Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christian life is based on faith. It is by faith a person is saved, made right with the God and attain the undeserved privilege of heavenly inheritance. We know that the faith comes from the hearing of the Word of God (Romans 12.6) and without faith a person cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6). We are even known as "believers" because we believe in something which cannot be seen by bare eyes and put our hope in something which cannot be comprehended by human logic.
Bible teaches us that a person in Christ has to continue in and grow in faith till the last day. Faith is not a one time activity for a believer. Rather, its a continuous and progressive aspect in christian life. From the word of God, God taught me 7 stages of the progressive faith.
1. NO FAITH.
This is the bottom level in the ladder of faith. No, its not about the unbelievers or people who have not yet been in Christ. Scripture points finger at us, the Christians, about being in this position. Although we may tend to justify ourselves saying that we are believers, the truth is that many of us 'often' have NO faith in God especially on the face of THE most trouble in our lives.
In Mark 4.35-41 and Luke 8.22-25, we can see the story of the storm Jesus calmed down while Jesus and the disciples sailed across the lake.We can see that the disciples were screaming with terror that they were going to be drowned! These are the same disciples who have seen several miracles done by Jesus. They knew He was the son of God and the Messiah they were waiting for. If he is Messiah, how can he be drowned! Still, when the waves were breaking into the boat, when they saw that the water began to fill the boat, all their hopes were gone and they had NO faith that the Messiah could save them from that storm. Their faith in Jesus has already been drowned in the fear of death! After calming the storm, Jesus scolds them:
Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” - Mark 4.40
In our life, when the trouble breaks into our peace, when we are filled with the terrors of uncertain matters, often we lose faith even in God and ends our hope. There might be several instances in our lives where God reached out His mighty hands for us. Still, at times, we tend to visualize the problems or the troubles larger than our God! The improbabilities are calculated as impossibilities by human logic. No faith is displayed in those situations where we end all our hopes and momentarily forget that nothing is impossible by God.
2. LITTLE FAITH
We find ourselves on this step of the ladder either when we limit our God's ability to 'easier' things or when we try to 'help' God by taking certain things into our own hands.
An example to the former category is Israelites on their way to Canaan.
True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out, streams flowed abundantly, but can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?” - Psalms 78.20
For them, getting water from the rock was comparatively an easier task for God than giving meat for His people. They wanted to test God's ability to give "free meat" for them! They had only a little faith in God. When they 'analyzed' the situation they were in, they could not find a possibility where God can give them bread and meat out of the sands in that desert!
In our life, we rule out certain things from our prayers thinking that praying for such miracles is foolishness. Sometimes we even justify it with the word 'Common Sense'. We think that it doesn't make sense to ask God for those matters because, it simply can't be done!. That is where we display our little faith.
To diagnose this type of little faith in our lives, lets turn our attention to the miracle of Peter walking over the sea. When Peter saw strong wind and raging waves, he was terrified and doubted Jesus which ended his stroll on water because he started 'analyzing' the situation he is in. When he started walking, he did not notice the high tides and strong waves. However, after some time of walking, he started concentrating more on his environments which made him tremble with fear.
Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” - Matthew 14.31
This type of Little faith leads us to doubt which in turn cause the sinking of spiritual life. We may start our walking over the troubles in our life by trusting God, but if we have only little faith, we will take our eyes off our God and watch the problems ahead of us, which makes us terrified like Peter. This ends in doubt and sinking. Do we analyze the environment around us? Are we terrified of the troubles or problems we face today? If so, its time to pray to increase our little faith to a strong one.
Second type of little faith is trusting ourselves, by trying to take over some 'simple' things in to our own hands thinking not to 'bother' God for those matters. We end up worrying and troubling ourselves when we find that its too difficult for us. Jesus advices us to put our trust in Him in all matters of our daily life, however simple it may seem to be, since we are so important to Him.
And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? - Matthew 6:30
To help ourselves to identify this type of little faith in our life, lets understand why Jesus rebuked his disciples calling them "Men of little faith" when Jesus was teaching his disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [Matthew 16.8] The disciples misunderstood it for the physical bread/food they have. We can see Jesus making them understand that for physical food, he would not be concerned at all because if he could feed 5000 with 5 loaves and 7000 with 7 loaves, for 12 disciples, he would not even need any loaves.
