How Can I Make My Faith Stronger? Archives - Christian Questions Bible Podcast

Many Christians have had the disheartening experience of feeling like they have lost their connection with God. There you were, going along through life’s experiences, and something happens. Whether it is one big change or many little things over time, you wake up one day and realize God seems far away. Now what? Is it over? How do you find your way back to that precious connection that you lost? A good way to understand what to do to reconnect is to observe some of the experiences of the Apostle Peter. We all know how he denied Jesus on the day of his crucifixion. What we don’t often think about is how he got to that point and what it took to draw him back into God’s favor.

Peter confidently claimed he would never forsake Jesus. In spite of that bold proclamation of loyalty, Peter would deny Jesus three times early the very next morning. His denials escalated from simple avoidance to emphatic rejection.

…we have likely gone down a similar road to Peter’s. The good news is we can now learn how to bring ourselves back to God by following the pattern that Peter himself followed. So, what happened? How was Peter’s alienation slowly dissolved and he was able to reconnect?

Peter’s experience shows us there are three key steps to reconnecting with God:

For each of us, to spiritually reconnect requires small, intentional steps which include prayer, scripture study and humility. The beautiful message here is that God’s faithfulness ensures that even in failure, restoration is possible!

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Everybody doubts. So, is this a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is a resounding yes! Doubt can be a godly tool of necessary and righteous caution just as easily as it can be an ungodly tool of imperfect human judgment and destruction. Appropriate doubt that is fact- and integrity-based is an early warning system that can keep us focused on and engaged in the most important things. This kind of doubt is a welcome addition to our lives and should be counted on. By the same token, highly charged doubt that is primarily fed by feelings and personal preferences needs to be examined and adjusted according to higher godly standards. How can we learn to doubt the doubts we should doubt without doubting the doubts that undoubtedly protect us?

Learning to question the doubts in our lives that need to be challenged really begins with one important question: What am I doubting? Answering this may not be as easy as we may think. For instance, we may find that we are doubting ourselves. Such doubt could be a needed and welcome warning sign for staying away from certain questionable circumstances. On the other hand, self-doubt could be detrimental to approaching a specific challenge or experience we may need to face. What if I’m doubting God? While answering this question may seem easier to understand, it also needs a bit more clarity. Am I actually doubting God, or am I doubting what I think God should be doing based on my own perspective?

Once we better understand what we are questioning we then want to look at the “why” of the matter. To help with this, we look at biblical examples of doubt, and there are plenty to choose from. As we isolate these examples, we want to put them into two specific categories – destructive doubt and constructive doubt. One clear example of destructive doubt is Eve in the Garden of Eden. She was tempted by Satan, and that temptation caused her to reconsider the specific guidelines God had previously put in place. The obvious question is, why would anyone doubt God’s personally delivered and specifically precise guidelines?

Check out our October 9, 2023 podcast, “How Can I Doubt My Doubts? (Part I)” for answers. We examine the details of Eve’s doubt and compare them with other Old Testament examples of destructive doubts. This exercise begins to unfold a pattern for understanding our negative second guessing. It helps us begin identifying what the building blocks are for our different areas of doubtfulness that are not productive.

We then examine how constructive doubts work and compare those building blocks with those of destructive doubt. We talk about two dramatic examples of biblical characters who used their serious doubts as tools of growth in God’s service. Join us for Part I of this eye-opening journey through one of the most common challenges that humanity faces each and every day. It is “undoubtedly” worth your attention!

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Most of us don’t realize just much of our lives come down to our own personal choices. We have far more power over how we handle our everyday experiences than we give ourselves credit for. Why wouldn’t we claim this power so we can better influence our path? Because we subtly and regularly fall into habits of thinking that lull us into a lukewarm and compliant attitude of submission. The Apostle Paul was all about helping us, as his fellow disciples of Christ, challenge the status quo and reset our minds so we can daily think and choose with spiritual clarity. Much of the letter he wrote to the Philippian Christians focused in on the adverse conditions in life and how to think through them. Examining this letter is the first step to better focusing our Christian thinking!

The Apostle Paul really loved his fellow Christians at Philippi. While on house arrest under Roman guard, he wrote them a comprehensive letter concerning their Christian growth and development. One of his conclusionary teachings in this letter is found in the commonly read verse of Philippians 4:8. Paraphrased it says, “Finally, whatever is true, honorable, right, pure lovely or of good report, if there is anything excellent or praiseworthy, dwell on these things.”

