We often think of faith in terms of getting answers to our prayers and receiving from God the things that only He can provide. And that’s okay. But there’s another important reason for building our faith. Our faith is pleasing to God. ‘Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.’ In the past, Christians sometimes described praying passionately as ‘storming the gates of heaven’. It was a sincere thought, but it wasn’t completely accurate. The battle isn’t between us and heaven – we don’t need to ’storm the gates’ to get to God. God welcomes us and invites us to approach Him at any time. ‘Let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most’ (Hebrews 4:16 NLT). The battle is between us and the forces of hell (take a look at Ephesians 6:12-18). The Bible says: ‘The message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed’ (Hebrews 4:2 NIV). If we don’t have any faith in Him, His love and hope can’t influence us and help us in our daily lives. But He can work with the tiniest glimmer of faith: ‘If your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move’ (Matthew 17:20 NCV). Building our faith is so important. Our faith equips us for the battles we’ll have to face by helping us to trust God and to realise that He won’t make us face those battles alone.

What Now?

Have a think about how big your faith in God is at the moment. What sort of things would help you to build on it? Ask God to show you how you can begin to grow your faith today.