You Can Grow Your Faith (B)

This is part 20 of this study series.

We learnt from the last part that although everyone receives the same measure of faith at the new birth, faith operates in levels (Romans 12:3, Mathew 8:5-13, Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 4: 35-41). Looking at the instances where Jesus graded faith as little, great faith or no faith at all, we saw that upholding the integrity of God’s Word by believing and professing same does move someone’s faith level upwards. On the other hand, fear, doubt and unbelief stifles faith.

I promised that in this part of this study, I was going to share on ‘Ways to Grow/Develop and Boost our Faith’. Just before we move into that, the following is a summary of some of the important points we’ve seen about faith from this study;

1. Faith is the assurance, confidence, conviction, confirmation that we have the things we desire and hope for (Hebrews 11:1).
2. Faith Is Now: Every split second, every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year, every time is the time to act in faith (Hebrews 11:1).
3. Faith Is like air to the believer: We were saved through faith (Ephesians 2:8) and we continue to live by faith. Faith is a way of life for the believer; the righteous lives by faith (Hebrews 10:38). Indeed, the righteous without faith shall die. But Jesus came to give us life, and life is what God wants for us.
4. Faith reveals the righteousness of God: Every time we act in faith we will find out that God is true, just and faithful (Romans 1:16-17).
5. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God(Romans 10:14-17).
6. The stimulus for faith is the Word of God: Faith is not positive thinking, it is not common sense, faith is based on the Word of God (Romans 10:9-17).
7. Faith is activated through words and powered by love (Mark 11:22-24, Romans 10:9-10, James 2:26). Unforgiveness is a strong hindrance to faith (Mark 11: 25-26).
8. Faith is active not passive: Faith believes the Word of God, speaks the Word of God and acts on the Word it believes. Faith without corresponding action is dead (James 2:26, Hebrews 11:1 ).The victory that overcomes the world is faith.
9. Faith Pleases God: Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 10:38).
10. Love, Faith and Hope are interdependent and are 3 essential elements for victorious Christian living (1 Corinthians 13).

Ways to Grow and Boost your faith

In Part 9, we mentioned 3 ways we can develop our love nature; 1. Practice love, 2. Affirm to yourself that you are born of love, 3. Crucify the flesh/Be led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:24, 1 John 4:8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Romans 12:20-21, Luke 6:27-32).

Below are 5 ways we can develop and boost our faith

1. Feed on the right food

Faith is of the spirit and the food of the spirit is the Word of God (Matthew 4:4). So when we feed our spirit, we feed our faith.

Faith comes by continually feeding on the Word of God (Romans 10:14-17)…..

“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “ Lord , who has believed our report?” So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:14-17 NKJV

You want to grow/develop your faith? Give time to the Word. Faith can only be exercised based on one’s knowledge of the Word of God. Study the Word. Meditate on the Word.

If you are someone who gives little or no attention to the Word of God, great faith may never be an experience for you because you cannot have faith beyond the knowledge of the Word of God you have.

2. Live a life of faith

Practice faith. Hebrews 10:38 says that the righteous/just shall live by by faith… as a lifestyle.

“Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” Hebrews 10:38 NKJV

God has no pleasure in a faith-less believer. Faith pleases God, and it is faith in His Word that does that.

Faith is now, it is for every time and season. We never take vacation on expressing faith. Faith is for every day. And we practice faith everyday by believing the Word, Speaking the Word and Acting on the Word(Mark 11:22-24).

In the Bible story of Mark 4:35-41, Jesus described the disciples as having ‘No Faith’, because they did not consider speaking to the storms themselves. Instead they woke Jesus up from His restful sleep. There are actions in life Jesus expects us to take by ourselves through faith in Him (selah). The disciples could have exercised their faith. But alas, they did not believe they could stop the storm supernaturally. They tried all they knew to do naturally but it didn’t work. They did not think to exercise their faith.

The Christian walk is a walk of faith, not of the senses (II Corinthians 5:7), and NOTHING shall be impossible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). Amen!

So we have seen that the primary way we develop our faith is by hearing and hearing the Word of God. And the more we practice faith; the more we grow from faith to faith. Every faith victory is a boost for another one. Halleluyah!

We can also boost our faith through the following ways:

3. By Sharing our Faith

We read in Philemon 1:6, that our faith can become more effective as we share every good thing we have in Jesus Christ

“that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.“
Philemon 1:6 NKJV

How do you share something? By speaking about it, professing and testifying about it. We should speak regularly about our belief; speak on everything good thing we have in Christ Jesus. We are to make faith-based confessions of who we are in Christ Jesus.