This type of Little faith leads to worry and arguments and blocks our spiritual mindset so that we see only the terminable things in the worldly life. Personal financial management, steering of official duties, maintaining human relationships, managing the household are certain common things we worry about because of our "little faith". We may not even make these things part of our prayer, thinking that it should be dealt by us. God wants us to just put all our burdens including the 'simple' ones to Jesus and live a worry free and tension free life. [Psalm 55.22] Yes, it is a matter or faith or trust in God. So if we are thinking too much or worrying about our life in this world, that is a sign of little faith. As Paul says in Philippians 3.13, lets forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead...
3. GROWING FAITH
We are supposed to be growing in our faith daily.
The apostles said to the Lord, “Show us how to increase our faith.”
The Lord answered, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you! - Luke 17.5,6
The first step of growing our faith is to grow it to as small as mustard seed !!! If we have that much faith, Matthew 17.20 says, nothing would be impossible for us. Yes, that is the measure of faith God gives us and we need to measure the amount of faith we have with this scale. This should not be confused with "the little faith" explained above. Mustard seed may be small, but the enormous power it hides in itself, causes it to grow to a tree which puts out great branches, so that the birds under the sky can make their nests on them. (Mark 4.30-32) Even if the size of our faith is small, it has to posses such inner quality which can grow itself to help others to get support from it. The quality, not the quantity, of the faith is what matters. In other words, growing to a faith as small as Mustard seed simply means growing to a level where we have NO DOUBT in what we believe and who we trust.
How can we know if our faith is growing? Paul answers in 2 Corinthians 10:15
...we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended.
As a mustard tree which hosts several birds on its branches, if we are helping out others in their journey of faith by being an example to them and reaching out our supporting hands to them, we are growing in the faith. Paul again says that the support of love for one another is a result of the flourishing of our faith.
Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. 2 Thessalonians 1:3
4. WAVERING FAITH
During the process of the growing of our faith, many of us face this stage of the faith where our faith remains on and off, causing us to move from strong faith to little faith or no faith... Apostle James cautions about this in his epistle.
But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. - James 1:6
Wavering in faith is a question on loyalty. It is like keeping our feet in two separate boats. Note that Apostle urges us to make sure that our faith is in God alone. If we have a partial trust in our abilities or in chances, we would waver. We should not change our focus and our resolutions as and when situations change. Abraham should be an example to us in our life of faith. He never wavered in faith and grew stronger and stronger in his trust in God. (Romans 4:20) This is how we bring glory and honor to God.
Scripture teaches us some of the major reasons of dual loyalty in our life.
a) Selfishness
When a person becomes self centered and thinks for himself, he is wandering away from the true faith. Paul, in 1 Timothy 5:8 calls such people as worse than unbelievers. We as believers, have a responsibility be humble to consider other as greater than ourselves. Jesus also teaches to do others what we would like them to do to ourselves. Failure to keep this command causes one to wander from the faith God has given.
b) Love of Money
Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that, those who crave for money wanders away from the faith. The love for the money or any worldly pleasures is the root reason for all evil. If we consider the treasures in this world greater than the heavenly treasure, we sure will waver in our faith.
c) Human knowledge
Some people want to become teachers and look great before others. Paul calls this as foolishness and warns us about the 'knowledge' displayed by those people (1 Timothy 6:20,21). When we try to perceive God's mysteries using human knowledge and logic, that leads to foolish discussions and boasting of so-called knowledge which in turn will cause us to wander away from the true faith. In other words, if we try to define our faith using the human knowledge and logic, we would fail and waver in our faith.
d) Counterfeit Faith
Jesus, (Matthew 7.15) warns us to be careful about false teachers who come in Sheep's clothing. Paul in his 2nd epistle to Timothy (2:18, 3:8) mentions about these people and cautions that they deprive many of the true faith. Listening and agreeing to logical interpretations and human teachings will cause one to waver in one's faith. Be rooted in Jesus and His words so as not to abandon our faith.
I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. John 16.1
We should always keep in mind that Satan wants us to be unsettled in the faith and he would not miss any chance he gets to make us fail in our faith. Jesus mentions this to Peter in Luke 22.31-32.
