Increase Our Faith

In Luke 17:5 the apostles asked a wonderful thing of the Lord: to increase their faith!

Faith is a marvellous and wonderful thing. It is our eyes for those things which cannot be seen. If we do not have faith then we do not have hope. Without believing in the great God who rewards those who “diligently seek Him”, what hope can we have? In fact, it is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6).

As faith is so important for the Christian, it makes sense that the more we have the better off we’ll be. But how often do we ask God to increase our faith - to strengthen it - to root us deeper in our belief of Him and His Son?

Like the apostles did, it would do us good to ask the Lord to strengthen our faith.  When we go to Him in prayer and ask of Him those things that we need, let’s add “increase our faith” to that list.

How great it is to have great faith. God rewards those who seek after Him earnestly, and who strive to be obedient. Having a great faith increases our realization of that fact and, as such, increases the strength of that great hope within us (1 Peter 3:15).

In Luke 17:6 Jesus says, in response to the apostles asking to have their faith increased, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Those with great faith can accomplish great things. The Lord takes care of His children. If we are putting God’s ways first, He will take care of all of our needs (Matthew 6:33).

Consider the centurion whose servant was very ill. The centurion had great faith in Jesus, believing that Jesus did not even need to visit the servant to heal Him. His faith was rewarded with the servant being healed. And of the centurion’s faith, Jesus said “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8:10).

We should do what we can to strengthen our faith. But let us also ask God to increase it!

                -- John Thrower Jr.