BGEA: I want to have a strong faith, and sometimes I feel I do, but no matter how much I pray my feelings don't last.

I pray often every day and try to stay focused on God, but sometimes I wonder if I'm just kidding myself. I want to have a strong faith, and sometimes I feel I do, but no matter how much I pray my feelings don't last. What am I doing wrong? — Z.J.

It isn't wrong for you to pray frequently, of course; in fact, God urges us to "pray continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We are dependent on God for everything, and one of the ways we acknowledge this is by turning to Him in prayer.

But prayer by itself is like a diet without protein! Yes, prayer is important to our spiritual growth—but of even greater importance is God's Word, the Bible. You see, without the Bible we are in danger of making up our own ideas about God, and even wondering (as you do from time to time) if God exists or if it is all in our imagination.

God has given the Bible to us to tell us about Himself, and apart from it we don't really know who God is or what He is like. Most of all, through the Bible we discover that God loves us, and He has shown us His love by sending His only Son into the world to die for our sins. Make sure of your commitment to Christ.

Do you want your faith to grow? Make the Bible part of your spiritual diet every day, for the seed of faith grows best when it is planted in the soil of God's Word. The Bible says, "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). Build your faith on its truth.

2 Comments

lly says 4.2.2012, 11:53 a.m.

thank You uncle BILLY GRAHAM for your meaningful answer for each questions and also I thank my God for using you uncle in a mighty way still today in your old age. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Melissa says 12.22.2010, 01:43 a.m.

One thing we need to remember...faith is not feeling and feeling is not faith. God does not stay close to our side when we are feeling on top of the world and flee when we are in the depths of despair. He is the SAME God, no matter how we are feeling, with the same promises, the same amount of love and the same power to do anything. Emotions are volatile and deceiving. Faith is not based on feeling...it is a firm knowledge of that which we cannot see. Just like a balloon floating into the clouds is still there although it is beyond our sight, God is there when our emotions are clouded. As we study God's Word, we get to know God, we realize he is unchanging, he can be trusted and he has everything under control. After finding out what the Bible says, we need to act on it by being obedient...not easy, but vital. There is so much comfort knowing that God is omnipotent and has everything under control when we don't or can't. There is an ease in knowing you don't have to carry those burdens because he does it for us...whether we are high on the mountain or deep in the valley...he is the SAME! So don't rely on your feelings...stay firmly rooted in your FAITH, even on your worst days. He is faithful to us!