Our faith brings honor to God. Is your faith growing? We need to check our faith prayerfully. There is Scripture that may help you to know how you are growing. Jesus’ heart can be hurt when you do not have faith. Mark 16 tells about Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Salome, who went to the tomb and found it empty. The angel told them Jesus had risen and to go and tell the disciples. Verse 11 says that they refused to believe. I believe this unbelief hurt Jesus. In verse 14 says in part, “He reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart.
THE BIBLE TELLS OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF FAITH
Little Faith: This is a struggling faith in which they are trying to believe. An example of this is found in Mark 9:17-19. 21-24.
Verse 17 And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I bought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute;
Verse 18 and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.
Verse 19 And He answered them and said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!”
Verse 21 And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said to him, “From childhood.
Verse 22 And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!”
Verse 23 And Jesus said to him, “If You can!’ All things are possible to him who believes.”
Verse 24 Immediately the boy’s father cried out and began saying, “I do believe; help my unbelief.
The main group of words here is “if you can”. At least he knew he needed help.
2. GREAT FAITH: It is a maturing faith and stands on the word of God. A beautiful example of this is found in I Samuel 17 where David goes against Goliath. In verse 26 David views the situation as a sacred cause. In verses 32-37, David is reviewing his personal history under the providence of God and giving credit to God for delivering him. He expressed his confidence that the same God would deliver him again. WOW! We need to review our past and write them down. What a legacy to hand down to our children.
In Matthew 8:5-8 A centurion came to Jesus asking Him to heal a paralyzed servant at his home. Jesus said He would come but the centurion said he was not worthy for Jesus to come under his roof. He then said, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.” Jesus said that he had great faith.
PERFECT FAITH: This person says, “This is what God says. So it is true. So be it.” Next, You thank God in worship. Rejoice over the Lord. Genesis 22:1-5 shows perfect faith. In these scriptures, God shows us perfect faith through Abraham. In these verses, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son. God does not tempt us with evil but will test us so we will know how deep our faith runs and how God will stand with us. Other religions practiced human sacrifice so Abraham was familiar with it. The place where God told Abraham was about 50 miles from where they lived. Those 50 miles would be agonizing for most people. But Abraham had Perfect Faith. He remembered that God said He would multiply Isaac’s descendants. Abraham believed that even if he killed Isaac, God would bring him back to life. We know this because, in verse 5, Abraham said to his servant staying with the donkeys, “I and the lad will go, and we will worship and return to you.
So, where are you on this road of maturing faith?