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How To Make Your Faith Grow
by Dinora Garza How big is your faith? Would you like to increase it? How do we make our faith "grow"? The biggest obstacle to having a great faith is holding a false idea of what faith is. Some people imagine faith as a spiritual substance or object that we can make grow and we ask ourselves, "How can I increase something so abstract?" On the other hand, others imagine faith as a force, an inner power that can make anything happen. Both concepts of faith are entirely wrong. Faith is something much more simple. "Faith is, simply put, believing what God says" When God promised Abraham that from his descendants would come the Christ, Abraham believed God's words, "He believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." With that single act of trust, he gained himself the title of: "The Father of Faith." In contrast with positivism, Biblical faith is always associated with God, because it is nothing else than trusting in Him. Do you trust God? Do you believe what He says about Him and His Son in the Bible? Then, you have faith, and depending how much you trust in His Word and His promises, you'll know if your faith is big or small. Because of our misconceptions about faith, we usually think growing in faith is a really hard thing to do, but it is quite the opposite. First, you need to understand that relating to God is not much different from relating to any other person. How do you come to trust a friend? The more you know him, the more you trust him, right? It is the same with God; the more you know God, the more you will trust Him. God says that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." This means our faith is increased through God's Word and nothing else. So keep going to church, read your Bible, listen to sermons, and above all, study Jesus, who is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature. The Bible must become indispensable to you if you want your faith to grow. Jesus said, "He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him." So, if we obey God, He will reveal himself to us, which in turn will increase our faith, because remember: the more we know Him, the more we'll trust Him. One beneficial discipline you can try is to memorize God's promises and cling to them in times of trouble. Knowing "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him" has carried me through many trials with a content heart and peaceful mind. Your faith will increase as you see God fulfilling His promises. Know God better, obey Him, ask Him to guide you and memorize His promises. The secret to a great faith is no secret at all. It was Jesus who said that if only we trust in Him, we will see the wonder of what God can do... "I assure you that if you have as much faith as a grain of mustard-seed you can say to this hill, 'Up you get and move over there!' and it will moveyou will find nothing is impossible." (Matthew 17: 20) I am a Christian. My passion is to know the Lord, and help others to understand His character and will. Read one of my blogs at: onetruthonegod.wordpress.com Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |