Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?

Matthew 8:26 (ESV)

When Jesus chastised his disciples for their lack of faith, He explained the problem was not the size of their faith but the steadfastness of their faith. Our Lord used one Greek word “oligopistos” or “little faith” to describe His disciples. “Little faith” appears five times in the New Testament, four of which are uttered by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. The disciples appear to have only enough energy for short spurts of faith, leaving them quickly tired and exhausted.

Just like Jesus' disciples, many of us can have strong faith for a short while but are unable to stay in faith over the long haul. We each have been given a measure of faith, but we must learn how to build and grow our spiritual stamina in order to see God's desired result come to fruition.

There are a few things we can do to strengthen our faith and increase our spiritual stamina.

Faith is enabled by God’s grace and energised by God’s love.

The source of faith comes from continually hearing the gospel of God's grace in Christ (Romans 10:17) and the supply of faith comes from living in the flow of God’s love (Galatians 5:6). The more we know God loves us, the more we are able to live and move in faith.

Faith is the fuel of the Christian life. We are saved by faith. We are to stand by faith. We are to walk by faith. We are to run by faith. This calls for preserving, persistent and enduring faith. Such unwavering faith comes from a sure hope, based not on our actions or efforts, but on Christ and His finished work. This is why the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews exhorts us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, in order to run with endurance so as to complete the race set before us.

Endurance flows from a faith that is deeply soaked and saturated in God's love. "Love endures all things”, after all, is one of the qualities of perfect love (1 Corinthians 13:7). Knowing the love of God and having the love for God will lead to an ever-increasing faith and trust in God.