Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
Faith is a grace which admits of degrees. It does not come to full strength and perfection as soon as it is planted in the heart by the Holy Spirit. There is “little” faith and “great” faith. There is “weak” faith and “strong” faith. Both are spoken of in the Scriptures. Both are to be seen in the experience of God’s people. The more faith a Christian has the more happy, holy, and useful will he be. To promote the growth and progress of faith should be the daily prayer and endeavor of all who love life. When the apostles said, “increase our faith,” they did well.
Have we any faith at all? This, after all, is the first question which the subject should raise in our hearts. Saving faith is not mere repetition of the creed, and saying, “I believe in God the Father–and in God the Son, and in God the Holy Spirit.” Thousands are weekly using these words, who know nothing of real believing. The words of Paul are very solemn, “All men have not faith.” (2 Thess. 3:2.) True faith is not natural to man. It comes down from heaven. It is the gift of God.
If we have any faith let us pray for more of it. It is a bad sign of a man’s spiritual state when he is satisfied to live on old stock, and does not hunger and thirst after growth in grace. Let a prayer for more faith form part of our daily devotions. Let us covet earnestly the best gifts. We are not to despise “the day of small things” in a brother’s soul, but we are not to be content with it in our own.
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 