Jan 18, 2012
How To Strengthen Your Faith
Need to strengthen your faith?
You might feel like you are the only one. But you are not.
This side of heaven — every believer has times when his or her faith is weak.
What does weak faith feel like? When I’m weak in faith –
- I can doubt God’s forgiveness.
- I’m not sure God loves me.
- I don’t believe God is in control.
- I am tempted to pursue sin more than Jesus.
- I worry about the future.
- I feel discouraged or blah.
- I lack spiritual motivation.
And when faith is weak, we can feel like nothing will ever change — that we’ll never again be strong in faith or feel close to God.
But there’s good news
The good news is that no matter how weak your faith, God has the power to strengthen you.
You can see that in –
- Mark 9:24 — where a man prays “I believe, help my unbelief.”
- Ephesians 3:16 — where Paul prays that God would strengthen the faith of the church in Ephesus.
- Luke 22:31-32 — where Jesus prays that Peter’s faith would be strengthened.
The One who spoke a Universe into existence, who raised Lazarus from the dead, who brought Jericho’s walls down — He can and will strengthen your faith.
But how?
It’s not that we try to be good enough to earn strong faith from God — or that we try to be positive and raise our spirits.
Neither of those are taught in the Bible.
But in the Bible God invites us to take steps which He will use to strengthen our faith.
First — pray and ask Jesus to help your unbelief.
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)
How did Jesus respond? He answered the man’s prayer.
So don’t think you need strong faith before Jesus will listen to you.
Turn to Him just as you are — with your weak faith — and cry out to Him for help.
Confess that your faith is weak. Ask Him to forgive you through the Cross. Ask Him to strengthen your faith.
Because of His death on the Cross, He will welcome you, love you, forgive you.
AND — He will strengthen your faith — especially as you then take this next step –
Second — hear the word of Christ.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom 10:17)
Paul teaches that as we hear the Word of God, God will bring His power upon us and strengthen our faith.
Open to a passage which is full of God’s love and faithfulness and promises in Christ.
And prayerfully read over that passage, asking Jesus to strengthen your faith, so you see and feel that His promises are true.
Here’s some passages I have found helpful to pray over –
- I John 1:9 — that if I confess my sins, then because of Jesus’ death, God will surely forgive me.
- John 6:35 — that if I come to Jesus and trust Him, He will fully satisfy me in Himself.
- Heb 13:5-6 — that God will certainly meet my financial needs (not that I’ll be rich, but my needs will be met).
- 2Cor 4:17-18 — that God plans every trial to bring me even more joy in Him forever.
- James 1:5 — that God will give me all the wisdom I need.
- Psalm 50:15 — that I will experience God’s deliverance in every trial.
So pick whichever one of these fits your circumstances — and pray over it, think deeply on it, and pray over it some more — until you feel God strengthening your faith.
This might happen quickly — or not. But you can trust God’s timing.
And He WILL — in His perfect timing — strengthen your faith.
You will feel the Holy Spirit changing your heart, making Jesus more real to you, satisfying your soul, strengthening your faith.
So what happened?
I’d love to hear what God did. Leave a reply below — thanks!
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And here are some related posts you might find helpful –
What Is Faith?Feeling Insecure About My PreachingWhat are the Promises of God?My 10 Favorite Bible Verses on Faith
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iam really blessed with your ideas about strengthening faith
Glad to hear it Cindy — thanks for letting me know!
i reading your preaching very good points short.i like this if you have materials for preaching can send me?
I lookforward to hear from you
joanes
Steve -
A recurring point you make in many of your posts is that we are to go before Christ in whatever broken, weak and shaky state of faith we’re in and that he’ll still receive us, warts and all. That’s reassuring and good news, but what I struggle to understand is the seemingly contradictory point the bible also makes when it says that when we pray for something, we must truly believe that it will be done (already is done) or else it’s not going to happen. I can’t remember which verse this is from, but it basically says that a person who prays but doesn’t really believe that his prayer is already answered is unstable and shouldn’t expect to see any answer to his prayer since he’s “like a leaf tossed amongst the waves” (or something like that).
Considering the fact that I rarely feel that my faith is as strong as I’d like for it to be, I’m wondering how does asking God to “help my unbelief” work if I I’m consistently struggling with fully trusting in Christ. It’s kind of a catch 22 situation since I end up wondering if I’m somehow ineffective in my prayer life because I still harbor so much doubt and questions as to why I’m not experiencing the Holy Spirit in a real and palpable way.
Am I making any sense? Your thoughts and insights on this would be much appreciated (btw, I have been earnestly praying about this and many other struggles I’m facing, but it’s pretty hard to keep faith alive when it seems like God is not listening).
Good to hear from you, Eric, and you raise a really important question.
Can I use your question for a regular blog post? I’d keep your name out of it — but I would guess many others have the same question.
Her’s my thoughts — and I’d love to hear your feedback —
The only requirement for coming to Jesus Christ is faith in Him. But Mark 9:24 shows that this faith does not need to be perfect. Far from it — it can just involve looking to Jesus knowing that He will strengthen my weak faith.
