God knows that all of us are at different levels of faith, and He will meet us where we are at. However, we are expected to grow in our faith in God, so that we can do great exploits for Him when He asks us to step out in faith to trust Him.
Faith can be measured. The Bible speaks of:
Little faith – Luke 12:28 (NKJV) If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith?
Weak faith – Romans 4:19 (NKJV) And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
Great faith – Matthew 8:10 (NKJV) When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!
Faith is not established on what we see because if we only believe after seeing, faith won’t be required. Faith is established in the heart, while the mind will need some time to come in line with the Word. Our minds may agree with what is being spoken but will struggle with believing when a crisis hits us. The mind can be an obstacle to faith, just like in Thomas’s case (John 20:25). This is when we are tempted to give up, get offended by God, disappointed, or even disillusioned. Therefore, there will always be a struggle because of what we are seeing, experiencing, and feeling. What comes through our senses will cause the mind to doubt. However, faith is believing in our heart apart from our senses because it is established on the Word.
Matthew 14:29-32 (NKJV) So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
Peter had a clear Word from Jesus, “Come” and he walked on water until he allowed his eyes to focus on the boisterous wind. Therefore, we must never allow our focus to leave what the Word of God says or look at the circumstances to determine whether the promise is still true. Faith is not “seeing is believing” but believing despite the circumstances being contrary to the promise or the Word given to us personally.
There must be a personal Word from God for us to know that He has asked us or given His blessing for us to do something. We can have immovable faith when the will of God is known.
Sermon Series: Walking on Water
无法摇动的信心
神知道我们所有人都有程度不同的信心，所以祂会在我们所处的环境中遇见我们。然而，我们被期盼在神里不断坚定我们的信心，这样当祂要我们凭信心踏出去并信靠祂时，我们就可以为祂做更大的事。
信心是可以被衡量的。圣经中提到：
小信–路加福音12：28你们这小信的人哪，野地里的草今天还在，明天就丢在炉里， 神还给它这样的妆饰，何况你们呢？
软弱的信心–罗马书4：19，他将近百岁的时候，虽然想到自己的身体如同已死，撒拉的生育已经断绝，他的信心还是不软弱；
大的信心–马太福音8：10耶稣听见就希奇，对跟从的人说：“我实在告诉你们，这么大的信心，就是在以色列中，我也没有遇见过。
信心不是建立在我们的眼见之上，因为如果我们只在看到之后才相信，那么就不需要信心了。信心是建立在心中的，而心思意念则需要一些时间来与神的话语保持一致。我们的心思意念可能同意我们所说的话，但当危机袭来，我们将难以持守信心。我们自我的意念会成为信心的阻碍，正如多马的例子（约翰福音20:25）。这会在当我们想要放弃，被上帝冒犯，失望，甚至希望幻灭的时候发生。因此，因着我们所看到的、正经历的和感受的，有时我们难免会感到挣扎。通过我们的感官产生的体验会在我们的意念生出怀疑。然而，信心不建立在我们的感官体验上，因为信心建立在神的话语之上。
马太福音14：29-32，耶稣说，“你来吧。”彼得就从船上下去，在水面上走。要到耶稣那里去；只因见风甚大，就害怕，将要沉下去，便喊着说：“主啊，救我！”耶稣赶紧伸手拉住他，说，你这小信的人哪，为什么疑惑呢？他们上了船，风就住了。
彼得得到了耶稣明确的话语，说“来吧”，于是他在水上行走，直到他让他的眼睛重新关注在那喧闹的风上。因此，我们千万不要让我们的关注点离开神的话语所说的，也千万不要视环境来确定应许是否依然真实。信心不是“看见才能相信”，而是全然相信，即便周遭的环境相反于圣经上的应许或圣经给我们的个人应许。
必须有神给我们个人的话语让我们知道他已经要求我们或祝福我们去做一件事。当我们知悉了上帝的旨意，我们就能拥有无法摇动的信心。
讲章系列 ： 行在水面上
Image Source：pixabay.com