Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:14)
Have you ever thought I just need to generate more faith?
I know I have.
But here’s the deal. Faith isn’t something you can increase on your own, it’s a gift from God.
When a man brought his son to Jesus and asked for him to be healed, Jesus asked if he truly believed in his heart that what he was asking for could be done. In other words, did he have faith?
And how did the man respond?
Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
This man had heard about Jesus healing others, so he believed in his head what he was asking for could be done.
But that isn’t faith…it’s knowledge.
Faith is when your belief moves from your head into your heart.
For this man, faith came the moment he believed the healing he had seen Jesus offer to others was available to him as well. And in order to believe that, He needed Jesus to help Him overcome his unbelief.
Did Jesus respond to this man’s request with a list of things for him to do to increase his faith? Not at all. Jesus healed the man’s son, proving His faithfulness in spite of the man’s unbelief.
Jesus knew that only His faithfulness would increase the man’s faith.
Every time you choose to trust Jesus, He will come through for you. Always. And the more He proves to be faithful, the more your faith will increase. Looking at it that way, it’s easy to see how faith is not something you generate on your own, it’s the result of Jesus coming through for you 100% of the time.
