How Can I Increase My Faith?

Q

How does one go about increasing his faith in Christ and His power. It would be nice to have the faith to move mountains. I pray for it, and wisdom. I read His word continually and I do believe that He has that kind of power and that He lives in us, but my faith is so weak, as if it is non-existent, especially in regards to things that might apply directly to me. Maybe I feel unworthy of His love in this way, although I believe He has love and mercy towards me. Is there some key element I am missing in obtaining and increasing faith?

A

Think of faith as a spiritual muscle. You were given enough faith to save you when you were born again (Ephes. 2:8-9) just as you were given your physical muscles at your physical birth. Both are increased through exercise. If we never exercised our physical muscles they would atrophy to the point where they would barely work. The same is true with our faith.

We exercise our faith by applying Romans 12:1-2 to our lives. We offer our entire life to God to use as He pleases. That means we don’t do anything without consulting Him, and we wait upon Him to give us direction. We learn to listen to His voice and follow His lead. (John 10:27)

The Lord promised that if we do this, He’ll see to all of our needs (Matt. 6:25-34) and He said that if we delight in Him He’ll give us the desire of our heart. (Psalm 37:4) We exercise our faith by believing these promises and relying on Him to guide us through life. The more fully we rely on Him, no matter what, the stronger our faith will grow.