Lets earnestly pray to God to fill the gaps in our faith (1 Thessalonians 3:10) so that when he appears on the skies, he may find faith in us.
... But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” - Luke 18:8
5. STRONG FAITH
Next grade in the ladder of faith is the fighting stage of Strong Faith. Strong faith is the level where we fight for the true faith [1 Timothy 6:12]. This is when we make sure that our 'Little faith' is not wavered by the external forces of doubt and probability theories. To be exact, in this stage, we keep our consciences clear to cling on to the faith we have in Jesus, so as not to shipwreck our faith. [1 Timothy 1:19]. Apostle Jude urges the readers in his epistle [1:3] to defend the faith that God entrusted with us once for all time. So strong faith is an experience in which we fight for defending the faith we have. We have to make sure that we have a strong faith so that God can make us stand firm in this battle field.
Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. - (Isaiah 7:9)
How to make our faith firm?
(a) Be rooted in Christ
The first and foremost way of having strong faith is to have strong and deep roots in Christ.
Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught... [Colossians 2:7]
It is very clear that if a tree does not have deep and strong roots it cannot grow strong. Likewise, a believer's strength depends wholly in Christ. The deeper he knows his God and the stronger he trusts in God, the firmer will be his faith. Jesus says (in John 15:4) that unless we live in Him, we cannot be fruitful. We are only branches (verse 2). Once a person starts thinking that he is a tree, he starts wavering in the faith. The reason why we see many people fall from the faith is that they are trying to live by themselves. We need to let our lives be built on him, without taking any control of it. Only then our faith will grow strong.
Read the above verse once again. We are not supposed to grow "up". God wants us to "grow down" into Him, so that he can "build us up" on Him. Without remembering this, we often try to build us up and prays God to 'grow us' in the faith, which leads us to failure. We have to identify this trend in our lives and rebuke it to make our faith strong. When Paul writes to Titus, he mentions examples of such people who tries to build themselves up. (1:10). These people tends to get into useless talk, thereby deceiving others because they listen to myths and people who have turned away from truth. Paul advices Titus to rebuke them, so that they are made strong in faith. Lets examine ourselves, if we are truly rooted in Christ and not depending on our own understandings, so that our faith may grow strong.
(b) Fight temptation
Growing in faith depends on how well we handle temptation. This is how we grow ourselves deep down in to Christ. Satan is a tempter who always seeks a way to catch us off guard. Paul sent Timothy to Thessalonian church to see if they could resist the temptation so as to be strong in faith. (1 Thessalonians 3:5). The more we resist the temptations in our life and keep our consciences clean (Timothy 1:19) the more we stand strong in our faith. Apostle James reminds us that Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away (James 1:13,14). Fighting to the temptations in ones life gives one a clear conscience to serve God. It takes some courage to do this. We should be on vigil all the time understanding the areas we are vulnerable to. It is like an army of one. We can fight with courage against the tempter only if we pays attention on where we stand on the faith and where we want to be.
Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. (1 Corinthians 16:13)
To fight the temptation with the vigilance, we need the help from God. It is by faith we defend faith!! The stronger the faith is, the stronger will be the temptation and the harder we need to use the same faith to stop the arrows of temptation from the devil. The harder we use the faith, the stronger it will be!
...hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. - Ephesians 6:16
In 1 Thessalonians 5:8 Paul urges us to be protected by the armor of faith. If the armor or shield is weak, we are vulnerable. So we need "great faith" to protect this faith, which is given by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:9). Not by our might but by Holy Spirit can we defend the faith and make it stronger.
(c) Be Successful in the test of faith
A Christian will often have to go through tests of faith many times. This is the process by which our faith gets stronger. Apostle James tells that when our faith is tested, our endurance has a chance to grow [1:3]. These tests might be in the form of trials or persecutions. Job was a person who had to go through this test. He emerged victoriously while his wife failed the test miserably. The tests of faith are never to discourage or destroy us. Rather, its for making our faith pure like fire purifies gold. These trials will show that our faith is genuine and strong. [1 Peter 1:7].
This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently, obeying his commands and maintaining their faith in Jesus. [Revelation 14:12]
Tests administered by God
While Israelites were travelling to Caanan, God tested them at a place called Meribah where there was no water. Instead of trusting the God had answered them in thunderclouds, they quarreled with Moses and Aaron. Though God gave water to them from the rocks, Israelites failed in the test of the faith causing great anger to God.
