How to Grow in Faith
When we first become a Christian, we put our faith in Jesus for salvation. But what happens to our faith after that? Does it just stay the same, does it magically grow on its own, or do we have to work at it?
Have you ever heard about someone who packed up their life to move to some far-away, dangerous place to spread the Gospel? Did you think of them as some kind of super-Christian with super-faith and think that could never be you?
It's easy to get the wrong idea when we are just looking at the end result of a long process. It would be like looking at an Olympic runner and saying you could never run that far or fast. But no one starts out at the Olympic level! And as Christians, our faith doesn't start there either.
No one starts out at the Olympic level! And as Christians, our faith doesn't start there either.
So how does one go from not running at all to running a marathon? Practice! You start off running short distances, then gradually start running farther and farther until you can run a marathon.
The same principles apply to our faith. How does one go from being a new Christian to being able to take great steps of faith like risking our life for Christ? By taking small steps of faith at first and building up to larger and larger steps.
With running it's easy to see what steps to take to improve, just start running! But what steps do we take to grow our faith?
But what steps do we take to grow our faith?
Before we answer that question, let's understand more about what faith is. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.". So faith is being sure that something will happen even when we can't see how it will happen. For example, when you sit on a chair, do you inspect it each time and perform some load tests first? Or do you just sit on it, having complete faith that it will hold you up? Your faith in chairs has grown since childhood first by observing others sitting on chairs and through hundreds of examples of chairs holding you up. So now you don't even think about it.
Similarly, we grow our faith by experiencing examples of God's faithfulness. We can start by choosing a promise from the Bible that says if we do one thing, then some specific result will happen, even though the result might not make any sense. Each time we do this and find that the promised result really happens, despite our doubts, our faith in God grows. The next time it's easier for us to do something even when the result seems even more unbelievable.
We can start by choosing a promise from the Bible that says if we do one thing, then some specific result will happen, even though the result might not make any sense. Each time we do this and find the promised result really happens, our faith in God grows.
One of the easiest and least scary ways to grow our faith in God is through giving. The Bible makes several promises to us about giving:
- Psalm 112:5: Good will come to those who are generous and lend freely, who conduct their affairs with justice.
- Proverbs 11:25: A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
- 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
One of the easiest and least scary ways to grow our faith in God is through giving.
Here we can see the pattern, if we give, then God will bless us. Now it's important to clarify here that "bless" does not just mean money. God's blessings could include money, but they can also include things like restored relationships, greater joy, a closer walk with God, and much more.
Giving is a good place to start because you can give as little as you want at first, then see what God does. As you see His faithfulness, you can start to give more and more, and see how much more God blesses you!
In fact, giving is the one thing in the bible that God actually wants us to test Him on! In Malachi 3:10 it says:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
There is a great story about William Colgate (as in the popular toothpaste). When he started Colgate in 1806, he committed to donate 10% of all the companies income. As the years passed and God blessed his work, he increased his giving to 20%, then 30%, then 40%, and finally 50% of all the companies income! All the while, God blessed his efforts. William simply could not out-give God, and neither can we. Today, over 100 years later, Colgate-Palmolive is still the top-selling toothpaste brand.
We encourage you to start your giving wherever you feel led to do so. But if you're still not sure, consider finding a missionary on this website and give them a gift. You don't have to commit to monthly support right away. For the cynics out there (it's ok, our founder is naturally cynical too), don't worry, our motives are pure! We don't make any money from your donations. We exist only to point people to Kingdom Workers in need.
We firmly believe that you'll be blessed through giving, the worker will be blessed and able to carry out their work, and we are blessed to be part of the process.