4 Ways to Increase Your Faith and Win Your Spiritual Battles

To understand how to increase our faith, we first need to understand the faith spectrum. The spiritual attack you are currently experiencing typically corresponds to your current position on the faith spectrum.

• If Jesus isn’t your Lord and Savior, then you are walking in UNBELIEF and are exposed to all kinds of spiritual attacks. Sickness, fear, depression, doubt, worry, rejection, and his worst attack, deception, are just a few of the ways he attacks unbelievers.

• For disciples of Jesus Christ, the battles we face can often resemble the battles that unbelievers encounter. The difference, however, is that God has given us his Spirit and power to overcome sin and satan. Unfortunately, many believers become distracted or deceived and fall into the trap of INACTIVE FAITH, and fail to utilize the faith they currently have to combat the enemy.

• Finally, we see in the Bible that disciples who were FULL OF FAITH often faced persecution and the threat of death.

Wherever your faith is, and whatever the intensity of your current spiritual battle, God has given every human being the ability to increase their faith and win their spiritual battles. Let’s take a look in the Bible and learn about four different ways we can increase our faith and overcome satan.

1 - Believe in Jesus Christ

The first way to increase our faith is to hear about Jesus and then accept him as Lord and Savior. This increase in faith enables us to transition from unbelief to active faith and enables us to overcome satan’s deception. Romans 10:17 says that

"... faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ." (NIV)

or

"...So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (KJV)

The context of this verse in Romans reveals that the Apostle Paul is addressing questions about the state of Israel. Has God forgotten about his chosen people? Will they be saved? Paul is continuing his answer to these questions in chapter 10 by letting the Roman church know that the Israelites weren’t saved during their time, not because God had abandoned them, but because they refused his way of salvation. The Israelites wanted to be saved through keeping the old covenant law, but God offers salvation through faith. And faith, as Paul says, comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.

So, if satan is berating you and you are an unbeliever, the first step you have to take is to overcome his deception by placing your faith in Jesus Christ. Satan deceives unbelievers into not living a life for the Lord Jesus Christ. As an unbeliever, you live with unrepentant sins such as lying and greed. You live a life void of the love, joy, and friendship of God. This makes you a slave to sin and satan, and gives him the ability to wreak havoc in your life. You are blind, but you are unaware that you don’t have to live in this darkness.

Placing your faith in Jesus overturns this deception. Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. All broken laws require a fine to be paid, even broken moral laws. The fine for breaking a moral law is not paid to any human system, but to God. Since we are incapable of completely paying our fine due to the moral laws we have broken, Jesus paid our fine on our behalf. His death on the cross paid the fine for anyone who would accept his sacrifice (his payment). When we accept his sacrifice and place our trust in him for our salvation, it is like a veil is torn from our eyes, and we can see things for how they really are. We see God for who he really is and ourselves for who we really are.

So, when you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). You will overcome the deception of satan, you will begin to see life for how it really is, your sins will be taken away, and you will be connected to the source of all life, joy, peace, and fulfillment. Satan’s power comes in the form of lies and distractions, but when you put your trust in Jesus for salvation and the removal of your sins, satan’s power over your life is broken, and you have what you need to overcome his attacks.

2 - Use the Faith You Have

The second way to increase our faith is to use the faith we have. This enables us to transition from inactive faith to active faith. Satan’s attacks are not limited to deception. He can also physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially harm us and those we care about. Inactive faith allows satan to maintain his presence in our lives, thus prolonging the battles we face. I know it may sound awkward to say we increase our faith by using our faith, but here me out...

In Matthew 17:14-21, Jesus’ disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a young boy. The boy was then brought to Jesus, who subsequently cast out the demon. When Jesus’ disciples asked him why they were not able to cast the demon out, Jesus replied

"20 ... “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” 

In essence, Jesus told the disciples that they could not cast the demon out, not because they didn’t have faith, but because they had little faith. His instruction to them following this failure was to have the faith of a mustard seed. Jesus uses a similar story in Luke 17:1-6. He had just gotten through telling his disciples that they should forgive a brother for essentially an unlimited number of times. The disciples, sensing the impossibility of the task, exclaim, “Lord, increase our faith!” Jesus answered their request by stating

"6 ... “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you."

In other words, the size of their faith wasn’t the problem. It was the use of their faith. Asking for more faith isn’t the right question. Instead, disciples of Jesus should pray, “Lord, help us use the faith we have!” ... because even a little faith in God is mountain-moving faith.

