Chapter 4: How Does Faith Grow?

What should you be able to see taking place in your life if you are growing in faith? Is this growth something that you can monitor? Because God requires faith, are you able to determine if you are meeting His standard in your own life, or must you live year after year merely hoping that you have pleased God?

Chapter 5 will explain how you get faith. This chapter is concerned with what growing faith looks like. This is important because you can't measure growth if you don't know what you are measuring.

Equally important, you cannot know whether it is faith or something else that you are pursuing if you cannot identify growing faith. There are many qualities mentioned in Scripture that the believer must exhibit such as patience, obedience, love, forgiveness, etc. But to successfully mature in any one of these required areas, you must have an idea of what you want God to accomplish in your life.

Faith has been improperly defined as "Knowing God's will and then doing it." This is a good definition of obedience, but it is not a definition of faith. You cannot properly monitor your growth in faith if—for example—you have confused it with obedience.

One last clarification is necessary before you read this chapter. Graphics are used to depict faith. This is simply a visual way of showing how faith grows. These plots have no statistical relevance of any kind.

Figure 1 depicts a popular misconception concerning faith growth. The vertical axis is identified as Strength of faith because evangelical believers often think in these terms. For example, it may be reported that one person's faith is weak whereas someone else's faith is strong. The horizontal axis is identified as time. Growth of any kind—';including faith—';takes place over time. Ideally, it could be said that a particular believer's faith has grown over the past year as compared to his or her faith of two years earlier.

What is wrong with this graph? It is based on the false notion that faith growth is a natural outcome of the length of time a person has been a believer. Of course, most would agree that the slope angle could vary. A faithful believer's growth might be represented by a steep climb while a weaker believer's growth could be depicted by only a shallow slope. But there is nothing on the graph of Figure 1 to represent what the growth is related to.

Time is not the basis for faith growth, even though faith growth takes place over time, as the next figure illustrates. The false notion that faith growth is produced by time is repeated weekly in our churches. The unstated but false assumption is, "Be a faithful Christian and you will, of consequence, grow in faith. The longer you have been an obedient Christian, the stronger your faith will become."

Even when attention is given to discipling, there is often little specific teaching regarding how to grow in faith. When faith growth is not emphasized—or when you do not know how to grow in faith—it will not readily happen merely as a consequence of time. This does not limit God's ability to work in the lives of individuals. Nonetheless, I want to emphasize that understanding what faith is—as well as how to specifically grow in faith—is the best way to achieve a faith which pleases God.

Romans 1:17 says, "For in [the Gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'But the righteous man shall live by faith.'" (NASB) This verse identifies the way in which a righteous believer grows in faith. It is from faith to faith.

In its simplest form, as depicted in Figure 2, a believer will encounter an individual faith lesson that he or she must live through. This will require some degree of trust in God (Jesus) as exhibited by either acting or resting faith. There will be a weighing of personal risk when trusting God versus the seemingly more secure way of depending on conventional means.

The believer will then see some resolution to the faith lesson—though not always a complete answer—whereby he or she will see in retrospect how God worked. The result will be a deeper awareness of God's faithfulness and a willingness to trust Him in even more difficult circumstances in the future. Subsequently, a more difficult faith lesson will arise and the process will be repeated. Each faith lesson will be progressively more difficult and will require greater reliance on God. At the same time, each step will be within the limits of the promise of 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says,

Notice that the horizontal axis is identified as Nurtured faith over time rather than merely time. This process of moving from faith to faith by way of individual faith lessons is a progressive nurturing process. In His sovereignty, God, "who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will," (Ephesians 1:11) is moving the believer successively through each of these faith lessons with perfectly planned precision and purpose. God's ultimate purpose is, of course, the perfection of the believer in faith.

Throughout the remainder of the book I will identify this as nurtured faith. Faith does not "just happen." Nurtured faith is a carefully orchestrated movement through progressively difficult lessons of faith. I am not suggesting rigid "predestination" fatalism. From the believer's perspective, life flows normally from event to event. Yet God's hand is always evident in retrospect; it will be clear that His wisdom was perfect throughout the nurturing process.

I have identified the vertical axis as Viability of faith rather than merely Strength of faith as shown in Figure 1. In the process of learning to live by faith, your self-confidence will frequently be deeply challenged. The result may well be a more viable faith even though the self-assurance and arrogance that is often labeled as strength will be absent.

Notice how the result of an Aborted faith lesson was illustrated. What will happen to you if you relinquish your trust in God during a faith lesson? The line will not merely go flat. There will clearly be a loss in your viable faith that will require repentance and remedial faith lessons. I cannot presume how God may choose to work in another's life. However, experience generally indicates that failure to trust God during a faith lesson will have serious repercussions. Repentance and coming back to a place of obedience are necessary in order to regain the joy of growing in faith. Remember Peter's self-assurance in Luke 22:33: "Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!" Peter's downfall began within hours as he followed at a distance, then denied knowing Jesus, and finally, with increasing intensity, disowned Jesus while cursing and swearing (Mark 14:71). But Peter was not completely restored the instant Jesus looked at him. Neither was he restored after he wept bitterly. It was the women who stood by the cross, not Peter. Even after Jesus' death, it was Joseph of Arimathea who requested permission to place Jesus in his own tomb. Peter was absent. Peter's restoration was still not complete even after the resurrection when Jesus queried him regarding his love. (John 21)

I am not suggesting that forgiveness of sin is incomplete or conditional when a believer repents. But the sin of self-reliance that prevents a believer from trusting Jesus has serious consequences in its disruption of faith growth.

