How Do We Get Faith?
One of the first questions we must ask when talking about faith is “How do I get it? Some think that God gives faith to someone special like Billy Graham, Oral Roberts or Bill Johnson. Some think that you get faith only when you need it. Unfortunately if you wait till then it might be too late. Still others think that if you pray and ask God for faith he will somehow give it too you.
Though these answers sound good and the people are very sincere who think them, they are not correct. They are based on ideas that come solely from man’s own understanding and intellect, not from God’s Word. Hebrews 12:2 tells us that God is the author and finisher of our faith, so let’s get the answers from Him.
You might ask, “If God is the author and finisher then why shouldn’t I pray for God to give me faith?” God has already given every person a measure of faith, you already have faith. How can God give you something He has already given you? It would be similar to asking God to send Jesus to die on a cross for your sins. This is something that God cannot do. Not because He doesn’t want to or because it is not His will either. He cannot do it for one reason… he already has.
Romans 12:3 (NKJV)
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Here the Apostle Paul says that God has distributed to each person a measure of faith. Thayer’s Lexicon points out that in the Greek here the word for measure has the idea of a device or container used to measure. Think of it like a measuring cup instead of the substance being measured. So you could say that God has given each of us a measuring cup for faith. We have a container that is specifically designed by God to hold faith and distribute faith. We will discuss this more in a later chapter.
Faith Is Not An Option
Check out this verse from the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
This verse tells us that God demands us to have faith. Without faith we cannot please Him. It is impossible! If He demands it of us, then we must be the one’s responsible to make sure we have it. It’s up to us to get faith. The writer here also says that we must believe two things…
- Believe that God is
- Believe that God is a rewarder
Wait a second here. How can God give me a measure of faith and yet say I must have faith to please Him. Well that my friend is the beauty of grace. God gives us a container for faith and then He gives us the means to acquire the faith that He requires of us. He truly is the author and finisher of our faith.
Faith Comes
Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
I love this verse. It is one of my favorite verses in the whole bible. It may seem like an odd verse to be a favorite. It is not a common verse that some to have as a favorite memory verse. It is my favorite because in this one verse I see the awesomeness of God. I see His wisdom, His justice, His equity, His love, His grace and His mercy. You may ask “How do you see all that in those few simple words?” I am happy to share. In fact since it is one of my favorite verses I will spend just a little time here dissecting this one verse.
Faith comes by… It is that plain and simple. Faith does come. There is no ambiguity in this verse at all. There are no exclusions or caveats. There is no exception. Is simply says faith comes. I love that. Faith does come, faith ALWAYS comes. Now I am interested to see how does this faith always come? As we read on we see that it comes by hearing. So if I can only hear, this faith will come. Can I hear just anything? NO! Faith does always come, no exceptions. There is however an exception to WHAT you hear. And Paul says that if you hear the word of God, faith will always come. I love that. I don’t have to be a “special” person or have a certain rank or title or position. All I have to do is hear the Word of God and faith will come.
Faith Follows The Word of God.
Some of you may notice that the word “comes” is italicized in this verse, indicating that it is not in the original Greek text, but was added by the translators for clarity of understanding and readability. And that is correct; however the Greek language has many nuances our English language does not. So we will focus on the word by. This little word has varied meanings to which are: comes, abundance, means, method, out of, exceeding, etc… so from this we get the meaning of faith coming out of what is to follow next in the sentence. So faith comes from or out of whatever is said next. In this case it is the Word of God. I like to say like this, “Faith follows the Word just as signs follow believers.” So in the truest sense faith does come by hearing God’s Word.
Ed Schultz | Writing & Ministry 