The apostles said to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’‚ and it will obey you” (Luke 17:5-6). Why did Jesus use a mustard seed as His example of faith? Because it is a living organism, and it can grow. Peter wrote, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18).
It was D.L. Moody, who said, “I prayed for faith and thought it would strike me like lightning. But faith did not come. Then one day I read, ‘Now faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.’ I had closed my Bible and prayed for faith. I now began to study my Bible and faith has been growing ever since.”
Biblical faith is not based on ignorance; it is based on knowledge. I have asked many people if they believed what the Bible says, and many have answered, “No.” Then I ask them if they have ever read the Bible. The answer is usually, “No, I do not have the time.” These people are making a judgment about the Bible without reading it. You cannot make a sound judgment about God unless you know something about Him. And the only way you will ever understand God is to know what He has said about Himself in His Word.
To have a strong biblical faith a person must have a good working knowledge of the Bible. I am not saying a person has to understand a lot about the Bible to become a born again Christian, but after a person has become a believer, for their faith to grow, they must become a student of The Word of God. For a person to have a close relationship with God, they must become knowledgeable of what God has said to mankind in the Bible.
The apostle Paul wrote, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10). These two verses of Scripture are telling us that the only way we can live a life that is pleasing to God is to understand what the Bible says about God. And the only way we can bear fruit in every good work is to grow in the knowledge of God.
I hear people say, “Know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Most people know this is a biblical saying, but they do not know where it is located in the Bible. The problem is that most people take this verse out of context. Jesus is not talking about just any truth; He is talking about His truth.
Let us read this verse in context, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). The truth of what Jesus says about Himself and God will set you free from religion. Because, in reality, Christianity is not a religion, it is a personal and living relationship with Jesus Christ.
I am not about to say that it is easy to live a life of faith, our flesh is too accustomed to feeling, touching, seeing and hearing. Our flesh does not like to live by faith. That is the reason that we need to make a special effort to strengthen and increase our faith. And the only way we can do that is to increase our knowledge of God’s Word.
There will be times in anyone’s life where they are tempted to fall back into their old way of life. And it takes a strong faith in God to keep from falling into these traps of the world and Satan. The Bible says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12).
Besides all the temptation that is out there in this world, we have all the other problems that come into our lives. Loved ones and friends become sick and sometimes die. Loved ones and friends sometimes die in accidents. A son, daughter, brother, sister, mother or dad comes down with cancer or some other debilitating disease. Only a strong faith in God can carry us through these trials in our life.
Consider the rewards of a strong faith: a strong faith enables us to understand what God has done and is doing. A strong faith in God enables us to see what other people cannot see; it gives us spiritual eyes so that we can see the spiritual things more clearly (note Heb.11:7, 13, 27). A strong faith in God enables us to do what others cannot do because we are depending on God, and not ourselves or some other person. A strong faith in God enables the believer to see into the future because the Holy Spirit is our guide.
Do you want to triumph over this unregenerate, satanically controlled, humanistic world system? The Bible says, “And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith” (1 John. 5:4). The writer of Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
The Bible says, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). If you want your faith to grow by leaps and bounds, then take some time each day and study the Bible.