Why can't I receive faith?

Question

The Bible seems to say that faith is given as a gift from the Holy Spirit. I've prayed for this faith literally over a million times over the past 3 years and I'm still just as much of an atheist as I always was.

How many years does it take God to answer? Is the line too busy or something?

Answer 1

Paul says of faith.

Hebrews 11

Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld. 2 For by means of this the men of old times had witness borne to them.

3 By faith we perceive that the systems of things were put in order by God’s word, so that what is beheld has come to be out of things that do not appear.

Faith is a fruitage of the holy spirit, just as is love, hope, and the rest listed at Galatians. Faith is tied with trust, and trust comes from knowledge. You have to know God and his provisions and have confidence and trust in him.

Jesus highlighted this need for knowledge in a prayer the night before the Romans killed him.

John 17 Jesus spoke these things, and, raising his eyes to heaven, he said: “Father, the hour has come; glorify your son, that your son may glorify you, 2 according as you have given him authority over all flesh, that, as regards the whole [number] whom you have given him, he may give them everlasting life. 3 This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. 5 So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.

Taking in knowledge leads to trust and faith. Paul also highlights how faith develops and why it is helpful to find someone to aid you.

Romans 10:11 For the Scripture says: “None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for there is the same Lord over all, who is rich to all those calling upon him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.” 14 However, how will they call on him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach? 15 How, in turn, will they preach unless they have been sent forth? Just as it is written: “How comely are the feet of those who declare good news of good things!”

Paul, in his descending chain of logic, back tracks to the need of people to be teachers, so that others can have their lives saved.

I would suggest finding a good study program, one that teaches things in harmony with what you already know. I don't know your training or fields of interest.

But being an atheist for a while in my life, I couldn't take the doctrines that many churches teach as believable, like the whole universe was created in 7 - 24 hours days. The laws of physics puts that out of the question.

So the faith that I found that fitted both logic and science, gave me confidence that grew to trust and faith in God was the route I took. I would suggest you do the same.

Answer 2

true faith alway comes from logical answers of you inner.....Everyone has common-sense and it always keeps arguing  with your faith and if your faith is blind it would not be able to answer  and then as a result you get confused .no peace of mind…..why the bible doesn't make any sense?.     because Islam rightly says that  The Bible was badly corrupted by its people

try another way .........

It is my pleasure to correspond with you. Your question is rather more than one question, but if you permit me, I will try to answer you. Bear with me as my answer will, of necessity, be quite long. You say one thing but perhaps you really believe something else? Let me see if I can explain to you some of the benefits of Islam.

For example, I believe Man first came to earth with knowledge. He was not ignorant. He had been taught by God. It was only when Man lost contact with God that he became primitive and took to worshipping idols. It is up to each one of us to find our way back to the One True God.

Let us look around us. What do we see; we see cars, buildings, planes, boats, bridges railways and so on. All of which have been constructed by mankind. In other words, Man can utilize the resources available but he cannot make the resources. Then, if we look again we can see animals, vegetation, birds, mountains and valleys, the sky, stars, moon and the sun, along with mankind.

Where did they all come from? These are the things that man did not make. Do they just happen to be there? Can man create an egg or a seed? Even the woman comes into the world with her life-time supply of eggs. So, Man is not a creator, he can only utilize the resources, which are already provided.

Let us look again, this time at the desert either sand or ice. We may see tracks or bones. Do we have to see the creatures that made the tracks or left the bones to know what they were? In general, we can tell a lot from the tracks or the bones as to what type of animal it was, without even seeing it. In the Empty Quarter, the big desert in the south of Saudi Arabia, the desert Arabs can tell the age of the camel, the s*x of the camel, whether the camels were lightly loaded or more heavily loaded and to what tribe the camels belonged, simply from the tracks left in the desert. So, we do not have to actually see something to believe in it.

This is true for God. Man cannot see God. We see Him by His signs. His signs are His creation. A mountain reflects the glory of its Creator, it cannot do anything other than be a mountain. This is similar for every aspect of God’s creation. While our own tongue may be denying God, our bodies are functioning exactly as He created them. In our own life-times our heart will pump about 40 railway wagons of blood in each month, and a river of blood in our life-time, generally with no help from ourselves. This is an example of the signs of God!

