Do You Need Deeper, Stronger Faith in God?

Do you sometimes feel a need for deeper, stronger faith in God? Would you like to know God better as a dear, close Friend? Would you like prayer to be a greater power in your life?

If you would, then turn to that great golden Treasury, your Bible, and there, spread before you in words which have the power to burn into your very soul, you will read the age-old secrets of believing faith, wondrous prayer and everlasting love of God, your Father!

Yes, you can go on for a while and find forgetfulness in your work, your home and your play but sooner or later, there comes a time when they are not enough. There comes a time when the noises of the day press too heavily on your soul.

Once we heard a good man say: "I never understood the consolation of God until I needed Him to console me in the loss of my dear wife. Then I learned to know my Father like a sudden revelation."

It is often so. To believe in God's kindness and love in pleasant times is not too hard. Perhaps to you has come the time when you feel the winds of the tempests of life, you hear the crack of the lightning and you feel the anger of life's stormy sea and the fury of life's flood.

Perhaps there has come to you a time when plans go wrong, when love has failed, when the shelf is empty or the stove is cold. There perhaps has come a time when it seems that the joy of the world arrives at every door but yours!

You cry with the cry of Peter: "Lord, help me, or I perish." Your faith weakens and your prayers seem to strike a blank wall and rebound back to your listening ears. You yearn to cry even as did Jesus, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

To many a man and woman, sorrows and trials are the only road they find to God and to deeper, stronger faith. Difficult as it may be to understand, it is often only through the hard times and struggle that you do, indeed, learn of the love of God!

But even without the sting of misfortune, your soul may cry for an understanding of God and His peace even as the sea shell, when it is placed close to your ear, seems to sigh for its home in the sea.

It is then that you think: There is peace in the blue distances of the sky, there is peace in the still waters of the mountain lake, there is peace in the upland pastures, but where can I find peace for my troubled heart? When will I ever know God as a dear, close friend?

Oh, how well did Jesus know this yearning for faith and love in God - so well that He made of it one of His most tender and glorious promises: "My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. "

There was a cobbler once upon a time who lived in a dark basement room and mended the shoes of the town folk. Often, he prayed that he might have deeper spiritual understanding, deeper faith in God. Each night as he read his Testament, he wished the Lord would come and visit him in his desolate basement. One night he heard a voice say: "look out on the street tomorrow, I am coming to visit you."

The next morning, he saw a man staggering past his window, weak from cold and hunger. The cobbler took him in and fed him. Later, he saw a poor woman braving the snow. He gave her of his few pennies and sent her forth with shoes mended. As day was waning, he made peace between two men who were quarreling outside his window.

That night, as he sat down to read his Bible, he felt a wonderful peace as he read: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." At last, he knew that the Lord had come to visit him.

That is the way to spiritual understanding, to more faith in God. For how can your eyes be opened to the love and the glory of our Father if they be closed to the need for love that lies within the heart of your fellow human beings?

Now, you may say: "I do have faith, but it is so weak." Dear friend, there is no measuring rod which can measure faith. Even the smallest amount of faith is enough for God. The greatest amount of faith which you might have would not make you more dear to your Father. For all that He asks is that you believe - just believe!

If you desire to have faith - even as small as a mustard seed, click here.

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Can God Be My Own Dear Close Friend?


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