Building Strong Faith
Luke 1:39-57 39 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40 And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41 And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43 And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Luke 1:39-57 44 For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. 46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
Luke 1:39-57 49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
Luke 1:39-57 55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. 56 And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house. 57 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son
Hebrews 11:1-4 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good report. 3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. 4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
Building strong faith is fundamental in building a great life --and accomplishing great outcomes in life. Faith must be exercised in order to develop, grow, and become a powerful force to bring into being the desired end. Therefore opportunities must exist for that faith to have the chance to grow and develop into strong faith. We often quote the scripture, if you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can move mountains. Notice that Jesus rebuked His disciples, saying, Oh, ye of little faith! So if faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains, then why did Jesus make reference to little faith not being acceptable?
Matthew 17:20 20 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.
Glad you asked! Because anything that is going to become great starts out as a seed that needs to be developed so that it can produce and accomplish the desired result. So what do opportunities look like when faith is being developed? Opportunities look like tests, trials, challenges, that force you out of your comfort zone and require that you make a decision to be limited by the challenge --or to exercise your faith in God s word, grow, and overcome it. This is why we have to shift our paradigm when it comes to challenges we face. The source of the challenge is not more important than the need for us to see it as a great chance to grow our faith and confidence in God.
Faith is an invisible but powerful force that cannot be seen; faith is a area in which we will struggle, fail, lose, and go on to ultimately win. It doesn t matter if we struggle or fail; what matters is that we willfully engage a faith based on the authority of God s word and all negatives become positive, powerful opportunities to develop strong faith. What will hinder and keep your faith from growing as it should is the attitude in which you face your struggles and challenges. Faith is a gift of God through His grace; He has equipped us with faith --His faith-- in order that we may have great victories in our lives. Our faith doesn t have to be fixed; our attitude has to befixed.
If we don t fix our attitudes, we will always struggle with our faith. Our faith will remain weak, little, and ineffective. Our attitude will cripple our faith and keep us premature and in a fetal position spiritually. We have to learn that being uncomfortable, and afraid, is just a normal part of developing strong faith. You will never do anything successfully if you don t learn how to work through fear, pain, and being uncomfortable. These sensations are not negative; they are quite beneficial; they are communicating to you that you are growing. Before we can get started building our faith, we must fix our attitudes about the challenges we face in life.
Remember God cannot fix our attitudes, but He can deal with it. We have to make a conscious decision to change the way we address challenges and understand that problems are tests that we need to pass. See your challenges as blessings in your life that God uses to help you grow. Seek God s word that addresses your challenge and get the confidence you need to know that all will bewell. Talk to God about the challenge and what you expect to accomplish through it. Praise God intentionally in the face of the problem, praise Him with the challenge before you; praise Him in the midst of the problem.
Worship God and bring Him into the struggle with you; know that He is in it with you. Now go tell somebody what God is doing through your struggle!