How Faith Grows

How Faith Grows

 — By M.T. Clark — P-1993, 06/18/2026 — Today’s Audio Podcast 

Today’s Message on YouTube:

Today’s photo of a tree-lined sidewalk in summer with a full green canopy overhead as the path runs on toward the heart of town comes to us from yours truly, as I captured this view while walking on Warren Street in Glens Falls, NY, on June 6th, 2026.

Well, it’s Thursday, and I share this pathway photo as a visual reminder and encouragement to get on or to stay on the path of Christian Discipleship. 

Sometimes the walk itself is a gift. When we step out in faith to stretch our legs and explore the world around us, we get to enjoy a quiet stretch of sidewalk, a few unhurried minutes, and the chance to talk to God with nothing else demanding our attention. 

Take a walk today if you can. The simple act of walking about the earth and being mindful of the things of God is good for the soul.

Our series, “The Armor of God,” continues today as we go deeper into the shield of faith — and the question of where faith actually comes from and how it grows.

How Faith Grows

We have seen that the shield of faith is the piece of armor that quenches the enemy’s fiery darts. But that raises a practical question every honest believer eventually asks: what if my faith feels small? What if my shield feels weak?

Scripture gives a direct answer to where faith comes from and how it grows in Romans 10:17 (NKJV), which tells us: 

“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. This is one of the most practical verses in all of Scripture, because it tells the believer exactly how to do something most people treat as out of their control. 

Most people think of faith as a feeling — something you either have or you do not, something that rises and falls on its own like the weather. Paul says something different. 

Faith comes. It arrives. It grows. And it grows through a specific, repeatable process: hearing the word of God.

Knowing this is very important for the believer who feels that their shield is too small for the battle. 

If faith were simply a personality trait — something that some people are born with, and others are not — then the believer with weak faith would be stuck. But faith is not a fixed trait. It is a living thing that grows when it is fed, and Paul names exactly what feeds it: the word of God.

Think about what this means practically. The believer who immerses himself in Scripture — who reads it, hears it, meditates on it, returns to it daily — is not merely accumulating information. He is providing himself with the means of growing his faith. 

Every exposure to the word of God is feeding the very thing that holds up the shield. 

On the other hand, the believer who neglects the word, who goes days or weeks without hearing it, finds his faith weakening, not because something is wrong with him, but because the thing that feeds his faith has been cut off.

This is why the enemy works so hard to keep believers out of the word. He is not merely trying to keep them uninformed. He is trying to keep their faith starved. 

A believer who is not in the word is a believer whose shield is slowly shrinking — and the fiery darts that a strong shield would have quenched start getting through.

The good news in this verse is the power that it returns to the believer. 

If your faith feels small today, you are not stuck with it. You don’t have to wait for a feeling to descend or a spiritual experience to change you. 

You can do the very thing that grows faith: get into the word of God and stay there. 

Read it in the morning. Listen to it as you drive. Memorize the passages that speak to your specific battle. Return to it when the darts are flying. 

Faith comes by hearing the word of God.  So put yourself on the path of hearing God’s word again and again and watch the shield of your faith grow.

The size of your shield of faith today does not have to remain that size. 

Feed your faith on the word of God, and it will grow to protect you in whatever battle the enemy sends your way. 

Keep on walking and talking with God.

— M.T.

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“The views, opinions, and commentary of this publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries, or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication, and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the author may represent.”

Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship

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