God has not blessed one person with more faith than He blessed anyone else. When we see someone prospering according to the Word, whether it is their health, their finances, or their family, people get the impression that God must have given that person more faith. But, every believer has been given a measure -the same measure – of the kind of God-like faith.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.” -Ephesians 2:8
“For I say through the grace that was given to me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith.“ -Romand 12:3
So, by reading this we know that faith comes from God. It is the ‘gift of God.’ But He has given it to every believer.
It is not something that God is going to do. We are not trying to get faith. We’re not praying for it. We already have it. Every believer already has this measure of God-like-faith.
God gets everyone started off the same way. Then your faith grows according to what you do with it.
I have to say, I actually never thought about faith this way, until I was lying in bed last night talking to God. I have always prayed for God to increase my faith. We can’t just wrapped out faith up in a napkin, and hide it like we haven’t used it at all. It’s up to us what we do with that measure. We are the one who increases it, not God.
God certainly furnishes the means where faith is increased. We can increase our faith by doing these two things.
- Feeding on the Word of God and exercising it.
- Putting it into practice.
The Bible very often uses natural human terms to teach spiritual thoughts. An example of how Jesus taught in His earthy ministry. And we can read it in the Gospels.
“It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every won’t that proceeds out of the mouth of God.“ -Matthew 4:4
Here Jesus is using a natural human idea to convey a spiritual thought. He is saying to us that what bread (or food) is from the body, the Word of Godis to the spirit, or the heart of man.
You know if you eat food regularly, it will build you up physically. But, if you eat right and do not exercise, all you do it get flabby and out of shape.
It’s the same way, you need to feed your faith on God’s Word. But we also need to exercise your faith, because if we don’t, our faith muscles will be flabby. We ain’t be able to do much spiritually when it comes to moving the mountains in your life.
We can feed our spirit on God’s Word and feed our faith, because God’s Word is faith food. But, we also need to exercise it, to develop it and cause it go grow.
In Romans 10:8, Paul called the message he preached the word of faith. He called the Word of God the Word of faith, because the Word will cause faith to come into your heart. God’s Word will build assurance, confidence, and faith in your heart.
The measure of faith we’ve received can be increased by doing things like feeding it with God’s Word and by practicing it in everyday living.
I’ve heard people say, “You either have faith or you don’t.” in one sense that’s true. You’re either a believer or a non-believer. But in another sense when people say that, they are implying that every believer has faith in every respect the same as another believer. But I don’t think that’s true. One person’s faith may not be the same as another person’s faith. There can be a measurable difference. The Word of God tells us that our faith can grow. That one person’s faith may not be as developed or as strong as another person’s faith.
It’s up to use what we do with the measure of faith God has given. We can cause our own faith to grow. For example, you can feed and exercise it so that when the storms of life come along, you will have strong faith. The person who does nothing with their faith will have weak faith.
From Pity to Praise 