3 Guidelines For Developing Your Faith

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:9-10).

A century ago John Stockton wrote, “Only trust Him, only trust Him, only trust Him now; He will save you, He will save you now.” Yet following Stockton’s advice is not always very easy. You see, it’s much easier to do some things ourselves, to trust our own resources, our skills, our doctors, our knowledge, even to gamble with the odds, rather than simply trust God. I’d like to share three simple guidelines that will help you reach beyond your own understanding and limitations and enable you to trust God more fully. Want to trust Him more?

Then Guideline #1: Stretch the muscles of your faith. Let me explain. Has God ever answered prayer for you? Even one time? Now stop and think. I am quite certain you can single out at least one instance when you prayed, and what you prayed for happened, right? When you stop and remember, you can probably think of many times you scored a direct hit, but all of those answers are overshadowed, dimmed by today’s need.

For many years I kept a ledger of crises—situations that were really tough, and as the result of prayer, how God answered in a definite way. Human nature is such that you tend to forget yesterday’s answer—the money He sent in, the way He brought healing to your sick body, the way He resolved the misunderstanding you prayed about. Its answer has been totally eclipsed by your present need, yet as you remind yourself of yesterday’s answer, it helps you to believe God for today’s need. Do you want to trust Him more?

Then Guideline #2: Be encouraged by the testimonies of others. “Wait a minute,” you may be saying. “Can I really believe God to meet me like He met someone else?” You immediately think, “I am not a spiritual giant—I am just little old me.” And immediately Satan seizes the twinge of doubt to create a complex of spiritual inferiority. Before you really believe this argument, you need to ask yourself a few questions. “Does God have favorites?” “Would He ignore me and favor somebody else?” Then refuse to believe your doubts and feed your faith. The testimonies of other people will build your faith and help you to trust God more.

When I was a teenager, my father bought a Packard motorcar. And I soon discovered the car would do all kinds of things the manufacturer and my dad did not know about—like run in low gear up to 45 miles an hour and up to 90 miles an hour in second. “Ask the man who owns one!” was their advertising gimmick. It was great advertising.

So, if you want to build your faith, talk to the person who has prayed, and his prayers have been heard. Now don’t bother with the skeptic who is sure that God cannot break out of His black box.

Guideline #3: If you want to know how to trust God more, then stand on the assurance of God’s Word, which cannot be broken. No matter what happens in the world, there are a few things you can count on; the promises of His Word are some of them. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” says Romans 10 (Romans 10:17).

Annie Johnson Flint put it so beautifully, “Hitherto the Lord hath helped us, Hitherto His hand hath led, Hitherto His arm protected, Hitherto His bounty fed; Will His love desert us wholly, Will His heart our need forget, Will His presence clean forsake us, Who has never failed us yet?” And the obvious answer is, “No.” He will be there in the time of need. I must trust Him.

Resource reading: Philippians 1:12-18