Developing The Faith That Wins

One of the clear signs that you are a Christian is that your faith will be tried. Satan will test you with every intent to make you fail and fall. He has made this clear in the example of Job.

Satan kept looking for a way to penetrate Job's heart and turn him away from God but he could not until God let him and to the extent permitted. On the other hand God will allow you to be tested to prove to satan that you are a faithful child and servant of His. This apart from the example of Job's life is summarized in 1 Corinthians 10:13- “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

I therefore make bold to say that God will never let saran tempt a person He does not trust will stand for the faith. Again, in Deuteronomy 8: 2-4 Moses says “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.”

In the hand of God, trials are lessons, not traps - to build in us humility, prove our resolve (patience) to live for God, and establish our faith in His word. In fact James 1: 2-4 says “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” In other words, no child of God should get annoyed that trials come because they are just exams to test our faith which has the ability to help us develop patience, mature holistically and thus have a circumspect view of life.

Take note. All men will be tested but not all will pass. The factors that determine whether you will pass life's many tests will be determined by your faith. When you became a child of God, you were given a measure of faith according to Romans 12: 3 and the faith you received is both for offense and defence. Hebrews 11:33 (“Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions”) and Ephesians 6:16 (“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked”) reveals this. Seeing that faith is important for achieving and sustaining a victorious life here on earth according to 1 John 5:4 (“…this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”), every child of God must feed and grow their faith continuously in order to remain victorious here on earth.

In order to build your faith, you must watch three things continuously- your meditation, your speech and then, your actions. This is because what you think on is what you will talk about and what you talk about determines your actions. In order to develop a healthy, godly meditation, you must watch your perception. You need to be careful of how you see, hear, feel, taste and smell. What you see or hear can put fear in your heart. If you begin to think on the things that inspire fear instead of faith, satan will come to whisper to you and then you begin to go down.

Faith is personal. Romans 14:22 says, “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God”. The fact that someone you think was a great Christian died does not mean that the promise of longevity has expired. Don't let another person's reality become your own possibility and subsequent reality if it does not tally with what God has said. Psalm 1:2-3 declares that if your delight and meditation are in the word of God, you will prosper in your season. According to Philippians 4:8, “…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

When you get your meditations on track, it will easy and easier to say “I am strong” even when you are obviously weak. It will be easy to say in the face of danger and death, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” When your meditations are right, then you will easily remember the things you have read in the word enough to say “…it is written” in the face of temptations. The bible says in Job 6:25- “How forcible are right words.” This is so because words inform actions. If you speak the right words, you will act right. If you speak faith, you will act it.

King Saul told David what he had been telling himself- “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth” but David would say “…Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine; Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God; The LORD … will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” Of course, David went on the kill Goliath. I see you developing the faith that wins in Jesus.