“But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail…,” Jesus said to Peter (Luke 22:32, NASB).
That’s an interesting statement. What does Jesus mean by that? Certainly, He would not pray to prevent an occurrence that could not happen anyway. So, what He said must be a real possibility. That is, it must be possible for our faith to fail us.
But you can safeguard yourself from that happening if you make it a habit to exercise your faith daily.
To live a vibrant Christian life, we must have a solid faith in God and in His Son. That’s because we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). That means we must be more driven by what we believe than by what we see.
Sometimes, walking by faith can be a seemingly overwhelming challenge based on your physical circumstances. The level of testing or opposition you face can scream so loudly and persist so long that you can’t hear faith speaking to you.
But walking by faith begets walking by faith. By that I mean the more you exercise your faith by using it, the more your faith will rise to the occasion in future challenges. By contrast, the less you walk by faith, the less you will be able to do so going forward. Think about faith as a spiritual muscle that must be regularly exercised.
Failure to Exercise Your Faith
The bottom line is that if you fail to exercise your faith, it will fail you when you need it the most. By that I don’t mean your faith will cease to exist. Rather, your faith won’t serve you well at the time of testing. That’s why it’s vital that Christians practice daily the lifestyle of living by faith, and that they do those things to help keep them firmly rooted in their faith in God.
The Bible tells us that our battle is not with flesh and blood but it is spiritual (Ephesians 6:12). Smart warriors don’t prepare for battle in the time of war. Rather, they prepare during times of peace so when the battle comes, they are properly prepared for the enemy.
You must have a similar mindset with regard to your faith. You must exercise it daily so that it remains strong and resilient. Doing so will assure you that your faith won’t fail you during those times you need it the most.
We are saved by grace through faith. But also we live our daily lives by faith. It is the latter dimension of faith that I am writing about. You need your faith to rise to the occasion when the going gets tough. But that won’t happen if you fail to regularly exercise your faith.
Copyright © 2022 by Frank King. All rights reserved.