Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
Hebrews 11:1 AMPC
Faith is essential to our lives as children of God. We are born of a Kingdom that our physical eyes can’t see, yet we know in our spirits is real. This is the very essence of faith. Just as the scripture above states, faith is the evidence of the things our optical eyes can’t see. You can’t have evidence of something that isn’t real!
In today’s world, there is a lot of focus on the physical and material aspects of life, and the thought of anything spiritual is met with scoffing. But the truth is, life is spiritual. As spiritual beings, it’s important for us to understand the spirituality of life and to function accordingly. Who we are is not our physical body– we are spirits who have souls, and we live in human bodies. This is precisely the reason we must learn to use our faith, which is a spiritual principle, because without faith we cannot do what God desires of us (Hebrews 11:6). So, how can you unlock your faith?
Faith is like a muscle, so it must be activated and trained to grow larger and stronger.
First, let’s look at activating your faith. When someone wants to activate any particular muscle in their body, they must make very specific movements that cause that muscle to engage in order to support what they are doing. For example, if you were to train your biceps and needed to engage those muscles, you could squeeze your palms into a fist and curl them up towards your chest, causing your biceps to respond. The same is true with your faith– in order for your faith to be activated, you must face a challenge that requires it to engage and respond. When a challenge comes to you, your faith will begin to stir up inside you to overcome whatever it is that you’re facing at that moment. As you engage your faith again and again, you will become more familiar with how it works and how to utilize it for each situation you face.
Secondly, once your muscle is activated, it must be strengthened. When an athlete desires to become stronger, they push their bodies to do more and more continually. This can take the form of adding more weight or pushing themselves to endure for longer. With our faith, we can strengthen it in much the same way. Start by using your faith for the little things, such as passing that exam you’ve been studying for or telling a headache to leave your body. Once those smaller challenges become so easy to you, you move onto the next level and challenge your faith again. Maybe this time you’ll use your faith to bring 10 souls to church or to get a promotion at your job. The point is, look for opportunities to exercise your faith whenever you can so you can keep on making it stronger. That way, when a so-called “big” challenge comes to you, you’re not even flustered because your faith is ready to take it on! This is why James told us to be joyful when we face tests in life (James 1:2-4), because they actually help us become stronger in the long run.
Lastly, you can train your muscle of faith all you want, but if your nutrition is poor, it will mean nothing. Every professional athlete will tell you that nutrition is key to their physical health. Just as we must feed our physical bodies well in order to fuel growth and strengthen our muscles, we must also feed our spirits properly to cultivate big, strong faith.
There are many kinds of spiritual “food” out there. You can either feed yourself fear, doubt, and unbelief, or you can feed your spirit with the Word of God, which provides all you would ever need for a healthy and prosperous life. The Word is packed with the best nutrition and it is necessary for us to live.
Let’s go back to the analogy of an athlete for a moment: imagine a runner eats only fast food and drinks only soda as their main source of food, and then eats an apple every now and then. Do you think they would be in good shape? They may be able to run, but their organs and muscles would be screaming for real, nutritious food. It’s the same with our spirits! If we spend all day watching Tik Tok videos, listening to secular music, reading “self-help” books, and laughing on the phone with our friends but then ignore the Word of God until Sunday morning, we would be severely malnourished. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can nourish us like the Word– we can’t afford to ignore it. The more of the Word you “eat” through reading the Bible, meditating on the Scriptures, listening to messages, etc., the more you will strengthen and sustain your faith.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:17 NKJV
So, to unlock your faith is simple: feed your spirit well and take any opportunity you can get to exercise your faith. You will find that each time it gets easier, and suddenly you’ll be gliding through life!