#14 - Faith is not Really Faith until it is Faith

I thought I was done blogging on the topic of faith for a while, but the Lord has more He wants to say through me now on faith, so let's look at why faith is not really faith until it's faith, or why you don't really know how strong your faith is until it's tested.

James 1:2-3 tells us to count it as all joy when we go through trials and tributions, because that tests our faith and helps develop endurance and patience. You see, whenever you exercise your faith for something there is usually a time element between when we start to exercise our faith and when what we are exercising our faith for manifests in our life. And that takes patience and endurance (being able to stand on God's Word exercising your faith despite your circumstances while waiting for the manifestation), which why verse 4 of James 1 says that we should let our faith have its perfect work so our patience (and endurance) can be developed, and we can be perfected.

Now James is not talking about exercising your faith just for some one thing you want, a gift from God, a need you have, which do require exercising your faith, but also and more so when you are under attack by the enemy which every Believer is from time to time. This is when you know how developed and strong your faith is as it takes great faith to stand on the Word of God when the enemy is trying to take you out with the temptation to give in being extreme and burdensome. If you haven't been exercising your faith on a regular basis, you will have little or no faith and little or no patience and endurance to be able to withstand the attack of the enemy. But if you do exercise your faith regularly, your faith, patience and endurance will all be built up, be great, and you will be able to withstand the attacks of the enemy. This is why I say faith is not really faith until its faith, until you exercise, develop and grow your faith on a regular basis, so it will be great or strong when you are truly tested by the attack of the enemy.

So don't get discouraged when trials, tests and tribulations come your way. Look at them as an opportunity to see how developed and strong your faith is, and then make it even stronger. After all, why would the devil try to break your faith down if it weren't a threat to him. That's one reason why 1 Thessolonians 5:18 tells us to thank God "in" (not for) everything!

So remember, your faith is not really faith until it's faith!

In the next Post I'll talk about how to develop your faith (in addition to or beyond just exercising it).