In reality, your growth in faith is never as simple as a series of single crises that you can trust God to resolve. Nor do these crises always have the appearance of moving incrementally from simple to difficult. Figure 3 illustrates more of this complexity.

Throughout life there will be a series of short-term faith lessons. Some difficulties will be resolved quickly while others may seem less important in retrospect. There will also be long-term faith lessons. Again, some of these lessons will eventually be resolved in dramatic ways showing evidence of God's sovereign control. On the other hand, some may never be resolved and will be life-long issues. These faith lessons will also differ greatly in kind. Some of them will be related to your service for the Lord. Others will involve mundane elements of daily living. All of these circumstances, however, are faith lessons God wants you to entrust to Him. It is through these events that your personal faith will become increasingly viable.

You need to understand the difference between nurtured faith and the gift of faith. As you saw in Chapter 2, faith is required of each believer. On the other hand, 1 Corinthians 12:9 lists faith as a spiritual gift which God selectively gives to some, but not to all believers.

Figure 4 illustrates the gift of faith. All believers should be progressing in faith growth by way of nurtured faith. Nonetheless, there will be occasions when God grants special faith for specific tasks. This is the gift of faith. Notice in Figure 4 that the believer who is granted the gift of faith for a particular need is progressing in faith growth by way of nurtured faith. Equally, after the gift of faith is given, the process of nurtured faith continues. Yet God intervened in the process of nurtured faith and gave a special measure of faith for a specific task.

We need to avoid an error that is frequently made regarding the gift of faith. Often, when an individual exhibits genuine and abundant faith, he or she is credited with having the gift of faith. That may not necessarily be true. A believer who has spent a lifetime pursuing faith will develop a substantial faith without special gifting. It is interesting to note that George Müller, known for his life of faith in supporting orphanages, education and literature ministries, and foreign missions through prayer alone, insisted that he did not have the gift of faith.^[1] He claimed that his faith was merely what God expects of all believers. He started learning to live by faith in his mid twenties when he asked the two congregations he was pastoring to cancel his salary. Then on the basis of Matthew 6, he and his wife took the needs of their daily living to God in prayer, determining never to mention their need to others. God supplied and George and Mary Müller's faith grew.

May I suggest that there is a reason why we like to attribute gifting to those who have substantial faith? How would you feel talking to George Müller if he told you that he did not have the gift of faith; that his faith was only what God expects of all believers? It would be terribly intimidating!

Let's look at a final graph in Figure 5. The question will eventually be raised, "If we grow in faith, won't we find it increasingly easy to discern God's will when we need His direction?"

Interestingly, this is generally not the case, though I must be careful not to presume how God must act. As you grow in faith, you will realize why it was easy to discern God's will earlier and more difficult later. In the early days of your growth in faith, you had a less viable faith. Consequently, you had less ability to wait on God and you felt more dependent on immediate confirmation of His will concerning some particular action. Then, as your faith grew, He wanted you to rely less on a sense of direction, and more on Him as a Person.

Do you see what was happening in those early days of faith when you had a clear sense of God's direction? Look back on that period of time and you will realize that your confidence was based on the circumstances of the direction. You could have said something like, "I know it was God's will because I had this deep conviction that He was leading me to do it. Then in the weeks that followed, several events unequivocally confirmed that the decision was correct." I do not want to demean those early encounters with God's leading. They were genuine and moving experiences, and they required an exercise of faith commensurate with your level of faith at the time. Nonetheless, do you see what was happening? You were trusting a "conviction" and "circumstances." Of course, you attributed this to a personal God. But your trust required that certain experiences act as an interface between your trust in God and God Himself. As you grow in faith, He wants you to trust Him directly as a Person rather than trusting experiences or side issues such as conviction and circumstances. In general, there will be fewer of these manifestations as you grow in faith. Increasingly, you will find yourself dealing with God Himself as you seek to discern His will.

To your great surprise, there will be no answer at times when you are actively pursuing God's direction for something that you feel is entirely His will. You will feel that you must have His direction so that you are doing exactly what He wants. You will not want to proceed on your own because you want His full blessing and timing. And you will be certain that your life is right before the Lord.

Yet, Heaven will be silent. The answer isn't "Yes." The answer isn't "No." There isn't even "Wait." There simply will be no answer.

This is probably not what you expected. As faith grows, you anticipated that it would become easier to discern God's will. There is truth to that. The more intimately you know Him and trust Him, the more He will lead you. This does not mean, however, that God will begin giving you clear direction for each decision of your life.

Remember, you are growing in faith. This will often require you to trust God more as a Person in the absence of tangible evidence.

