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A couple of weeks ago, the Lord gave me a word titled, "I Will Exceed Your Expectations." That word talked about how we have limited our expectations of what God can (and will) do, which has damaged our faith. God reminded us that He is unlimited in His power and ability, that that nothing is too difficult for Him. Then He asked us to put aside our limited expectations, and to start believing that He can do what He says He can do. He said the key to all of this is learning to trust Him. The word ended with "My people, I am able to exceed your expectations, if only you will learn to put your trust in Me."
(If you would like to read the word, it is on the GodSpeak web page at: http://www.godspeak.net/prophetic_word/3-24-08.html)
I was amazed at the number of responses I got to this word. The people who wrote me all seemed to be asking the same basic question:
What can I do to increase my faith?
At first, I started answering people's questions individually. But there were so many of them that it got to be too time consuming to keep doing so. That is why I decided to try and tackle the question of growing our faith in this week's fireside chat.
First, let me say that there is no "instant recipe" for growing in faith, and there is no "quick fix" for when it is broken. It is not a matter of doing a certain thing or thinking the "right thing;" it is a process that develops and grows over time.
[There is one caveat to that. There are times when God gives us "gifts" of faith to help us out in certain situations. I believe that God gave one of those gifts to Elijah when he confronted the prophets of Baal in a showdown about who the people should worship. Sometimes God puts us in certain situations where He either has to come through or He will look powerless and ineffective--and in those cases I think He frequently gives us the faith needed for that situation. That happened to me one time when I was forced into a power encounter with a witch doctor in Africa. Normally I would have been terrified, but God graced me with so much divine faith that I was absolutely certain of the outcome from the instant I found myself in this power encounter. There are times when God gives us "gifts" of faith for a given situation that He placed us in.]
But most of the time, God simply wants to build our overall level of faith. He does that over time by putting us in situations where we are forced to take a step of faith (that is proportionate to our current level of faith). He comes through for us in that situation, and that experience causes our faith to increase.
We can do certain things we can do to foster a lifestyle that helps us to grow in our faith. There are also things we can do that have the opposite effect on our faith, but I don't want to focus on those in this chat. We need to understand that there are two parts to growing in faith: doing the things that help us grow and avoiding the things that hinder that growth. But for this chat, I am only going to focus on the first; e.g., practical things we can do to help foster a lifestyle of growing in faith.
The best place to start is with the bible. Romans 10:17 says, "So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." That means that one of the best things we can do to foster our faith is to get into God's word on a regular basis.
Reading God's word is always a good plan. But if we want to build faith, I think we should be systematic in doing this, so that we get the most benefit out of our efforts. Don't start at the book of Genesis and systematically read through the book of revelation. (That is a wonderful basic study, but we are not doing a basic study, we are focusing on a certain theme.) So we should start by filling our minds with testimonies of God's power and faithfulness, reminding ourselves of how He likes to move through His people when they trust Him.
In short, we should start by focusing on the passages in the bible that help us build faith. That may vary a bit for each of us, but the ones that really build my faith are the first five books of the old testament (skipping over the genealogies and specific details of the law); which leaves us with story after story of how God moved mightily on behalf of His people. I also find that the history stories of how God moved in the lives of the saints of old really booster my faith: Samuel, King David, Elijah, Daniel, etc. In the New Testament, I like the gospels and book of Acts, because they are full of stories of God's power and miracles.
The more I remind myself of God's power, the easier it is for me to move in it. This isn't just limited to reading the bible. I find that many of the modern-day testimonies also help build my faith. You don't have to go far to find testimonies of God's miraculous power operating in people's lives today. Global Awakening has an email list and web site with testimony after testimony of supernatural healing. If you go to the many sites associated with Rolland and Heidi Baker and Iris Ministries, you can find testimonies of all sorts of modern-day miracles from multiplying food to raising the dead. Bethel church in Redding has all sorts of testimonies of God's supernatural power flowing through everyday people as well. There are many other assorted email lists and bulletin boards that supply this type of testimonies, including some of my testimonies on the GodSpeak web page.
Revelation 19:10 explains why testimonies have so much power to build our faith: "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." There is a supernatural signature that goes out on testimonies, a sort of "you can do this too" empowerment. The testimony opens your eyes to the possibility, and it stirs your spirit to want to experience similar things with God. That is a stirring of faith, and as you begin to believe that it really "is possible," you greatly increase the changes that you will see it happen in your own life.
There is another source that can help us build faith. Some people who have been walking in faith for a long time have written "how to" books to help us do it too. There are many excellent books that can really help us grow in faith. Let me name a few that come to the top of my mind:
It is a good idea to "feed" yourself stuff designed to help faith grow, In addition, I think we need to keep doing the things that we know will build a closer relationship with God, because faith also grows out of intimacy with Him. This includes things like reading His word on a regular bases, prayer, worship, spending intimacy time with God and fellowshipping with other believers (especially those who have strong faith).
Other than that, keep pursuing God and in your prayer times, talk to Him about the issues you are struggling with in terms of faith. He has a way of responding to your prayers to help you understand things better.
Of course, no discussion of growing in faith is complete without the mention of obedience. There will be times when God asks you to do things that are "scary" for you. Once you are sure that it is really God (and not just your imagination), you need to be committed to do whatever He tells you to do. You can't walk in disobedience and grow in faith.
Also, look for times when you can ask God for permission to step out in a given area. An example of this is when Peter asked Jesus if he could join Him in walking on the water in the storm. Jesus said "Yes" to Peter. Likewise, Jesus will usually say "Yes" to you when you ask Him to allow you to do the supernatural with Him.
When we think of Peter's story, we often remember how Peter failed, and he had to be rescued before he drowned. But the fact is that Peter did succeed in walking on water--until he took his eyes off Jesus and started to focus on his circumstances. You can learn from this--if you ask God to let you do supernatural things with Him, then keep your eyes on Him while you are doing it. Don't entertain the doubt of "this shouldn't be possible." Remember that "all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27).
Finally, be realistic in your growth. If you have never done anything supernatural before, don't expect to walk into the hospital and clear out the cancer ward as your first act of faith. You will most likely fail--unless God gives you a supernatural gift of faith. The reason you will fail is because you will be trying something too advanced for your current level of faith.
Jesus said, "According to your faith it will be done to you" (Matthew 9:29). Most of us don't start with faith for mass healings of cancer; most of us start with enough faith to pray for a sick friend and see them get better much faster than they should.
Once you have a few of those experiences under your belt, then you can try the "next level" -- maybe praying for someone with chronic back problems or with carpel tunnel, or something like that. Later on, if you keep growing, you will be ready for the wheel chairs and blind eyes. If you are like most people, you will have to move through the levels of faith one step at a time.
If you overstep to too high of a level, then you may have a "set back" where your faith doesn't seem to be rewarded. But if you take it one step at a time and don't try to hugely overstep your current level of faith, it will grow.
The good news in all of this is that God is faithful, and that He wants you to grow in faith. So He is going to work with you, to help you and to make you successful in this, if you ask Him to.