This word is submitted by Teresa Seputis (ts@godspeak.org)

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                         Growing In Faith

Child of Mine, you pray to Me that I would increase your faith.  Yet you 
are startled when I answer your prayer.  Just how did you think I would
do increase your faith?  Did you think I will wave My arms and you would 
suddenly have a larger measure of faith, a measure of the caliber that 
can move mountains? Child, it does not work that way.

I tell you, you must gain faith experientially.  It must be gained one 
step at a time.  Growing in faith is a progression of being stretched a 
little beyond your ability and then seeing Me come and meet you in that 
stretch.  Your faith grows as I come in and demonstrate My faithfulness.  
You see, child of Mine, faith is always based on My faithfulness, and 
never on anything else.  I am faithful to perform My word.  I am faithful 
to back up the demonstration of the gospel with a demonstration of My 
power.  I am faithful to watch over My own and to work My glory into
each of their situations.  I am faithful to lead and guide those who
sincerely seek Me for wisdom and direction.  I am a loving Father and I
am faithful to give good gifts to My children.   I am faithful to release
the fruit of the spirit in their lives.  I am faithful to give them
joy and peace that is independent of their circumstances.  I am a 
faithful God and you can trust in Me.

The problem is that most of My children do not really know that I am
faithful.  They claim to believe that I am, but what they have is a
thinking in their mind and not a certainty in their heart.  So when
the faith-producing situations come into their lives, they respond 
from their hearts, from their innermost being.  They experience fear
and doubt and their head-knowledge does not carry them through.  My
faithfulness has not become real to them on an emotional level, it is 
only head knowledge.

Child, what I am doing in your life right now is giving you experiences 
of My faithfulness in difficult or faith-producing situations.  Then it 
becomes experiential knowledge instead of head-knowledge.  It becomes 
something you can draw from with certainty and confidence -- you can 
believe that I am faithful because you have already experienced My
faithfulness to you.  That is how it becomes real to you, that is how 
you grow in faith.  

In other words, I must allow difficult situations to come into your life.
I must allow things to get out of your control -- so that you know you
cannot handle them from your own limited resources.  Then I move in and
I demonstrate to you that I have resources to cover your situation.  And
you come to know that I am willing to exercise those resources on your
behalf.  I demonstrate My faithfulness to you through the difficult 
situation and then your faith grows. When it comes time to increase your
faith again, I allow a greater degree of problem to come in.  It is 
a little more out of your control, a little bigger than the last.  And
again you call on Me, and again I demonstrate My faithfulness.  And
again your faith grows.

Child of Mine, I love you too much to push you faster than you can 
bare.  I love you too much to put you into situations that require
more faith than the level you are capable of learning at the moment. 
I am a loving Father who cares greatly for you.  I will not push you
above what you are able to bare.  But I will push you so that your
faith may increase.  I will not abandon you and I will not destroy
you, but I will allow you to enter into progressively increasing
faith-producing situations, so that your faith might grow.

I desire to demonstrate Myself faithful to you over and over again.
I want you to know Who I am and how much you can trust Me.  And it is
that knowledge that will cause you to possess the caliber of faith
that allows you to walk on water, that allows you to move the mountains,
that allows you to heal the sick and see miracles happen.  Child you
need to experientially know that I am faithful, and then nothing shall
be impossible for you.