You give an example of the ‘monkeys do not worship God’. I would ask, How do you know? For example the ‘dawn chorus’ of birds may be their form of worship of God. Any part of creation is reflecting its Creator simply by being itself. A monkey cannot be other than a monkey. It functions as a monkey because it was created to be a monkey. In India, there are monkeys which if they eat a plant which is poisonous to them, they know to eat some other plant which is the antidote to the poison. How do they know that? Who taught it to them? I would suggest their Creator. There are many such examples, which we take for granted simply because we don’t want to believe in a Creator…

I went away from Christianity and became Muslim some eight years later. I, too, was a little skeptical. However, I didn’t believe we were like birds coming from where we knew not, through a window and into a room lit like daylight, where we spend some time and then exit by another window into total darkness to where we know not. I felt there had to be more to life than that.

Islam answers questions like:

Where did I come from?

Why am I here?

Where am I going?

Allah tells us in the Quran, He created Man from sounding clay and breathed into him the soul. Allah also tells us, He created mankind and spirits to worship Him. He created Man in the best possible mould to do this. He also tells us, We will return to Him.

So, we should prepare ourselves for that meeting. Only then will we know if we have been successful or not in this life. We trust in the mercy of Allah that we will be successful… After all, Allah promises us that if we follow the guidance that is coming from Him - in the form of the Qur’an and the practice of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) - we shall have no fear nor shall we grieve, meaning that we will be successful in the next life.

As for your comment: “if Islam is so perfect”, well, in Chapter 5 verse 3 of the Qur’an we read he meaning of:

*{Today have I perfected My favor upon you, and completed your religion for you, and chosen Islam as your way of life.}*

Complete and perfect: no omission no commission, no addition no subtraction, no modification and no editing…

Also, the whole earth has been declared a mosque for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers. So, it is not even necessary to have a building to be able to pray or to worship God.

Now, you suggest: “many of the Islamic teachings become obsolete with time.”

Personally, I - and many Muslims - would dispute this with you. Islam has the solutions to the world’s problems for all time. Let me come back to that as you raise the point of a Muslim being allowed to marry four wives and with the population being split more or less evenly between males and females, this resulting in many men (75%) not being able to find wives! Let us look into this…

First, your figures of 50/50 are not quite right; there are probably more women than men in the world. In New York there are more than a million women than men. However, during the war between xUSSR and Afghanistan there were many Afghan men killed. Similarly, in the Iraq/Iran war there were many men killed on both sides. At times like these there is an imbalance in the population, what are the women to do?

Islam safeguards them by allowing a man, provided he can afford it and can treat them equitably to marry up to four wives. It is conditional on the man treating all his wives equally, something which is very difficult in real life. So, you see there are times when such an allowance would need to be applied more than at other times.

Not only for the reason already given, but some men are simply not satisfied with one woman, they have affairs. Who suffers: the children and the wife? Islam allows for this situation by insisting on the second woman being a wife. This way she has rights and obligations and so do the children. In Islam, the woman is a sister, a wife, a mother or a daughter. She is not a mistress, a concubine nor a kept woman. The woman has her status and respect.

In China, the government brought in the 4 grand-parents, 2 parents and 1 child system. It has caused some problems as I found out when I was there in 1989. Who looks after the children when the parents both want to go out to work and the house is not big enough to house the child’s grandparents? Since the girl, when she gets married, goes to live with the husband’s family, who looks after her parents now that the family can only have one child?

There have also been instances where boys are preferred to girls and drastic steps may be taken. Islam came to abolish child infanticide, the killing of baby girls at birth. This was a practice prevailing at the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and it was stopped by the Prophet (pbuh) when Islam came. Islam encourages extended families.

These are just a couple of instances where Islam is certainly not obsolete.

I said Islam has the solution to the problems of the world for all time. May I request you make a list of the problems you think are prevalent in the world, then compare those with Islam and see for yourself if Islam does have the solution? For example: I might suggest the following: drugs and alcohol; s*x, prostitution and illegitimate children; wars; crime; interest and usury etc.

For drugs, Islam totally forbids them. For alcohol, there is some benefit and some harm, the harm outweighs the benefit, do not come near to alcohol – totally prohibited.

As for s*x and prostitution, I have already given the status of women in Islam. Also, the four wives is a solution for those men who are not satisfied with one woman. There is also control for those who aren’t married. “Marry as soon as you can afford it,” Muslims are advised, and if you cannot afford it and have trouble controlling yourself then fast.

A young man told the prophet (pbuh) that he wanted to fornicate. The companions of the prophet (may Allah be pleased with them) were aghast and tried to stop him talking.

The prophet (pbuh) said:

“Let him speak.”

Then the prophet (pbuh) said:

“Would you like someone to do it to your sister, your mother, your daughter or your wife?”

