What Level Of Faith Do You Operate In?

I originally published this article on Ezinearticles.com in October of 2007.  But, I thought it was worth re-posting here.  I hope you agree.

Romans 12:3 tells us that God has given to every man the measure of faith. What is the measure of faith? I believe the measure of faith is the Bible, God's word spoken to us. We are told that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. It is important to note that faith comes by "hearing" not by "having heard".



Many people think that going to one service a week on Sunday morning is enough. Think about it. One service, one lesson delivered from God's word that lasts for about one hour. Every week has 168 hours. Let's say you sleep 8 hours a night; that leaves you with 112 hours a week that you are awake. In that 112 hours a week you are bombarded by advertisements, bad news, complaints, gossip, television shows that aren't worth watching, music on the radio that is far from uplifting... and you think that 1 hour a week of positive, Godly input is enough?

We have to continually hear the Word of God in order to build our faith and counteract the negativity that surrounds us in the world.

Jesus spoke of different levels of faith. When he stilled the waves, he asked his disciples, "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" (Mark 4:40). These men had followed him and watched him perform miracles from casting out devils, to healing the sick and feeding the multitudes. Yet, they were afraid that they would perish at sea in a storm. (This reminds me of a saying: Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there.)

When Peter walked on the water and then began to sink, Jesus said to him, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" You see, Peter started out on the right track. Jesus called him out of the boat, and Peter began walking on the waves to his Master. But Matthew 14:30 tells us that when he saw the wind and the waves, he began to sink.

I want you to notice a couple of things in this verse. First of all, he began to sink. I don't know about you, but if I step on the water, I don't begin to sink. I just plain sink. Second, he was fine until he saw the wind and the waves. What did that have to do with anything? Could he have walked on the water if the wind had been still and the water smooth as glass? I don't think so. The problem was that Peter took his eyes off the master, he began looking at his circumstances, and fear rushed in. He had enough faith to get him out of the boat and onto the water, but not enough to ignore the circumstances and continue pressing on toward the goal.

Finally, Jesus talked about great faith with the centurion who told Jesus to "speak the word only" and his servant would be healed. Jesus was willing to go to his servant and heal him, but the centurion knew that his servant would be healed by the word of the Lord. (Matthew 8:5-10)

How is your faith? Do you believe that what Jesus has spoken is true concerning your life? What do you think when you hear on the news (or commercials) that it's flu season? What do you think when you hear that the economy is failing? Where do you allow fear to enter your life instead of stopping it at the door with faith?

Dig into the Word of God. Read the promises that have been written about you there. Build up your faith so that when fear knocks at your door, it will be met by your faith.