Mensa Otabil - Add to Your Faith (10/26/2025)
Welcome to day number 22 of our 40 days of power. We have done more in prayer and fasting than we have ahead of us, so thank God for His strength, thank God for His enablement, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.
As you know, this week we are talking about growing our faith. Faith has to grow; it starts small but has to become great and big. How do we do that? Second Peter, chapter 1, verses 5 to 7: «But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; to virtue, knowledge; to knowledge, self-control; to self-control, perseverance; to perseverance, godliness; to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.» There are about seven things that the Scriptures tell us to add to our faith. If you want to know how faith grows, this is it. Faith doesn’t stand on its own; it grows as other things are added to it and is complemented by these other things.
The first is virtue. Virtue basically is moral character. In other words, you can say, «Oh, I pray, I’m believing God, I’m fasting,» but if you live immorally, there’s no virtue. You’re lying and cheating, destroying people, gossiping, and backbiting. There’s no virtue, so your faith, having no addition to it, is going to be weak. Then it says, «Add to your faith knowledge.» Knowledge of God, knowledge of the Word of God, knowledge of the promises of God-know what God says; read the Bible. So, as we fast and pray, we are applying virtue to our lives, applying knowledge to our faith, and ensuring that we are staying in the Word of God, grounding our faith in the Word of God.
Self -control. Moderation- staying in a life that is moderated, not excessive. The Bible teaches against excessiveness: excessive eating, excessive talking. We have to have self-control. We don’t react with anger; we don’t react against people harshly. We don’t become so bitter that we lose our self-control and are no longer in charge of our faculties, driven by hatred or by some other force. So, self-control is important if you’re going to operate by faith. Then you have to have perseverance. Perseverance is the ability to move on in the face of obstacles, trials, temptations, and delays. We keep going. Faith needs all of this: it needs virtue, it needs knowledge, it needs self-control, it needs perseverance, and it needs godliness. Godliness is imitating God, the characteristics of God. God is merciful, so we are merciful; God is kind, so we are kind. Godliness is intentionally desiring a life that is close to the attributes of God.
As Christians, although we are human beings and we are limited, we seek to be godly; we seek to live the life of God. Then, to godliness, we add brotherly kindness. That is just being kind, being courteous with people, showing mercy, being generous in the way we deal with people. That is something we must add to our faith. We can’t walk in faith and be very mean-spirited, very unforgiving, and always trying to destroy people. Then we add love. Faith works by love. If you want to grow your faith, that’s the prescription. These are the things we add to our faith so that our faith becomes strong and we are able to receive all the things that God has for us.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the faith You have given me. Help me to grow stronger in faith each day. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. I’ll catch you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.