6 Simple Ways to Grow Your Faith in God

by Carolin

I am not willing to give you a list of requirements and proposals that you can test to grow your faith. I am unwilling to set you in the position to find out what suits you best or what brings you forth in your personal faith journey.

It is pretty simple what my intention is with this post. I want you to focus on Jesus and nothing else. I want to glorify Him with what I write and no one else, so I want to write for His glory. And faith grows naturally when we make it our life’s goal to glorify Him.

Growing My Faith

First, before I begin to talk about different things that might be useful and important for us in our daily lives, I am excited to take you a bit into my personal faith journey and what I – graciously – already learned at this young age.

A year ago, I started blogging, and with this, I began to think about what had really formed my Christian life before then. I was religious and ever-ready to suit certain templates that were required in certain legalistic circles. I wholeheartedly tried to be good enough, and I failed more often than I would have liked to. 

The next period of time, when Jesus found and called me, was at first the hardest time I have ever gone through. But then, it was also my rescue out of legalism and Christian-super-faith thinking, and I was saved into love, pure and life-fulfilling love for Jesus himself.

Broken to Beautiful

I was broken. And when I say “broken” I mean in those times I doubted everything and was desperate, I did not see any reason for being still there and doing what I was expected to do. Then Jesus, slowly but lovingly and full of grace, healed my broken heart. He set each piece in the place where it belongs. Oftentimes I did not even know where this or that piece of my heart would belong – He knew, He has set my heart in perfect order, and in this way He loved me whole.

I cannot tell you a great story of a kind and tender girl… it would simply be a lie. What I can tell you is that Jesus took my ugliness and created beauty.

{Related: “When the Heart Cries“}

Growing-in-Faith Bible Verses

People With Strong Faith in the Bible

In the Bible there are people of whom it is said that they had strong faith… let’s see who these people are and what made them have such a strong faith.

One can read the whole chapter of Hebrews 11, and one will find some Old Testament believers who are called the heroes of faith…

At the beginning of chapter 12, the writer of Hebrews summarizes the cause of this great faith of all of them in this way:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (emphasis mine).”

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NET)

So how were all these people able to sustain their faith? They fixed their eyes on Jesus – for all from the Old Testament it was the promise God gave Israel in sending the Righteous – for us it is history; Jesus came, died, and rose again.

Every person who was saved in the Old Testament was saved just as we are saved now… through the grace of God bestowed on us in Jesus Christ.

Our faith is not a result of our effort. It is a gift of God and we are just receiving it. Our faith can be grown, and how this can go, I will try to show you in this next section.

Verses to Help Us Keep the Faith

Now I want to take you to some verses that helped me, and hopefully will help you, in the daily struggle. In our day-to-day struggle, the first and most important war in our life is not the struggle against sin, it is the struggle to keep standing firm on Jesus as our Rock and continuing to rely on His power, righteousness, sovereignty, love, and grace.

So here are some really mind-boggling growing-in-faith scriptures I needed to think deeper about:

Mark 9, 21 – 24, 27 (NET) – “Jesus asked his father, ‘How long has this been happening to him?’ And he said, ‘From childhood. It has often thrown him into fire or water to destroy him. But if you are able to do anything, have compassion on us and help us.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘”If you are able?” All things are possible for the one who believes.’ Immediately the father of the boy cried out and said, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ But Jesus gently took his hand and raised him to his feet, and he stood up.”

The father of this young boy surrendered in front of Jesus and said, I am trying to believe – I want so desperately to believe, but I cannot. Help me to believe… This is, in my view, the right attitude we should have in front of Jesus – we are unable, help us!

There is an interesting dependency between belief and being able to do anything. There is also this deep dependency on Jesus himself, as he states in John 15.

“The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.”

John 15:5b (NET)

So, my view should be focused on Christ rather than on my own faith. Even my faith comes from God, who graciously enables me to believe.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast. (NET)”

Yes, our faith did begin just on the basis of His choosing, His drawing us near and His sovereign grace – but what now, in this time of sustaining our faith?

Paul states clearly in Galations 3:3, “Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort? (NET)”

So, we began with grace – in the Spirit – and we should continue just in that same way… with grace, in the Spirit. We are not the ones who sustain our faith – HE is.

Look what Paul states in Philippians 1:6 and 2:13. “For I am sure of this very thing, that the One who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (NET)” and “For the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of His good pleasure – is God. (NET)”

He began this work in me – He will cause me to grow in it – He will keep working to perfect it until His return.

