The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" —Luke 17:5
As we continue to learn about faith, we see in Romans 10:17 that faith for salvation comes from hearing the Gospel. When we believed the message of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection and received Him as our Lord and Savior, we were given a measure of faith for salvation. We were given this measure of faith to begin our life in Christ, but we don’t have to be satisfied with the original amount of faith we were given. We don’t have to be content with only a little bit of faith and with only accessing a portion of the power of God! God desires us to have great faith! Just as Paul said of the Thessalonians, our faith can grow “more and more.”
In the passage from 2 Thessalonians, it is worth noting that Paul commented on the believers’ increasing faith and increasing love in the same statement. If we are going to grow and increase in our faith, we must be sure to walk in love with those around us. Imagine that you have an electrical panel or socket with power flowing through it. Then picture what would happen if you threw water on that panel – you would short-circuit the whole thing! Similarly, when God’s power is flowing through us by faith and we slip into bitterness or unforgiveness, we short-circuit our faith! When we fail to walk in love, our faith will not be as effective as it could be. An important key to developing our faith is developing our love walk.
Like so many of us who are desiring to live a life that is pleasing to God, Jesus’ disciples wanted greater faith. In Luke 17, we see them ask the Lord to increase their faith. So what did He do? He didn’t lay hands on them or even pray over them for a new level of faith. Instead, He began to teach them about using the faith they had, no matter how small it may have seemed. Jesus taught His disciples that even faith that seems small can move mountains!
Many years ago, I used to visit the gym five or six times each week to lift weights. I enjoyed working out, sweating, and building muscle and soon became what some would call a novice body builder. I didn’t start with large muscles, but after exercising week after week, my arms measured 20 inches and my chest measured 50 inches. I don’t say this to brag, but only to make this point: growth and increase don’t come without labor. Like muscles, faith begins to develop as we use what we have.
So what is the greatest way to exercise your faith? You may be surprised to know that believing God for money or to meet your own needs is not the best way to increase your faith. The Word of God tells us that God already knows what we need before we ask Him, so although discussing our needs with God is important, it doesn’t seem proper to exercise our faith in these areas. Instead, we need to exercise our faith on behalf of others. We need to start stepping out in our faith to believe God to meet others’ needs, increase their finances, and heal their bodies.
Faith is a powerful force! Don’t get so focused on developing your faith that you fail to use it! The faith that was given to us when we received Christ is the mustard seed of faith and it is enough to move mountains. Even if your faith seems insufficient, start exercising the small faith you do have and it will grow!
Scriptural Context Luke 17:1-6 Concept Reinforcement We ought always to thank God for you, brothers, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. —2 Thessalonians 1:3
Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our area of activity among you will greatly expand… —2 Corinthians 10:15-16
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. —Romans 10:1
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