How To Strengthen Your Christian Faith And Belief
Christian faith and belief are interconnected, but have distinct concepts as you will learn reading this article. Belief can be seen as the foundation, while faith is the structure built upon it—one requires the other for a complete understanding of a relationship with God. As believers, nurturing both belief and faith is essential for spiritual growth and a fulfilling relationship with God.
Christian faith is your trust, reliance and confidence in Christ Jesus, his teachings, and his redemptive work. A personal commitment to surrender to God’s will, follow Jesus’ teachings and letting the Holy Spirit will guide you through your day with calmness and focus on righteous acts.
Encountering God’s presence, and guidance through the Holy Spirit is a truly spiritual experience, and as Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” That is what faith is about; “evidence of things not seen.”
Our Christian strength comes from inside us through the Holy Spirit and our belief and acceptance in Christ Jesus. This is something atheists and non-believers do not understand (or used to accept), but because they have an anger, and some reasonable upset for Christians will try to convince you that you are wrong. Remember, that the world hates Christians as told in John 15:18, so you need to strengthen your faith and belief through daily scriptures.
And remember that Jesus endured much suffering, anguish and pain from those who disliked or hated Him.
Christian belief encompasses learning about God, Jesus, salvation, redemption and the Bible. Accepting the Bible as authoritative and inspired, and understanding God’s nature, attributes, and actions will help keep you on your righteous path.
Christian faith and belief are intertwined because faith informs belief: Trusting in Jesus shapes understanding and biblical teaching strengthens trust. Faith without belief lacks foundation; while belief without faith lacks life. Christian faith is a personal, relational trust in Jesus, and belief encompasses scripture, and theology. So, faith and belief mutually reinforce each other.
For more information and help, you can read our article “A Christians Path Navigating Faith and Reason” on the Good News page on our website.
Important Aspects of Christian Faith:
Salvation is deliverance from sin and its consequences through Jesus’ sacrifice for being crucified for our sins. God sacrificed His son for our sins to show us how much He loves us, and gives us a chance through free-will to live our lives righteously and His word in the Bible.
This does not mean any further sins are forgiven, but it does mean that if you have the Holy Spirit in you, and sinning will be harder, but not impossible. You still need to be aware of the things which God says are sin in Romans 1:26-32, and be aware and repentant if you commit any, knowingly or unaware at first.
Growing in holiness is hard in today’s out of control world, but the Holy Bible can guide you towards being more like Christ Jesus.
Communion with God through prayer is the best way to get through your day and find peace in daily living. The Book of James can re-enforce your daily Christian thinking and belief, while Proverbs and Psalms can help you grow more as a True Christian.
Christian Beliefs:
Original Sin: Humanity’s inherent tendency towards sin as written in Genesis and John 3:16.
Redemption: Believing and accepting Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and repenting of our sins daily. Romans 3:23-24.
Resurrection: Jesus’ bodily resurrection after His crucifixion. a Corinthians 15: 3-4
Heaven and Hell: Eternal destinations as told in the Holy Bible, and only God will judge those going to heaven or hell. Mark 9:44 for a description of hell.
Second Coming: Jesus’ return after the Tribulation as in 2 Timothy 3, Isaiah 13, Matthew 24: 3-14 and Revelations
Christian Doctrines:
Trinity: One God in three persons. God, The Father, Christ Jesus, Our Savior and The Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19.
Incarnation: Jesus as fully human and divine as in John 1:14.
Bible’s Authority: Scripture’s inspiration and reliability as in timothy 3:16-17.
Justification: Right standing with God through faith.
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1
Personal Implications of Christian Faith:
Christians strive to become like Jesus (Romans 8:29). Believers find meaning in serving God and others (Matthew 28:19) through volunteering, donating and giving to shelters and food banks. Telling our testimony of how God has helped and strengthen us can be a powerful statement to other Christians and non-believers. Remember, non-believers can always come back or join us in the miracle of Jesus, so don’t exclude them in your prayers.
