The School of Faith

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God

Jesus was the Master Teacher. He spent a little over 3 years with His disciples, and a lot of His teaching was about faith. Think about it for a moment, they had Jesus for an instructor and the Holy Scriptures as a textbook. They would certainly need faith for the tasks ahead of them.

He used a variety of teaching methods, sometimes giving them verbal instructions, and sometimes dramatic demonstrations; like healing the sick, casting out demons, feeding thousands of people with only a handful of ingredients, calming an angry sea. He even tested them from time to time to see if they got it—that He was the announced Messiah of Israel. 

At times, it seems like they got it, and at other times, they failed miserably. Like the time Jesus calmed the sea and then asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” [Mark 4:40]. His objective was to firmly establish their faith. They would need faith to accomplish the tasks He would assign them to do.

We need faith because God has things He wants us to do as well. And trust me on this, you don’t have to wait until you have “great faith” in order to accomplish the godly tasks before you. Since you are growing in Christ, so is your faith. Therefore, He uses us only to the degree that we trust Him.

An ever-growing faith is essential in the life of a Christ follower. And just as He did with the disciples, He still uses two primary means to develop our faith: Scriptures and tests. We must believe what the Scriptures tell us about God; who He is and what He can do, especially about the Savior He sent. And tests are designed to stretch us, and cause us to rely on God instead of ourselves. 

It’s the beginning of a new year. Have faith in God.

Then Peter remembered and said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that You cursed is withered.” Jesus replied to them, “Have faith in God.” Mark 11:21-22