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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, NLT).
If the Apostle Paul wrote us a letter, would he thank God for our growing faith? Even if we answer “no,” I think it’s exciting that we can grow in faith.
Let’s rename Planet Fitness™ to Planet Faith and improve our spiritual fitness. Let’s be ready for our next assignment by growing in faith, as God does appear through burning bushes and tongues of fire on our heads with requested Mount Zion-sized tasks for all of us.
But before we get too excited about David slaying Goliath by faith, let’s note three things. . .
First: It’s Sudden
Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him (Acts 9:3, ESV).
I pray often, “God, let me have the courage to say, ‘Yes!’” Faith development often requires instant obedience from small things like refusing to look at illicit posts to larger things such as tithes and offerings with already tight budgets.
Bill Johnson writes. . .
I don’t know that there has ever been a time when courage and faith were more needed. But I don’t say this because of the darkness of the hour. That is a given. I say it because of the realm of God’s promises that linger over the Church, waiting for someone to see it—to believe it—to say yes to what could be!
Second: It’s Offensive
Peter was on a rooftop when God showed him a menu of reptiles and birds of the air, saying to Peter, “Arise and eat.” To which Peter replied, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything unclean” (See Acts 10).
Just when we think we’ve figured out God’s ways, becoming comfortable with steady but almost too slow to notice growth in our faith, He asks us to do the unbelievable. I remember saying to God, “God, I can’t preach,” “God, I don’t need to travel to foreign countries for missions,” and “God, I can’t give that much money to the building fund.”
We can’t grow without reliance on a great God and that means busting up the smallness of our faith.
Third: It’s Seismic
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, and suddenly there was a great earthquake (Acts 16:25-26, ESV).
The earth shifted, and Paul and Silas were free. Recently, a brother told me, “I accepted the Lord and went home and placed all my alcohol and drugs in a bag. Then I threw the bag in a dumpster and have never wanted to drink or abuse drugs again.”
I believe God still does miracles today. Our expectancy should always focus on God’s abilities and not our inadequacies.
That’s it. Three notes about growing in faith. I’ve given you the SOS for improving your faith:
Sudden … Offensive … Seismic!