July 16th Devotion

Greg Laurie
Growing in Faith

“For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (James 1:3-4 NLT).

I’ve come to expect that whenever we are living in the will of God, the devil will try to trip us up. The devil may be there to challenge or tempt us after a church service. Or he may be there to challenge and tempt us after God has done a great work in our lives.
After the Spirit, like a dove, came upon Jesus following His baptism, the Bible says, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil” (Matthew 4:1 NLT).

After the dove came the devil.

And after Elijah’s experience on Mount Carmel where God sent fire down from Heaven, King Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, put out a contract on his life.

While it’s true that we’re going have mountaintop experiences in life, we cannot live off those alone. At the bottom of every mountain, there’s always a valley. There’s always a test. And perhaps there’s even the devil seeking to challenge what God has done. But don’t dread it. Just keep moving. Keep growing. And keep learning.

Maybe you’re on a mountaintop with God right now. Everything is going great for you. All the lights are green, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the flowers are growing.

Then again, maybe you’re at the foot of the mountain today. Everywhere you look, you see problems and difficulties, and you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just remember that God has not abandoned you. He wants your faith to develop. You’re going to come through this, and you’ll become stronger as a result.

For our little faith to become great faith, we must apply it. We must use it. We must stretch it. And we must avoid the temptation of spiritual slumber and laziness so that we don’t miss out on what God is doing.