The Force Of Faith
Installment Three.

Part One Continued.

Review.

     We are considering Part One, The Origin Of Faith.  We have
examined the first of three parts of this section called, A. The
Source Of Faith.  We have learned that the faith we have was given
to us by God, Romans 12:3, and that Jesus Christ is the Author and
Finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2.

     Now, concerning the origin of our faith, we will consider two
more sections.

B.  the Strength Of Faith.
C.  The Size Of Faith.

B.  The Strength Of Faith.

     The Strength of our faith is easily identified in Romans
10:17 where it says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of God.

     Many years ago, I felt the Holy Spirit speaking to me quietly
in my spirit for several days about this passage.  Except, the
Holy Spirit kept saying "Faith comes out of hearing and hearing by
the Word of God."  I knew that couldn't be right so I ignored it
for many days.  Finally, when the still small voice of the Lord
persisted, I sat down at my computer and dialed up the passage.
Then I switched on the Greek lexicon and discovered the two words
rendered "cometh" by the King James translators literally means,
(to come out of, to come from).  I began looking at faith from a
completely different standpoint.

     First of all, to me this meant that faith had to be a
constant, that is, a fixed value.  We have already seen how God
has dealt to every man the measure of faith, or, an exact portion
divided equally by God between all those who are born again.  In
short, each one is given the same measure of faith.  For years, I
was taught that my faith was strength, made stronger, better, and
even increased, by simply confessing God's Word.  That is not now
how I believe it works and is applicable.

     Romans 10:17 makes more sense to me now because if faith is,
as I have suggested, a value which is fixed, then, when we confess
God's Word in relationship to circumstances, the fixed faith is
enhanced, amplified, intensified, magnified, even increased, if
you please, because our faith resonates with the truth of God's
Word confessed.  In my opinion, therefore, faith has to be a fixed
value because God's Word never changes.  Jesus is called "The Word
of God," in Revelation 19:13 and in Titus 2:1, we are told that
God cannot lie.  Thus, His Word is eternally fixed and can never
change because He can never change.  If we speak and confess his
unchangeable Word, our God given faith is in perfect agreement
with His faith through His Word.

End Of Installment Three