So then what does James mean when he says that we need to pray with faith or we will receive nothing and be seen as double-minded (James 1:6-8)?
I wrote a blog post where I talked about this. Check it out — and let me know if it helps.
I also wrote a post on whether faith means believing I will receive exactly what I ask for. See if that helps.
My conclusion is that as long as we are looking to Jesus — trusting Him to help me, even trusting Him to strengthen my faith — He will answer. What’s crucial is that we are looking to Him — not at the strength of our faith, or at anything else.
When we look to Him with even the weakest faith — the Spirit will help us see Jesus as He is and as a result our faith will be strengthened.
Let me know if this helps — and thanks for your question!
Steve Fuller
Wow! I have had those very thoughts and confusion over the seemingly contradictory scripture texts on faith. But lately I went through a storm (cancer) and had no choice but to depend fully on Jesus. I spent several weeks just searching God’s words for examples of Jesus’ miraculous healing as well as listening to spiritually uplifting Christ-centred music. This helped me develop my faith in God. I claimed His promises. I told myself that Jesus doesn’t change and “what He’s done for others He can/will do for me”. I was also encouraged by that very text where the child’s father asked Jesus to “help my unbelief” as well as when Lazarus had died and Mary and Martha cried that “he already stinks” having been dead for 4 days! It seems to me that they cried in disbelief that Jesus could ressurect Lazarus. But Jesus looked beyond their unbelief and raised Lazarus. I am now healed of my cancer 6 months later and I am enjoying sweet daily fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Just BOLDLY and CONFIDENTLY ask Him to rain/reign on you and hover over you and open your arms and welcome Him. He wants you more than you want Him. You will NEVER want to spend one day outside of His presence. Trust me; I know. Go for it!
Steve -
Of course you can use my question as a regular blog post – I’d love to continue hearing your thoughts and insights on this topic.
I’ll check out the other posts that you’d mentioned and also continue to pray about this and will let you know how things go.
Thanks, and talk to you soon.
Eric
Mr. Fuller, I am writing to first thank you for your blog and two, to ask you for prayer/advice… I am having the hardest time in areas of faith regarding assurance. Ive had a recurring serious sin issue, and wondered if I went beyond the ability to be renewed to repentance. I have been a Christian since 1989, but have always at some level not felt assured of my salvation. I have had trouble ever actually feeling Jesus’ love. I know it’s there, but don’t perceive it. I also admit I feel no love in my heart naturally returning back towards him. This greatly worries me. I am so frustrated, depressed, scared. I have a good church, been counseled many times from various places. I don’t know what to do. I’ve had experiences in God in the past and seen him do amazing things but I still feel as though I don’t really know him. There is no other faith or god or religion I would ever have confidence in except Jesus, but still feel like I am wandering, lost. Ive really begun to question whether I’ve had an actual born-again experience. anything you could do I would so appreciate. thank you
Thank you so much for asking such an important question, Sean.
I think the best suggestion I have is for you to read some posts I wrote a few months ago on assurance — (these are links to the posts; double click on them) —
Link 1
Link 2
Link 3
Link 4
Link 5
Let me know if these help. In the meanwhile, I will pray for you.
In Christ,
Steve Fuller
I’m so bless that i read this.I feel at the moment that God’s help already took place that i found this article.Thank you so much.GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS.
Hi Joel,
Thank you for letting me know that this encouraged you. I really appreciate it.
In Christ,
Steve Fuller
This was a great post. I really needed this in this season! The scriptures helped alot
Thanks for letting me know, Marquia.
This helped me…May God of Abraham favor you all the days of your life. amen
I am so glad you found this helpful, Michael John. Thank you for letting me know.
Steve Fuller
Thanks for the post! Very helpful.
You are so welcome!
Thank you for giving me what I need.
You are so welcome, Rodney. Thank you for letting me know that this helped.
In Christ,
Steve Fuller
Thank you so much! I was really losing my faith and didn’t know what to do its like everything scares me like as soon as I hear a triger word I get scared that if I die where would I go then I saw this and can feel god in my heart!
Hi Nico,
I am really glad your faith in Christ is growing stronger. That is so encouraging to hear.
Are you part of a Bible-believing church — with some wise, Jesus-loving men who can pray for you and encourage you? That’s a crucial part of being strong in faith as well.
Lord bless you, brother,
Steve Fuller
Hello
My faith is weak and I don’t want it to be. It seems to have come from nowhere.
I’m not a member of a church. I struggle with the politics. Also at what point do you say they are not following the bible? Female preachers? I had it drummed into me that this is wrong? That happy clappy is wrong and on and on. I’m worried at all turns that I’m in the wrong place. Or am I doing the wrong thing?
I need and want fellow ship but I’m useless around people. I’m in a bit of a muddle.
What can I do for me and my family?
Hello djrevill –
I would strongly encourage you to find a warm, loving, Bible-teaching and Bible-living church. I am part of a church-planting network — “Acts 29″ — you could google it and see if there are any Acts 29 churches in your area.
And you could just start visiting around to see what you find. Pray earnestly for wisdom. Start looking. I am confident that God will guide you into a church that works for you.
Let me know how this goes.
In Christ,
Steve Fuller