I can’t help but be amazed at the intricacies of the human body. It boggles my mind to know that every muscle you and I will ever have is present when we are born. Think of that…from the top of our heads to the tip of our toes…every muscle is present and accounted for when we took our first breath!
Well, just as a baby has all the muscles he or she will ever have at birth,…as a new, born-again believer, you received all the faith you will ever need. We are each given a measure of faith according to Romans 12:3. However, some have a larger faith (not necessarily more) because they have exercised, stretched, and strengthened what they were given.
I think of the story when the disciples failed to cast out a demon and asked Jesus the reason for their failure. He answered, “Because you have so little faith.” This was not the quantity of their faith but the quality …their faith needed more exercise. Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
The Bible contains many promises…I would like to consider two of them. It is 2 Corinthians 5:17 that says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.” And then we find in 2 Peter 1:3... “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” Do you have the faith to believe those two promises?
Hebrews chapter 11 is filled with men and women who believed God,… but perhaps my very favorite New Testament walk down the Old Testament memory lane is in James 5:17-18: “Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” What’s so special about that passage? To me, it’s not that he prayed about the rain. It’s the seven little words right there in the beginning… “Elijah was a man just like us.” He was just like us! He didn’t have more faith,… but, He had strong faith.
As we renew our minds with the Word of God, and then put what we have learned into practice, our faith grows stronger. James wrote, “Faith without works is useless.” In other words, if we simply say that we believe something in our minds, but do not demonstrate it in our actions, it does not bring life to us or to those around us. But, as we exercise our faith, it grows stronger.
You know…when a weight lifter does a bench press and lifts a potential face-crushing barbell over his chest, he has a “spotter” standing over him. The spotter’s job is to catch the barbell and keep it from falling in case of injury or if they pick up a weight they’re not strong enough to lift. Well, as we exercise our faith,… Jesus is our spotter. If we are too weak to lift the weight of a heavy load, Jesus is standing as our spotter to keep us from being crushed. If we find ourselves too weak to lift the load, we don’t give up, but continue pressing on and working those faith muscles until they are stronger. God also is so gracious that He gives us friends in Christ who serves as “spotters.” When we see a friend’s faith beginning to slip, we can help hold up the weight for them. Today, maybe you should ask God if there is someone who needs your help through believing prayer.
Dear LORD, thank You for the gift of faith. Help us to recognize the situations in our lives where we have allowed doubt and uncertainty to creep in and weaken it. Today, help us to exercise the faith that You have given us so that it will grow stronger and be more effective. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
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