You cried to me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered out of the thundercloud and tested your faith when there was no water at Meribah. - Psalm 81:7
Lets try to identify that certain scarcity in our lives are administered by God for making us trust in Him deeply so that our faith gets stronger. Its a reminder for us about the previous answers God gave us in our life. Instead of quarreling or complaining, lets submit before God to let our faith grow stronger.
Tests administered by Devil
Not all tests are done by God. Sometimes God allows devil to take away something from our life as He did in Job's life. Moreover, Devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking every possible way to devour us. We are supposed to stay alert and know his tricks. The more we stand firm against him, the stronger our faith will be.
Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. - 1 Peter 5:9
Tests administered by ourselves
On top of all these, God wants us to keep track of our progress in the life of faith.
Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you ; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. - 2 Corinthians 13:5
We have to test ourselves to evaluate if we feel the presence of God among us. That is a test of genuine faith. Whatever happens in this mortal life, experiencing God's presence in our day to day activities makes us stronger in faith. Philippians 3:1 says
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
It makes Paul very happy to know that the people who he has brought to Christ are strong in the faith (Ephesians 1:15, Colossians 2:5, 1 Thessalonians 3:7). If a man who showed the way to Jesus becomes this much happy, how happy would our heavenly father be when he knows we are "strong" in the faith!!! Lets make our heavenly father happy by fighting hard to defend our faith...
6. FILLED IN FAITH
Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:14
Being filled with faith comes from Christ Jesus. Apostle James reminds us that God has chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith (2:5). So to be lifted to the richness in faith, one must be poor in the worldly matters. If we consider our achievements or possesions in this world as of a greater value, we will not be made rich in faith. Lets surrender all we think we have got, to God, so that he can fill us with the true faith.
The degree of being filled with faith shows the maturity in Christian life, which has to be brought by Christ Jesus. How do we grow to this level? Apostle John answers that we are mature in faith, when we truly know the Christ well (1 John 2:13). While young in faith finds battle of faith as something of effort, for a mature believer, its a routine which they find themselves doing effortlessly because they know God personally. Matured in faith trusts in God like a child trusting his parents. Simply believing in Him without analyzing or taking effort to comprehend it. God loves such people with childlike faith (Psalm 116:6). That is why Jesus advised his disciples to get converted like children (Matthew 18:3). Isn't that interesting? The more we grow in spiritual life, the more we become like children!!
Being filled with faith should be a continuous experience. A cup of water is never absolutely full, unless it overflows. There is no space of air or other particles than water in a full cup of water. In that way, a person filled with faith should overflow faith to others and there should not be any space for doubt or worry in that persons life. This measure in how much we inspire or motivate others in faith. Apostle Paul testifies about Timothy's grandmother and mother that they were full of faith. [2 Timothy 1:5] Since Timothy's grandmother was filled with faith, it overflowed to her daughter, Timothy's mother. Timothy's mother also became filled with spirit so that she could overflow the faith to her son, Timothy.
In early days of Christian church, this was one of the criteria by which they elected their leaders. A leader can embolden the followers in faith only if he is filled with faith. For example, we can see that Stephan [Acts 6:5] and Barnabas [Acts 11:24] were selected for the ministry of God due this qualification.
Not only were the first century leaders keen in planting churches everywhere, but also they were dedicated to follow it up by frequent visits to encourage them in faith. [Acts 14:22]. The prophets among them used the gift of God to speak to the believe to strengthen them in the faith. [Acts 15:32] For Apostle Paul, the greatest wish in his life was to help the church to grow and experience the joy in christian faith [Philippians 1:25].
When Paul trains Timothy in the ministry, he challenges Timothy to be an example in faith to all believers in the church [1 Timothy 4:12]. Apostles were so filled with faith that they were confident to encourage the church to follow their example in faith [Hebrews 13:7]. God only knows how many church leaders in today's world have that clear conscience to boldly endorse themselves as examples of faith to the church.
Enlightening in faith is not a one way traffic, but is a mutual experience. The leaders knew that they will be encouraged by encouraging others in faith.
