Faith is Fundamental

Christians are told that “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). 

Jesus Christ raised a sobering question to His disciples. He asked, “when the Son of

Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8).

We are responsible for constantly building our faith in God.  Isn’t is strange that we have

the faith to believe that Jesus Christ came to earth from heaven born of a virgin  that he

died on the croll for the sins of the world, that he was raised from the dead, by God, with

all power in His hand and that he now sits at the right hand of God the Father, and yet

we can’t believe Him for simple day-to-day miracles.   The challenge, how do we build

real faith, the faith that shows our trust in God and in Jesus for everything?

  Building Real Faith

This is nothing new.  The apostles knew they needed more faith and they asked for

guidance. Luke 17:5 (NKJV)   And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

Building Your Faith

How do we do that?  Consider these following steps.  The first 6 steps are from a study

“How do you build real faith?” by Living Church of God (www.lgc.org), the others from

the Christian author Rhonda Jones (www.thechristianmeditator.com).

(1)        Ask God for more faith. Jesus instructed His disciples to ask, seek and to

knock.  Matthew 7:7-12 (NKJV) 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will

find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8  For everyone who asks receives, and he who

seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  9  Or what man is there among

you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10  Or if he asks for a fish, will

he give him a serpent?  11  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your

children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those

who ask Him!  12  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for

this is the Law and the Prophets.

(2)        Prove what you believe. Follow Paul’s admonition to prove what the Bible

actually says, and hold fast to what you prove to be the truth. 1 Thessalonians 5:21

(NKJV) 21  Test all things; hold fast what is good.

(3)        Study   what the Bible reveals about faith . Read and meditate on the

examples of faith described in Hebrews 11. Read the original accounts in the

Old Testament.

(4)        Stir up God’s Spirit. Faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Pray, study, meditate and

fast regularly. Doubts will disappear as our faith grows.  2 Timothy 1:6-7

(NKJV) 6  Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the

laying on of my hands.  7  For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of

love and of a sound mind. .

(5)        Live by faith. Put into practice what you read in the Scriptures. Trust

God and His Word. If the Bible says to do it, then do it—don’t argue with the

Scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) 7  For we walk by faith, not by sight.

(6)        Endure trials that will arise as you strive to live by every word of God. Enduring

and overcoming the trials will help us build both faith and patience James 1:2-4

(NKJV) 2  My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3  knowing that the

testing of your faith produces patience.  4  But let patience have its perfect work, that you

may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

God has promised to get us through the trials,  1 Corinthians 10:13 (NKJV) 13  No

temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful,

who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation

will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

The trials He allows are for our ultimate good Romans 8:28 (NKJV) 28 And we know

that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called

according to His purpose.

(7)        Create a Faith Journal.  Writing is a powerful way to build faith.  Journal entries

should include the areas where you are struggling to trust God. Write whenever  you

have doubts and include your prayers asking God to help you believe. Over time, when

you return to read your entries, you will find that God has resolved many of the

problems in your journal. You will find that God answered your prayers which will offer

concrete proof what God has done and that he will do greater things in your life. When

you begin to search for faith to trust God on greater levels, you can read how God has

worked on your behalf in the past.

(8)        Devotional time.  Devotional time is a very much needed in our lives to build our

faith in God. We must take time to spend with the Lord on a daily basis. Daily devotion

to the Lord will keep your heart focused on God and the power in God. Start a daily

devotion with a quiet meditation, and read scriptures on faith

(9)        Obey God.  A necessary step to grow in faith is listening to what God has to

say. When you are in line with what the Lord expects of you, then you can expect his

promises to be fulfilled. There are many promises from the Lord in the Bible.  When you

are aligned with what God commands of us as his children, you can confidently rest in

expectation that God will fulfill his promises. One promise from the Bible states, “If ye

abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done

unto you.” John 15:7 (KJV)

(10)      Filter Your life.  Sometimes we need to filter a lot of junk out of our lives that

drain our faith. When we live a godly life, and walk with God, our faith will start to grow.

When you walk with your entire mind focused on God and with a pure heart, you are

bound to grow in faith. If you do not filter out the impurities in your life, like fear, doubt,

negativity, and unbelief, it is hard to have faith in God. Instead of trusting God, we start

to look at our circumstances. Just as we filter our water that it will be fresh to drink it, we

need to filter a lot of the things we watch, and listen to that contaminate our spirit.

The process of building faith never ends but is well worth the time

Built to Completion

and effort.  You will have a personal relationship with the Lord you never thought

possible. You will be able to accomplish great things for the Lord. You will be able to

just have the faith.