Faith in Jesus
How to increase faith according to the Fathers of the Church
The Church Fathers emphasized the importance of prayer, the study of the Holy Scriptures, active participation in the life of the Christian community and the imitation of Christ as ways to deepen one’s faith.
Through prayer one can ask for the grace of a stronger faith. In the second place it is indispensable to read and meditate on the Word of God to better know the love of God and to strengthen the faith.
Finally, the Fathers of the Church recognized that difficulties such as suffering can be opportunities for growth in the faith. Facing trials with patience and trust in God can lead to greater spiritual maturity.
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Increase our Faith
Faith is not an uncertain thing or a kind of hope or a vague desire, but it is a practical conviction, faith is an attitude based on a certain fact, we take faith from the word of God and we know that the destination is sure , faith says that what God promises will happen, and it is so certain that it is almost as if it has already happened.
Faith is the foundation of things hoped for and proof of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is therefore the realization of things hoped for and the future is made real for men who believe. Therefore faith is not ambiguous or uncertain but is a concrete belief of a future reality, which rests on the certainty that God is faithful to his promises.
Paul reveals to us in the letter to the Romans that "faith therefore comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God".
(Romans 10:17).
This means that faith is not something we can obtain from ourselves, but comes from God through his word. The word of God teaches us who God is and shows us his love for us. When we hear the word of God and believe it, our faith grows. Faith therefore cannot exist unless there is a story, a fact, an event that leads us to believe and then we will discover that He is in our favor, he guides us in the things we should do
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The faith that God gives us allows us to grasp the invisible world and bring it into the field of our experience. We can say I know God, but we cannot see him, we know Jesus but he is no longer here physically among us, how do we know how to see in order to believe. God has given us the instrument of faith as a gift, it is by faith that we will be able to see the invisible God, know the unknown Jesus and perceive the reality of the invisible spirit.
Faith begins with perception because it is impossible to have faith if the mind does not accept the content of the truth, faith allows us to listen to the truth that enters our mind, and begins to interact with what we already know and pushes us to think and understand the truth, and we need to involve our will in doing, accepting and believing everything that Christ has taught us.
To increase our faith we need problems, none of us would like problems, because we want life to flow smoothly, with fulfilling jobs, good health, because problems hit like a storm and bring fear and turmoil, however the problems lead us to the Lord because they teach us to lean on him, and then they increase our certainty in the invisible reality of God and in his involvement in our lives.
Certain problems put us in the position of not being able to do anything but look up, especially when the problem is bigger than our ability to handle, it is there that we discover that our resources are inadequate and that we can only rely on Jesus. Then God he can use problems to make our faith deeper and stronger, because driven by awe and fear we approach Jesus with the awareness that only He will be able to make the difference.
The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith and Jesus said: if your faith were as small as a mustard seed you could uproot a sycamore tree and throw it into the sea (Luke 17. 5-6) With this answer Jesus put emphasis that it is not the greatness of faith that counts, but it is the greatness of God. The power of faith resides in God, for this reason our faith needs to have a God greater than our mind, it needs to understand that God is capable of doing so much more than anything we could ask for.
The Bible says we have not because we do not ask, what would happen if we said to God: I know that you are strong and powerful, I firmly believe that you can do this, because our perspective needs to broaden, so that we can see God can answer to the faith we have.
