“(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)”
II Corinthians 5:7 KJV
Every person starts their Christian walk with a measure of faith given to them by God, because without faith, it is impossible to be saved (Ephesians 2:8).
Romans 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
So if you know Jesus as your Savior, you have a measure of faith.
On several different occasions, Jesus said to his disciples, “Oh, ye of little faith.” Even His disciples had little faith. All faith starts little. (Little faith, by the way, is better than no faith.)
For a person to walk by faith and not by sight requires great faith.
- To trust what God says; not what you know.
- To trust God’s direction; not what you see.
- To trust God’s Word; not man’s advice.
- To trust in God’s wisdom; not man’s worldly knowledge.
- To trust in God’s ways; not blame Him because things don’t go our way.
So how do we get from little faith to great faith?
In Mark 4:30-32, Jesus said, “…Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.”
As you can see, a grain of mustard seed starts out in life incredibly tiny but grows into a huge tree. Your faith may be small now, but it has the potential to grow into GREAT faith!
In Matthew 17:20, Jesus said, “…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.” So even faith as small as a grain of mustard seed can accomplish great things for God.
In order to grow your faith, you must provide nourishment to your soul, like you water and care for a seedling. Romans 10:17 says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
Your faith won’t grow if you don’t nurture it through prayer (drawing close to God) and digesting God’s Word through reading, meditating, and studying it. Then you must carefully weed around the seedling of faith by plucking up the roots of bitterness, gossip, pride, addictions, gluttony, fear, worry, resentment, unforgiveness, unthankfulness, and any other sin that you’ve allowed to rule your life.
If you’re to “…walk by faith…,” you must make prayer and God’s Word a priority in your life. Then “be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only.” James 1:22 That means to put into practice what you learn. By doing that, you will gradually rid your life of sinful behaviors that stifle the growth of your faith. And your faith will be like that tiny mustard seed, which one day blossoms into a huge tree.