Finding your Way to Faith

 Preachers often talk about faith. They didn't invent it. It was a favourite topic of Jesus himself.

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” Jn 6:28–29 NIV

For Paul, faith was just as important.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Eph 2:8–9 NLT

Maybe you have a longing for God, but you look into your own heart and you see doubt. You see uncertainty. You have questions, but you may not be satisfied with the answers you hear.

In some Church meetings, rituals are offered to guarantee salvation.  

Many are baptised but do not experience new life.
Many say a prayer of commitment, but afterwards they remain uncertain and inwardly unchanged.

You cannot deceive God. He understands your thoughts from afar. Even if you try to deceive yourself, God loves you as you really are. He wants to create a new life in you, not an outward form of religion.

Jesus explained the way that is necessary for many.

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Mt 7:7–8 NLT

Before the war, a young Jew lived in Romania.
He was an atheist, but his worldview gave him no comfort.

One day he saw an old Orthodox church and he stepped inside. He saw old people kneeling before an old man. He didn't believe, but he felt the emptiness in his soul.
 
He began to pray.
 
``God. I maintain that you do not exist. But if you do exist, I am not obliged to believe in you. It is your duty to reveal yourself to me.
 
Later he went to the countryside. He was poor and he walked. The sun was setting and he sought shelter in a village.
 
There lived a deeply devout Christian who had been praying to the Lord for years to win a Jew for Jesus.

The young Jewish atheist was warmly welcomed. The host gave him a Bible. When he read the words of Jesus, flames of love were kindled in his heart.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jn 11:25–26 NRSV

From that day on, his life was completely new. Jesus was his best friend and faithful companion in life.

It is better to talk to God yourself, to speak the thoughts of your heart openly, than to say some formulaic prayer.

You can also pray sincerely:

‘If this message is indeed true, come into my life and change my heart and soul. I don't have a firm faith, but I want to believe if you really are as the Bible says.’