How many levels of faith are there?
This is an interesting and important question. Let’s begin by considering a few verses.
- Matthew 6:30, “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of LITTLE FAITH?”
- Luke 7:9, “When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so GREAT FAITH, no, not in Israel.”
- Luke 17:5-6, “And the apostles said unto the Lord, INCREASE OUR FAITH. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
Faith is required for salvation as we read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye SAVED THROUGH FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” In this instance, faith is trusting that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross as payment of your sin debt. We believe that He is the Son of God, and that “(He) was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4:25).However, this is not the end of faith for us, it is the beginning. We read four times in the Bible that “the just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38) We need to trust in the Lord Jesus to lead us every day of our lives. Each day, we should turn our day over to the Lord and look to Him for direction. Each day, we should realize our dependence upon Him and seek to follow Him. Each day, as He is faithful to lead us, keep us, encourage us, strengthen us, etc. our faith in Him should increase! I can’t say that there are ‘levels’ of faith, but certainly our faith in the Lord should be growing continuously.
As you can see from the verses above, there is LITTLE FAITH, GREAT FAITH, and a desire to INCREASE OUR FAITH. How do we increase our faith? How do we grow in faith? First of all, we HAVE to be students of God’s Word to grow in faith. We read in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Certainly, faith for salvation is produced through the Word of God, but we do a disservice to this verse if we limit it to salvation. On a daily basis, faith comes as we continue in the Word of God. When we spend time each day in our Bibles, our faith in the Lord Jesus will grow.Also, when we prove the Lord, our faith will grow. We read in Malachi 3:10, “…prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” The Lord is inviting us to prove or test Him by obeying His Word. When we live obedient lives, the Lord will greatly bless us with blessings from Glory. Perhaps He will not make us rich with money, but He will show us that we are rich in Him. Perhaps He will not bless us with physical health, but He will show us that we are spiritually healed in Him. Perhaps He will not keep us from suffering, but He will show us a greater dependence upon Him that will give us the strength to endure all that He allows us to enter into.
Colossians 4:2 instructs us to, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” We should be men and women of prayer. Then, as we wait for the answers to our prayers, we should go ahead and thank the Lord in advance, knowing that He will answer according to His perfect time and purpose. As we see the Lord act over and over, our trust in Him will increase. There are many other ways that will increase our faith. Continue in the Lord and allow Him to cause your faith to grow. (245.2)