As We Exercise Faith, It Increases

As I listened to Sunday's sermon on Elisha, the prophet and "the woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets", I thought, wait, faith does increase as we exercise it. O rather, our faith grows as we continue to see the works of faith.

The woman whose husband had died went to Elisha for help. She did not have any means to pay off the creditors and they had come for her sons. With only a jar of oil in her house, Elisha asked her to borrow "empty vessels from everywhere." Elisha also asked her to gather many vessels, actually the words used are, "not just a few." She would fill these vessels with oil from that one jar of oil!! 2Kings 4:1-7 

So she did that, closed the door as instructed by the prophet and started pouring the oil. I can imagine her taking the first vessel and pouring oil into it from only a jar of oil. As the oil continued flowing into the first vessel and did not drain, she must have thought; "this is actually happening!". She must have taken the second vessel with more boldness, because she actually had the pleasure of witnessing the first miracle. Personally, my confidence would have increased as I went from one vessel to another. 

Considering the number of vessels in the room, by the time the woman reached half way, she was probably doing it more naturally. You know, like it is something to be expected, because the more you do something the more you get a hand of it. The woman probably never questioned Elisha when he asked her to do this because she had heard or even seen him work miracles, "faith comes by hearing". It may have been the reason she went to him in the first place because she expected him to do something. 

But to actually experience this first hand and watch a miracle unfold in her own eyes...wow. When we exercise faith and get to see our prayers answered or things we have been hoping for come to pass, it increases our confidence. Our faith grows, because though we started from a faith of no sight, we can now declare our personal testimonies. As our faith grows and we open our eyes to the miracles God is working in our lives, we live a life of expectancy. And this expectation is well placed, it is full of hope.

Even God expects us to place our trust in Him, not only because He is God, but also because we have seen the things He can do. "...your fathers tested Me; they tried Me, though they saw My work." Psalms 95: 9. But for us to experience this walk in faith, to experience the joy of our faith growing; it takes the first bold step of exercising our faith in God...