This letter to the Philippians is a tutorial on several of the high standards that true discipleship requires. Paul showed us how to handle limiting circumstances by talking about his own imprisonment. He implored all of his brethren to work through their issues in a unified fashion. He focused us on the importance of leaving our old standards of success behind and instead seeking success in a life of sacrifice. These and many other teachings were all in place to address the building up of a mature Christian mind.

Paul then gave us the list of things he pointed us to and what we should dwell upon. This was no mere listing of nice things to preoccupied us. This was a list of solid, connected, sequential and spiritually-sound priorities. Dwelling on them meant we were to use them as solid foundation stones of our Christian lives.

First on this list was the instruction to dwell on what is true. As we dig more deeply into his teaching, we realize the apostle was pointing us not to general worldly truth, but to godly eternal truth. All of the rest of his “think about this” list had its foundation in this solid beginning. Check out our May 15, 2023 podcast, “We Are What We Think About, So What Are We Thinking About? (Part I)” for more. After comprehensively summarizing the letter to the Philippians, we delve into the meaning of what is true, what is honorable, what is right and what is pure. What we find is the beginnings of a profound and life-altering approach to setting our minds up for true Christian thinking. Join us as we begin to learn what to think about and how to think about it!

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Christian faith is a big deal. The Bible tells us that faith is a gift from God. It tells us the just live by faith. It tells us that faith without works is dead, and that without faith, it is impossible to please God. It tells us that we can be of little faith needing more and then it tells us that if we have faith like the grain of a tiny mustard seed, we can move mountains. With all of these varied and important applications of faith it is surprising that defining faith and how it really works can be difficult tasks. Faith is far too often described as a feeling or a pathway to believing in something that has no substance. When it comes to biblically defined faith, nothing could be further from the truth!

Skeptics seem to love to challenge us to “prove” that there is a God. Their standards of proof require us to show God to them, which is simply not possible. Interestingly, biblical faith is defined as “a conviction of the reality of something unseen, based on credible evidence.” We believe in God because we see unmistakable evidence pointing to Him.

Let’s use a cell phone as an example. Think of all the planning, engineering, manufacturing and testing that goes into it. We all use them, and we all credit their manufacturers and the genius minds that created such incredible devices. Now, what would it take for nature to duplicate that creation? Seriously. Would any of us EVER believe that the wind, the sea, the land and elements, on their own by just the forces of nature could create one? Of course not. That would not fit the biblical definition of faith, because believing in such a thing would be foolishness.

While this may be obvious, many critics of Christian faith seem to do this very thing. They credit the forces of nature with creating DNA, which is so complex that it took a decade for our best and brightest to simply map it out so we can begin to understand it. And what about massively complex things like functional eyes, ears and noses? We credit nature, which incidentally does not have a conscious mind, with creating humans who because of their intelligence, can create little things like cell phones. Now who believes in ridiculous things, and who believes in that which is sensible?

Check out our April 24, 2023 podcast, “What Does It Feel Like to Have Real Faith?” for more. We examine biblical faith on several levels. We find that it begins by the grace of God. It is then put into our hands so we can develop it and live according to its direction. True biblical faith is no small thing, and it certainly does not fit the definition that so many label it with. Join us as we unravel the confusion surrounding what faith is and what it is not.

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“Let go and let God.” This simple statement is focused on faith and trust, two fundamental challenges for Christians. We may think it’s easy to have faith, but when we are in times of difficulty, the depth of our true faith is revealed and sometimes revealed as seriously lacking. We may think that we have trust, but when pressed, when we feel like we need answers or changes or insight, our trust becomes scarce while anxiety abounds. All of this can be depressing! We can feel like we are letting God down. The good news is that we are not alone in this struggle to let go and let God. Many of God’s faithful had these same struggles. Because their experiences are recorded in Scripture, we can not only read about their struggle but see how God’s blessing worked in spite of their weakness!

Way back in Genesis, Abraham and Sarah were given an amazing promise. God told Abraham to leave his father’s house and go to a new land that God would show him. Abraham listened. He took Sarah and his household and journeyed to this undisclosed location. As dramatic as this was, it wasn’t the biggest part of God’s promise. God also told him that his descendants would inherit this land. The only problem was Abraham and Sarah didn’t have any children. Worse than that, Abraham was already 75 years old and Sarah was 65! While God’s promise was powerful and exciting, it also seemed like it pushed the limits of their reality.

Abraham and Sarah were classic examples of having been given a direction to follow but not understanding how to get there. Time went on and Sarah did not become pregnant. Years went by and both Abraham and Sarah became perplexed. However, their perplexity was not in relation to doubting God’s promise; rather, it was about how that promise would be fulfilled. After about 10 years with no child, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham, and she conceived a son.

