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Volume. XXXVII, No. 23 Lord, Increase Our Faith! (Part 1) We live every day of our lives by faith — faith in God and faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Faith in the life eternal to come and faith that the Bible is the inspired, infallible and inerrant Word of God. We don’t know any other way to live than to live by faith, for it is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man, the Psalmist says. (Psalm 118:8)
Yet, how often do we cry out with the Apostles ’Lord, increase our faith!’ Now, why did the Apostles ask the Lord to increase their faith? It is very likely that the prayer was offered when the apostles endeavored to cast out the evil spirits from the poor demon possessed man and failed in the attempt in Matthew 17 where they said to our Lord, ‘…Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.’
In spite of this, we shall always find good enough occasion for each of us to put it up to God to increase our faith. For faith is having the confidence, trust, conviction, assurance, belief, hope or expectation that something is true or exists without ever actually seeing it—thus, it is vitally important for us to have strong faith! The question is: ‘How can we increase our faith so that our faith may be strong?’
The Necessity to Increase Our Faith Before we discuss how one may increase his faith, let us consider why it is important to increase our faith. We read in Luke 17:5 that the Apostles said unto the Lord, ‘Increase our faith…’!
Just imagine if the twelve mightiest in the army of the Lord of hosts had need of such a supplication, what shall we say who are but the inferior soldiers — the feeblest saints? The scenario here should be enough to convince us that it is necessary for all of us to increase our faith.
If we hope to win the day in our spiritual battle, does it not well become us to pray, ‘Lord, increase our faith’ like the Apostles? The great Apostle Paul’s faith increased in times of infirmities. That thorn in his flesh was never removed from his body. Was it arthritis, was it rheumatism, or was it gout? We might never know the answer. Whatever the great Apostle suffered from, he recounted the words of Christ, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee…’ despite that he asked the Lord three times to remove his infirmity from him. (2 Corinthians 12:9a)
Then he said in the same verse, ‘I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me… in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.’ (2 Corinthians 12:9b) In what sense was Paul strong in his infirmities? I believe he is saying that he might be strong in ‘his faith in Jesus Christ’. What a marvelous statement!
Spurgeon once says, ‘Faith is of the utmost importance to a Christian. There is nothing of which we should have a greater and a more earnest concern than our faith.’
Indeed, the Apostle Paul thanked God for Christians in Rome that their faith is spoken of through the whole world. He said, ‘First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.’ (Romans 1:8)
The Apostle Paul also prayed that the faith of the Corinthians should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:5) The Apostle also speaks of faith in his epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians and in his pastoral epistles. In the book of Hebrews, there is a whole chapter dedicated to the men and women of faith.
If faith is so important to a Christian, we need to guard our heart against unbelief, for Satan is like roaring lion seeking whomever he may devour. Although a child of God can never lose his salvation, he or she can temporarily lose his trust in God.
Remember the Apostle Peter who tried to walk on water in the Sea of Galilee? As long as he focused his eyes upon Jesus, he actually succeeded in walking on water! But when he focused on the wind boisterous, the waves and the water, it forced doubt into his mind—and he sank!
How many of us have ever ‘walked on water’ like Peter when everything is going so well around us? How many of us also have started to sink into the ‘quagmire of disbelief’ and even sank deep into the ‘slough of despond’ because of circumstances around us? No one is too young or too old or too sinful or too holy to come before the mercy seat of God to plead to God to increase his or her faith! But we must cry out to Jesus Christ: ‘Lord, Increase my faith!’ To be continued…
Yours in Christ, Pastor David Weng |
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