“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
(Heb. 10:35-36)

In the early days of our ministry, the motto in our household was, “Every man for himself.” If any of us needed or wanted anything, we had to believe God for it. It was a walk of faith, for sure!

I was continuing to believe God for clothes, as well as other things we needed for the ministry. I was quoting the Word and thanking God daily for His blessings and for the manifestation of my prayers.

One day a lady came up to me in church and said, “My sister owns a dress shop in another town and she wants to give you a new dress. If you will take the time to go see her, I know she will bless you.” About two weeks later, I drove down to see her. I was very excited about the new dress!

When I arrived at the dress shop, the lady was very kind. She started bringing things for me to try on. I picked out a dress and told her which one I wanted. She said, “Oh, I want to give you more than just one.”

I was so flabbergasted and thrilled I could hardly speak. At any rate, after all was said and done, I came home with three dresses and two casual outfits – all beautiful and brand new.

I was beside myself. I could hardly wait for my husband and son to see how God had blessed me. I laid the clothes out ever so neatly on the bed, so that when they came in they couldn’t help but see everything. I wanted to see their reaction.

But their reaction was different than what I had expected. They both peered into the bedroom from the hallway as if they couldn’t walk on in and said pitifully, “Where’s ours?” I said, “Use your own faith!”

That may seem harsh to you, but like I said before, in our household it was every man for himself. We each had to believe God, using and developing our individual faith. After all, each person is accountable for what they do with their own faith.

The Bible says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6). I don’t know about you, but I want to please Him! One of the ways we can please Him is to trust Him and act on our faith.

There are many examples in the Bible of men and women with different levels of faith. Jesus told some they had great faith and others they had weak or little faith.

He told the centurion, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matt. 8:10b). Jesus was amazed when this Gentile man simply asked Him with such great faith to speak the Word only. Jesus said, “As thou hats believed, so be it done unto thee” (Matt. 8:13).

Another time, a woman of Canaan came to Jesus asking Him to heal her daughter who was vexed with a devil. He said, “It is not meet to take the children’s (Jews) bread, and to cast it to dogs (Gentiles)” (Matt. 15:26).

But she worshiped Him and said, “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table” (Matt. 15:27). Jesus answered, “O woman, great is they faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt” (Matt. 15:28). Notice that each time He found faith, He was moved to action.

There are other occasions of great feats of faith in the Bible. There was the leper, the blind man, and the woman with the issue of blood. However, Jesus did not comment on their great faith. But He did comment on those occasions where He saw little faith.

In Matthew, Jesus said to not take thought or worry about anything, that He would take care of you, “O ye of little faith” (Matt. 6:25-34). They one day the disciples went into a ship, and when they came to the middle of the sea, a great storm came up and covered the shop with water. Jesus was asleep in the boat. His disciples awakened Him, thinking they were going to die. He said, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” (Matt. 8:26).

We can clearly see from these passages that God wants us to trust Him totally, without reservation and without fear, in every area of our lives. We can’t even be born again until we trust and receive Him through faith.

Everything in this life requires faith. In fact, the subject of faith alone could fill up the pages of many books. It is important to know that the Lord expects each one of us to exercise our faith and grow in our faith walk with Him.

The Lord spoke to me one night during a Believer’s Convention in Fort Worth, Texas, while Brother Kenneth Copeland was preaching. The Lord told me that if I had not used my faith for clothes and other things I needed early in the ministry, I never would have been able to believe Him for the church that we built and paid for, not to mention the many other areas of ministry where we had to believe God or sink. He told me to never stop my faith projects, because they keep my faith alive and working.

If you will learn to trust God for the small things in life, you can and will believe Him in greater areas. You will believe God for the supernatural. You will believe God for things thought impossible. You can, by developing your faith, have great confidence in Him and His Word. You will do great exploits for Him on this earth!

In time my little family did use their own faith, and they were blessed just as I was. So my friend, I say to you. “Use your own faith!”

Source: Learning to Trust God’s Faithfulness by Jeanne Caldwell
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers