But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. —Luke 22:32
Did you know that you can have faith but still miss the mark? You could have faith about something yet never see the manifestation. Especially when we are believing God in a specific area such as healing or finances, it is important to monitor our faith for signs that it might be becoming less powerful or effective. In the Bible, we find four things that can cause our faith to move from the realm of being active and alive to failing.
First, weakened faith puts our faith at risk for failing. This happens most often when a person is inspired by an anointed sermon or a time of intimate prayer with the Father, but later something happens to diminish that inspiration. Sometimes, we are tempted to weaken in our faith because of how things appear in the natural or negative reports from others. This weakening can also come from being around other Christians who aren’t as fervent about the subject. We can’t allow these faith-stealers to touch our faith. We must carefully choose those with whom we share the intimacies of our faith.
Our faith can also fail when we drop our guard. Scripture declares that our faith is a shield that is able to stop all the fiery darts of the enemy. We can’t ever let our guard of faith down or drop our shield. The enemy wants nothing more than to fire a dart of doubt and fear right into the heart of our faith. These devilish arrows don’t kill our faith right away; they slowly drain the very life out of us concerning the matter. Be sure to always keep your shield up to prevent your faith from failing.
Additionally, when we waver we are set up to have failing faith. We can’t stand in faith on this side of the subject today and then decide tomorrow that we are believing for a different result. We must stay put and stand firm. The Word of God describes a wavering person as one who should never expect to receive anything from God. We must know exactly what we are believing God for, find the corresponding scriptures and stand in faith. How long are we to stand? Until the thing comes to pass!
Finally, as I mentioned earlier, being around the wrong people can cause our faith to fail. In order to guard our faith, it is essential that we get around people who can encourage us in the matter. For example, if you need a miracle in your body and are in a dead church that doesn’t believe in healing, get out of there. Leaving could very well save your life.
If you are striving for living, active faith that pleases the Father, strengthen your faith by getting in the Word every day. If there is a particular area of your faith that may seem like it is beginning to fail, ask the Holy Ghost to help you select two or three passages on the subject to meditate on during the day. During these times of meditation, begin to thank the Lord for the finished work and for bringing it to pass in your life. If you’ll pay attention to the four areas we mentioned, you’ll ensure that your faith doesn’t fail but that it will become the active force that our Father designed it to be.
Scriptural Context Luke 22:24-34 Concept Reinforcement Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. —Romans 4:19
Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. —1 Corinthians 16:13
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. —Ephesians 6:16
We sent Timothy, who is our brother and God’s fellow worker in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. —1 Thessalonians 3:2-3
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