A person does not get faith by himself. The LORD God decides how much faith a person will have, and deals it to each man accordingly.
His measure focuses on six areas to determine how much faith to give you after you are called forward by Him.
He examines you to determine your ability to:
1) Be a living sacrifice
2) Be holy
3) Be acceptable of God
4) Be non-conforming to this world
5) Be able to transform yourself by the renewing of your mind
6) Be able to prove what is the good, acceptable, perfect will of God
1 ΒΆ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. (Romans 12:1-3 AV)
Reasonable service to the LORD God, means the reasonable amount of worship that the LORD God expects from one of his people. This reasonable service consists of three of the measured areas:
1) Be a living sacrifice
2) Be holy
3) Be acceptable of God
Worshipping the LORD God means you must be a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice means that you give up your will, and allow the Will of the LORD God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to perform works through you. Worshipping the LORD God also requires you to be holy and acceptable to Him. These areas are measured by the LORD God from his expectation that these three areas are reasonable requirements that should be met.
The LORD God uses the other three measurements for determining the amount of faith you will receive. These three measurements are not under the “reasonable service” standard. They are not required for faith to be given by the LORD God, but they are important measurements to test for your ability to handle faith. People given large amounts of faith will possess these other three abilities, and people of little faith will not. These three measurements are
4) Be non-conforming to this world
5) Be able to transform yourself by the renewing of your mind
6) Be able to prove what is the good, acceptable, perfect will of God
The six measurements that the LORD God uses to determine the meting out of faith are not works, but spiritual necessities for faith.
Understand this well. Anytime that you are doing any of these six things, you are doing them as a matter of spiritual necessity. They are not works and they will not be rewarded as works. These six measurements are used by the LORD God to give you faith. He determines the measurements, and He determines the standards, and in His Grace, He decides how much faith you will have.
The LORD God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will not think you are great for letting Them use your body. It is expected of you. It is a spiritual standard required of you by the LORD God. However, if they use your body, and works result, you will receive reward from those works. So, being a living sacrifice is your spirituality which leads to faith. What your body does as a living sacrifice is works
When you see some with great faith, and some with little faith, recognize that their faith is given to each individual by the LORD God after a careful and exacting measurement in six areas to determine the amount of faith that they can handle. To increase the amount of faith that is rewarded to you, attention must be paid to those six attributes, all of which are dependent upon a steady and forward walk with Jesus Christ, study of His Word, and a dedicated focus on the Things of God.
Kathy L. McFarland, MDiv