A MEASURE OF FAITH
A MEASURE OF FAITH
I have been pondering on the prayers I hear quite regularly of people nearly begging God to ‘give them more faith’ or ‘God increase my faith’. I confess I feel uneasy in my spirit when I hear this type of prayer and I am unable to be in agreement with the person praying. As the Word of God is our benchmark, our yardstick, I have been searching the scriptures to see if this particular prayer actually lines up with God’s Word. Here is what I found…….
We read in Romans 12:3 “…..as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.” A measure speaks of a specific, a confined amount.
The apostles even asked Jesus in Luke 17:5 ”…..Lord, Increase our faith”. Jesus’ response in verse 6 was “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.”
Jesus put the onus back on them – if you have faith, you can say…. He didn’t say to them ok here is an extra dose of faith – NO – He was saying to them to use their faith – to build up their own faith. To put their faith into practice.
We read in the great ‘Faith’ Chapter in Hebrews 11…. (I encourage you to spend some time in this chapter yourself.)
By faith Noah…..
By faith Abraham.…
By faith Moses……..
By faith Joshua…….
After all the ‘by faith’ statements, an ‘action’ ALWAYS followed!
Noah built an ark;
Abraham left his country and offered up Isaac
Moses forsook Egypt, kept the Passover and passed through the Red sea safely on dry ground
Joshua obeyed the Lord and the Jericho walls came tumbling down
FAITH and ACTION go hand in hand. God has given us a specific measure of faith – what are we going to do with it? Are we going to use it or have it fade away and become weak and useless and eventually die? OR are we going to build our faith muscles and see it grow and bear much fruit?
Imagine speaking to a body builder and saying “I want the strength and the muscles you have spent many years of blood sweat and tears working at developing – please give me your muscles and your strength.” And then walk away expecting to have huge muscles, without putting in any physical effort – it’s nonsense. It’s not going to happen. The only way we can build our physical muscles is to be intentional in lifting weights, training daily etc. An action is actually required!
And it’s the same with our ‘measure of faith’. We actually have to do something to see it grow and bear fruit. Each time we minister at the Healing Rooms we are developing our faith muscle; we are increasing and building on the measure of faith God has given us. When we lay hands on the sick and believe for healing to flow – we are increasing our faith. When we hear a Word, or receive a picture or a Scripture verse from the Father for the client and we pass it on – we are increasing our faith. When we are obedient to His voice and follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for someone in the street, or shopping centre, or a neighbour – we are increasing our measure faith. When we receive a Word of knowledge and pass it on to someone – we are building our faith muscle. Whenever we operate in the gifts of the Spirit, we are increasing our measure of faith.
In contrast, we read in John 3:34 “God does not give the Spirit by measure”. There is no limit from His side in releasing the power and presence of the Spirit. Jesus received the fullness of the Holy Spirit when he was baptised and walked in the power of the Spirit whilst He was here on earth. We have access to the fullness of the Spirit just as Jesus did because we have the same Spirit living in us that raised Jesus from the dead. (Rom 8:11).
In summary of my findings, if we have the fullness of the Spirit (not given by measure), and we have a measure of faith given to each one of us, then we can intentionally build our faith muscles in the power of the Spirit – ‘By FAITH…… followed by an ACTION. The onus is on you and me – so my challenge to us all is – what are we doing with the measure of faith we have been given!
God Bless
Roslynne