This account is full of lessons and guidance for us. First and foremost, it is all about trying to do God’s will. Just like Abraham and Sarah, we sometimes run ahead of what God would have us to do. In their case the result was not fatal, but it did add lots of difficulty and stress. Why would we expect anything less?

Check out our October 31,2022 podcast, “How Do I Let Go and Let God?” for more. We walk through the 25-year account of Abraham and Sarah, beginning with the promise of having a son all the way to the birth of Isaac. What we find are striking and relevant lessons for us to apply in the here and now of our own lives. Join us as Abraham and Sarah’s experiences teach us the depth of faith and trust required to truly let go and let God!

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It’s hard to stay focused, especially when that focus requires attention be given to something that is different and challenging. As Christians living in this 21st century, our responsibility is, as Jesus said when he was only 12 years old, to “be about our Father’s business.” As clear as this objective is, because we are imperfect we sometimes get tripped up and lose our focus. Thank God for His grace given to us through Jesus! What about other times when it’s not just a typical misstep? How about when we fall not just into a careless or impetuous wrongdoing, but into a full-blown choice that leads us towards evil? What do we do to help us come to our senses, and not only retract the wrongdoing but decisively get ourselves back onto the path of God-honoring thoughts, words and deeds?

Walking away from God’s presence and blessings in our lives can happen in a variety of different ways and on a variety of different levels. Whatever the circumstances we face or the experiences we have, there is always a single, driving, common theme present: personal choice. The simple fact of the matter is, if you and I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus, God will never walk away from it. He is faithful and will always be present for us in every time of need. On the other hand, we have the power to walk away from that faithfulness, should we choose to. The scary thing is that we can walk right out of the protective range of His grace and favor.

Why would we do such a thing? It turns out that the Bible clearly details several reasons we can end up in such a condition. Being in the sinful human state we are, falling prey to these motivations for leaving God behind can be easier to follow than we might think. So, what are they? What could cause us to walk away from God’s favor? Desire and pride. Our desire and our personal pride.

Desire is stimulated by what we see and what we feel. Pride is stimulated by the credit we want to have reflected in our lives. The toughest part of all this is that it is all natural – and in our world, it is all encouraged. Essentially, we are saying that walking away from God is a very natural, very human thing to do! Great! Now what?

Check out our June 13, 2022 podcast, “God is Out of My Life! How Do I Get Him Back In?” for answers. We not only carefully examine what parts of our human makeup can draw us away from God, we also address the issues of degree. When we are drawn off course, how far off do we go? What remedies and changes are appropriate and at what stages? Join us for an honest and biblical conversation about our own human tendencies and the solid remedies we can use to keep us in God’s favor.

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Every Christian wants to be faithful in living their life with thankfulness. One immediate question that arises is, what causes us to be thankful? What life experiences bring us to gratitude? Most of us would answer that we feel appreciativeness when things fall into place or when a hard experience yields a righteous result. These are great times to give honor to God, but what about when the opposite happens? What kind of acknowledgment do we give to God when our opportunities are cut off for no good reason? Would we be grateful if we were singled out to have our personal freedoms to spread the gospel stripped, and we were instead literally locked in our house? The Apostle Paul was. The last several years of his life were mostly spent as a prisoner of Rome. What was his secret to rejoicing?

Imagine you lived at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, and you were converted to follow his gospel message. Imagine being so moved by that message you, for the next 20 years or so, travel throughout the Roman Empire preaching this gospel. The joy of the gospel provokes you to speak on street corners, in synagogues and before authorities. Through God’s love and grace, you heal the sick and debate religious philosophy. You are often falsely accused as a troublemaker and yet you never stop moving. But you never stop teaching, preaching, healing, converting. You never stop standing in public places for the name and cause of Christ. You rejoice! For 20 years, the joy of the Lord has driven you, inspired and provoked you to change thousands of lives.

You are taken prisoner and brought to Rome and confined to a rented house for two years. You are under constant guard. Now your only freedom is within the walls of that small house. Your life of adventure, fellowship and witnessing to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is over. Or is it?

Do you take these shackles as a sign that you had a good run? Do you see this as an ending of an era, and you have now been removed from active service? This could be an easy path to follow, but it is not the only path. You could decide that by God’s grace you are here. You could choose to bring as much gospel activity to your little house as can possibly fit. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul did.

