Grow in Faith--Day 22 Through the Bible

January 22

(If you are wondering why there were 2 posts for Jan 21, it was due to a "senior moment" on my part.)

I would like for us to consider the Growing in Our Faith commentary written by Dr. Stanley in today's study. In Romans 13:3, God says He has dealt a measure of faith to every person. This might remind us of the parable of the talents where each person was given a reward comparable to the increase of their lord's investment. Could it be God has given us a measure of faith and we are responsible for seeing that it grows?
(How we dread the word "responsibility"! However, let's push past the thoughts that originate in our human nature and listen to what God is teaching us through this study.)

We see that Jesus expects us to USE our faith--to exercise it--which results in increased faith. Just as using our muscles can increase their size, even so--exercising our faith can increase the amount of faith we have. Dr. Stanley says that: "We grow in faith when we:
1) Hear from God
2) Obey what He says, and then
3) Acknowledge God's faithfulness to His word in our lives."

Romans 10:17, teaches us that "faith comes by hearing the word of God". We must obey what we "hear" God saying or else we obviously do not believe what He is telling us in His Word. If we really believe Him, we will without doubt, follow up on what His word says with some type of action (James 2:17, says,"faith without works is dead".) Acknowledging God's faithfulness to His word in our lives serves to open our eyes to the fact that God is involved in our lives and that He does what He says He will do. When we acknowledge what He has done for us, it creates expectation. In other words, when we read God's word (hear) and follow what He says (obey), we will begin to anticipate what God is going to do for us.

Dr. Stanley goes on to say, "A faith challenge requires:
consistency,
endurance,
perseverance,
and watchfulness.
We must continue to stand in faith until the thing for which God challenged us to believe comes to pass."
Dr. Stanley completes his commentary by saying, "Endure until you see the fulfillment of God's Word".

This, indeed is a challenge for us to be intentionally focused on what God says in His Word until we see His will take shape in an amazing way in our lives. Like Peter, we must not lose our focus and become distracted by the storm around us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus. The more we know Him, the more our eyes can be opened to why we can trust Him. It is NOT a matter of "blind faith"! It is faith that is based on knowing God's faithfulness and knowing He loves us even more than a father who treasures his children and would give his life in place of theirs. That is exactly what God has done for us.

God desire for us is that we enjoy a wonderful relationship with Him--to have a life where "goodness and mercy shall follow (us) all the days of (our) lives and (we) will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6)!  What an incentive to grow our faith! Psalm 11:1, reminds us: "In the LORD I put my trust". And, verse 4 reminds us how great is our God: "The LORD is in His Holy Temple, The LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold."