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Faith Groweth
-Growing Your Faith-
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other
aboundeth; II Thess. 1:3 KJV
That a Christian person has faith is a fact
assumed by both Scripture and Christians everywhere. We are called the
"people of faith". We speak of "living by
faith". We talk of those who receive Christ as Lord as those who
"come to faith". Romans chapter 12 and verse 3 tells us that
everyone (speaking of those who trust in Jesus) has a "measure of
faith".
Yet, we have a problem, for the Scriptures tell
us that if we have a small amount of faith we can move mountains, do miracles,
and that nothing would be impossible to us. And for the most part we
don't see it happening.
If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matt. 17:20b
And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Luke 17:6
If we are honest most of us would have to admit
we have not been moving many mountains! The mountain in your life may be
a troubled marriage. It may be a job, or the lack thereof. You may
have sickness or disease looming as a large impassible mountain in front of
you. Or perhaps you are bound by habits or drugs or alcohol and it is a
mountain in your life that you cannot move.
And you've given up.
In our opening verse the Apostle Paul writing
to the Church at Thessalonica commended them because their faith was growing
exceedingly. Note: IT WAS GROWING. And not just growing, but
growing EXCEEDINGLY!!
Faith can GROW!
The problem with many of us is, when a
problem comes into our life that we need to exercise faith for, we find
ourselves with faith that has not grown. We are like a person who has
never gotten out of bed for the last 20 years and who suddenly decides to run the
New York Marathon. And can't even walk!
Why?
NO EXERCISE!!
Yes, we all believe God can heal your marriage,
that cancer, or a broken relationship. But because we have not exercised
our faith until now we find ourselves like that bedfast person - unable to
move.
But there is HOPE! Hallelujah! Faith can
grow!
It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.
Mark 4:31-32
Note: "when it is sown" (i.e.: when
you put it to work) it GROWETH and BECOMETH!
In those verses Jesus is speaking of the
Kingdom of God but principle is the same. You must put your faith to
work before it can grow. It must be exercised. Like a muscle that
is not used, faith that is not used atrophies. Exercising the muscle
causes it to grow and become strong.
Referring back to our opening verse where Paul
commends the Church because their faith is growing ... Just HOW was it
growing? What was the reason?
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing.
Therefore, among God's churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in
all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
All this is evidence that God's judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which
you are suffering. 2 Thess 1:3-5 NIV
Oh my!
See, I don't want trials and tests and suffering
and persecution. I just want to exercise faith and believe God and see
miracles .............. well..... It's during those times that if you will just
hang steady, hold onto God, stay in His Word, worship and praise Him that your
faith will grow .. EXCEEDINGLY!
Anyone can be steady in the good times.
Anyone can praise Him during the times of blessing. Can you praise Him
during the hard times? Can you trust Him when it seems you can't find
Him? THAT is the question.
Abraham had years and years of ... nothing
happening. He had promises from God but time was going by. Abraham
went from being a young man to a middle aged man to an old man and still there
was no
fulfillment of what God had told him was going to happen. What did
Abraham do?
Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb;
yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in
faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Rom. 4:19 -21 NASU
His faith grew!!
So can yours.
Exercise
My wife suffered from arthritis. She had it in
her shoulders, back, hips, arms, legs, knees .. just all over. She was
never without pain. The side effects of the medication were very hard on
her and she spent much time in bed.
One Saturday evening during our worship and
intercession time the Lord began to minister to me about this matter of
exercising faith. We were singing a song titled "Amen".
The words are:
For every good thing God is
doing within me
That I cannot see
Amen
And for the healing virtue of Jesus that's flowing in me
Amen
For every hope that is still just a dream
By trusting in You Lord it becomes
Reality
I stake my claim
And seal it in faith
I say amen
Amen Amen
So be it Lord
Your word endures
I say Amen
As we sang that song and
worshipped the Lord I "saw" - it was an impression in my mind and
spirit - that we must use the faith we have. We must say
"Amen" to the Lord on the level we are on and not try to be super
spiritual giants.
Because of our Christian teaching
we all believe God can do ANYTHING. If we really believed that we would
see it .. but we SAY that because that's what Christians say. We
agree mentally to it and it is a fundamental doctrine we hold. But do we
believe it with a belief that produces results?
So the first thing we must do is
be realistic about where we are. It does not surprise God if you say to
Him, "I agree that You can do anything, but I don't have the faith for
that." If you need a thousand dollars but only have faith to believe
Him for $100, you can struggle and struggle trying to believe for the thousand
.. or you can believe Him for the $100 and start your journey!
So I told Twyla, "Can you
believe God to be pain-free for a half hour?" She was believing God
for total healing but had not received anything .. and years had gone
by. She thought about it and said, "Yes. I can do that."
So I told her, "Start believing God to be pain free for a half
hour. When you get that working, then start believing God to be pain
free for an hour. This way you exercise and build your faith!"
To make a long story short, she
started believing God for a half hour pain-free. And it happened!
When she had that working she increased her believing to an hour being pain
free. Today she is totally healed, takes no medication, and has been
that way for a number of years. All the praise goes to God!
She was on thyroid medication for
about 17 years and the first part of this year she exercised her faith in that
area. Again, the short story is --- She is TOTALLY healed! Her
last medical checkup the first part of this month (July 2005) the doctor's
report came back - Thyroid Normal - No Medication Needed!! All the
glory and praise goes to the Lord.
FAITH WILL GROW!
But you must exercise it.
Let the Lord lead you as to how
you should do that. I know a man who exercised
his faith by riding a bus as far as his money would take him, then believed
God to get him back home. Part of the deal was he never told anyone he
was out of money. He never told anyone he was traveling by faith.
And he never told anyone he need a thing.
He started out by only going a few
miles from home and believing God to get him back home.
In time the Lord called him to the
Mission Field and he traveled the world by faith. He had no Churches
supporting him. He believed God.
I am not saying that you
should do that!
I share that as a demonstration
that the Lord will lead us in different ways, causing our faith in Him to
grow. Let Him lead you.
Last Things
We cannot manufacture faith. We
cannot produce faith. Jesus is the AUTHOR and the FINISHER of our
faith (Heb. 12:2) Faith comes by hearing Him. (Rom. 10:17)
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Get involved in a good
Bible-believing faith-filled Church
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Read the Bible daily, asking
the Lord to open your eyes to Him
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Spend time worshipping the
Lord - ALWAYS - no matter how things are going
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Ask the Lord to open your
ears to Him
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Trust Him no matter what the
situation looks like
Unbelief hinders God. As
Christians we don't like to admit unbelief, but honestly, we have areas of
it. For instance, if you need healing and are trying to get healed,
you have not "seen" with the eye of faith the fact that by His
stripes you WERE healed! I Peter 2:24 KJV "Trying to get healed"
and "by whose stripes ye WERE healed" are opposites. You
need to see the finished work of Calvary my friend.
And so, like the man who brought
his son to Jesus' disciples to cast an evil spirit out of him and they could
not, we often experience failure. When asked why, Jesus said it was
because of unbelief.
Like that man we need to cry
out, "Lord! I believe! HELP MY UNBELIEF!"
That is my prayer today .. for
both you and me.
In Jesus name.
REMEMBER - YOUR FAITH CAN
GROW! Press in. The victory is there for you.
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