When we return to Matthew 17, it may be that the disciples simply grew tired of using the faith they had. It could also be that they simply weren’t using their faith. Maybe they were trying to cast the demon out using the latest exorcism fad? Regardless of what happened, the disciples lost sight of God and allowed their faith to slip into dormancy. Their faith had gone from active to inactive... And their inactive faith allowed satan to remain in the little boy's life.

Bringing this to today, the spiritual battles we face are nearly endless. Sickness, depression, fear, insecurity, demons, and the list goes on. We overcome the enemy not necessarily by adding more faith to our faith, but by first using the faith we have. So, during your battle with satan, don’t worry about gaining more faith; first, use the faith you currently have. 

If you need help understanding how to use your faith, be sure to check out the rest of this website for further assistance. The skill of Biblical Meditation, or the Skill Combo of Biblical Literacy are a few great places to start!

3 - Be Like Barnabas... or Stephen

The third way to increase our faith is evident in Scripture, but a bit hard to quantify. If I had to quantify it, I would call this way "be like Barnabas," and here's why.

We don’t have any explicit examples in the Bible of someone going from active faith to full of faith. We have the examples of Stephen and Barnabas as full of faith (Acts 6-7, Acts 11), but we don’t know much about their lives before they were full of faith. We also have the example of the apostles. It’s clear that they went from active faith in Jesus to being full of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1-2); however, the Bible never says that the apostles were full of faith. We can make this assumption, but it is worth noting that this is a good hypothesis, and not explicitly stated in scripture. 

Now, from the examples of these men, we can see a few characteristics of people who were full of faith.

Now, the Bible is not clear on how a person gets to the place where they are full of faith, but one suggestion I have is to pray that you exhibit one of the behaviors that the men who were full of faith had. This is why I say "be like Barnabas." Since it's not explicit how you get to a place where you are full of faith, we can emulate one of the men who had that kind of faith. I’m confident that if you ask God to manifest himself in the ways He did with these men, you will be well on your way to living full of faith and overcoming satan in your life.

When someone is full of faith, God can do amazing things through them. Whether it’s withstanding persecution, preaching boldly, performing miracles, or encouraging fellow Christians, God bountifully uses Christians who fully trust in Him. In the spiritual battles we face, each of the above acts overcomes satan and exalts Jesus in our lives. When we are full of faith, death and persecution are satan’s strongest weapons against us, but not even that can stop Jesus’ work through our lives. Emulating the men who were full of faith can give us a road map for increasing our faith, transitioning us from active to full faith.

4 - Utilize the Word of God

The fourth way we can increase our faith and defeat satan is by utilizing the word of God. Remember, faith comes by hearing God's word. When you interact with God's word, this adds to your faith. Additionally, Ephesians 6:17 says

"17 Take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

The weapon of our warfare is God’s word, and we can use it in a variety of ways. We can speak God’s word over our situation. Remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God. If we are battling with doubt, we can recite John 3:16 and remind ourselves that God gives us eternal life. If we can trust God with our eternal life, surely we can trust him with the next moment. If we find ourselves face-to-face with people looking to persecute us, it is God’s word spoken through us that will enable us to overcome the attack (Matthew 10:16-20).

We can apply God’s word during our battle. If we are battling with sickness, we can follow James 5:14 and have the elders anoint us with oil and pray. If we are battling anxiety, we can cast our cares on God over and over again, just as 1 Peter 5:7 implies. Isaiah 30:31 says

"31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; ...

    with his rod he will strike them down." 

God’s voice shattered Israel's enemies. His words shattered the enemies of God’s people thousands of years ago, and they still have the power to take our enemy down today. You exercise your faith as you say his word, memorize his word, meditate on his word, and apply his word. You can overcome the enemy with God’s word. Your victory may not come fast, but it will come. Refuse to settle for defeat, put your faith in God, and drive the enemy out of your life with his word.

Get Ready to Win!

These are four ways you can increase your faith in God and gain victory in your spiritual battles. Regardless of your level of faith or the intensity of your spiritual battle, God has given you the ability to overcome your enemy. If you apply these tips consistently, I am confident that you will see God producing great spiritual victories in your life!

Again, if you need additional help in exercising the faith you currently have, check out our other skill-building resources on growingtruedisciples.com. To see the video that accompanies this blog, click here.

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