Answers

By   •   June 28, 2011   •   Topics: ,

Q:

I've prayed and prayed for God to take away my doubts and give me a strong faith, but nothing happens. Maybe God doesn't want me to be a Christian. Is that possible?


A:

No, it isn’t possible. God loves you, and more than anything He wants you to come to know Him and spend all eternity with Him. The Bible says God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Let me ask you a question: What does it mean to have a strong faith? In other words, what would you expect to happen in your life if you did have a strong faith? Many people assume that if they had a strong faith, they’d have a deep emotional feeling that God was with them and would never abandon them. To put it another way, they gauge the strength of their faith by the strength of their emotional feelings about God.

This isn’t necessarily wrong; emotions are important, and when we come to know Christ, we can’t help but be filled with love for Him. The Bible says, “God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). But emotions are tricky; one day we may feel something very deeply, and the next day we don’t.

Don’t base your faith on the strength (or weakness) of your emotions. Instead, base your faith on Jesus Christ, and on the truth of God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible says, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). Ask Christ to come into your life today, and then grow in your faith by reading God’s Word daily, and attending a church where the Bible is preached and taught – and lived.