Devotional: Building Our Faith

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. – Romans 10:17

At times I’ve been tempted to doubt God. When I was first hooked up to a ventilator, I doubted that God loved me. How could a loving God let me suffer so much? My faith shrank to nothingness and I turned my back on the Lord.

When I got sick, I stopped reading my Bible. I didn’t have the physical strength to turn the pages anymore. Now, as I look back, I see a connection that I missed then. The less I read the Bible, the more my faith shrank.

I really had no excuse for not getting into God’s Word. I could have listened to the Bible on tape or had a friend read the Bible to me. But I didn’t do any of these things and my faith shriveled.

Reading God’s Word builds our faith. We see how God worked before and realize he still works the same way today. God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

When we read the Bible we find that God is love. If He showed His love to people whom the world rejected, surely He can show His love to us. If He loved the lepers, the tax collectors, and the harlots, surely He can love us.

When we read the Bible we find that God forgives. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and killed her husband, but God forgave him because he confessed and turned away from his sin. If God can forgive David, surely He can forgive us if we confess and turn away from our sin.

When we read the Bible we find that God performs the seemingly impossible. He parted the Red Sea. He brought water out of a rock. He gave sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. He raised the dead. If God performed miracles then, surely He can do the seemingly impossible in our lives. He can open doors that we thought were closed.

Once I began reading my Bible again, my faith increased. God did a miracle in my life by taking what the world called a severe disability and allowed me to share His Word. He enabled me to minister when the world would leave me to vegetate.

Read God’s Word with a desire to know and love Him. He will build your faith.