How can I get my faith to be firm again?
In Mark, chapter nine, we have the occasion of a man bringing his son to the Lord to be healed. Let’s read Mark 9:23-25, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, LORD, I BELIEVE; HELP THOU MY UNBELIEF. When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.” What a confession this desperate father made. He had faith, but felt like he needed more faith. He wasn’t shy about publicly confessing this to the Lord. He “cried out” as he was weeping “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” In looking for more faith, he certainly went to the right source. In Hebrews 12:2, the Lord Jesus is called, “the author and perfecter of faith.” (NASB)
In Luke, chapter 17, the Lord was instructing His disciples about forgiveness. He told them that even if someone sinned against them seven times in one day, and confessed that sin seven times, they were to forgive him. Realizing their difficulty in forgiving someone so often, the disciples said to the Lord in Luke 17:5, “Increase our faith.” They believed they would need more faith than they presently had to be able to forgive as the Lord told them. “Give us more faith” was their plea. They certainly went to the right source. Let’s look at the Lord’s response to their request for more faith. He said in verse 6, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” The Lord pointed out that it is not HOW MUCH faith we have, but WHO we have faith in that is important. A true faith in the Lord Jesus is powerful and will increase with every experience we have. We read in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” While this is speaking of ‘saving faith’, it also is true of the faith that we need to live by each day. We need to be in God’s Word so that our faith in Christ will strengthen and increase.
We read in 1 Timothy 2:8, “I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” To doubt is the opposite of having faith. It is to distrust the Lord. Has the Lord every done anything that makes you think you cannot trust Him? Has He ever lied, broken a promise, or left you alone when you needed Him? NO, He hasn’t. Each day and each experience should affirm to us the Lord’s power and love for us. Each day we should trust Him more. We read of Abraham in Romans 4:19-21, “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but GREW STRONG IN FAITH, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.” (NASB) Abraham overcame unbelief by loyalty and determination of faith. We can simply say that in the face of impossibility, Abraham was persistent in his trust of the Lord. He determined to believe Him, and was able to glorify the Lord. He simply believed that what God promised, He would do. Can you trust the Lord to do what He promised to do? Of course you can. He has NEVER given us reason to doubt Him. Continue to trust Him, determine to trust Him. Your faith will get stronger. (287.4)