How do we increase our faith?
How do we increase our faith, so that we can grow like the mustard seed? The first part of that answer is found in James 1.
James 1:2 �My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 �Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 �But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 �If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 �But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
7 �For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 �A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
So to increase our faith, we must endure trials and tribulation. James even goes so far as to say to count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations and tribulations... Why?
Job 1:8 �And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 �Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 �Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
God has a hedge of protection around us, and the devil cannot tempt us unless God allows it (Job 1:12). But why would God allow us to be tempted? At first it seems that God is a cruel and capricious God...but the answer is found back in James 1. The trying of our faith works patience (through trials and tribulations and temptations). So let patience have her perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So by God allowing temptation, we get a chance to improve our faith! That's why we should count it all joy when we fall into temptations....
1 Corinthians 10:13 �There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I suggest you memorize this verse, if you haven't already done so. What Paul is stating here is that whatever it is we are being tempted with, although it may seem unique, it's common to man. Lots of people undergo the same temptations, not just you. But God is faithful, who won't allow you to be tempted above what you can handle, again, though it may seem that way. A lot of times when I tell people that, they respond with, "No, you don't understand, this is way more than I can cope with." But it's just not true.
Romans 5:1 �Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 �By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 �And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 �And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 �And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
We are justified by faith. That faith comes from exercising our patience to wait for God's escape hatch during temptation. By exercising our patience, we get experience, as in the experience of overcoming the temptation. Those experiences build hope, and hope makes us unashamed.
Malachi 3:3 �And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
The answer to that is found in how gold is refined. When a goldsmith wants to take gold ore and turn it into pure gold, he puts the gold ore in a smelting pot and puts some heat under the gold. After a bit, he takes the heat off, and then when the ore cools, he skims off the impurifications from the top.
My hope with this article is to encourage you and exhort you. You (yes, you!) can overcome temptation! Build your patience by allowing God to make a way of escape. That's how we grow as christians, by exercising patience, which builds experience, which builds hope. You'll never do anything for the Kingdom of God if you are constantly defeated in temptation.
The answer is to be found in the first chapter of Job....
So perfecting patience is the first step in growing in faith. But notice James goes on to say that those who waver are like a wave of the sea driven and tossed, and furthermore a doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways. If you've experienced waffling as a christian, now you know what James is talking about here. You say you're going to do something for God, but then when it comes time to do it, you waffle. If you do that, you can't expect to get anything from the Lord.
But the doubleminded man is unstable in all his ways. A good example of a doubleminded man is found in the Bible when Jesus describes someone who is trying to serve God and money at the same time. That man is doubleminded, and Jesus states that that person will either serve the one and hate the other, or vice versa.
So if you're trying to serve God and soap operas, or something else that comes between you and God, now you know why you have no faith, because you see-saw back and forth between the two. And last time I rode a seesaw, I certainly thought it was pretty unstable...
But why is patience so important? Patience is so important because it's the first building block of christian growth. Patience is required to deal with temptations, and to endure persecution.
The good news here is that if we exercise patience and wait for God's escape hatch, we win. If we go in our own power and take care of the problem ourselves, we haven't overcome the temptation - we've only plowed our way around it. Those people who have no faith also have no patience, and so you see them carving their own escape hatches time and time again.
The danger of that is what I call revolving door temptation. The devil knows intimately where we are the weakest, and he will hit us with the same temptation over and over and over again until we overcome it. If we carve our own escape hatch, then all we've done is stuck ourselves in the revolving door for another round of the same temptation.
That describes those people whom christians would consider to be "Carnal Christians." But the truth is, these people just have no patience and no faith, and they never will until they learn to wait (patience) on God's escape hatch. Good things happen when you do that. Not only do you get through the revolving door, but you go on in the building blocks of christian growth.
But that is not to say you'll never be tempted with that particular temptation again. You see, the devil not only has to wait for God to allow us to be tempted, but he has to work within the framework of how strong the temptation is. God decides that, not the devil, which I'm sure frustrates that old devil to no end. The next time it comes, it will be stronger, but if you apply the same method as before, in 1st Corinthians 10:13, you'll overcome that too.
About now, you're probably saying to yourselves, I thought this had to do with Romans 5, but I still haven't seen Romans 5...where is Romans 5? It's right here....
The more we overcome, the more we grow in faith...it's just that simple. So let's summarize: Temptations are common, and are only the strength that we can bear. If we exercise patience, we overcome the temptation, and experiences of that bring about hope, which increases our faith. We can be Overcomers and more than Conquerors!
This is what Malachi 3:3 means by refining and purifying the silver and gold through purging. By skimming off the impurities that float to the top, he "purges" the gold in the refining process. Once that's done, he turns up the heat and continues to heat and cool and skim, and repeats this over and over and over.
Likewise with us, God turns up the heat on us by allowing temptation. When we've overcome the temptation, God skims some of the impurities from us...and then He repeats the process over and over to stimulate christian growth from us. How does the Goldsmith know when the gold is pure?
When he can see his image at the top of the gold in the smelther. Any blurry areas means there are still impurities present. Likewise, when God sees His reflection in us, he knows we are "perfect, lacking nothing" as James put it. Of course, most of us will never see perfection and total Christ-mindedness until after we die or are raptured and are with God in heaven.
While it's ok to stumble a time or two, by making your own escape hatch, a pattern of doing that is very telling...O ye of little faith, come away from that kind of life, and learn to grow and live under God's Will. You'll never go back!
Peace