Refuse to allow that feeling of depression and helplessness that creeps in from incessant complaints. Complains of how bad/terrible things are with us or around us, etc do not help our faith. We should rather choose to share faith-based and faith-inspiring testimonies. Because faith confessions always creates realities; we can make our faith effective by our confessions.

Let’s meditate and speak on who we are and what we have in Christ…and that not just during prayers but also in our everyday conversations.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23 NKJV

4. By Speaking In Tongues Regularly

Praying in the Holy Ghost by speaking in tongues edifies the believer; it charges up and strengthens the spirit-man (Jude 20, Ephesians 3:14-19, 1 Corinthians 14:4). It is also boosts your faith (Jude 20)….

“But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit..”
Jude 1:20 AMPC

We already know that the primary way faith grows is by the Word. Well, praying in tongues promotes spiritual strength and boosts faith.

Speaking in tongues of itself doesn’t really grow faith, however a charged up human spirit is more spiritually sensitive and alert and so can hear, be inspired or bring to mind the Word and this is what builds up faith during praying in tongues.

So make speaking in tongues a lifestyle. You can find other benefits of speaking in tongues in one of my recent study series; ‘The Whole Armor of God (X)’

5. By giving Glory and Thanksgiving to God always

Luke 10:17-21 is an interesting portion of scripture that captures Jesus giving thanks ahead of His victory on the cross over Satan….

“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.” Luke 10:17-22 KJV

Jesus gave thanks ahead of His victory on the cross. He rejoiced in the spirit and gave thanks to God. He saw the victory ahead. He saw Satan defeated before He even went to the cross. That was faith; He saw it, He believed it, He spoke about it. He was full of joy in the Spirit.

An experience I can liken this to is receiving a revelation on a particular Word that brings great joy and peace to the spirit-man. You feel elated in spirit, charged up and with a boost on your faith.

Thanksgiving boosts faith. Choose to be thankful always and in all things.

Abraham also stayed strong in faith through thanksgiving as we see in Romans 4:18-20….

“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” Romans 4:18-21 KJV

Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And that kept him persuaded that God was able to perform what He promised.

Prayer

Thank You precious Father for the gift of faith. Help us Father to remain strong in faith, strengthened in the spirit-man; steadfast with our confessions of faith, always full of praise to You, and fully persuaded about all Your promises in Jesus name. Amen!

Well, thank you for joining me again. Next time we will start looking at the last section of this study; ‘Victory Through Hope’.

Remember that you can access previous parts of this study as follows; Part 1: Study Background. Part 2: The Scope of the Christian Victory. Part 3: How Christians Gained Victory. Part 4: How Faith, Love and Hope Mix Together for Victorious Christian Living. Part 5: The Nature of God’s Love. Part 6: Characteristics of God Kind of Love. Parts 7 and 8:  Winning Through Love. Part 9: How to develop our love nature. Part 10: Giving Is Not (always) Love. Part 11:Victory Through Faith: Understanding Faith. Part 12: Victory Through Faith: The Righteousness of God. Part 13: The Stimulus for Faith. Part 14: The Faith of Abraham (A). Part 15: The Faith of Abraham (B). Part 16: The Blessing of Abraham. Part 17: Activate The Blessing. Part 18: Abraham’s Righteousness. Part 19: You Can Grow Your Faith (A).

The reason Lazarus was located at the rich man’s gate was because those that dropped him there knew the rich man had the required resources to help him. You can help someone in genuine need today, and that someone is located at your gate (around you).

We can be more. We can put lust, greed, strife, hatred, and everything evil which doesn’t identify with our identity in Christ under control. We can choose to by wisdom observe more and speak less, to choose to ignore and disregard inflammatory and annoying remarks, we can choose peace and calmness of spirit over claiming to be right or smart. We can be more.

Everyone has a ‘baseline’ level of faith that when rightfully applied yields results. However in scripture, we also hear Jesus grade faith on different levels- little faith, faith, great faith (Matthew 14: 22-33, Mark 4:35-41, Matthew 16:8, Matthew 8:10, 26, Luke 7:9). In some other portions of scripture we also find faith ‘classified’ differently- Growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3), Strong faith (Romans 4:20), Weak faith (Romans 14:1-3), etc. James chapter 2: 14-26 also talks about dead and living faith. So faith has grades/levels. Point is; you can grow your measure of faith and the question is; how?

So assuming we were to interchange mind with brain, science teaches that an intensively damaged brain becomes incapacitated. One way brain damage is expressed is as irrational behavior.