{Related: “What Does the Bible Say About Faith?“

Practical Tips on How to Grow Your Faith in God

So now you might be asking yourself, “How do I grow in faith?” As I – hopefully understandably – stated, it is not us holding fast, not us putting in every effort… it is He holding us fast and He causing our faith to grow.

But even though this is all true and so important to never lose focus on, there are also some practical things I have learned that have helped me when my faith was just stagnant.

1. Feed your soul on the word of God.

This was for me never a point where I had to force myself. Feeding my soul on the word of God was my desire and my longing – Jesus caused this longing to be in me. Honestly, if you do not really have a heart desire to read God’s word, you can simply ask Jesus to bestow upon you this longing… He will graciously answer your prayer, just as He answered my prayers when I was desperate and at the end of it all.

Every morning I take at least 15 minutes to feed my soul. And this might be different for each person, but for me, it was and still is a blessing to focus on His word in the morning, before doing anything.

When I was reading through the gospels, it was so different than what I first expected it to be. It was wonderfully fulfilling to my heart to see what Jesus said, how he acted, and what deep truth was behind it. I certainly loved Jesus more and more as I went through these chapters.

2. Listen to good preaching and meditate on what Jesus wants you to understand.

Good expository preaching is ultimately necessary for a Christian and was super foundational for the purpose of growing my faith.

I learned so much, and it really shaped me and my thinking when I began to listen to expository preaching that was Christ-centered and faithful to the Bible.

(I would love to recommend a few preachers, but I do not think this is the right place to do so. If you want to know who I find valuable and worth listening to, comment below, and I’ll be happy to share.)

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you into truth.

That is what I did and still am doing regularly. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me into truth, just as He has already promised to do in John 16:13, which says, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth… (NET)”

You can read five hours a day in the Bible and not understand anything or grasp the truth. On the other hand, you can read ten minutes a day in the Bible and get all the deep and profound truth laid out in the Bible… it does not… Click To Tweet

What really calmed me down was the realization that if He wants me to get something, He has ways to make it clear to me. He will make me understand what I need to understand.

4. Stand firm on the truth that is revealed to you.

Standing firm on the truth has several benefits for you and is also biblically founded. I learned this in seasons when my heart wanted me to be frightened and anxious. I learned to tell my heart directly what Jesus revealed in His word. It helped me to remind myself of the truth, and simultaneously I learned through this process to build on His promise and to expect Him to fulfill His word in my life. I learned to be bold in my faith – He promised, He is faithful, so He will bring this to pass.

Another part here is putting to death the deeds of our flesh, so we may live (see Romans 8:13). We learn what the deeds of our sinful flesh are, and we work to leave it all behind in order to live freely in the freedom given to us. Sin will be our companion until death… we will never accomplish to be made sinless in this age, but we yearn to be holy because God is holy. We are growing in faith as Jesus is working in us in order to sanctify us – all to His glory.

5. Calm your heart in the presence of Jesus.

“And by this we will know that we are of the truth and will convince our conscience in His presence, that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things. (1 John 3:19-20, NET)”

When I am anxious about any situation I am confronted with, I remind myself of His sovereignty over my life and over this whole world, and my anxiety leaves. So in the knowledge of Him providing for me and loving me, I can get still and be at peace just with Jesus.

I know I am grounded in Jesus, and He holds me fast – so I can just calm down and relax in his arms; He holds me tight.

6. Surround yourself with encouraging, lovely Christians.

One thing I have come to love is community. Good Christian community can help with many things, including our faith. Encouragement of other Christians and just talking to other believers about this or that problem can help me to heal and spread more love. Honest and sincere fellowship is what Jesus wants to see, and this is what the writer of Hebrews wants us to be a part of…

“And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:24-25

Let us love one another in the whole body of Christ as well as in the small parts of Christ’s body. We are not alone on this journey, and we need each other.

Go Grow in Faith!

A main thing I want you to understand here is that growing faith takes time and compassion toward yourself. You cannot just simply follow some steps given to you and then, wow – there’s your grown faith… no. Like a kid needs to learn how to walk and how to stand up after a fall, we need to learn what it really means to follow Christ.

You see, faith is not an added-on part of my life, it is the source of my life.

{Related: “Religion and Religious Pressure“}

“For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous by faith will live (Romans 1:17).'”

You may be struggling with your daily routine, reading the word of God and praying… what I would highly and warmly recommend is this: Pray for longing; pray for a heart that yearns for Heaven.

Pour out your heart in front of Jesus and talk honestly with Him like you would with a person you wholeheartedly trust… then see what He does.

All the best and warm greetings,

Carolin

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