You exercise faith everyday. Let’s take one example from the doctor and the pharmacist. You go to a doctor whose name you can barely pronounce and whose degrees you have never verified. He gives you a prescription you cannot read. You take it to a pharmacist you have never met before. He gives you a chemical compound you do not understand, then you go home and take the pill according to the instructions on the bottle. All in trusting, sincere faith.
When it comes to your spiritual life, you need faith to get over the hurdle of determining that God exists. You use faith for the next hurdle: Who is this God you gave your life to? You face another hurdle that takes faith: fighting the devil as he tries to mess you up on the greatness of God.
Why? Because biblical faith always depends upon its object.
You can have little faith in thick ice and still survive; you can have great faith with thin ice and drown; it’s the object of faith that is the issue. The Bible never says to believe only; it says to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible never says to have faith only; it says to “have faith in God” (see Mark 11:22).
If the God you put your faith in is misconstrued, then so is your faith. The best way to grow faith is to do as Peter tells us to, “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18, ESV). The best place to start that growth, in order to know God, is through reading and studying the Word of God.
Your faith is only as great as the God you believe in. He must be the object of your faith. Since God does not change, your faith can still be strong in tough times. You don’t need great faith; you need faith in a great God. As Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “Oh, brethren, be great believers! Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to you.”
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, without spot and blameless” (2 Peter 3:13-14).
After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.