When I heard the story it sounded both dumb and ridiculous. What a dumb thief he must be! I mean people already saw him and being a closely-knit and cliquish neighbourhood, words would soon go round. Wouldn’t be long before someone identified him and pointed him out to the security parading the streets. Dumb thief.

Without the spirit, the Body dies (James 2:26). However, where the spirit remains, the body stays alive. Just as the body lives on food, the spirit lives on the Word (Matthew 4:4). The Word of God is Spirit and Life. As long as you feed your spirit with the relevant Word of God, you shall live..

“Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.

John chapter 15 verses 1-5 places a high priority on fruit-bearing which is possible when we abide in the Vine…

1“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:1‭-‬5 NKJV

The importance of ‘Branches‘ being fruitful and productive is made clear by the involvement of both the Vine and the Vinedresser.

The True Vine, The Vine Dresser and the Branches

Jesus identifies Himself as the True Vine, the Father as the Vinedresser and His followers as the Branches. The Vine supplies nourishment to the Branches while the Branches have the responsibility of bearing fruit.

The Vinedresser is just like a gardener or farmer, His job is to dress the branches. He cuts off none-fruit bearing branches and trims/prunes the fruit-bearing ones so that they can bear more fruit. According to Jesus, this pruning process cleans and prepares the Branches to bear more fruit, the same effect the Teaching of the Word has on the Branches (verse 3). A branch that undergoes continuous pruning, inevitably bears fruit.

What kind of a Branch are you? A fruit-bearing or non fruit-bearing one?

Understanding John 15: 1-5 ‘fruit’…

Considering the context of John 15, “Fruit’ as used here can mean;

(a) the fruit of the spirit {Galatians 5:9, 22} or (b) souls of men {James 5:7}.

While the primary force that gets people saved is the Gospel of Christ (Romans 10:9), a good Christian character does contribute to soul winning.

So are you winning souls and/or exemplifying good Christian character?

The True and False Vine

It is interesting and worthy of note that Jesus clearly identified Himself as the True Vine. So obviously, there can be a False Vine which is what we see Him talk about in Matthew 7:15-20. False Vines can be likened to False Prophets whose source and Supply is the Devil. They only yield bad/corrupt fruits.

One way to identify false prophets is by their expressed character (how they live and relate with others), not necessarily by what they say, preach or teach……”by their fruit you shall know them“. A human spirit that has not been recreated by the new birth cannot yield the fruit of the spirit. An unbeliever cannot express true love (agape), joy, peace, goodness, temperance, faith, etc (Matthew 7:15‭-‬20). Hence the Bible describes the purposeful marriage between a believer and an unbeliever as “an unequal yoke- inconsistent with the Christian faith” (2 Corinthians 6:14).

“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers [do not make mismated alliances with them or come under a different yoke with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership have right living and right standing with God with iniquity and lawlessness? Or how can light have fellowship with darkness?“
2 Corinthians 6:14 AMPC

Defining John 15:4- ‘Abide’ ….

‘To abide’ as used in John 15:4 means to remain, to stay, to live in union with, to dwell.

How to Abide in the True Vine

In John 15:4 Jesus speaks of a 2-way relationship;…… Abide in me and I in you.

4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me”….. John 15:4.

How does Jesus abide in us? By His Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells us. He stays and remains in us forever (except we denounce Christ).

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” John 14:16 NKJV

So we can say that Jesus is Always with us. Halleluyah! He never leaves. His part of ‘Abiding’ is assured. The Holy Spirit is in us, we just have to submit to His leading.

Now, how do we ‘Abide in Him?‘ In John 15:7, Jesus seems to elaborate further on John 15:4 by saying; if you let my Words Abide in You, whatever you desire will be granted.

” if you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.“
John 15:7 NKJV

So, we abide in Him when we spend time in His Word. And the way to spend time in the Word is by reading, studying, meditating, or listening to the Word of God.

Jesus Christ is the Word, staying in the Word is staying/remaining in Jesus.

Just as bread nourishes the human body, so does the Word nourish the spirit man (Matthew 4:4).

A fruit-bearing branch is the Believer who is yielded to the Spirit and habitually dwells on the Word. Implying that a combination of both the Word and the Spirit is necessary for fruit bearing.

Do you want to be productive and fruitful? The one thing you need to do- Abide in the Vine.

Difference Between Being In Christ and Abiding In Christ…..

Make no mistake about it, someone can be in Christ (born again), filled with the Holy Ghost and yet is not ‘abiding‘ in the Vine. Since we know that Jesus is always with us, then fruitlessness is only possible if a Branch is not doing its part.