Here, the young man promised he would not indulge in fornication. With societies following such guidelines, I think you would agree there would be a drop in the number of births outside marriage.

As for wars, this is always difficult but I will simply say: “Where are the Muslims fighting wars of aggression? Where are the Muslims fighting for something that has not been promised to them? Where is the justice?”

You must know the situation with the Uighurs and what has happened to them. The Philippines promised an autonomous region for the Muslims with the 1960 Tripoli Accord, only it was never implemented. The Middle East is racked by the Palestinians being displaced by Israeli’s. Yet, at the time of the establishment of the State of Israel, the League of Nations called for a

Answer 3

(Hebrews 11:1) 11 Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld. . .

Faith comes with knowledge, and is demonstrated through works.

(John 17:3) . . .This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.

(James 2:24-26) . . .YOU see that a man is to be declared righteous by works, and not by faith alone. 25 In the same manner was not also Ra′hab the harlot declared righteous by works, after she had received the messengers hospitably and sent them out by another way? 26 Indeed, as the body without spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. . .

(James 1:5-8) . . .So, if any one of YOU is lacking in wisdom, let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him. 6 But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about. 7 In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah; 8 he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways. . .

Answer 4

Jesus said even the faith of a mustard seed.  The smallest, tiniest faith.  It's that simple.  :)

Just believe the truth, and the truth is that the only way to be saved and to get into heaven and avoid being sent to eternal h**l is by believing in faith alone that Jesus, who is God, died for our sins on the cross and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Believe this and you are saved!

Please pray now: "Jesus, please forgive me of my sins. I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and You rose from the dead. Thank You for eternal life!" You will be in heaven with Him forever when you die :)

Answer 5

The scripture says that we WILL find God when we seek Him with ALL our heart... Our hearts have impure motives in them - like desires to get things from God without putting in the necessary commitment to reliance on Him for all things...

Basically, we all have to live on in hope until God permits us to seek Him with ALL our heart...

He is there inside each of His creatures waiting to change us into whole hearted seekers of God - in all His love, truth and freedom.

Answer 6

I am a part of God and this is my gift to you.

Life does not always seem FAIR!

Hi!  I am a Forgive Affirmed Spirit and this is what I profess and try to act like.

Forgive Affirmed Spirit is the belief in a way of life that is a method of grief resolution and functional communication processing involving active listenning, sympathy, empathy and affirmation of shock, denial, anger, guilt, depression, loneliness and hope...a kind of ego-equilibrium seeking methodology.

A Greater Works of communication and action, a way to learn to love your enemies "Advocating mortal life, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you AS IF YOU WERE THEM!"  



And nobody is perfect!  NOBODY!  We are all judgeable, hopefully in a graceful discerning way!   We are all doing our best every moment!

Humans judge everything  as we are a part of it.  Without difference, we have nothing to live for, nothing to witness.  Sin is difference, the relative seriousness with regards to law and survival of other beings, is punishable by the courts. The best way to judge is with as much graceful discernment as one can muster in a given moment!

Life is the question(uncertainty) asked by the exhaling infinitely compacted imagination invention, or no thing, which is completely certain of everything, completely omniscient or all knowing.

When I die, I believe I will be in a new state, aware of all that is and yet divided into the nature of dust that I am in, whereupon my dust shall fall.  My being will remain an infinite part of an infinite being and infinite knowledge without my material human being status of now. So there will be a change.



But my soul, my passions and discompassions, will move on to infinite places of comfort and challenge.  Able to return to this state of uncertainty and free choice illusion for another ride when it is called effectively to do so.

So that the children of God, the creations of God, .. are actually part in parcel of that God or Creation Energy!

This  life is a roller coaster ride. Enjoy your passion within it and whatever gathering of two or more in Forgive Affirmed Spirit to make it better can garner.

Healing be unto you and yours and me and mine in

Forgive Affirmed Spirit

Answer 7

That's like asking me for a job yet you tell me you won't work

Answer 8

He's always listening to you. God always answers prayers..if that is the greatest will. Maybe you're just not listening to him. You might be too busy getting yourself into other things and temptations that you don't even know him anymore. To believe in God is to know God. How can you believe and love Him if you don't even know Him? Read and understand more of the Word of God. What do you expect faith to be? A rush of feelings and emotions coming to you suddenly? It's not always about how you feel. Spend more time with Him. Lock yourself inside a dark room and clear your head. Just spend some time listening to Him. Another reason is that you might not have surrendered totally to Him. Are there any areas in your life that you're still holding on and not letting God near?

Good luck and God bless! ^^