Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
Our hopes and desires are fulfilled by our faith in God and His word. We know that faith is needed to please God. Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. And yet God will allow us, by grace, to approach Him with whatever level of faith we have even – little faith that is close to none. Mark 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief. Faith is a gift from God to each one of us, for maturity in the faith to be used for His glory and our growth. Rom. 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. We also know that this faith will increase through believing God’s word. Rom. 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
There are different type and measures of faith, and all faith works in hope of an expected end. Heb. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The Lord will even help our faith by infusing it with His faith. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor. 12:9a To another faith by the same Spirit.
We are encouraged to use mustard seed faith, and the implication being that the smallest amount of God-inspired faith can move any mountain in our life. Matt. 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
This faith is wonderful because the law of the seed is at work here; therefore, our faith will grow over time if we are patient. I heard a teacher once say, “Even grass turns to milk if you have patience.” Likewise, faith turns to substance if we have patience.
As Jesus walked throughout the Holy Land, He looked for people to have faith in Himself. The interesting thing was that He found some great faith with the centurion, the Syrophenician woman, and the woman at the well. It could be said that this verse describes the faith of these people. Luke 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
The other poignant fact is that these people were all gentiles, yet they could see the Messiah clearly and could make a draw by faith on Christ’s virtue because their hearts were not clouded with religion as His own people. John 1:11 He came unto His own, and his own received Him not.
A religious heart will cause our faith to falter even though every endeavour has been provided for us to come to Him by any faith we have. So, let us proceed with His grace, helping us grow in faith, believing from a clean heart. 1 Tim. 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
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