Are you just In Christ or are you also Abiding In Christ? It is more beneficial for the one in Christ to also abide in Him.

Gains/Benefits of abiding in the True Vine

1. Guarantee of bearing fruit (John 15:4b)
2. Assurance of His Grace (John 15:5)
3. Your desires are granted (John 15:7c)
4. The Father is glorified (John 15:8)

Do not identify with the Believer Jesus talked about in verse 2a of John 15…

…”Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away” …

The ‘fruitless’ branch referred to in verse 2a is ‘In‘ Christ, yet not bearing fruit. Why? Because the branch did not choose to abide in the vine. This suggests that every branch has a choice to make; to abide in the vine or not.

A useless Branch is one who does not bear any fruit; and its end is undesirable….

” if anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”
John 15:6 NKJV

Choose to Abide In The Vine. Stay deeply rooted/planted in the Vine.

“Those who are planted in the house of the Lord Shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing, To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Psalms 92:13‭-‬15 NKJV

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Blessings & Love Always!

I recently visited with a relation who had been seriously ill in the recent past months and who is currently in the recovery phase. The person was looking really fresh and strong from the last time we met, when the illness was at it’s worse. So I complimented the person’s appearance noting specifically the apparent vigor and strength being expressed. The person’s response was; ‘I don’t really feel so strong “inside”….

Believe me when I say that I’ve felt same way before and it doesn’t only happen with recovery from an illness.

Do you sometimes feel weak on the inside, uncertain about something, undecided about a next step, troubled, tired, afraid, impatient, agitated or weary? There is a way to stay strengthened in the innerman.

Ephesians 3:14-19 is one of the Pauline prayers and it tells us how to become strengthened “inside”…

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
Ephesians 3:14‭-‬19 NKJV

We can be…… strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man…..yes, it is through His Spirit!

The way I understand it, ‘the innerman’ in Ephesians 3:14-19 is your spirit (being that a person is a tripartite being; a spirit who lives in a body and has a soul).

So our spirit can become strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

How does this happen?

According to First Corinthians 14:4a speaking or praying in tongues strengthens your recreated human spirit..

“A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.”
1 Corinthians 14:4 NLT

“He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.“
I Corinthians 14:4 NKJV

Below is an extract from Kenneth E. Hagin’s ‘Ten Reasons Why Every Believer Should Speak In Tongues’ offering explanations on 1 Corinthians 14:4……

……”In writing to the church at Corinth, Paul encouraged them to continue the PRACTICE of speaking with other tongues in their worship of God and in their prayer lives as a means of spiritual edification. Greek language scholars tell us that we have a word in our modern vernacular which is closer to the meaning of the original than the word “edified.” That word is “charge“—as used in connection with charging a battery. Therefore we could paraphrase this verse, “He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies, charges, builds himself up like a battery.” And this wonderful, supernatural means of spiritual edification—notice that it is not mental nor physical edification—is for every one of God’s children.”

Speaking in tongues edifies (charges up) your spirit-man, putting you spiritually alert and in control of your feelings. When we pray in tongues as we should, the Holy Spirit charges up our born again spirit (Ephesians 3:16).

Becoming strengthened in the inner man is not the only thing that happens when we pray in tongues, I believe that we also receive a fresh dose of wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge because the Spirit of God possesses all these traits/abilities (Isaiah 11:2 NLT). And suddenly we have clarity on how best to handle life’s challenges.

Therefore for discernment; pray in tongues. When at crossroads and in need of direction; pray in tongues. Feeling emotionally disturbed, weary and anxious; pray in tongues. When you don’t know what to do next? Pray in tongues. If you need understanding of a particular portion of scripture? Pray in tongues.

I find that some Christians don’t believe in speaking in tongues. Someone once said to me that it is impossible to be speaking same tongues for different prayer topics. Some others think it’s too monotonous or boring. Well, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. You’ll never really maximize the benefits of praying in tongues until you commit to making it a practice.

So any time you feel weak in spirit, fearful, confused? Charge up your spirit,…. pray in tongues. When you are charged up in the spirit, you are strengthened with might in the inner man, you are more alert in the spirit, you are more sensitive to the Spirit of God and your spirit gains dominance over your body and soul (mind).

Become strengthened in the innerman today; pray in tongues.

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You can find other Benefits of Praying in Tongues in ‘The Whole Armor of God (X)‘.

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Do not miss any of our publications, subscribe here to have each article delivered directly to your mailbox free of charge.

You can order the kindle and paperback copies of my book on healing ‘When the Doctor Says No’ from your local Amazon stores, and a subsidized pdf copy here.

Blessings & Love Always!