To increase our faith we must learn to absorb God’s Word in the way that creates faith.
Have you ever dearly wanted something and realized to get it you needed more faith?
That happened to me about four years ago. I came to the settled conclusion the church I serve must have the ability to win converts to Jesus. And for that to happen I myself needed to have the ability to win converts to Jesus. The frustrating truth was, the latter was not happening, though not for lack of effort.
But I knew God wanted it to happen. Luke 19:10 says Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost.” When he ascended to heaven, he gave that mission to his church. So I knew we were missing something. One crucial day James 1:5 convinced me God could give me the wisdom to understand what we were missing and what we could do about it.
But there was a complication. James 1:6, the very next verse, told me that to get that wisdom I must have faith.
How we increase our faith
The situation for which you need faith differs from mine. You may need faith for physical healing. You may need faith to get out of debt and establish your finances or to meet the person who will someday become your spouse or to conceive a child or to succeed in school or on the job or to overcome fear or depression.
Whatever your need, we all need more faith for something, and the good news is we can get it.
To get the wisdom I needed I began memorizing Scriptures about God’s willingness to give wisdom. Over the next year I collected a list of 39 Scriptures. One by one I memorized them and spent slow time pondering each one over and over again. Then I would cycle back and refresh my ability to quote the verses correctly and once again ponder each text one word and phrase at a time.
I have been doing that now for several years, and I now believe in every cell of my bones that God gives me the wisdom I ask for. And slowly I have been learning how to lead others to become followers of Jesus.
Breakthrough
Over the past year my breakthrough came. I know of four people who have responded to my conversations with them and said they wanted to follow Jesus. I assume others have as well, for I have given the gospel to hundreds of people in various ways over the same period. Every month or two I get another insight into how to improve and become more effective in this.
I am certain that over the next year I will lead more people to become followers of Jesus than I did last year. My wisdom and effectiveness will keep growing. Why? Because I believe God’s words concerning his willingness to give me wisdom, and so I keep seeking it and I keep getting it and using it. God’s words have created this settled faith in me.
God’s words create faith as acorns create oak trees.
Romans 10:17
Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
In this verse Paul is describing how saving faith comes about, and he says it comes when lost people hear the message of the gospel, which is “the word of Christ.” The same principle applies to faith in general. Faith comes from hearing the word of God.
Faith needs an object, it needs content, and the object of faith is God and his Word. (Unlike the department store chain with the one-word marketing slogan, “Believe,” which does not specify what to believe, as though all that matters is belief in something or anything.)
Faith increases as we hear, read, and consider the Word of God and humbly and obediently choose to believe it. God’s word creates faith as acorns create oaks.
The unique vitality of divine words
God’s words are not like ordinary human words.
First, like acorns God’s words are alive. Hebrews 4:12 says, “The word of God is living and active...” Living things grow and multiply. Living things are active, like the new leader of an organization who brings fresh ideas, energy, and vision. Scripture pulses with life.
Second, God’s words are spirit. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Notice that he did not say his words are spiritual, although that is certainly true. Rather he said his words “are spirit.” He was asserting something about the nature and essence of God’s words. God is spirit (John 4:24), and his words also are spirit. Whatever that means exactly, it suggests why his words are powerful, uniquely life-changing, and able to create faith, why they are living and active.
This sheds light on why God can say, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10–11).
It makes sense
As this verse illustrates, God’s words are instrumental in nature, and they hold a place at the center of his relationship with us and the foundation of no less than the universe itself. For example:
Jesus is the Word
John 1:1–2 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” Verses 14–18 make it clear that “the Word” is Jesus.
In John 14:6 Jesus described himself as “the truth.”
Clearly, if God himself can be described as the Word, then words are fundamental to all reality. It makes sense, then, that words are fundamental to our faith.
God created all things through his words
Genesis 1:3, 6, 9 says, “3 And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. … 6 And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ … 9 And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.”
Likewise for the remaining days of creation. God creates through his verbal commands.
It makes sense, then, that he creates faith in us by his Word.
God exalts his words for the sake of his glory
The Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Psalm 138 to say to God, “you have exalted above all things your name and your word” (v. 2).
The Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Psalm 56 to say three times the refrain that he praised God’s words. “In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust” (v. 4). “In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust” (vv. 10, 11). And twice the psalmist links his praise of God’s words with his trust in God.
The psalmist’s praise for God’s words inspired his trust in God. God’s word creates the faith that brings God glory.
Takeaway
You need more faith for situations you face. The question is, how badly do you want it? Enough to really knuckle down and work for it for the long haul? To carefully read several chapters of Scripture daily? And to compile verses that pertain to your situation and memorize and meditate on them? To regularly ask God to help you do all this and thereby to increase your faith?
Shifting my analogy: Although it only takes one acorn to create an oak tree, it takes many acorns to feed a squirrel for the winter. The more acorns you squirrel away, the stronger your faith will grow.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)