The Bible says that God gives everyone the same measure of faith. But how do we arrive at the point of being absolutely certain that God can and will do what He promised, that He will take care of us and love us despite everything that happens or will happen?
By knowing God intimately. By hearing His promises. And by applying His promises to our lives.
In Romans 10, we discover that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. A lot of us Christians think that what Paul said only applies to unbelievers; however, what he said also applies to us who are already believers. See, when we’re given the faith to believe, not only are we hearing the promises that God made with our ears, but we’re also hearing His Word with our hearts and our spirits. And when we believe God’s Word, our thinking changes; His Word becomes intertwined with our everyday thinking and our faith is increased. As our faith grows, we begin to automatically apply His promises to our own lives and we no longer doubt His power and His depth of love for us.
When our faith is increased, we begin to see that the promises that God made not only pertain to the men and women of old, but they’re also for us as well, they apply those of us who are living in the here and now.
Another way to increase our faith is by experience.
In Luke 12:24, Jesus said: “Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?” Despite this, even us believers can derail our own faith by believing that if we don’t take care of everything ourselves, then no one else will, but that kind of thinking is flawed. Perhaps this thinking came from society.
See what I’m saying?
I grappled with Luke 12:24 for a long time. I was constantly worried about putting food on the table, buying clothing for my kids, and everything else. Because I didn’t listen fully to what He promised, I worked like a dog to provide everything for myself, I never enjoyed life. I didn’t trust God completely.
Finally, as I learned to step back and quit trying to do everything myself, and I began to trust in the Lord to provide me with everything I needed, the Lord came through each time. As a consequence, my faith increased. Hopefully, you’ll learn far sooner than I did that if you’ll step back and let God take care of you, He will indeed fulfill His promises in your life too. I pray that soon you’ll be able to say with absolute certainty: “It’s the Lord Who takes care of me, not me.”
Listen, my own mother, who claimed that she was an atheist up until she was near death, had absolute faith in God. She knew without a doubt that God would come through for her and He always did. If she can have faith like that, then so can we.
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (KJV) The key here is to realize that it’s not us moving those mountains, but God. Apart from God, we can do nothing. If we’ll just step back and let Him strut His stuff in our lives, miracles will happen. If we step back, take our own egos out of the equation, and let Him fulfill the promises He made then those mountains will be moved and our tiny little mustard seed of faith that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 20 will grow into a huge tree.
Verses to consider:
1 Pet.3:9
Romans 1:17
Romans 8:1-39
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