Add To Your Faith (God's Gift To Believers)

We have it on proper authority that everyone is born with a measure of faith. "Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures" (Luke 24:45, HCSB). Wouldn't you love for someone to open your mind and give you a new understanding of what is and what will be? The Scriptures say we have not because we ask not. Ask the Lord to increase your faith. Faith helps you to know who you are and why you are. All you and I need is a little more faith for a greater understanding. There is a marvelous awakening when we add to our faith. With a bit more confidence in our faith, the heart and the mind can open to a whole new reality. It starts with allowing God's truth to rule all aspects of our lives. Open your thoughts to the Lord, and He will help you understand.

Two minds are better than one, especially when one belongs to the Lord. When two people marry and become one flesh, they unite in a way that makes their faith in God unshakable. Believers understand this union, thereby discerning what it means to have faith and perform the work necessary to acquire more faith. I am not whistling in the wind because the Scriptures tell us to make every effort to add to our faith. "Let the gift of undeserved grace and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you keep on growing" (2 Peter 3:18, CEV).

Grow to the point in your faith when you stop parroting messages that repeat what you already know. "So, let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely, we don't need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God" (Hebrews 6:1, NLT). Please work with me and let us add knowledge and wisdom to our faith.

We need to ready ourselves and move forward to a point where we reduce doubt and increase hope. "This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls. Hope reaches behind the curtain and into the most holy place" (Hebrews 6:19, CEV). You know our most holy place, our body, or "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you" (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV)? The Lord went to prepare a place for us, so have faith and make a holy place for Him here on earth in this present age. It is our reasonable service to separate ourselves from entanglements in this life and give glory to God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We understand that there are people who do not believe and often fail to learn from their mistakes. Too many in this world embrace rebellious attitudes that breed strife even over simple things. Mistakes are in the records for our education, not for us to use the same mistakes as a kind of innate right given to human beings. This teaching is nothing but deception. A defiant attitude leads us to do foolish things that war against the soul. This prideful attitude is not new, and the solution is not new; the answer is still to love. To the extent that godly love for another person exists, have faith that there is such a thing and that it is possible to achieve it in a more significant measure.

The message to love one another is as old as time. For various reasons, individuals ignore the message or do not have faith in the truthfulness of the Word. Do you trust the Lord? To achieve greater confidence, you must "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5, ESV). Too many people allow their hearts to harden to the idea of loving their neighbor as they love themselves, even though the Lord says we should. For the love of God and in the name of the Lord Jesus, we need to grow a faith that leads to everlasting peace for everyone.

Listen to the Lord and acknowledge Him by anchoring your soul. Unless we anchor our souls securely in the Lord, we will not retain the faith we need to embrace the love for our neighbors and enemies. The prophet John said: "Think how much the Father loves us. He loves us so much that he lets us be called his children, as we truly are. But since the people of this world did not know who Christ is, they don't know who we are" (1 John 3:1, CEV). We know from that great cloud of witnesses that those who do not hear His voice do not retain their faith and cannot stay in step with the truth.