How can one find faith?

Question

I'm undergoing a spiritual reconstruction. For the past year or so, I've been doubting religion and trying to figure out what I should believe. After a long time thinking and researching, I am ready to make a commitment to Christianity, though I'm having trouble with faith. I was raised a Christian, so I've been there. Now that I've doubted so much, I am finding it hard to have faith in the things that do not have answers, such as belief in an afterlife and credibility of the Bible. What can I do to increase my faith as a believer and take the steps needed to actually consider myself one?

Answer 1

I have been where you are at, raised Christian, and had my doubts. i was out of the Church for 15 years.
then God reached down and touched me, I i did have my doubts about portions of the bible, and did not trust in some of the pastors that I knew. but i was led to ones that knew where i was at and He taught me that what I had my doubts about, to set aside, believe what my spirit felt comfortable with, and leave the rest to God.
renew your relationship with Jesus and ask the Holy spirit to lead you, he will never lead you wrong.

Answer 2

If you really want to be a true Christian, it will cost you everything, so beware!

Step one:
Forget EVERTHING you heard in "church" for now. Start fresh from the start by reading the New Testament.....SLOWLY, there is much hidden in those books that will escape a person that reads it like it's just a book.
When you have a question about what you've read feel free to skip around to find the answer; but return where you started. Learn what a Christian is(and should do) from the Bible, you can ask and listen to others; but the Bible must be your Litmus test.

Step TWO: LOGIC is absolutely necessary to strengthening your faith, DO NOT just cast it out the window like some "silly christians" do. Faith , when it is grown, is a formidable and mature thing. DO NOT expect to know everthing at once. The Lord grants wisdom a little morsel at a time...like feeding an infant, you can only consume so much until you're more mature......keep reading and as you mature spiritually you'll be able to understand more and more...just like an adult can outeat a child and eat foods harder to digest. DO NOT follow your heart, listen to it but don't follow it, it will deceive you. True christians are to put on the MIND of Christ.

Step Three:
Pray for understanding, pray for wisdom, pray for forgiveness, pray for all of us. pray that you obey the commandments.

If you endure, the lord will grant you the Holy Spirit (the spirit of truth) and it will comfort you in all things that you learn. DO NOT believe things (doctrines) that you know are not true or are doubtfull according to scriptures.
If you wait long enough the Lord will reveal all things, in His word and in His good time.

Answer 3

Faith is not a perfect knowledge, for if you know you do not exercise faith. To start exercisign faith, you must first hope. You have to hope for an afterlife and that the bible is true.

However, Faith is not hope. Faith is mental exertion. In my experience, you have to mentally push yourself in order to exercise faith. You must push every doubt and every random though from your mind and believe that God will help you. You have to believe that God will help you, and you cannot doubt that. The best part is that you have to continue this until you get your answer.

Read James 1:5-6. Apply literally.

Answer 4

There is a line in Mark, chapter 9, that says, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." We are limited beings, trying to understand a limitless God. There will be many times when God doesn't make sense, but persevering through those times of doubt will bring you (eventually) to a place where you can see how God was working. Not always -- there are things we just can't reconcile -- but most of the time.

Talking to a pastor is a good start; there are also good books on the subject (Lee Strobel's "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith" are easy to read but not just fluff; Francis Sheaffer is a good author, as is Eugene Peterson). A good Christian bookstore will carry faith-building books, as will the library. I find that reading about Christians who suffered so much for their faith (early church martyrs and saints) helps me when I am doubting. And prayer will help -- faith is a gift of the spirit, not a rational conclusion, so pray for that gift! Ask God to bring people into your life who will show you in little ways that God is real. Ask God to help you understand whatever you are struggling with at the moment. He listens, and knows how your struggles will bring you closer to Him in the end. That is my biggest encouragement when I struggle -- it's never a wasted effort. I always learn about myself (which is humbling) and my God (which is amazing).

Answer 5

I don't know what 'flavor' of Christian you were or plan to be, but here is a suggestion than can benefit anyone. You do not have to be Roman Catholic. Find a monastery near you and go there for a few days, at least 3 to 4 days. You will allow yourself to settle into the silence of God. There will be books that you might be drawn to read. Go to the services (called offices) and follow along with the Psalms. Many people of all denominations and Religions have found that this is very helpful. If you write me off-list I can tell you of a place near you.

For reading I recommend Thomas Merton's "No Man is an Island".

Answer 6

Good for you for following your heart! I, for one, have suffered the same crisis of faith. Still am, if the truth were told. The best thing for you to do is find a church home you're comfortable with, and request counseling from the paster or minister.

