Do you have faith? That’s a questions we’ve all heard in one form or another. Choosing a life of faith will help you to see what’s invisible, choose what’s imperishable, and do what’s impossible. The world needs men and women of faith today because, “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith” (1 John 5:4). We can either be overcomers or we can be overcome – we must choose to operate in faith or fear. Faith increases when it is tested and be sure God will test your faith. I once heard that faith is like a toothbrush. Everyone should have one and use it regularly but it isn’t safe to use someone else’s. How true! You need to operate in your faith, not someone else’s. While you can follow people of faith your personal life operates by your faith – or lack of faith.
Why do you think God tests our faith? Let me ask this in another way. Why do you test anything? First, things are tested to see if they are genuine and secondly for quality (condition, strength, etc.). When I test water skis out in the summer it is to see if they will hold me up. Now, they do in theory because they hold up others. But I must step into the ski, grab hold of the rope, and allow the boat to pull me out of the water. If not, I cannot claim to be a water skier. If I do not trust the boat, skis, and water, then I’m not operating in the ways of a water skier. To claim to be one when I don’t do those things is to be fake and weak. The same concept is true of playing basketball, building a house, being a doctor, or anything else but especially true of being a Christian. I must operate in the faith I claim to possess. My faith must be tested so I can grow. In Judges 7, God put Gideon’s faith through a great test. His volunteer army was reduced from 32,000 to 300. Did Gideon place his faith in the size of his army? Perhaps some – who wouldn’t be concerned to some extent when your fighting army is reduced by more than 99% and you are still expected to win all while your army was a fifth of the size of the enemy in the first place!
God didn’t want Gideon’s faith placed in his army or his leadership ability but in Him alone. When you win a victory by faith alone it gives God glory alone because you sure can’t take credit for it. And fear prohibits you from faith. So, 22,000 men left Gideon’s army that day because they were scared (Judges 7:3). God wasn’t through sifting Gideon’s army or testing his faith. God tests us in the everyday, ordinary experiences to get us ready for the rare, extraordinary experiences. Gideon’s men went through a second test – those who drank from the water like dogs were eliminated from the army. The remaining 300 who drank from their hands were those God chose – ready for battle and ready to increase Gideon’s faith. If Gideon really believed (Deuteronomy 32:30), “one could put a thousand to flight and two ten thousand” then all Gideon really needed in faith was about 30 soldiers to defeat the whole 135,000 Midianite army. But God always gives us more than we need all while we think we don’t have enough. That’s how our faith is tested and grown. He is our provider and more than enough. Gideon’s army defeated the Midianites in an unusual way with unusual numbers and brought unusual peace to the land for forty years (Judges 8:28). Allow God to test your faith and trust Him when you cannot see victory – He sees all, knows all, and is all-powerful.
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stephen R Harrison 
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