Did you know that your faith grows when you use it? Over the years I have ministered to people who thought that faith was some magical force that only ‘special’ people have, and they weren’t included in that list!
Let’s get one thing straight right from the beginning. God has no favourites. Everyone is His favourite. Anyone who knows Jesus as Lord and Saviour already has been given a measure of faith (Romans 12:3).
Now, you’re like me, your first thought was, “Ok, I got given a little bit of faith, but not enough to do much with!” When I was first saved, it took me quite a while to realize that it doesn’t take much faith to get things done.
One scripture that I really had to think about was, “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” (Matthew 17:20b).
Because of things that had happened in my life, I couldn’t believe that Scripture could be true for ME! It would work for every other Christian, but I wasn’t… let’s just say it was a long list of disqualifications that would take up more than this blog post!
The first thing God did was work in my heart. He told me how much He loved me and that through Him and what Jesus did on the Cross, I was worthy.
That gave me the courage to believe that maybe this Scripture was for me. The first thing I had to figure out was, what is the size of a mustard seed? In my research, I found out it is a very small seed, so that was encouraging. My next question was, “What exactly is faith?”
That question led me to the Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” So for me, that meant that I needed to have something specific that I needed to have faith for.
If you have never exercised your faith before this is a good place to start. What area in your life do you need God to come through for and supply? Do you need healing in your body, financial provision or relationship help? It doesn’t matter what it is; the important thing is to figure out exactly what it is that you need.
Once you have done that, you need to make sure that it is something that God wants for you. Many times we believe for things that are not good for us. Check it out in Scripture first. If God says it is for you, then you are good to go.
Now it comes time to start building your faith muscle!
The first step is to pray and ask God for it. Simple right? Now is when things can get rough. You have to believe that God is going to answer your prayer and I can promise you this: your faith will be tested!
Like when you start to lift weights, you are going to feel it, and you will be tempted to give up because it feels too hard. That is when you have to stand your ground.
For everybody and every situation it may be different, but here are some tests I have gone through on the road to building my faith.
Finances – Believing God for financial provision and God asking me to not only tithe, but give offerings with the little bit of money that I had.
Healing – Continuing to work and not stay in bed, when I was feeling sick.
Relationships – Forgiving someone who hurt me badly and still treating them with God’s love, even though they didn’t deserve it.
Each test was hard, in fact, some of the hardest things I have done in my life! You are probably wondering what happened? Well…
God miraculously provided the money I needed and on top of that replaced the leaking roof on my house, and I paid NOTHING for it.
As I stepped out and continued to work even though I didn’t feel like it, I would start to feel better over time.
God has healed those bad relationships, and some of the people involved have even come to know Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Now does that mean that I have passed every test in my life? Nope!!! I have failed many times on my journey to having supernatural faith. But, God is faithful to me and allows me to take tests again and again until I pass.
Over time, as your faith grows, you will be able to believe God for bigger and bigger things, like a muscle that can lift more weight. There will come a time when you will be able to have faith for anything!
Now one thing to remember about building your faith, most things do not come right away. There will be a period of time before it comes and many times it will not come in the way that you imagined. You have to trust that God knows how to supply your needs.
I am so thankful to the Lord for His patience with me as I have learned to walk by faith. He has never let me down, and He will never let you down. What are you waiting for? It’s time to build that faith muscle.
~ By Kim Thompson-Pinder
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Comments(2)
Edward Higenyi says
April 21, 2018 at 7:00 amI have been blessed. Thanks so much.
Edward Higenyi says
April 21, 2018 at 7:03 amI have received what I have been looking for. I will be speaking to the youth in our Church about “developing a faith muscle ” Thanks so much.