Are You Ready for a Deeper Faith?

Approximate Reading Time: 6 minutes

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We want it. We pray for it. In our constant pursuit of Christ, we desire nothing more than a deeper relationship with Him, founded upon an unshakeable faith in our perfect Savior. Yet for all of us who desire such deep faith, so few of us are prepared for God to give it to us.

Just ask

But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

God isn’t complicated when it comes to giving good gifts to His children. He loves us and desires for us to have the things we truly need. And due to our utter depravity, we can only be grateful that God gives without demanding any work on our part to earn it. 

At some point in our lives, we’ll all find ourselves wanting more faith than we have. We’ll take stock of our lives and realize that it’s being wasted. We’ll feel that deep, unsettling restlessness in our souls that can only be satisfied by a more meaningful walk with Jesus Christ. But how do we get this faith?

 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8)

That same gift of faith that God used to save us is the same faith needed to know Christ even more. In other words, our faith is a gift that we don’t generate in ourselves, but instead are given by God. And our good Heavenly Father loves nothing more than giving us the faith we so desperately need, both for salvation and holy living.

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. (Isaiah 48:10)

And yet, receiving faith isn’t like opening a box and suddenly having more faith than we did a few seconds ago. For most of us, God doesn’t spontaneously increase our faith, but instead forges it like a blacksmith. He hammers and shapes, crafting a durable faith that can stand against this broken world. The process of receiving faith isn’t a simple one, and we need to be prepared for it.

Faith through trial

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

With the incredibly rare exception, no one with a deep faith in Christ got to that point casually. Even those who were saved at a very young age often have a story of not really finding a strong faith until some trial came. And this isn’t unique to us, because we see it all throughout the Bible.

We all know the story of Noah, yet rarely do we consider what his faith meant. He lives in a world filled with violence and depravity. He was surrounded by a culture and worldview far worse than anything we’ve ever seen. This man was surrounded by people who hated God, yet that lifetime of trial allowed him to act in faith.

Likewise, Abraham’s faith had to be tested over and over again. Though we may not know the particular struggles Noah had, we are very familiar with the failures that brought about Abraham’s faith. Whether offering his wife to another man out of fear or fathering a child with another woman because he doubted God, the faith we see in Abraham wasn’t brought about by his successes, but by God working through his failures.

King David, the man after God’s own heart, was a man who faced constant trials. When we read the Psalms, we are seeing the heart of a man who is deeply familiar with having his faith tested and grown. Resorting to outright murder to cover his sin, David loved God only because he was intimately familiar with what life looked like without following Him.

We see this in David’s son Solomon as well. God gifted Solomon to be the wisest man in the world. Yet that wisdom wasn’t grounded in reverence and love for God. The book of Ecclesiastes is the biography of a man who had the wealth and power to indulge in every desire we could imagine. He built marvelous structures and gardens, had food and parties that put the Hollywood elite to shame, enjoyed a harem filled with hundreds of women, and didn’t know a life that involved any form of self-denial. Yet his deep faith wasn’t found until later. As an older man looking back at a wasted life, he finally realized “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

Faith from faithfulness

On and on we see this pattern. Whether it’s the entire nation of Israel or Christ’s disciples, faith is never something easily gained. Our initial faith in God may come quickly, but a deeper faith comes from difficult, perhaps painful, trials. When our faith is tested, like a sword being struck in combat, deep faith comes from how we answer a simple question: How much do I trust God despite my desires and circumstances?

After warning them about the trials that were coming, Christ’s disciples had one request: 

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” (Luke 17:5)

What a fantastic response, and one that we all hope we’d have if we knew life was about to get very difficult. Yet Christ doesn’t abracadabra them into a more meaningful faith. Indeed, as we look at their lives we see that their faith wasn’t immediate, but was instead the result of time and trials. We can read Christ’s full response to them in Luke 17:6-10, but look at what He concludes about how their faith will increase:

So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” (Luke 17:10)

Incredibly, our faith isn’t a result of our good works, but a good God working in us. When we walk in obedience, we do so because we know how broken we are and how badly we need Christ.

Rejecting the world to gain Christ doesn’t happen because we’re so righteous, but because it’s a natural response to seeing who God is compared to what we truly are. And when we see Christ correctly, our faith will grow most in those circumstances where we have to make a clear choice between Him and sin.

A true bargain

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)

A life spent pursuing Christ won’t be an easy life. Not only will we have to deny our sinful desires, but we are also guaranteed to be tried by fire. God wants to grow us, but in our sinfulness He must also reveal how deeply sinful we truly are. Only in facing that reality can we see our need for God, and from there our faith will flourish.

Our faith trials take on many forms. Sometimes God deepens our faith through great sorrow. Other times we finally find Him when we lose our jobs and have no choice but to trust Him. Perhaps our trial will be like Solomon’s where we don’t suffer through loss, but choosing between gaining more of the world or gaining more of Christ. Whatever our trials look like, they will always make us answer that one question: How much do I trust God despite my desires and circumstances?

“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him. (Lamentations 3:24-25)

Do you want a deeper faith? Ask God for it, but be prepared for Him to deepen your faith in the ways you need it the most. And when those trials come, know that Christ is greater than anything set before us Our eternal Savior is worth far more than the entirety of anything this broken, temporary world has to offer.