By Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin
In teaching on the subject of faith, it is important to show people from the Scriptures that God has not blessed one person with more faith than He has blessed someone else. Folks often see someone prospering according to the Word, whether in his health, his finances, his family, and so forth, and they get the mistaken impression that God must have given that person more faith. So the first thing I want you to know is this: Every believer has been given a measure—the same measure—of the God-kind of faith.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD. Ephesians 2:8
According as GOD HATH DEALT TO EVERY MAN the measure of faith. Romans 12:3
So we know that faith comes from God. It is the “gift of God.” But He has given it to every believer. He has given to every believer the measure, or the same measure, of faith.
Notice also that God has done it (Rom. 12:3); it’s not something that He is going to do. We’re not trying to get faith. We’re not praying for it. We have it. Every believer already has a measure of the God-kind of faith. You see, God gets everyone started off the same way. He doesn’t give one person more faith than He gives another. He gives to every man the measure of faith. Then your faith grows according to what you do with it.
A lot of people have done with their faith what the fellow in the Bible did with his one talent (see Matthew 25:25). They’ve just wrapped their faith up in a napkin, so to speak, and hid it. They haven’t used it at all.
It’s up to you what you do with the measure of faith God has given you. So the second thing I want you to know is this: This measure of faith can be increased. But you’re the one who increases it, not God. Certainly God furnishes the means whereby faith can be increased. But you increase your faith by doing two things: feeding it on the Word of God and exercising it—or putting it into practice. The Bible very often uses natural human terms to teach spiritual thoughts. For example, this is how Jesus taught in His earthly ministry, as we can read in the Gospels.
…Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4
Jesus is using a natural human idea to convey a spiritual thought. He’s saying to us that what bread (or food) is to the body, the Word of God is to the spirit, or the heart, of man. You know that if you eat food regularly, it will build you up physically. Yet if you eat right but don’t exercise, all you’ll do is get flabby and out of shape. In much the same way, you need to feed your faith on God’s Word. But you also need to exercise your faith, because if you don’t, your faith muscles will be flabby. They won’t be able to do much spiritually when it comes to moving mountains in your life.
You can feed your spirit on God’s Word and thereby feed your faith, because God’s Word is faith food. But you also need to exercise your faith to develop it and cause it to grow. In Romans 10:8, Paul called the message he preached the word of faith. He called the Word of God the word of faith, because the Word will cause faith to come into your heart (Rom. 10:17). God’s Word will build assurance, confidence, and faith in your heart. Then you’re to exercise that faith.
So we know that the measure of faith we’ve received can be increased by doing two things: by feeding it on God’s Word and by putting it into practice (or exercising it) in everyday living. One person said, “You either have faith or you don’t.” In one sense, that’s true. You’re either a believer or a non-believer. But in another sense when people say that, they are implying that every believer has faith in every respect the same as another believer. But that’s not true. One person’s faith may not be the same as another person’s faith. There can be a measurable difference! You see, the Word of God tells us that our faith can grow. Therefore, one person’s faith may not be as developed or as strong as another person’s faith.
Remember, it’s up to you what you do with the measure of faith God has given you. For example, you can cause your faith to grow. You can feed and exercise it so when the storms of life come, you will have strong faith. But another person may not do anything with his faith. The person who does nothing with his faith will have weak faith. Second Thessalonians 1:3 says, “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your FAITH GROWETH EXCEEDINGLY. . . .” God is saying that faith can grow. Well, since faith can grow, it can be either strong or weak—developed or undeveloped.
Let’s look at several other statements Jesus made about faith.
If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O YE OF LITTLE FAITH? Luke 12:28
And Peter answered [Jesus] and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O THOU OF LITTLE FAITH, wherefore didst thou doubt? Matthew 14:28–31
In these passages of Scripture, Jesus is speaking about little, or small, faith. In Matthew 14:31, Jesus asked Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” In Matthew chapter 8, Jesus commended the faith of the centurion who came to Him on behalf of his servant. Jesus said the centurion had great faith.
5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, 6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. 8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.… 10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel…. 13 And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. Matthew 8:5–8,10,13
Jesus said to the disciples about the centurion, “…I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (v. 10). So in these passages we’ve read, Jesus told one man that he had great faith and told another man that he had little faith. Romans 4:19 speaks of weak faith.
