Faith
For this week’s Blog Thursday post, I am going to briefly discuss the topic of faith and its importance. Although it is a foundational topic of Christianity, it is often one that I have overlooked in terms of its actual meaning and the impact that a lack of it can have. Faith in God is one of the most valuable things that we can have as Christians, as it allows us to have a sense of direction and trust in something that is not impacted by a world full of instability and uncertainty.
In reading this, I hope that you are encouraged to self-reflect, as I have, on the strength of your faith and share any reflections on this topic with us.
Faith
In Hebrews 11:1-2, faith is described as “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” This means having confidence in God’s promise as revealed to you through the Bible, prayer, and the Holy Spirit.
The story of Job is one that I have always admired in teaching this principle of faith. When his kids died and his animals were killed, he did not question God’s power or goodness. Instead, he prayed, saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” He detached himself from his earthly desires and emotions and gave praise to the Lord as the Creator, allowing Him and giving Him space to take action in his life. In Proverbs 3:5, it says to “Trust God with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Being a Christian does not exempt us from the worries, illnesses, pain, and harshness of life; however, it gives us the gift of being able to put trust in God and having faith in His greatness and love for us, thus allowing us to see the trials of our lives as the chance to strengthen our faith. In comparison, those without faith in God are left to carry the weight of their worries and pain, often feeling alone in the world. Therefore, when thinking of faith in God, I like to see it as having a friend who will always be by my side no matter what happens or what I have done, someone who, if I seek, will always be there as long as I have the faith that He is who the Bible tells us He is.
Doubt
However, this is not easy to do, and it can be very easy to doubt God at times. In James 1:2-8, we read: “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” This verse initially struck me as being very harsh; however, when we understand that the concept of doubt implies a lack of belief in God’s potency and abilities, I understood how effective it can be at ruining our prayer. Doubt can also often come from previous disappointment; I am sure I’m not the only person who has in the past prayed for something that did not end up happening. However, for every instance that this has happened, I have in hindsight seen that things still ended up working out either for the better or as a teaching that I ended up needing for bigger things.
This is what it means to ultimately have faith in God: for what I am able to understand and for what I cannot yet comprehend, in happiness and disappointment, in health or illness, I am trusting God with His plan for my life, a choice I made when accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior of my life. When we are doubting in prayer, we are not simply doubting that what we are praying for will not happen; we are doubting God’s plan for our lives and therefore His role as our Lord and Saviour over us. If we are diminishing His role, it is therefore impossible that we are praying to Him, as effective prayer requires knowing who we are praying to in the first place. Now that we have seen the negative impact that doubt can have on our prayers, we can understand how important it is to have a strong foundation of faith in our lives, as when hardships come, if the foundation is not strong enough, it will be easy for us to become doubtful, disappointed in our beliefs, and mark our prayers with doubt.
Knowing God
In Hebrews 11:6, we read: “And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” This means that in order to build faith, we have to actively seek and know God. So how can we do this? Romans 10:17 tells us: “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” This means faith starts with knowledge of the Bible and can be continuously strengthened hand in hand with our knowledge. Reading His word allows us to see God’s abilities and power acting in different people’s lives when they walk in faith, thus allowing us to use their lives as positive examples. Prayer also allows us to know Him and have trust and confidence in His plan by building a personal relationship between us and God, as it is impossible to have faith in someone who we do not personally know. Prayer strengthens our faith as we are actively “seeking Him” and thus recognizing His power. Ultimately, we can see that to build faith, it requires discipline in spending time with God. It is not born out of nowhere but is the fruit of your willingness to know Him and give your lives to Him wholly and undoubtedly.
Prayer
To end this week’s blog, I would like to finish with a prayer and will link a worship song by Yonatan & Sosuna:
“Dear God, I thank you for giving me the gift to have faith in You in a world full of instability. I pray that we are able to continue growing our faith without leaning into doubt. May our dedication to know You grow day by day so we do not lean on our understanding but rather on the faith of Your promises to us.”
Worship song: Yonatan & Sosuna - Worship Song