How Can I Get Faith?
My question is about faith. I have heard all of my life that it is impossible to please God without faith and that the way to eternal salvation is by believing in Jesus Christ as my personal savior. My question is HOW does a person actually acquire faith. I have been reading the bible and MANY books about God - but I still find myself doubting His presence and the bible on a continuous basis. My family comes from a very scientific, engineering background and I think sometimes that gets in the way... but I still don't know what do to increase my faith. I know that the bible says that if you search for God with all of your heart and mind, you will not be disappointed (or something like that). I try praying and it feels as if I am talking to myself - not to a true being. I am very frustrated and am beginning to wonder if God really wants me. In the bible it says something about people being predestined to come to God before we are even on earth. I am just wondering if I may not be one of those people.ANSWER: Faith is, indeed, essential to a proper relationship with God; without it, it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11.6). We should not be surprised about that, should we? For faith (trust) is essential to ALL of our relationships. A child who learns that he cannot trust his parents will not grow up with a healthy family life. A wife who cannot trust her husband, parents who cannot trust their child, employees who do not trust their employer—all of these people have flawed relationships with their counterparts. So, how do such people, as you put it, “acquire faith” so that they can relate to one another in a good and proper way? In the above examples, something has been done (either in reality or in the perception of the doubting party) to destroy faith (trust). Surely, faith was once there; for it is not likely that a woman would marry a man that she did not trust from the outset, that a child would fear his mother & father from the womb, or that a man would willingly take a job with someone he thought would steal his wages. But an affair, a broken trust, a shady deal, an unfulfilled promise—these can obliterate the trust that once prevailed. In such a case, trust must be regained by a long-term experience of repeated “trustworthiness.” Perhaps, given enough time, the offending party can once again earn the trust, i.e., the faith, of the offended one.How does all of this apply to our relationship with God? I believe there is an exact parallel. Like a newborn who instinctively nestles in his mother’s breast, we all have faith when we come into this world—not saving faith, for that cannot come until we have heard the saving message of the Gospel (Romans 10.13-17)—but faith that God exists. The Bible wastes no ink on atheism, because atheism is not a common human condition—only a “fool” would say that there is no God (Psalm 14.1). God has implanted this knowledge in every one of us (Ecclesiastes 3.11, Romans 1.18-20). Your very question gives witness to the underlying presupposition that there is a God, for you wonder “if God really wants me.”What has happened to that trust? Has God done anything to forfeit your trust? Certainly, He has not; for He is Trustworthy and Faithful. But, just as parents might suspect an innocent child or a wife, an innocent spouse, so we have been conditioned by our culture to suspect things we cannot confirm with our physical senses. This is not a scientific attitude. True science would investigate ALL the evidence—including historical, eyewitness reports such as are found in the Bible. Millions of people, some of them the brightest minds the world has ever produced, have examined the evidence and found that the God of the Bible is real. One such example is Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853). Professor of Law at Harvard University, Greenleaf was the foremost authority on laws of evidence in his day. His textbook is still considered the classic authority on the subject. He said, "Of the Divine character of the Bible, I think, no man who deals honestly with his own mind and heart can entertain a reasonable doubt. For myself, I must say, that having for many years made the evidences of Christianity the subject of close study, the result has been a firm and increasing conviction of the authenticity and plenary inspiration of the Bible. It is indeed the Word of God." Here is what I would recommend to you: First, stop thinking of faith as some kind of mystical thing that you must somehow “acquire.” You already have the capacity for faith. You use it every time you flip a light switch, step into an elevator, eat a restaurant meal, or step on the car brakes. You do these things trusting that the light will turn on, the elevator will not fall, the cook didn’t put arsenic in your food, and the car will stop. Faith is simply trusting. There’s nothing mystical about it. Second, take a look at the evidences for Christianity(apologetics). In the natural realm, you have reasons for your trust (the light switch has always worked before, the cook never killed anyone yet, the brakes worked yesterday, etc.). On the spiritual plane there must also be reasons to believe. Faith is not a blind leap into the dark; God’s invitation is “Come let us reason together” (Isaiah 1.18). He expects you to love him with all of your mind as well as with all of your heart (Matthew 22.37). There are more reasons to believe that God does exist than to believe that He doesn’t, and there are plenty of evidences that the Bible is the Word of God. Finally, don’t depend on how you feel. Depend on what you know. God gave you a mind to investigate His claims—Does He exist? Does the Bible appear to be His Word? Has it told the future with 100% accuracy? Does it speak authoritatively regarding history, morals, etc.? Did Jesus (the only one who ever came back from the dead) believe it to be God’s Word? If upon investigation you find the answer to these questions is “Yes,” act on what you KNOW to be true, not what you FEEL. Once you have investigated the claims of the Bible and have concluded that they are true, you will know that God is listening when you pray—not because you “feel” Him, but because you trust Him and you know that He said He would hear your prayers (Matthew 7.7-11). Once you begin to act rationally instead of emotionally, you will find that emotions will often follow. Does God want you? Yes! He wants you so much that He sent His Son to die for all of your sins (1 John 2.1-2). Are you predestined to be separated from Him? No! He is not willing that you should perish but that you should repent (2 Peter 3.9). If you turn away from the overwhelming evidence that He exists and that the Bible is His Word, it will not be because you did not know better (or could not have found out). Rather, you will be closing your eyes to an abundance of proof and will stand before God “without excuse” (Romans 1.20). I thank God that you are seeking Him. He is not hard to find. You need not ascend into Heaven or search the depths of Hell, for if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10.6-9). Just a little bit of faith (that of a mustard seed) can change your life. You seem to have that much at least; just place it in the God Who has been calling you to Himself. You will find that as you read His Word and seek to obey it day by day, your doubts will disappear and your faith will grow. For your journey, read: Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith
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