And being not WEAK IN FAITH, he [Abraham] considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb. Romans 4:19
The very next verse speaks of strong faith.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was STRONG IN FAITH, giving glory to God. Romans 4:20
From these verses, we can conclude that faith can either be weak or strong. I am proving to you through Scripture that faith is measurable—that it can grow. We already mentioned that the Bible talks about growing faith (2 Thessalonians 1:3). Acts 6:5 says Stephen was full of faith. James 2:5 mentions rich faith. James 2:22 speaks of a perfect faith. First Timothy 1:5 speaks of unfeigned faith, or faith that is genuine and sincere. First Timothy 1:19 speaks of shipwrecked faith and of holding on to faith and to a good conscience. And First John 5:4 speaks of overcoming faith.
The Bible says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” (Matt. 18:16). I just gave you more than 10 witnesses! And all of these verses will prove to you that faith is measurable.
We know that the measure of faith given to every believer can grow. Your faith can be strengthened by feeding it on the Word of God and by exercising it or putting it into practice. F. F. Bosworth said, “Most Christians feed their body three hot meals a day and their spirit one cold snack a week. And they wonder why they’re so weak in faith.” Well, physically speaking, if you just ate one cold snack a week, you would grow weak physically! But the same is true spiritually. God’s Word is faith food, and if we want our faith to grow, we must feed it more than once a week!
If you want your faith to grow, you have to start where you are. No one climbs a ladder starting on the top rung. You’ve got to start on the bottom rung and climb up if you’re going to reach the top. That’s the thing that defeats a lot of well-meaning Christians—they try to believe beyond their faith.
Remember, just because someone has fed more on God’s Word and has exercised his faith is not a sign that God have him more faith than He gave someone else. No, the person who fed on the Word and exercised his faith had the same measure of faith to begin with as the others had. But he fed his faith and exercised it, and his faith grew strong! As a result he could believe God for more.
So keep a positive attitude about your own faith. Recognize that you have faith and that you can cause it to grow. Feed your faith and exercise it right where you are in your Christian walk. Then your faith can grow and move mountains!
Copyright © Kenneth Hagin Ministries – Used by Permission
Comments
so helpful to my faith growing process
That’s great, I love this message so much. Really it boost my faith in Christ Jesus. Thanks God bless you.
We need to build up our faith so that we will stand in any situation we found ourselves. Just as we eat food physically in other to build up our body so we need the word of God to build our faith. For the word of God quickens the spirit as well as faith.
Faith is one of the basic things that leads to our prayers being answered, in which without this our prayers will not be answered. Faith is not only waiting on God to answer our request,but it also entails us to believe in God and worship him no matter how difficult the sitwuation may be. Just like hannah in the bible who was barren but yet still trust in God that he will answer her request. But her barrenness was not an attack an from the enemy,for it was God who closed her womb 1 sam.1:5-6. But this faithful woman did not waver in her faitih in God. She worship him even though she is barren. Peninnah the second wife mocks hannah because she is infertile for God closed her womb. then one might ask why God had to close her womb? God did this so that his name will be glorified and that the the couple will have to put their full trust in him. God want those who will worship him in all situations and there is no way for us to worship him without our faith being matured. May God bless u all.
l appreciate you all . God answers prayers. let us put faith into works. James ,2:17 Thus also faith by itself,if it does not have works, is dead. Holy Spirit is indeed a great teacher, talk to Him and He’ ll enlighten you more. God bless you all.
how can one ask beyond his faith
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B95KIam9hXiDRWJ3Qm1YV19MNG8/edit?pref=2&pli=1
read the book the triumphant church by Kenneth Hagin it talks about so called deliverance ministry. If you were born again then you cant have a demon in you
Paul – You actually can have a demon. You can be influenced and oppressed. You cannot be possessed because that would entail having the demon in your spirit and that is impossible as long as you are a Christian. The other two conditions (influenced and oppressed) pertain to the body and/or mental realm.
