The Word of God says that ‘faith comes by hearing’ – it does not say that faith remains once it has come. You may have faith today for your healing, but that does not mean that you will have faith for healing tomorrow. We can never get away from the subject of faith. You always have to study it, because you always need faith. Once you get faith established in an area in your life, it is much easier to maintain that faith level. It’s hard to build a house initially; it’s easier to maintain it once it has been built. Let’s look at five questions that will help you build and maintain a vibrant faith life.

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

• In order to give some clarity to this verse, let’s apply three of the five well-known W’s.
• The five W’s include: who, what, when, where, and why.
• Who Wrote this? – Paul
• Who are the people mentioned in this verse? – God and ‘He that comes to God’.
• To whom is the author speaking? – Saints, we know that from Hebrews 1:2.
• What are the major teachings?
• Faith
• Believing
• Coming to God

Hebrews 11:6: Definitions

• Faith – state of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one trusted trust, confidence, faith ¹.
• Impossible – incapable of happening or being done, impossible ².
• Please – to do something or act in a manner that is pleasing or satisfactory, please, be pleasing ³.
• seek – to exert effort to find out or learn something, seek out, search for ⁴.
• Rewards – rewarder, one who repays
• Believing is the action part of faith. Be specific in your believing. It’s good to ask yourself some questions here like…

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QUESTION 1: What reward do you expect your faith to lead you to?

• Make a list. Examine your list and see if your goals are too high. Too high means, have you ever believed at this level before successfully?
• If the answer is no, what’s the closest that you have ever gotten.
• Is it possible to shoot for something real big when your faith is real small to start with?
• Absolutely, but it’s going to take an absolute complete commitment to the Word of God, which means an absolute complete commitment of your time. I mean that you are literally in it all day long. Every time you turn around. It means you turn off the TV, you turn off the newspaper, and you turn off everything in your life that’s not necessary.
• Remember to start out where you are

1 Samuel 17:33–37 (ESV)
33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

• You take on lions and bears before you take on giants.

Ecclesiastes 10:10 (ESV)
10 If the iron is blunt, and one does not sharpen the edge, he must use more strength, but wisdom helps one to succeed.

• What will wisdom direct you to do?
• Sit-down and sharpen your axe.

 If I had six hours to cut down a tree, I would take the first four hours and sharpen my axe. – Abraham Lincoln

• Faith is locatable. At any given time, your faith may be great, small, growing etc.
• Faith can be great. The centurion had this kind of faith.

Matthew 8:10 (KJV)
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.

• Faith can be little. The disciples showed this when on board the ship with Jesus.

Matthew 8:26 (KJV)
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

QUESTION 2: How certain are you of receiving your reward?

• Faith is the substance of hope

Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

• If you have no hope, you have no grounds for faith.
• A diligent seeking must accompany every venture.

QUESTION 3: How do I seek Him?

• Diligently

1 Chronicles 16:11 (KJV)
11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

• With all your heart and soul

Deuteronmy 4:29 (KJV)
29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

General Facts about Seeking God

• Seeking God leads to prosperity

2 Chronicles 26:5 (KJV)
5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.

Psalms 34:10 (KJV)
10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

• The Lord is Looking for Seekers

Psalm 14:2 (KJV)
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

Question 4: Who Has Faith?

• According to the Bible, the born again believer has faith.

Romans 1:17 (ESV)
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Romans 10:17 (ESV)

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

QUESTION 5: Who has access to God’s Word?

• Everyone. Religion in certain countires has tried to control the distribution of the Word.
• Sometimes people are searched to see if they have Bibles when they come into a certain country.

ILLUSTRATION: Voltaire’s Attempt to Destroy the Bible

Voltaire, one of the most fertile and talented writers of his time made it his life’s purpose to destroy Christianity by destroying all the Bibles). Of Christ, he said “Curse the wretch!” Voltaire once boasted that in 20 years Christianity will be no more. He died a horrible death, so bad in fact that his nurse said that for all the wealth of Europe she never wanted to see another infidel die. His attending physician said he heard Voltaire make these statements: “I am abandoned by God and man! I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six months life. Then I shall go to hell; and you will go with me. O Christ, O Jesus Christ!”

• You can’t stop the Word, despite Voltaire’s attempts.
• The Word is nigh you.
• You have access to it. You can take it up in your mouth and quote it and meditate it right into your heart. And when you do faith comes.
• You can be the worst sinner and hear the Word and receive it and faith will come.
• So who has the opportunity to have faith?
• Everyone who will hear it. It’s not just for a few.

Romans 12:3 (KJV)
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

• Do you see the words, “Every man that is among you?”
• Who is every man? Does it mean every man in the entire world?

II Thessalonians 3:2 (KJV)
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.

• All men do not have faith. The wicked don’t have any. If they did, they wouldn’t be wicked anymore.
• The ‘every man that is among you’ of Romans 12:3 are the saints of Rome. Ever child of God has it. If you don’t have it, you are not His child.

Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Call to Action:

You can build yourself up in faith. Find out what God’s Word says about an area, like healing for example. Gather those scriptures and read them and think on them. When you know that you know on the inside of you, then you are ready to release your faith and receive your miracle.

Question: What have you learned from God’s Word about growing in faith? Would you share that with us? You can leave your comments in the comments section below.