July 2024 – Our Month of Ever Increasing Faith …Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)
This month is our month of Ever Increasing Faith, but just before we begin to dig deep into the revelation God has for us this month, I consider it very necessary to set in appropriate perspective the discourse that prompted the apostles to pray to the Lord to increase their faith. While it is both noble and excellent to desire an ever growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3) , a failure to have the right context and perspective will always put us in a position where we either keep asking for the wrong thing or never truly understand what we are desiring or asking for. The first clarification we must make here is that the request of disciples that the Lord increase their faith was not made in connection to doing the so called mighty works. They didn’t ask for more faith so they could work more signs and wonders, heal the sick, cleanse more lepers or even raise the dead. What had prompted their desire for a raise in their faith was Jesus’ instruction that they must forgive no matter how many times they are offended by an individual daily. There are no limits to how many times men may offend us and so there should be no limit to how many times or how often we should forgive. Every offence against us by men must be met with an equal weight and energy of forgiveness, not retaliation or vengeance.
The more men err, the more we are to forgive. This was understandably very strange to the disciples who had been well groomed in Moses’ doctrine of “do unto men as they have done unto you” and not as you want them to do unto you. The popular theology of the day was “strike as hard as anyone strikes you.” Here, Jesus was not challenging men not to do evil, he was challenging the believer to forgive no matter how offended. His focus was not on the offender but on the offended. The disciples knew that they needed something more than mere religion to be able to do this. To forgive and keep forgiving was going to require something much more than they thought they had. They needed extra faith. So, they cried out to the Lord in unison that he would Increase their faith. Much as Jesus’ instruction to forgive was ridiculous, his response to their request that he should increase their faith was even more astonishing. ‘There is nothing wrong with the size of your faith’, he replied. Even a faith as small as a grain of mustard seed can uproot a tree or move a great mountain and cast it into the sea (Luke 17:6; Matthew 21:21). To Jesus, the issue was never the size of our faith, but the tenacity and resilience with which we exercise it. It is not how big our faith is, it is how we engage our faith. Great faith is not big faith. Great faith is dogged faith. Great faith is resilient faith. It is faith that keeps standing in the midst of all odds. It is faith that weathers the storm. It is faith that reaches the very end of a matter, no matter how long it takes and no matter how hard and torturous the road may be.
Great faith is faith that keeps pushing even when there is no strength to do so and there are no sound logics to keep holding out.
There is no doubt that there are different dimensions of faith and diversities of operations. We do not deny that there is the faith for instant miracles. There is faith that moves mountains, but in so far as Jesus is concerned, the highest dimension of faith is faith that perseveres. Of Abraham, who is credited with being the father of faith, it was written that he hoped against hope (Romans 4:18). The clearest interpretation of that would mean that he kept believing when there was absolutely no reason to keep doing so. He kept going against the run of logic. He continued ‘stupidly’ when everything around him told him that it didn’t make sense. The greatest attack against our faith would come not from the devil but from the things we most often see around us. Circumstantial evidence often represents the most severe attacks launched against our faith. What we see and commit our meditations to often have a way of affecting the tenacity of our faith. The secret of the God kind of faith is that God calls those things that be not as though they were (Hebrews 4:17). He reckons more with the things that are not seen more than he does with the things that are seen. He understands that the things that are yet unseen are more real and enduring than the things that are seen. The faith walk is an invitation into this dimension of believing more in the things that are yet to be than in the things that already are (2 Corinthians 4:18). Faith takes a nose dive when we allow it to be fueled by circumstantial evidence. Faith requires no further evidence. Faith itself is all the evidence that we need (Hebrews 11:1). The simple meaning of that is that our faith does not require the cooperation of our situations or circumstances to make it work. Faith, properly applied is tenacious and superimposes its energy on the things we call evidence. Faith does not deny the evidence, faith presents itself as a superior or higher dimension of evidence. Of Abraham, we are told that he had mastered the act of ignoring circumstantial evidence – he considerd not his body, now dead being about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb (Romans 4:19). We are further told that his antidote against these compelling, yet opposing circumstantial evidence was his faith. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God for hope not seen but over which he rejoiced (Romans 4:20). He knew that the only thing that stood between him and the fulfilment of the promise was not the devil, but time and so waited out the time required (Hebrews 6:15). He knew that it was bound to happen no matter how long it took. He knew he had to interweave patience into his faith and so after he had patiently waited, he obtained the promise.
The whole essence of faith is training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Faith that does not contribute to the building of character is no faith at all. James admonishing the church, wrote “… count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:2-4). Interesting not so much can be learned from faith that moves mountains; not so much character development can be accomplished through faith that works instant miracles. Great faith is not usually the faith that accomplishes the seemingly most amazing things, but the one that defiles all odds and perseveres through all circumstances until the result comes. Faith that builds real Christian character is faith that has patience deeply woven into it. David killed the lion, the bear, and then Goliath. Samson was credited with loads of uncommon accomplishments, yet it was the simple, seemingly not-so-religious Syrophoenician woman that Jesus commended as having great faith (Matthew 15:28). But what earned her this great commendation? She had refused to give up even when the Lord himself said “no” to her. I am here reminded of King Hezekiah who would blatantly refuse to agree to die after that the LORD through the prophet Isaiah had told him to put his house in order that he would not recover from his sickness. We are told that he turned his face to the wall and against the prophecy, and challenged the verdict of heaven until God changed his mind and added fifteen more years to his life (Isaiah 38:1-8). Great faith is faith that doesn’t accept just anything that comes along. It is faith that defiles and dictates to circumstances. No faith could be greater than that of a man who in the face of the most unthinkable calamities held on to God, without wavering – the man Job. Having lost everything that there was to lose, and abandoned by friends and family, he held on to God. His case was so bad that even his wife had suggested to him to curse God and die (Job 2:9). Yet through all of his trying time, the record holds that Job did not sin against the LORD nor charge God with wrongdoing (Job 1:22). Beyond not sinning against God, what was most fascinating to me was that Job held on to his integrity. None of those things which he went through changed his perspective about life or God. His faith and belief system were not altered one bit. This overcoming disposition is recorded in Job 27:5-6: “…I’ll not deny my integrity even if it costs me my life. I’m holding fast to my integrity and not loosening my grip— and, believe me, I’ll never regret it (Message translation). His testimony was “… even if he (God) killed me, I’d keep on hoping. I’d defend my innocence to the very end. Just wait, this is going to work out for the best—my salvation! (Job 13:15-16, MSG). These are the kind of statements that truly exemplify great faith.
God has not called us to pursue ‘big’ faith. He has not called us to grow our faith until it becomes mountain size. In fact, no where in scriptures are we encouraged to develop a mountain size faith. What God has called us to pursue is a faith that is resilient and dogged (and if you like, call it ‘stubborn’ faith). Faith, no matter how huge in size that is easily dissipated in the face of delayed manifestations, has no reckoning in the sight of God. Real faith waits (Hebrews 6:15). Jesus prayed for Peter so that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:32). And, if our faith is not to fail, we must consider it not in terms of its size but in terms of its doggedness and resilience.
Good morning and welcome to your month of Ever Increasing Faith.