This chapter began by suggesting that you need to be able to monitor your faith growth. That should be less complicated now that you realize that faith growth is your response to individual faith lessons. You are acting in faith during a specific faith lesson if you trust God to handle that event. You are not acting in faith if you rely solely on yourself or on conventional means without seeking God's direction.^[2]

In a similar way, you can evaluate how you handle faith lessons today in comparison with how you handled them a year ago. That will indicate to you how you have grown in faith over the past year.

Abraham grew in faith. We can determine that by monitoring his responses to individual faith lessons.

When God first called Abram in Genesis 12:1-2, He told Abram to "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you." Nonetheless, even though Abram left Haran, he still relied on selected conventional means of his day. For example, against God's direction to "leave your people," he took his nephew Lot with him so that his entourage would include extended family.

You see this same pattern throughout Abraham's life. He faced faith lessons that became progressively more difficult. Sometimes he did well and at other times he faltered. In Genesis 12, he went to Egypt and let his wife Sarai (later Sarah) be taken into Pharaoh's house; this was a poor and cowardly response which indicated that he was not trusting God. In Genesis 13, he finally separated from Lot when he allowed Lot to choose the best land; this was a good response that counterbalanced his poor initial response. In Genesis 15, God reaffirmed His promise that Abram would have a child. Abram's response was initially good when he entered into a covenant with God, but then in chapter 16, he had a son by his Egyptian slave. This was definitely a poor response, indicating that he was not trusting God.

In Genesis 17, Abram was 99 years old when he was again told by God that he would be given the child he so desperately wanted. God even changed his name to Abraham meaning "father of many nations." Abraham was more resolute, evidencing that he was trusting God. Soon after, the promise was at last granted and Isaac was born. Finally, in Genesis 22:2 after many faith lessons, God spoke to Abraham saying, "'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.'"

In verse 3, Abraham implicitly obeyed, trusting God in his hardest faith lesson yet. "Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him...his son Isaac...[and] set out for the place God had told him about."

You can realistically monitor your growth in faith by evaluating your responses to faith lessons that you have encountered. Trusting God with the outcome can be viewed as growth. Relying on your own resources should be considered failure.

Of course, this is an over simplification. Seldom are faith lessons of such short duration that you will make a single response. Multiple decisions over a period of time are often required Nor are they so black-or-white that you can either give the entire problem to God or take full responsibility yourself. In most cases, you will deal with a faith lesson over a period of time and will make many mid-course decisions. In some areas of the problem, you must personally act. In other areas of the problem, you may choose to leave the results with God. Nonetheless, when you review this faith lesson later, determine whether the general trend of your response was that of seeking God's direction and entrusting Him with the outcome, or whether it was one in which you attempted to retain control. You are growing in faith if your responses consistently exhibit greater reliance on God.

Similarly, you are growing in your resting faith when you can see a developing pattern of entrusting insurmountable difficulties to God's sovereign care rather than inappropriately trying to correct them yourself.

Will you make mistakes as you encounter faith lessons? You certainly will. It is one thing to look back and realize that you did not trust God enough. You will be particularly bothered, however, when you look back and realize that you trusted God "too much." Trusting God too much needs an explanation!

When attempting to grow in faith, you will be looking for every opportunity to trust God. Sometimes, in your exuberance, you will do foolish things. Please do not reprimand yourself for those mistakes. God understands the integrity of your heart. It is not always easy to determine where true faith ends and where foolish exuberance takes over.

In his autobiography, J. Hudson Taylor related an interesting example of his own over-zealousness. When he left England for China as a young missionary, Taylor had already practiced living by faith. Before he boarded the ship for the six-month voyage around Africa's Cape of Good Hope to China, his mother gave him a lifejacket. (Apparently in the 1850s passengers took their own lifejackets on a ship because it was not the responsibility of the ship's owner to provide them.) During one severe storm, the ship was in imminent danger of grounding on rocks. Taylor decided that he would trust God to take him safely to China, so he gave his lifejacket to a young mother. He then spent an hour frantically collecting luggage that would float so that he could get to shore in case the ship was grounded! After the danger had passed, he realized the incongruity. He then spent considerable time in his cabin doing a careful Bible study on faith. He came to the conclusion that God will often use material means to meet a believer's need, and that such means are not a denial of faith when used properly.

Like Abraham or J. Hudson Taylor, you will make mistakes as you attempt to grow in faith. You may fault yourself when you do not trust God enough. But you will be particularly disturbed when you trust God "too much." You will feel let down, foolish, incompetent to discern God's will, or even angry with God for failing you. Don't! Learn from your mistakes and go on. James 1:3-5 is particularly applicable to your need for wisdom in this area.

You know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

Trusting God "too much" is a common difficulty in every growing believer's life. It is called presumptuous faith. Chapter 21 is devoted to that topic.

Lord God, I am beginning to understand how much You are in sovereign control of all events in my life. That frightens me. You know that my natural inclination is to avoid the difficulties in life that will cause my faith to grow. But Lord Jesus, I want to trust You in everything. I will trust You to do what is always the best for me, even when it is difficult. I really do want to grow in faith.

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