Key components that enhance a lifestyle of faith

Key components that enhance a lifestyle of faith

Matthew 17:14-21.

The story from the text talks about an occurrence in which the disciples of Christ couldn’t carry out an act of faith in healing a demoniac. While Jesus was away with Peter and the two Zebedee brothers, they did all they had been taught to perform the supernatural act of casting out a demon. This same account in Mark 9:14 said people were already confronting them apparently to put them to shame and question their veracity of being Christ’s disciples. Many Christians today and even some denominations have sought out ways to avoid these kinds of confrontations or the questioning of their faith using unscriptural doctrines to cover their inability to perform miracles, signs, or wonders. Inasmuch as we should not make these the main focus of our ministry, we must understand that they still play an important role in proving the power of God to the unbeliever and the establishment of faith in the heart of believers- Hebrews 2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

We must seek the face of God to obtain the needed faith to be a carrier of God’s power. The disciples of Jesus approached Him with a sincere question: “Why could not we cast him out?”. His answer to them is still the same that subsists for us today, and that is dealing with our unbelief. Unbelief is the major obstacle to becoming people of faith and power. Many people reckon that the answer to their prayer is dependent on having faith despite some doubt. They believe there is a balance between faith and doubt. Nay, the absence of unbelief or doubt is faith, and vice versa. Therefore, we must build our Christian life on faith. We begin by believing God for little things until our faith grows enough to believe Him for the big wonders and signs.

What enhances our lifestyle of faith?

-Consistent life of holiness

-Close, unbroken relationship with God

-Grounding in the Scriptures

-Fullness of the Holy Spirit

-Compassion for the needy

Meditation:

1 O for a faith that will not shrink,
Though pressed by every foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.

2 That will not murmur nor complain
Beneath the chastening rod,
But, in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God;

3 A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without:
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt;

4 That bears, unmoved, the world’s dread frown,
Nor heeds the scornful smile;
That seas of trouble cannot drown,
Nor Satan’s arts beguile;

5 A faith that keeps the narrow way
Till life’s last hour is fled,
And with a pure and heavenly ray
Illumes up a dying bed:

6 Lord, give us such a faith as this;
And then, what e’er may come,
I’ll taste, e’en now, the hallowed bliss
Of an eternal home.