Kenneth E. Hagin is completely correct. His books on the subject are the gold standard of teaching – Him and Derek Prince. We have an article on our site where Dr. Prince relates a time in his life when he was oppressed with a spirit that was causing him heaviness and depression. Rex
Dear Nancy, we can always believe(stand on the Word of) God for your husband’s salvation, cause it (always) God’s will to save him Ezekiel 33:11, 2Peter3:9. To me(in my own words) believing is to accept God’s Word(or anything else) as it is(or as it is true). For an example, it is unbelievable for believers to say they are sick (in other words, it is unacceptable for saints to say they are sick. Because 1Peter2:24 says by His wounds we HAVE BEEN HEALED. We don’t believe anything against(beyond) God’s Word (or we don’t accept anything contrary to the Bible) no matter what the circumstances are or how severe the symptoms are. Be BLESSED!! Amen
Love the teaching Back on those Replys — I love standing by the word of God yee at times it’s difficult…for me leaving with a husband who believes not in the word of God but in sports and gambling money away–on every gadget in his hand…
But yee am no fool …am looking at the hand of God that if 2people are equally yoked really I see no problem. Cause if it’s there .. There you are the 2 of you fight it together.. And knowing that your Leader is the the HolySpirit… Of cause you laugh…HaHaha–ha. looking at Brother E.Hagin …Rodney Howard Brown ..etc–When laughing.. Learn and listen to the Word coming out of their months …yee there is to laugh at that tries to exalts its name above the word of God.. Help me I Don’t like to use the word unbelievable all the time l talk—I feel it’s like a negative word … Am I right. ? I believe the Word ..when it’s said all things are possible…..
I don’t believe one can have unaswered prayer can he? Not unless they loose their patiance in faith. Or can I give my faith a due date?
st Lusanda – Most people experience unanswered prayer. That is the sad state of affairs concerning faith and prayer. That is why there is so much false teaching and false doctrine attempting to explain it – i.e., God is sovereign, He only does His will, etc. Why did I not receive when I prayed? Because…..blah blah blah.
God only answers faith and faith is based upon the known received will of God.
Read the Bible; God never actually says that He answers prayer. Not once. He says that He ‘hears’ them, and that He is ‘open’ to the prayers of the righteous, but He does not guarantee answering them. What He says is that He always answers faith. It is believing prayers that are answered because He responds to ‘believing’ – Mark 11:24.
The whole issue is getting to a place of faith and then verbally releasing that faith in a believing prayer – Romans 10:10. That takes getting the word inside of you so that it can come out of you. That takes spending time with God on the subject so He can speak to you about it. So when the ‘hearing’ comes the faith comes – Romans 10:17. The hearing is the answer of God. When you finally physically receive the thing it is just the manifestation of that answer (that you already received by hearing). This is what Hebrews 11:1 is speaking to.
And yes, once you believe and you pray, you will need to stay in faith and patience to receive the answer – Hebrews 10:35, 36. Due date – usually not but the woman with the issue of blood did – ‘when I but touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed’ – Matthew 9:21. God bless you. We love you. Rex
That so edifying, God bless. I’m not oposing you in any sense but I believe God answers every prayer as He promised to. If He doen’t than how do we(/they) interprete Isa65:24, Jer33:3, Ps91:14, Isa41:17, Isa58:9, Zec13:9, Lk11:9, Jn15:7
Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your reply…I mean it.
My school requires all boarding seniors in our final secondary class to preach. I’m still growing in faith and many times I try to study the bible really hard to get some kind of revelation-because I know a lot will be expected from me, especially as the chapel prefect-but many times it seems like I don’t even understand what I’m reading and what to preach.
Josh – God bless you and your school. First, it wouldn’t be right for me to just assume that you are a born again Christian. Please read these pages and pray the prayer:
Salvation
Born Again & Saved
No one can see or understand the things of God until they have God inside. Also, ask for the Holy Spirit to come and fill you. I don’t have time to teach it all here but that gives the Holy Spirit the right to work inside of you on His own behalf. The Holy Spirit comes in when Jesus does but only in a subservient role.
Spend time reading the Bible but spend time meditating on anything of interest to you or something that jumps out at you. The Holy Spirit is the teacher of the Bible. The Bible is not like other books. It is a revelation book. It must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. Talk to Him and ask Him questions. He will answer. You don’t know when, but He will answer. God bless you, we love you. Keep pushing in. It all will come. Rex
faith is power
This is so refreshing. Thank God for this teaching
I love this. Infact, I am richly blessed
I love this
Great words from great men of God..
God is a good God
Feed your faith and starve your doubts to death. Quote by Dr.Lester Sumrall He was a good
Friend of Kenneth Hagin & Smith Wiggelsworth. and several others in this site. Also was my Pastor for 22 years. Such a blessing to have a website to go to and read about the Pioneers of faith.