Check out our November 22,2021 podcast, “How Can I Rejoice in Trials?” for more. We break down the mindset the Apostle Paul had while in prison by examining four of the letters he wrote while bound by chains. In these letters Paul’s rejoicing in God’s providence is palpable. His clarity on teaching the most important things is inspiring. Join us as we observe the Apostle Paul rejoice in his trials, and we then follow Paul as he followed Christ

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Christianity at work…for the most part, we all need to support ourselves. That self-supporting system generally comes in three phases. First is the education phase, where we are supposed to choose what self-support direction to take and then how to do it. Second is the work of making ends meet, which for most of us, occupies the majority of our adult lives. It is our thinking and actions in this phase that define our lives. Third is the benefits stage. It is hard to get to but can give us choices and control of our time. Whatever stage of life we might be in, we as Christians are always required to carry our beliefs and principles with us. The question then is simple. How well are we defining ourselves by our thoughts, words and actions while in these environments? Do we look like and act like the follower of Christ we profess to be?

Let’s face it…your workplace can provide a great environment in which to labor but can also easily be a toxic environment.  Either way, we as Christians need to be clear on what we are trying to accomplish when we are there.  Now this sounds odd – obviously we are there to “do our job” and “get paid” and “provide for our family.”  It would be easy if the whole working experience was as antiseptic as that, but we all know it is not.  There are the people factors that add several dimensions to our presence there, and these are what will likely make or break our Christianity in that environment.  So, let’s be clear on what we are looking to accomplish with our Christianity at work.

Jesus worked.  He didn’t punch a clock or get paid a salary, but his daily mission was to teach the Gospel and bring it to the average person.  Looking at his attitude and preparation for his work we can certainly learn some valuable lessons to apply to our preparation and attitude regarding our work.

Here is just one of the many “work day” lessons Jesus taught us.  Attitude: not the attitude we adopt once we get to work and things go wrong or deadlines overwhelm or people are arguing.  Jesus taught us to set our attitude BEFORE we go anywhere or do anything.  His approach was simple – love God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength AND love your neighbor as yourself!  Translating this into our 21st century work environment is simple.  Decide to work as though God Himself were your boss and treat everyone in that environment with the highest respect.  Decide this before you get there and act on what you decided!  Christianity at work!

We all know that there are a myriad of details and circumstances that will hinder this simplistic approach.  That is why you need to check out our July 23, 2018 podcast, “What Happens to My Christianity when I go to Work?”  We talk about working hard when others don’t, coping with dishonesty, managing gossip and so much more.  Jesus really did show us how to truly be Christian while we work – tune in and learn from what he had to say!

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If you have doubts that means you must not have faith.  So goes the typical thinking of many Christians.  If we adhere to this thought then each and every one of us will need to brace for our next crisis of faith, because the fact is we ALL doubt.  We all question.  We all wonder and at times we all second guess.  So, what of it? Is there a way to look at our questions and insecurities in a different light?  Can those nagging thoughts that swirl about in our minds actually be a benefit?  Yes!  Yes they can, and I am saying this without a doubt!  Once we understand doubt and its different forms, we can begin to piece together the process that can actually take those insecurities that silently and incessantly gnaw away at us and use them as tools to feed and increase our faith.  Admittedly, this is not easy and it may not even be fun – but it is an answer to the debilitating experience of having doubts.  Faith can win!

Doubt usually comes to us by way of two primary roads.  The first road is that of the intellect.  We can believe in something but still have difficult questions come up that we can’t answer, therefore sowing seeds of doubt.  This uncertainty brings us to a crossroad.  I am no longer sure, so what do I do?  This doubt is directly related to our thinking and need for our minds to be changed in order for it to dissipate.  The second road on which doubt arrives is that of emotion.  Something happens in life and we get hurt, or we are misunderstood, or we develop a bad feeling about someone or something.  Mistrust sets in, and this can be crippling.  The only way to overcome this misgiving is through the reparation of our feelings and perceptions.  Eliminate the emotional distress and dissolve the doubt.

Solving such reservations is not a clinical exercise, for the next thing we need to know is our doubts are rarely all intellectual or all emotional.  If fact, there are two primary ingredients needed to remedy the doubt dilemma: clarity and conviction.  Clarity is simply having your mind able to receive and process truth over fiction and diluted facts.  For a Christian, this always comes back to the Bible, carrying within its pages the truth of ages.  Conviction is the fire that moves us to action and is a result of becoming clear in understanding.  All doubt needs both clarity and conviction to be handled.

This may sound easy, but the challenge in all of this is identifying what might be driving our doubts, and knowing where to look and what to do to truly alleviate them.  Check out our May 5, 2018 podcast, “Do My Doubts Mean I Don’t Have Faith?” and see how to put this all together.  Doubt can – with the right responses – actually be a positive experience.  Wouldn’t you want your doubts to become tools of growth rather than mud to be mired in?  I would say yes…without a doubt!

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