Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand.One area that God wants us to grow in is our faith. You might wonder, "How does my faith grow?" Does it just happen by accident? Will it grow in my devotional time, or the more I go to church? Will my faith automatically grow?"
(2 Cor. 10:15)
Does faith grow because I got in the car this morning and said "OK, I believe, I believe, I believe, I've got more and more faith"?
No, faith is just like a muscle. You have to learn how to use your faith. The more you use it, the stronger it gets.
The Bible also says in Romans that faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). In other words, the more of the Bible you hear, the more your faith will grow.
The more you hear, the more you will actually believe what you are reading because the truth of that Scripture will explode in your heart.
For example, read James 1:17 which says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." You know in your mind this Scripture is true, but all your life you have heard things like, "God did this to me," or "This bad thing happened."
You have heard people get mad at God for a husband or wife leaving them, for example.
You know in your mind that God gives good things, but you have been bombarded with hearing these bad things people thought God had brought their way. So it's hard for you to be fully convinced that God really is a good God.
In your mind you think, "Yeah, He is a good God, but...." That big BUT keeps your faith from growing in this area of believing that God is a good God.
Instead, take that Scripture and start chewing on it. "I know that every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights." Say it over and over. "That is the kind of God my God is. He gives good gifts. He gives perfect gifts. I don't care what other people say. I don't care what I have always heard. I know that the Bible says this is the kind of God He is."
Suddenly your faith begins to grow. When somebody starts to point a finger at God to shaft Him, you say, "Wait a minute...." You rise up on the inside because that part of your faith is strong and you know what the Bible says who God is and the kind of gifts He gives.
Maybe there is another area where your faith is weak. Maybe it's hard for you to believe that God really forgave you. You know in your mind that He did because the Bible says that if you ask the He will forgive you (1 John 1:9).
But it's so hard for you to forgive yourself and other people. You know in your mind that He forgave you, but it's hard to feel the freedom that a forgiven person really feels.
So take a forgiveness scripture and start cramming it in your brain. You realize that God has cast your sins as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12)—chew on that again and again.
All of the sudden you will realize that it's really true, not because you have pumped yourself up, but because your faith has grown as you have chewed on it and meditated on it!
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