How do you develop faith?
31 March 2010
This is a question that’s plagued me for the last week or so. I’m in a group this spring that’s studying Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. Last week talked about how experiencing God will always lead to what he calls a “crisis of faith” (but which we as a group decided was overstating it and that “dilemma” of faith was a much better name. No offense, Henry.) Basically he says that when you experience God, when God calls you to do something, you reach a point of decision—do you believe God can do what he says he can do? Do you have faith?
For several days, I read lots of stories of faith in my Experiencing God workbook. I read Hebrews 11. I read about David believing God was big enough to deliver Goliath into his hands. I read about Joshua believing God’s weird battle strategies and marching around Jericho until the walls fell down. And when I’d finished reading all those stories, I found myself thinking, “Okay … so … now what?”
Faith is important. Faith is pleasing to God. I get that. What I’m wrestling with is how do I acquire faith?
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far, in no particular order:
1. Going through tough times and watching how God is faithful through them. (Or looking back on tough times of the past and seeing with new perspective how God used it for good.)
2. Spending time with God. Which is kinda like number one, but different enough to deserve its own number. Although, we can see from the disciples that spending time with God isn’t fail proof since Jesus comments on their lack of faith a variety of times.
3. Faith is something we have as a child. (This point was actually made at our group discussion when I asked this same question, so I take zero credit for this.) Jesus repeatedly refers to having childlike faith in Him. So faith appears to be something we have in childhood before we go through trials or study our Bible or pray for God to increase our faith.
At this moment I’m facing a situation that I’ve never faced before, one that’s really bringing out my natural tendencies to stress, worry, cry, obsess, and so on. All I want to do is fix it, yet it’s completely out of my control.
Yet I arrived at this place because I obeyed God, so I assume this is a “dilemma of faith” moment for me. I don’t want God saying, “Oh ye of little faith,” about me, but at the same time, I don’t really know how to – poof! – have more faith.
Any thoughts, oh wise readership?
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