The second thing I would recommend is to read your bible. In fact, there was a fella (you may remember...) who was a disciple, named Thomas. I've always heard him referred to as "Doubting Thomas" because he wouldn't believe Jesus was really Jesus until he was able to touch the holes in his hands. Now, I don't know about you, but that intimates to me that Jesus EXPECTS us to have some doubts. Did he love Thomas any less because of his doubts? I think not!

Sandy

Answer 7

First off you grew up Christian and that's great but were you ever born again? Did you ever pray to Jesus telling him you believe in him what he did and that he died and rose again? Then ask him into your life and Lord and Savior. If not do...once the Holy Spirit enters your life....your faith your belief will grow and your understanding of the word of God will come alive. If you are already saved..first off pray pray and pray some more...get yourself into a good bible based church...I prefer the Assemblies of God. Their are lots of sites on line that can answer your questions about the reality of God and the Bible. God Bless and Good luck...I'll pray for you daily!

Answer 8

The bible says "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". If you want to increase your faith just read the bible and keep reading it. Don't worry about whether you understand it. The more you read it, the better. Saturate your mind with the Word of God. Pray and ask God to increase your faith. I wish I could tell you all the people who were terrorists and murderers who were locked up in solitary confinement and all they had in that cell was a cot to sleep on, a toilet and a bible and in their endless spare time they started reading the bible and became great christians who eventually got out of prison and and became evangelists for Christ. I wish I could tell you all the atheists scholars who hated christianity and vowed to write a book refuting christianity and as they were researching the bible to write the book, in the process of reading the bible they became christians. Simon Greenleaf(the man who is the founder of our laws of evidence in this country) was one of them. Lew Wallace, the man who wrote the book 'Ben Hur' was another.

Answer 9

Some people reject God because they can find no evidence for Him which satisfies both their hearts and minds simultaneously. Then there are others who accept God on the basis of emotional or irrational reasons which satisfy their hearts, but leave their minds unsure. These two groups of people have never found a satisfying answer to the question of their relationship with God. Then there are yet others who have found the correct path which God intended for us: to accept Him and His message to us using our minds first and foremost, and the heart follows easily and naturally as a consequence.

Instead of searching for the answer, there are also some people who chose to simply brush the question aside and ignore it unfortunately. This is the easy way out of what appears to be a very difficult, mysterious question which may seem to have no final solution. Most of these people are unaware of a very powerful message which completely and unequivocally establishes the correct path to God. This message squares with both the mind and the heart, and it has no equal since it comes to us straight from God Himself.

The message comes in the form of a book. In fact, God has given us several Books of guidance through the years, but each one was ultimately corrupted and changed by dishonest people. Each Book essentially contained the same fundamental message as the previous Books. Mankind was expected to guard these Books from harm, but unfortunately failed to live up to this expectation. Slowly but surely, each Book was edited and tampered with, destroying its authenticity. This is partly why God kept sending us more revelations.

However, almost 1400 years ago, God sent us another Book with the same basic message as the earlier ones, but with a small but very important difference. This time, God decreed that this Book would be the last Book sent down to us because God would protect it Himself. Regarding this Final Book, God said,


"Behold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on high this reminder: and behold, it is We who shall truly guard it" [Chapter 15, verse 9]

Today, if we compare the 114 chapters in every copy of this Final Book with each other, we will find they match perfectly word for word - from the oldest copies made 1300-plus years ago to the ones printed just a few hours ago. No human hand has changed it.

The rational person has every right to be doubtful, of course, if he or she has never read this book. For such people, here is a small sample of what the Final Book contains. Suppose we wanted to ask God several questions about Him and about ourselves. Short of Him speaking to us directly (such a privilege has been granted to only one person out of all humanity), the Book has the best answers one can find. It is on the strength of these answers that an honest person may be struck with the conviction that the Final Book is from none other than God Almighty. Again, here is only a small part of the information one might find.

Answer 10

When it comes to the church's its no wonder your faith is shakey. How can you believe in soemthing so confusing and always changing. There is a way for you to know but you have to search and ask the right questions. There is only 1 God and 1 True religion. True Christians will only answer your questions using the Bible not there own opinion and you can ask anyone in the congregation and there answers will all be in unity because they will all believe the same thing THE BIBLE. And most of all they will have a personal relationship with God and use his name "Jehovah". Seek and you shall find! There is an answer you just have to look and please i beg you ask questions you have every right to know the truth. However you will not find it in a church.