HOW MUCH FAITH DO YOU NEED?

Often, when we encounter challenges in our lives so that we are overcome by great anxiety, or fear, and we are facing an uncertain future, one of the most common encouragements we hear from others — or maybe we tell ourselves even — is that we should not be afraid, but instead we should just trust God.  Right?  Sige lang.  Trust God. 

I have preached about that topic, and I would not hesitate to help anyone learn how to trust God. Yet as I do that, I am fully aware that driving away anxiety and fear by trusting God is easier said than done. I know. I have faced my share of fearful storms, and I’ve sat with enough troubled friends who had to face their fears, to be careful not to be too dismissive.

The other day, I was reflecting on this passage: from Luke 17:5-6 “The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”  I wondered why Jesus seemed to ignore the requests of his disciples, suggesting to them that you only need faith as small as a mustard seed. 

Then it occurred to me that maybe what Jesus meant was that believing in God is an all or nothing thing.  You either believe in God, or you don’t.  How can you believe in God just a little?  Does He suddenly shrink in size when your problems look so big?  And thus increasing your faith will increase His size?  Absolutely not.  In our declaration of faith, the first sentence states:  “I believe in God.”  Period.

GROW IN KNOWLEDGE, TO GROW IN TRUST

Jesus says, we don’t grow in believing in God.  BUT we grow in knowledge of God, yes.  We grow in trust of God, absolutely.  We grow even in love of God, ideally. 

And that’s the thing:  we need to understand the relationship between knowledge of God, trust of God and love of God.  A simple way to know how these three are related is to ask yourself:

• “Can you trust someone whom you do not know?”  Of course not.
• “Can you love someone whom you do not know?”  Absurd.

But can your trust grow?  Can your love for someone grow?  Yes!!  And how do you do that?  By growing in knowledge of that person. 

Even if you believe in God, but do not know Him enough, then it will be hard for you to trust HIm and not be anxious and fearful. Therefore, if you want to grow in trust for God, if we want to grow in love for the Lord, then you need to grow in your knowledge of Him.  You need to invest time in getting to know God more and more and more.  And the more we know God, the more we will trust Him, the more we will love Him.

Speaking of “all or nothing”, visit this post where I reflect on our God being “OUR ALL AND NOTHING GOD”.

If you want to attain the peace beyond understanding despite trying circumstances, then I exhort you to intentionally, continually seek to know God with all your heart.  The more you know Him, the more you will trust Him, and the more you will be able to drive away fears and anxieties, and gain peace, no matter what storm comes your way.

TIPS IN GROWING IN KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

For a more detailed description of a method of seeking to know God in scripture, visit this article: “SEEK TO KNOW THE LORD“. In that article, you will find practical suggestion on how to read the bible with only one single purpose, namely, to get to know God as He desires to reveal Himself to you.

Those of my friends who have decided to read the bible in this particular way as suggested, attest to how awesome, rewarding, and refreshing it was for them to have God of all Creation reveal Himself to them. It has triggered in them a greater thirst and hunger to know the Lord.

Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.

Heb 11:6