When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. - Romans 1:12
Is being filled with faith and inspiring others meant only for leaders? No. Apostles taught the believers to be an encouragement to each other in faith.
But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith - Jude 1:20
Apostle Jude continues in verse 22 to show mercy for those believers who are wavering in faith. We must be compassionate to those who doubt and must try to make them stand firm in Christ. Those who are young in faith needs extra care in fighting the temptation and we are supposed to support them by praying for them and with them and teaching them with gentleness. This is where brotherly love is displayed. Jonathan, son of Saul, loved David so dearly as a brother that he continuously helped David to be strengthened in God.
Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God. - 1 Samuel 23:16
It is to be noted that Jonathan took it as his responsibility to find David even if David doesn't come to him for help.
Since they encouraged each other and were encouraged by faith filled leaders, the early church excelled in faith. [2 Corinthians 8:7] The more the church filled with faith, the more it grew. [Acts 16:5]. For church growth, the church has to excel in faith. Church is comprised of each one of us. So we have to be filled with faith encouraging other to be strong in faith, so as to expand the territories of the church.
7. SUPPLEMENTED FAITH
The standard of the christian faith comes to an ultimate level when it is supplemented by other spiritual fruits.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. - 2 Peter 1:5-7
From the above verse, we can understand that faith is the fundamental milestone in the Christian marathon. Faith is put to practice by the next steps in that course.
Faith --> Moral Excellence --> Knowledge --> Self Control --> Patient Endurance --> Godliness --> Brotherly affection --> Love for everyone.
Faith helps us to have goodness in us by showing christian integrity to everyone. This is the virtue by which we are consistent in our actions and will have no conflicts with anyone. We learn to live a life of clean conscience by doing everything as if we are doing it for Christ.
Knowledge refers to the spiritual enlightenment, not the worldly education. Only a person good at heart and is consistent can know about his God. Faith leads us to know the mysteries of God which will be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
Once a person knows God, he learns to know himself. Attaining true knowledge about Jesus Christ helps a person to control himself. He will learn to rule on his senses, thus being sensible. Even when he was mocked by rich and poor, military and civilians, rulers and ruled, Jesus controlled himself not to respond to them.
A person who can control himself learns to be patient. He would be able to endure the difficulties laid before him. He understands that he serves the God of patience. Isaiah speaks about Jesus that He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
Godliness refers to the true worship or piety to God. God wants a worship from a person who controls himself and having clean conscience. A true worshiper should clearly understand about the who he should worship, why he should worship and how he should worship. Being knowledgeable about God and himself will make us true worshipers.
Fear of the God helps us to love another as we love ourselves. Then we would understand the meaning of true neighbor and learn to have affection and kindness just like the Good Samaritan did to us.We can put this in action only by spiritual understanding and experiencing true worship.
And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ. - Philemon 1:6
Love for everyone should not be confused with the brotherly love. It is the experience of love of God reflecting in us. God loved the world so much that he wants each and every person to be saved from the destruction. When God's love truly reflects in us, we will love the fellow beings around us who are destined to hell and we will have the passion for Gospel. This is the stage where faith reflects as a passion to save our fellow beings. Paul vouches for this in the below verse.
What is important is faith expressing itself in love. - Galatians 5:6
As we have seen above to come to the level of expressing our faith in God's love, we need to go through the milestones of virtue, knowledge, self control, patience, worship and kindness.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:11 Paul urges to accomplish all the good things our faith prompts us to do. We can please God and live a life worthy of His call only if we put our faith to practice. It is by supplemented faith that we stand firm in the Christian life.
Apostle James advises us in his epistle [James 2:17] that faith by itself is not enough. Unless faith is supplemented by the good deeds it prompts us to do, it is useless to anyone.
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works. - James 2:26
In verses 21 through 24, he quotes the example of Abraham and explain that Abraham put his faith in to action by offering his son in the altar. His actions made his faith complete. Lets submit ourselves to God to make our faith and actions work together like Abraham did
Moreover, God is the one who initiated the faith in our life and God is the perfecter of faith too. [Hebrews 12:1,2] It is not possible for us to grow in the progressive faith without the guidance and grace from the Almighty. Lets keep our focus on Him stripping off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race of faith that the God has set before us.
May God Bless You All.
Your Brother In Christ,
Finny Samuel
