A Prayer for Faith

[BubbleBoy]

Hey everyone,

I think that lately I have been going through a period of significant spiritual growth. However, I have a question to ask that bothers me very much, especially since I have never heard it asked: Where do you get faith from? How do you believe? Much of the Bible talks about the importance of faith, but is it just a matter of some have it and some don't, or is there a way to develop it? If faith is attainable, what is the first step I can take in becoming more faithful? Or does God simply choose who has faith and who does not?

Although maybe faith is not the place to start. God's first commandment is to love Him, so maybe the more important question is, how do you love? Does love come from faith, or the other way around?

Any prayers for revelation are much appreciated, as well as any input on this matter. Thanks all and God-bless.

[Prof Underwood]

You could get a lot of very different answers to this, depending on people's perspectives.  But I'll try to hit some highlights that I think everyone can agree on.

Faith is believing in things hoped for, but so far unseen.  Personally, my faith comes from a choice that I made to believe that everything the Bible says is true.  But that choice came from God leading me to him (I call it Prevenient Grace, others may call it Predestination, but what matters is that God drew me)

As for becoming "more faithful", the scripture says to "taste and see that the Lord is good".  In other words, start following Him and His Word.  Obey His commands, allow His Spirit to lead you in your everyday life.  Over time, you will inevitably start to see Him working, and this will strengthen your faith.

Finally, love is even greater than faith (and hope), as Paul tells us.  But as for how to love, I would point you to this post.  It was really about love between a guy and girl, but much of it transcends.  In fact, it was through my first experience with actually being in love with a girl that I was able to finally get a better grasp on how to truly love God more fully.

[Daniel TS RED]

Romans 10:17 (New King James Version)

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Reading or Listening to God's Word builds faith.

[SomeKittens]

Faith comes from tacos.  No, really, bear with me here.
John 3:16 says that God gave us Jesus, and that was really cool.  The problem is, we hear this day in and day out, and it loses a lot of it's power.  Faith tells me that God loves me, so therefore I should find examples of His love in everyday life.  For instance, tacos.
I love tacos.  They are truly amazing.  Now, think that God could have designed the world with this bland paste for us to eat, and that would have sufficed.  Instead, He gave us tacos, pizza, spaghetti, etc.  I always look at all the small joys in life, and that gives my faith in God.

Hope it helps.

[TheJaylor]

love is not necessarily earned or decided by another. it is simply showing simple and complex signs of compassion and mercy and doing kind things for others. faith is just believing because you say that you need to have faith that God is there even though he is not visible at the time being. If seeing is believing then faith is believing without necessarily seeing what God wants to show you but if want God to reveal more about this to you then you need to have faith that he will reveal something to you or nothing will come out of what you are hoping will take place. here is what common people believe that faith is:
faith   
[feyth]  Show IPA
–noun
1.
confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.
2.
belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.
3.
belief in god or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.
4.
belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.
5.
a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.
6.
the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.: Failure to appear would be breaking faith.
7.
the observance of this obligation; fidelity to one's promise, oath, allegiance, etc.: He was the only one who proved his faith during our recent troubles.
8.
Christian Theology . the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.
taken from dictionary.com