Not Increased Faith, But Faith by Increased Knowledge of Him

"5And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. 6And 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." (Luke 17: 5-6)

The apostles saw themselves as not having enough faith.

The point is -- they saw themselves as not having, but that Jesus had whatever they needed.

When we acknowledge our lack, a lack for which we have had no luck to lick, so to speak, then we are trusting Him and not ourselves.

For God will have not flesh glory in His presence (1 Corinthians 1: 29)

That's what faith is all about -- we see Jesus, having everything, and we need Him for everything, and we believe that He is more than willing to help us:

"5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)

We cannot even believe on our own:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

The faith that we live by, this faith comes from God:

"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)

So, when we look back at what the apostles had asked for, they blessedly recognized that they were lacking. Where Jesus corrects them, and by extension all of us, falls on the idea that if we have more faith, in that we bring more to the party, so to speak, then we would get whatever we need.

The fact remains that Jesus wants us to see Him as providing all things, and that we do not bring one thing to the prayer except our need.

It's not the size of our faith which matters, everyone, but who we believe in!

So, instead of focusing on increasing our faith, let us rather increase our knowledge of Him:

"16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

"20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21)

 

When we understand more about how much God loves us, that His Son has taken away every sin and brought us into an eternal union of life and blessing, than our faith will skyrocket.