Saving Faith is a gift from God. We can’t do anything to earn it. Without this gift we would remain in unbelief and be unable to receive what God has to offer. The faith we need to walk with God is a different kind of faith. This kind of faith is given but it is also cultivated. It’s a mixture of what God does and what we do. If we use an agricultural metaphor: God gives us rain, sunlight, and soil. But we must plant the seed and cultivate the land to have a crop. It is the same with the kind of faith that strengthens and helps us to grow each day. We do this by prayer and the Word of God along with trying to comply with what God wants us to do and be. The more we prayerfully comply to God’s Word the more we cultivate our faith; for prayer along with obedience to the Word of God has a compounding effect on faith.
Yet, when we harvest less faith than desired we know that we tried our best and believe that God will help our unbelief – so we can’t get too discouraged. When farmers cultivate their land, they understand the limitations to produce a certain outcome. They wait with anticipation for the result; for even well cultivated fields yield better or worse in any given year. God often defers our expectations by leaving us in suspense or denies what we hope for – leaving us disappointed. We may not understand what God is doing yet by faith we have inward assurance that delay or denial will work out for our good. This inward assurance is the evidence we are living by faith.