Growing Faith
 

posted on facebook today......


Growing Faith
Kenneth E. Hagin (August 20, 1917 - September 19, 2003)

"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly..." (2 Thess. 1:3).

God gets all believers started off equally with the measure of faith after they are born again. He doesn't give one baby Christian more faith than He gives another. After we are born again, however, it is up to each one of us to develop the measure of faith that has been given to us.

Too many have done with their faith what the fellow did with his one talent: He wrapped it in a napkin, hid it, and didn't use it.

Your measure of faith can be increased, it can grow. But you are the one who increases it, not God!

Your measure of faith can be increased by doing these two things:
Feeding it on the Word of God, and
(2) Exercising it by putting it into practice.

Confession: God has given me the measure of faith. I will see to it that my faith grows exceedingly. I will feed my faith on the Word of God. I will exercise my faith, I will put it into practice. My faith is growing.

Re: Growing Faith
 

What think ye....?

Do we each have a "measure" of God given faith?

Can our faith "grow"?

At 2 Thessalonians 1:3 I have a note in the margin of my Bible that says:

Faith is like a muscle: It can be strengthened.
It can be weak or it can be strong depending on how much you use it.
Rick Warren

Re: Growing Faith
 

Wow, hard to believe someone would use something from Pop Hagin on an Apostolic Board, lol...

Anyway, this states there are two ways to grow your faith. I know there is Scripture that teaches that Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. So I agree on that.... but where does the Bible say exercising your faith increases it?

Re: Growing Faith
 

Hmm, and you might define "hearing" here, as it prolly
isn't the "hearing" we define? I mean, I know it isn't
the hearing we define...

Re: Growing Faith
 

It is a Greek noun, not a verb... so there it already shifts from our normal thought of the word hearing. Here is the definintion of that Greek Word akoe.

1) the sense of hearing

2) the organ of hearing, the ear

3) the thing heard

a) instruction, namely oral

1) of preaching the gospel

b) hearsay, report or rumour

Re: Growing Faith
 

Bro. Robbins, I am going to need to do some research of my own on this, but I believe that the Bible says that exercising our faith does increase it. Further, the Bible says that we build faith by 'praying in the Holy Ghost'. So there are multiple ways to build faith, and all of them must be put to use in the life of a Christian.

Re: Growing Faith
 

We usually quote Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" as an exhortation to read/hear the Word to increase our faith. When we read, hear, or confess the Word we can build up our faith.

"Faith" is spoken of as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 KJV but this is translated "faithfulness" in versions such as ESV, Amplified, ASV, CJB, NASB, NKJV, NLT so I don't think that faith/trust is a fruit of the Spirit.

Jude verse 20 says, " But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost," so praying in our prayer language or praying in the Spirit or praying in tongues can edify us. Some quote this as a means of building our faith. I think it just means we edify/build up ourselves as Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 14:4 and Paul said he did this himself in verses 14, 15, and 18.

Jude verse 20 in the Message says:
But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit
In the Amplified Bible it says:
But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith [make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher], praying in the Holy Spirit;

Re: Growing Faith
 

You found them, sir. Those were the verses to which I was making reference.

Re: Growing Faith
 

Please, with all due respect, don't use the Message to quote Scripture when talking doctrine. That is not a version, it's a paraphrase, which makes it inappropriate when discussion theological viewpoints of a Scripture.

Anyway, in regards to Jude 20, there is a comma there.. and you and Jay in my opinion are taking where the writer is making a list, and tying two things together....

Jude 1:20 ¶ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

The writer here is saying, item 1 - building up yourselves on your most holy faith (and) item 2 - Praying in the Holy Ghost (and) item 3 - keeping yourselves in the love of God (and) item 4 - looking for the mercy...

I also do believe that faith is a fruit of the Spirit, but is that doesn't add anything to it coming from time in the Word. The Word can only be understood spiritually, not carnally, so to me, it is merely complimenting the Romans verse here...

Praying in the Holy Ghost (hate that phrase "prayer language", lol) will not increase one's faith in my opinion of what I've studied in the Word. As a matter of fact, it is dependent upon faith. Just my thoughts...

But I still don't see any Scriptures that talk about "exercising" your faith or "using" your faith to make it grow. It preaches real well, and I've heard it a thousand times... but don't see it in the Word.

Re: Growing Faith
 

1. The Message IS a paraphrase (at least that's the term we OP's like to use for it) like The Living Bible was a few years ago. Any translation/version/paraphrase naturally reflects the opinion of the translators and includes any restrictions which may have been placed upon them by those authorizing or sponsoring the version. For example if I read a New World Version I have to remember that it is a Bible "translation" authorized by the Watchtower Society for use by Jehovah's Witnesses so I would expect it to promote JW doctrine like using "torture stake" for cross and "a god" for "God" in John 1:1. The King James Version was authorized by a pervert for use in the Anglican Church so we have to take into account that it is a version translated by trinitarians for use in a trinitarian church and had to please Anglican hierarchy before it could be published. For a couple of examples the term "Bishop" is used for "overseer," "baptism" is used instead of given the translation of "dip" or "immerse" or "overwhelm" and the phrase "God Save the King" is used which was a common term used in England at that time.
I am not KJV only but it is my favorite and has been for over half a century. I read several versions but basically use the KJV for a plumb line by which to measure other versions.

2. yeppers, there is a comma there in our KJV and also in other translations. I had to look at several before I found one (the Message) which made the edifying and the praying in the Spirit seem like one action instead of two out of three. It is my understanding that there were no commas in the Greek text so punctuation is something supplied by the translators and could reflect their own interpretation.

And, yes, I agree that there is no Scripture that tells us how to "grow" our faith. The reference to the Thessalonian saints given was from a letter from Paul to a young church. It may have been the second epistle he wrote (1 Thessalonians being the first and Galatians the third in the opinion of some) written shortly after 1 Thessalonians. Dates I have seen are:
1 Thessalonians written August AD 51 from Athens (ref Acts 17:14-15) or perhaps when he went on to Corinth in September AD 51 (ref Acts 18:1). 2 Thessalonians is considered to have been written shortly afterward (maybe while Paul was still in Athens) in response to some eschatology questions in the assembly at Thessalonica.

Anyway, in our KJV it does say "...your faith groweth..." so it seems like it is possible for faith to develop and grow. Then preachers get to theorize on how to make that happen.