How do we get faith?

trading-doubt-for-faith

I don’t want to give the wrong impression with these posts. Faith is not some great thing that we work up FOR God. Rather it is a gift FROM God. (Reread Ephesians 2:8-9.)

Where do we get faith? We ask. We just bring our doubts to God and say, “This is what You’re dealing with. Help!”

A good example of this is found in Mark 9. Jesus and His three closest disciples come down from the top of the Mount of Transfiguration to a chaotic scene. A boy has some kind of epilepsy or other condition that causes him to have seizures. Not only that, but the seizures were throwing him into fire to burn or water to drown. The boy’s desperate father brings him in to be healed, but Jesus’ followers are stumped. They can’t heal him.

The disciples strike out, so the man turns to Jesus and says, “If you can do anything, please have pity on us and help.”

“What do you mean by ‘if,’” Jesus replies, “anything is possible if you have faith.”

“I do have faith,” the man replies, “but I also have doubts. Please help me overcome my doubts.”

Now Jesus has a choice. He could say, “Not good enough. You need to do better than that.” But He doesn’t. Instead, He heals the man’s son.

Here’s the takeaway. You don’t need much. You just take what faith you have to God—no matter how small that faith might be. Take it to God, and watch what He does with it.


Bible trivia:
Answer from last time: The four creatures surrounding God’s throne as described in Revelation looked like a lion, an ox, a man and an eagle respectively.
New question: My friend Nathan asked a question that I would like to share with you. In the NIV Bible, the word love is used in 1 Corinthians 13. But in the King James Bible, the word “charity” is used. Why?

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    What do you get when you combine deep Christian faith with outside-the-box thinking? You get the fresh insights offered by Author Dwight Clough in his many books on personal and cultural transformation. Whether he’s tackling polarization or re-examining the route to heaven, his solutions are always unique, carefully thought out, simply explained, and compassionately conveyed with a vulnerable glimpse into Dwight’s own journey. Dwight is a national award winning writer, ghostwriter, publishing consultant, and author of over 20 books including End the Divide, The Gift of Transformation, Rethinking Our War on Poverty, Am I Going to Heaven When I Die?, and What It Means to Follow Jesus. Dwight and his wife Kim have four young adult children. Dwight loves exploring the back roads of rural Wisconsin.

     
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