part of what God wishes to do.
This should cause us to realize the importance of being built up in our faith. Hopefully ministers of the word will be encouraged to make sure that what they speak and teach gives place to faith. Faith is, and should be, of great importance to any and every believer. It should be a staple of the equipping call to the five fold ministry gifts.
Since everything God wishes to do here on earth requires the church (Born again believers in Jesus) to be in a position to hear from Him and then believe He has empowered them by His Spirit to get it done, faith matters greatly.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Make no mistake about the fact that God rewards diligent seekers. Being a diligent seeker however begins at the point of one’s faith. You see, it is faith that moves a person to diligently seek God with a yearning to hear Him speak and reveal His desires to them.
So we should be eager to learn what the Scripture says abut increasing faith.
One instruction is found in Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
There’s something about praying in tongues that is very powerful. It is a faith builder because to pray in such manner invokes faith to start with. You see to pray and believe that it is actually a language understood by God is an act of faith to start with. To do so in increasing measure is a faith builder. It is an act of believing.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The word in the Greek interpreted as the word of God is Rhema. Rhema means an utterance. It is the act of hearing God speak. So whether it is through a person who is preaching or through reading the Scriptures and realizing it is God who is speaking to you, that is when faith is activated.
This means a believer should be seeking God in prayer, in the reading of Scripture, listening for the Holy Spirit to speak in the moment, and praying in the Spirit. Those who diligently give themselves to these practices, as an act of relating with God as opposed to a mere religious duty, increase their faith.
So it is important to ask ourselves, Am I reading the Scriptures from a place of relationship with God? Am I praying from a place of relationship? Am I open to praying in the Spirit? Am I listening to hear God speak to me regularly? It is by these relationship tools that we increase our faith in Him. Because it is by knowing Him that faith comes.
