How Does Faith Come?
God demands that we live by faith, not by sight; this is the only way to please Him (2 Corinthians 5:7, Hebrews 11:6). Even so, this faith is not an impartation we receive through the laying on of hands or by prayer and fasting. Through praying in the Spirit you can strengthen yourself in your faith (Jude 1:20) but you must first have the faith before you can strengthen yourself in it through prayer. So how does faith come? So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). That is, faith comes by hearing the word of God. If we are going to hear God’s voice and be accurate about it, we must be grounded in hearing Him through His Word – for “hearing comes by the word of God” and faith is birthed as a consequence (Romans 10:17).
The Bible is God speaking to you (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13) and it is a more sure word of prophecy (2 Peter 1:19). This is what gives faith its full assurance – the absoluteness and infallibility of God’s word because God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19, Hebrews 6:18). The Word of God conveys God’s heart, desires, intent, and what He approves and disapproves – His will. This means that the word of God is the will of God. So then if faith comes by hearing the Word of God, then “faith begins where the will of God is known” (F.F. Bosworth). Without knowing the word or will of God concerning any situation, we will have no basis for our faith and our faith can be challenged and defeated by circumstances or the devil. Similarly, a wrong understanding of the Scriptures will lead to conclusions that are contrary to God’s word and will, and will make our faith misplaced and ineffective. Therefore, if we are going to be people of faith, then we must be people of the Word. As we give ourselves to study and meditate on God’s Word, God Himself will ensure that we understand what He is saying (2 Timothy 2:7; Matthew 13:15, Joshua 1:8) and we will have a sure basis for our faith.
Romans 12:3 also says that “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith”. Isolating this text by itself while disregarding other texts that treat the same subject can lead to the wrong conclusion that we are not responsible for the level of faith we have because it is all up to God. But that is not what the Bible teaches. Rather, when you combine Romans 10:17 and Romans 12:3, both of which address the same subject, the Bible shows that as we give ourselves to hear God’s word, the faith we receive come about as a result of God imparting that faith to us. Thus, if you see two Christians who are at different levels of faith it is not God who has been partial, giving one more faith and thereby a greater ability to please Him than the other – for the Bible says there is no partiality or favouritism with God (Romans 2:11, Acts 10:34). On the contrary, those with more faith have frequently availed themselves to hear and study God’s word and have thereby received a greater impartation of faith from God. In other words, how much faith God deals out to each of us is directly dependent on how much we avail ourselves to hear and study His word.
The truth that it is God who gives us our due measure of faith as we give ourselves to hear His Word reveals that biblical faith is not of human origin and it is not mere human confidence. It is divine in origin, being a divine persuasion about the truthfulness of God, founded not on external circumstances or feelings but on God and His Word. True biblical faith is part of God’s divine nature we get to partake of (cf. 2 Peter 1:4). This gives us the absolute confidence that the faith we have from God and His Word can succeed against anything that comes against us and can receive everything God wants us to have if we know how to release our faith.
To be continued.
Dr. K. Omari
May 5, 2021