Social Implications of Christian Faith:
Christians serve the poor and elderly (Matthew 25:31-46) with love and compassion through food banks, shelters or directly to the elderly and those in need within their neighborhoods.
Global Implications of Christian Faith:
Missions and evangelism is done by spreading the Gospel of God’s word in social media, and can be done quickly and easily, especially with app translations and images that are without language and quickly (if done correctly) understood. This can easily reach across cultures and borders without a passport or airplane. God wants us to spread His word everywhere. Are you spreading the word of His gospel? NOTE: If you need graphics for your website, church or social media we have many you can use without any charge. We would appreciate a mention of our website.
Christian Challenges and Criticisms:
Hypocrisy and scandals appear and raise their ugly heads when Christians fail to live up to their ideals by not being strong enough to fight off evil as we have seen in previous years from very popular Christian preachers. No one is immune to sin, except Christ Jesus, and all we can do is to strive to be more like Him in our daily lives through prayer and His guidance.
Intolerance and judgment by Christians believing they have the power to judge people that are different from us in religion, nonreligious or culture, and thinking they are smarter than others. As Christians we are not to judge others as in Romans 2, but to be tolerant with compassionate understanding, while we must acknowledge imperfections of ourselves and others while striving for improvement in life and strengthening our faith.
Excluding or judging non-Christians with hate and anger, instead of understanding, love and compassion as Jesus’ teachings only creates an enemy, and as Christians we want to make friends, not enemies
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Psalm 82:3
How Christians Should Respond to Criticisms:
We should respond to criticism with attending and understanding. For those who are not aware, “attending” is when you pay 100% attention to what the other person is saying or has written. We need to engage with critics and skeptics in a dialog of understanding and compassion without judgment. By being more Christ-like we can leave critics and non-believers with the knowledge that not all Christians are judgmental. It is very important to think before you respond and know that you don’t need to win the battle, but to win a friend instead.
Here is an article we wrote about “Why Do Chrisitans Judge” on our Good News page to help you understand how and why judgment happens and how to avoid doing it yourself.
We all have shortcomings and at times fall easy prey to hypocrisy. By being self-aware we can strengthen our faith and become more understanding, and praying to God for guidance can help re-direct your path.
Social Christian Traps:
Scientific Contradictions of faith vs. science (e.g., evolution) can’t be won through social media and need to be tempered with understanding and the knowledge that the critics may have suffered from faithless or scripture less Christians who have judged them. Or they were convinced by non-believers to join their ranks and agenda. Many atheists tout using the phrase “Prove there is a God.” They use it as a weapon knowing their past with Christians or to try to prove they know more or are smarter.
The best advice that I can give is to avoid social media atheist sites because you will never gain ground with any of them. I even tried to say “Prove there isn’t a God” and all I got was silence. Keep-in-mind that God doesn’t need defending… does He? After all He created everything so He can easily defend Himself.
Superficial belief is the lack true faith. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus speaks of those who claim to know Him but lack the faith that produces genuine obedience and relationship with Him. To know Him is to have a strong faith and belief in His guidance and strength.
Christian Responses:
Well, as you have read, Christianity has a lot of moving parts and changes with the world and generations. The one thing to keep in mind is that no matter what generation you are the Holy Bible does not change. It is and will always be our only true connection with God and Christ Jesus.
As the Bible tells us in John 15:18, we will always have enemies as Christians (as did the Disciples and Jesus), but if we accept Him then will will always have a protector who will be with us, and His Holy Spirit will keep us from going the wrong way in life as long as we listen.
Here Are Several Questions For You To Think About:
Are you listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit?
How can you deepen your faith beyond mere belief?
What biblical examples inspire you to trust more deeply in God’s promises?
And, if you are wondering, exploring these Christian concepts can lead to a richer spiritual life, allowing for a more profound connection with Christ Jesus and God Our Father.