Strengthening the faith of others is a great ministry of God.
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you men like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail; and you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22: 31-32 [NASB]
Levels of faith in our God go up and down. We can notice this in our daily life. Therefore, we need the prayers of others, the encouragement of others in faith matters, and the pleas of Christ for our faith levels to be steady and increasing. God’s pleas are also necessary because we must not forget that even Satan is trying to remove us from our faith. We can clearly understand this in the passage above.
We know that God called Peter to His service. Christ also said that He would establish his church over him. This same Peter said that you are the Christ, the Son of God. God gave such divine manifestation to Peter. And now Satan demanded God that he would destroy the faith of whom? He is no other than Peter. So if our faith is weakening, we must be careful that whether Satan is doing something. We cannot ignore this. What did Jesus say to Peter?, “I have prayed for you, that your faith will not fail; and you”. What did Jesus here? He prayed for Peter and his faith. The important thing here is that we need people who will appeal to God in situations where we are losing faith. We need people who strengthen our faith. Here, in the case of Peter, Christ did that work. To strengthen one’s faith, see how much another’s prayer is needed. Moreover, what else did Christ say- “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers”. Why? Now Jesus set an example. Jesus prayed for Peter and strengthened his faith, and now He wants Peter to do the same for His other disciples. This teaches us a lesson. No matter how strong we are, we also need ,sometimes, the prayers and appeals of another persons. Perhaps this is why, we see in the Bible, every time, Christ was sending every two of his disciples into the ministry. Thus one can be strengthened by the other in a situation where the faith is deteriorating.
Sometimes we see instances where even the most faithful are inspired by the words of others and deviate from the faith. The words of others are sometimes encountered in a way that weakens our faith. This is where it is important to turn to God and pray, as Jesus did in the case of Peter. Only then should we look to God who strengthens our faith. Because He is the Lord of our faith, the One who sustains it. The Bible says this: “looking only at Jesus, the originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 [NASB].”
There are many examples in the Bible. In the Bible we see how devotees reacted when others’ words or Satan weakened their faith. There we find many lessons. Let us see one such example. Read this passage: Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him a child, but she had an Egyptian slave woman whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 Then he had relations with Hagar, and she conceived; and when Hagar became aware that she had conceived, her mistress was insignificant in her sight. 5 So Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I put my slave woman into your arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was insignificant in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your power; do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence. Genesis 16:1-6 [NASB]
God made a promise to Abraham. Abraham and Sarai both came out of their homeland believing in God. This is what God has given them – the first is offspring, and the second is a land flowing with milk and honey. In addition to these, heavenly things are also given to them. On the one hand God is talking to them. God, on the other hand, has continued to strengthen their faith in their promises. However, fluctuations in their faith are seen in such situations. See how Sarai speaks in the passage above. So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I will obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Genesis 16: 2 [NASB]. Promises take time to be fulfilled. Our faith must stand the test of time. Where is Sarai’s faith? What did the words of Sarai do to Abraham’s faith? What was Abraham’s faith when he heard Sarai speak? Why didn’t he interrupt Sarai’s words? So no matter how great a believer we are, the words of others can weaken our faith. The word of God confirms that Abraham listened to the voice of Sarai. Faith crumbled. Instead of strengthening each other’s faith, we see them getting into a lot of trouble by weakening others’ faith. Exactly here one must be careful. Isaac was the only Promised One in God’s plan. But, because of the work done by this couple also came a man who was not related to the promise, and we know the rest of the story.
So notice what our Lord Christ said to Peter. He said: “when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Strengthening the faith of others is a great ministry of God. This is what our Lord taught Peter. In fact, this is also a great lesson for us to follow. Thus, faith of others can be strengthened in two ways : One is by praying to God for them, and the second is by making them to hearing the word of God or teaching them the words of God. It is because the Bible says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 [NASB].