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.
Hebrews 11:6
One of the most repeated phrases in the Bible is, "The just shall live by faith." (Hab. 2:4; Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38) If God chose to have a phrase repeated that many times in the Bible than it must be important. This phrase shows us that faith is not supposed to be a 'once in a while' action.
Faith is the lifestyle of the righteous person!
As we continue to read the Word we find more statements that show us how important faith is in the Christian walk. We see that:
It is the way we access grace for our salvation. (Ephesians 2:8)
It is the only way we can please God. (Hebrews 11:6)
The lack of faith hinders miracles. (Matthew 13:58)
It is through faith that we get answers to prayer. (Mark 11:24)
So it is clear that faith is important. In fact faith is absolutely necessary for the life of a believer! The question then comes, "How do we get faith?"
Our first answer to that question is that we already have faith. Romans 12:3 states that "God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." However there are ways that we can build the faith that God has given us.
1) We build our faith through hearing the Word.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17
This is the number one way to build faith in our lives, through the Word of God. This means that we should be constantly immersing ourselves in the Word. We should be reading the Word, quoting the Word, listening to sermons based on the Word, reading books that expound the Word, and meditating on the Word. This should be our constant practice throughout the day, every day!
2) We build our faith through praying in the Holy Spirit.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit
Jude 1:20
Praying in the Holy Spirit is allowing the Holy Spirit to pray through us. One way to do this is to pray in tongues. By praying in tongues we let go of control with our minds and allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us in a heavenly language. Paul said:
For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
1 Corinthians 14:2
Praying in tongues is a way that we speak directly to God His perfect will for our lives and therefore build up our faith.
3) We build our faith through prayer and fasting.
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:20-21
Jesus said that the unbelief only goes out through prayer and fasting. Fasting, in many ways, has become The Forgotten Power of the Church. It is through fasting that we can build our faith to truly do the impossible!
In these three ways we can build our faith and become faith giants!
Faith Giants!! I like it, very good word. I would add a 4th step, though, exercising our faith. "Faith without works is dead." If we don't use it and act on it our faith doesn't amount to much. Of course that being said, part of acting on it is listening to (or reading) the Word, praying in the Spirit and fasting.
ReplyDeleteTrue! By exercising our faith we build it stronger like our spiritual muscle.
Delete