Beautiful post thank you
Here in Africa we are very diabolical and our preachers most times preach messages on generational curses, marine spirits, spiritual wives or husbands, witches and wizards etc. And they make us believe that if you are still unmarried, barren or unemployed at a certain age, or you are facing one reproach or the other, then it is caused by one of those evil spirits as mentioned above or maybe by consequences of what have done in the past. So as a believer you need to go for deliverance. Now my question is this. Firstly, i have listened to so many messages by foreign preachers and they’ve not made mention or preached about such spirits disturbing a christian or being responsible for a christian’s problem. Secondly if i am still unmarried at 35,is it right for me to go for deliverance from such spirits or is it possible to ignore it and exercise my Faith that God will provide my life partner? Thirdly, is it ok to believe that one person perhaps a witch in ones village could be responsible for a bad situation in your life?
Hope – I believe I understand your questions. Here are my answers:
1. There are times when deliverance is required. In those cases, the spirits need to be addressed directly, non necessarily by name but directly. See these articles. Western preachers do not focus on this enough, yet blaming everything on a demon is too much. In this area you must be led by the Spirit. Break the power of the Devil in Jesus Name and go on in faith
2. Mostly, exercise your faith that God will provide your life partner. Believe for it, pray for it, and walk on actively believing and expecting. Make sure your words agree with your believing. Then serve God and develop your self for your spouse. They will come, actively believe for it and stay in peace. Speak your beliefs out of your mouth continually.
3. Witchcraft is real. Learn how to discern if one is affecting you and learn how to use the name of Jesus. Most situations can be handled by simply hearing from God and believing what He tells you. And what He tells you will agree with what is provided for in His promises. God bless you. I hope this helps. Rex
thanks you answered me aswell
I have a comment to make. If you want bible faith then you need to get the word of God in your mouth. The bible says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So then faith comes by hearing the word of God. If you have weak faith regarding any area of your life just look up what the bible says about that certain situation and began to say out of your mouth what God says about the situation. You see I do believe what Nate said about exercising your faith and that will help your faith to grow. I think you should also know that you already have faith. The bible says to each one God has given a measure of faith so you have faith and yes you need to use it. Lastly you need to understand the power of your words. The bible says life and death are in the power of the tongue so what you say is what you will get. Your heart is like soil. What you plant in your heart will come out of your mouth and be produced in your life. If you speak life into your heart that life will come back out of your mouth and if you speak death into your life that death will come back out from your heart through your mouth. I hope I am not confusing you. Just remember look up the scripture and say what God says even if your mind fights you just keep saying God’s word. Faith will grow in your heart by confessing the word out of your mouth. As your faith grows use your faith.
Matt – You have about seven great messages in that comment. Bravo ! Praise God
How do we exercise our faith? By asking only for small/little things first? Faith grows from reading the Word of God and from answered prayers? Won’t unanswered prayers weaken faith? Please kindly advise as I’m a new christian.
God bless. Matthew
To build muscles, you need to use them. When muscles are used, you feel pain or fatigue. While you feel the pain, you don’t seem your muscles got stronger than before. But after the pain is gone with good rest, you will realize your muscles are increased. So, your unanswered prayers can weaken you faith…if you let your mind do so. Or exercise your faith and believe in God. You will then realize your faith are stronger before. You may not see or feel the result of the exercise, but that does not have to do with the actual growth of your faith.
I read Matthew’s reply here the other day, and have thought of it ever since. New Christian, or old, your faith can be weak, if you don’t exercise it. So lately I’m trying to exercise my faith. It’s really hard to put your trust in God, believing without a doubt… I read a sermon somewhere, about letting Jesus ‘take the wheel’ but still trying to be the ‘side seat driver’. Where is the faith in that? If you truly have faith in His driving, then you will sit back and let him. God is good, and He knows the plans he has for us, plans for good and not evil…and I saw this verse too…1 Corinthians 13:2 ” And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Which really convicted my heart, because it is easy to love the sweet kind and lovable, but not so easy to love and pray for the ones who are not. So, besides exercising my faith, I am working on ‘loving my neighbor’. Thank you Matthew, for your question, and I thank God, that in my search, out of all the thousands of hits on google, God showed me yours.
Really good stuff. Thanks for sharing.
GOOD STUFF!