It is a blessed thing when a soul cries out so earnestly for the leading of the Lord in every sphere, physical, spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and financial. You have prayed that God would show you the areas where you need to work, and that the Holy Spirit would grant you strength, desire, knowledge, and wisdom to grow and accomplish all He intends. This is a prayer after the apostolic pattern, for the disciples themselves said, “Lord, increase our faith.” And that is the very root from which all other growth must spring. Faith, faith, faith, this is the reservoir, and if this is not well filled, the pipes will soon run dry! Growth in faith is necessary for our sanctification, for it is by faith that sin is kept down and that all Divine Graces grow. It is necessary too for our comfort, for Little-Faith goes to Heaven, but his feet are sore on the road. Therefore, you do well to ask that you may be led where you need to be “through faith, prayer, and works.”
Yet take careful heed how you set those three in order. Remember that it is written, “To him that works not, but believes on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” The faith which brings this righteousness is never exercised by any but those who are born of the Spirit. The new-born life runs instinctively to Grace and lives by faith! You shall never find simple faith in Jesus exercised by any life except the life that is born of Divine Seed in the new birth. When the Holy Spirit works in us mightily, our faith becomes even more simple and childlike. Therefore, let your first business be to look to Christ alone. Faith means trust in Christ. Take heed of your good works; get them after faith, but remember, the way to be saved is simply to believe in Jesus Christ. A faith which thinks lightly of past sin is the faith of devils, not of God’s elect. True repentance and true faith are twins; the repentance which purges the soul from dead works, and the faith that fills the soul with living works, they are born at the same time.
Now, as for your desire to grow and excel in all that God wants you to achieve, the only real mode of growth in faith is by the power of the Holy Spirit. As I have often said, Peter’s growth came upon him at Pentecost. Private prayer is like a conservatory in which God’s plants grow very rapidly. You need not borrow somebody’s Morning Devotions to see how a certain eminent Divine prayed, go straight to God and say, “O Lord, You know what I need!” Imitate Jacob’s prayer in its humility of spirit; true prayer is just pleading with the Most High, spreading your case before Him, and pressing your suit with all the arguments you can muster. Prayer, mighty prayer, will yet prevail if it has but time! And while you never cease from your trust, nor from your prayer, grow more earnest in both. Let your faith be still more resolved to give up all dependence anywhere but upon God, and let your cry grow more and more vehement.
Beware of the thought that failure in prayer means you should forsake the closet. If the Evil One whispers, “Give up private devotion, for prayer is all a fancy,” spurn the thought with all your might and still cry out both day and night, for the Lord will yet hear you. Sometimes failure in prayer may be caused by sin; but when you are conscious of your sinfulness, do not cry with Peter, “Depart from me,” but rather, “Come nearer to me.” That is faith which prevents humility from degenerating into unbelief and despair. The witness of the Spirit always points us to Jesus; it never leads us to rest upon the work within, but upon the Propitiation for sin.
As for the outward signs of this growth, love to the saints and growth in zeal are choice proofs of the growth of faith. I cannot see a man’s faith, but I can see the evidences that it is growing when I perceive how zealous he is in all good works for his Lord. The force of life within produces growth, both the visible growth in zeal and good works, and the hidden growth in deep humility and communion with the Lord in secret.
May you have faith given you, and then may you pray always, “Lord, increase my faith.” Go and plead the promise, and the Lord do unto you according to your faith! His answer may not come in the way you expect, Jacob’s was not, but it will surely come, for strong faith is ever on the winning side. Above all, see to it that your faith is fixed in the Person of Christ, for nothing but a faith in His divine Person as God over all, blessed forever, and in His proper manhood as the Lamb sacrificed for us, will stand against the tremendous assaults you must endure. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. Therefore, whatever you leave out, see to your faith; if you forget all besides, be careful above all that you take the shield of faith. May the Holy Spirit, who is the Creator of our faith and its Increaser, work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.