HOW’S YOUR FAITH?
Do you have the kind of
faith that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego had when they were
thrown into a pit of fire and came out untouched? “Upon whose bodies the fire
had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats
changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” Or do
you have the faith of the man who was born blind, who came to Jesus and received
his sight? (John 9: 1-7). Many years ago, when faced with death, I told the man
who was pointing a gun at my face, to put it down in the name of Jesus Christ,
and the man put it down.
Lately I’ve been thinking about my faith. There are
things I have faith for, things that no one can talk me out of, but then there
are other things where my faith is not nearly so strong. I think that’s
probably pretty typical for most of us. I knew there was a verse where God lets
us know that our faith can grow, so I decided to take a closer look at that
verse, and start confessing it daily. Here’s what I found:
“We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is
meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one
of you all toward each other aboundeth” (2 Thess. 1:3).
I’m only going to
go over three words, and you can look up the rest in the Concordance. (All of
these definitions are found in the Strong’s Concordance to the Bible – the book
or online).
The first word I
want to look at is the word “faith.” What is it, according to the original spiritual
download from God to Paul? Paul got this message and wrote it in the Greek
language. In Greek the word “faith” is translated as follows: It means “conviction
of truth,” “assurance of belief.” In other words, it’s what we are totally
convinced of, what we are absolutely assured of. Faith are those things we are “confident
of,” convinced of,” what we “rely on by inward certainty.”
Our faith is our “persuasion
of the truthfulness of God and our reliance upon Christ.” It is a “yielding to”
and a “trust in” those things. I found it interesting and personally endearing
that included in the definition of “faith” is to “make a friend.” What we have
faith in becomes a friend to us. What an amazing concept!
The next two
words in English are “growth exceedingly.” In Greek it is only one word “huperauxano.”
It is translated: “to increase above ordinary degree, to enlarge, over and
above, superior, above and beyond, very highly, and very chiefest.” And isn’t that how we want our faith to be?
We want our faith
to grow to the highest level we can possibly have. We want to be as huge in
faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, as huge in faith as the
man born blind, as gigantic as the faith of Daniel when he was thrown to the
lions, as powerful as the faith of the woman who had been bleeding for twelve
years and one touch of Jesus healed her completely.
“And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an
issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his
garment: for she said within herself, ‘If I may but touch his garment, I
shall be whole.’ But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said:
“’Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made
thee whole.” And the woman was made whole from that hour” (Matt. 9: 20-22).
These people from
the Bible had the kind of faith we all want to have, and have in abundance. Let’s
start to call it in with our words. Let’s put claim to what God says is ours: “Our
faith groweth exceedingly.” What an exciting time to be alive.
Love, Carolyn
See my
publications on Amazon: Great keys to living a Christian life every day.
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