Do we need to exercise faith like a muscle?

[gdemoss]

I know it sounds strange!

I lift weights to maintain/increase muscle strength and size.  I cycle to increase/maintain my fitness levels. If I have a few weeks off it takes me quite a while to get back to where I was.

So my question is, should we view our Christian faith like this?  Should we ensure that we keep reading our bible, pray to build up our 'spiritual fitness/strength'? As if we don't do these we can easily become cold.

Hope this makes sense.

Yes,  exercising our faith through works strengthens our faith.  I do it every day. 

Jas 2:22

Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

[Retrobyter]

Shabbat shalom, TSDBB. 

I know it sounds strange!

I lift weights to maintain/increase muscle strength and size.  I cycle to increase/maintain my fitness levels. If I have a few weeks off it takes me quite a while to get back to where I was.

So my question is, should we view our Christian faith like this?  Should we ensure that we keep reading our bible, pray to build up our 'spiritual fitness/strength'? As if we don't do these we can easily become cold.

Hope this makes sense.

It’s important to understand the FOCUS of faith. Faith is NOT a power we exercise; it’s simply TRUST in the One who has all power! It’s always good to learn that we can TRUST Him and that we can TRUST Him more each day, but it is NOT our FAITH that must grow!

God has ALL POWER! He is EL ELYON! He is the EPITOME, the PINNACLE of power! After all, HE created all things including ALL the galaxies of stars, ALL of the nebulae, ALL of the matter and energy in our Universe, and knows each and every atom, each and every subatomic particle, each and every quark of that Universe, and it is HE who makes it all work harmoniously!

It’s our UNDERSTANDING of that God that must grow! “Faith” is NOT a power that we can wield or a muscle that we must grow; “faith” is simply trust in the power of that God and in the PERSON of that God and in the LOVE and COMPASSION of that God! We must know that God is BIG ENOUGH to handle any problem we may face, and that He is LOVING ENOUGH to handle any problem we may face! We must know that God CAN do anything and that He WILL do anything for those whom He loves!

Get your eyes off of yourself and put the focus on GOD!

[gdemoss]

2Co 10:15

Not boasting of things without ourmeasure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly

God gives the increase.  We walk by the faith given us.  More is planted, sewn and watered and again God gives the increase!

I started out not believing in God.  Then someone planted and another watered and God gave the increase.  Then I believed.

Yet again,  I did not believe in Christ!  Some planted while others watered and God gave the increase!  Then I believed.

Yet again,  it continues to this day.  More seeds planted concerning God and his Christ with careful watering and more increase is given.  More doctrines become clear.  More increase in faith!

God is the only one who can verify that wh9ch has been testified of therefore increasing the faith of the hearers.

[mevosper]

Here's my reply, faith does grow in side of you. Much like a mustard seed, like in Luke 17:6, faith grows. If Christ had meant that faith was not supposed to grow, he would have said "If you have faith of a pebble...". 

Seeds are planted with in us. How do we water them? Christ called himself the living water. We must drink of his words and eat of his table. That is how one grows. What is the food and water that we drink of? Right now, it is the bible. This is the only word we know of that calls itself The WORD. You believe what it says, or you don't. My belief is that it is black and white like that.

Listen to it. Get yourself an audible version and listen to someone reading the bible to you. It will grow in you. 

What, for those following this forum, would you call an example of the faith that grows in you? Is there something in your life that you can show has been an example of your faith in God? There is probably a forum for this. However, I think the OP needs to see a witness. Is there a witness out there?  

[JohnD]

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AV)

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

What exactly is new about us?

1. salvation
2. the Holy Spirit dwells in us
3. we have the capacity to live by the Spirit rather than the flesh

Some have tried to read into the verse that we are no longer sinners or capable of sinning. 1 John 1:5 - 1 John 2:1 puts that postulation to rest.

We also have a spirit (our inner self). This spirit needs nurturing, attending, spiritual nutrition, spiritual exercise. 

If our spirits could die most of us would have starved them to death ages ago. Or they'd be in wheelchairs from muscular atrophy. 

The OP asked about exercising faith. I believe our faith is seated in our spirit, and that increased or stronger faith is a byproduct of exercising, feeding, nurturing our spirit through prayer, Bible reading, doing the good works of the LORD, denying the flesh.

 

[Retrobyter]

Shalom, mevosper. 

Here's my reply, faith does grow in side of you. Much like a mustard seed, like in Luke 17:6, faith grows. If Christ had meant that faith was not supposed to grow, he would have said "If you have faith of a pebble...". 

Seeds are planted within us. How do we water them? Christ called himself the living water. We must drink of his words and eat of his table. That is how one grows. What is the food and water that we drink of? Right now, it is the bible. This is the only word we know of that calls itself The WORD. You believe what it says, or you don't. My belief is that it is black and white like that.

Listen to it. Get yourself an audible version and listen to someone reading the bible to you. It will grow in you. 

What, for those following this forum, would you call an example of the faith that grows in you? Is there something in your life that you can show has been an example of your faith in God? There is probably a forum for this. However, I think the OP needs to see a witness. Is there a witness out there?  

If you want to believe that faith grows, have at it. However, the focus is STILL on the God who causes all things to grow. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that ANY growth in how you believe will change WHAT you believe or in WHOM you believe and trust! It cannot and never will.

It’s like that anecdote where a man and his wife are sitting in their truck on the front bench seat, traveling home from the store. The wife said to her husband, “Isn’t it strange how when we were first dating we used to sit so close side by side and now we sit so far apart?”

The husband said, “Well, honey, I haven’t moved."

No matter what you do differently to trust in God, He is ALWAYS THE SAME, INFINITELY GOOD GOD! HE HASN’T CHANGED! And, it is GOD who works miracles! Not us!

[mevosper]

Right. The focus is on God who planted the seed that grows within us. Even the Israelites understood how their food grew. He provides the water. Worship him in the dry and wet seasons. Eat from his table.