When Do We Know We Have Enough Faith?

I often wondered how I would know when I have enough faith for something. I assumed that I would know I have enough faith when the thing that I was believing God for, came into being. But this does not seem to correlate with what we read in Romans 4:16-22, when we read about what Paul has to say about God declaring to Abraham that he would have a son in his old age.

In Romans 4:20 we read that Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. Therefore, even though Abraham was strong in faith – he did not see the promise of God fulfilled in his life for several years.

When the Bible talks about faith it is talking about maintaining a God connection by focusing on what Jesus has already done for us on the cross and who we are in Him. This kind of faith should be everything we need in order to maintain love, peace and joy in every moment.

In his book, Classic Christianity, Bob George likens this kind of faith to the clutch on a car: the power in the engine, which represents God; our faith is what connects us to the power of the engine; but the clutch does not deliver power in itself.

I personally believe that the way in which we know we have enough faith is when we experience peace in the moment. If we experience peace, then we have faith – it’s as simple as that. When a thought comes to us that disturb our peace, we can look to what the Bible says in order to build our faith and restore our peace.

When we try to gauge our level of faith according to what we have or do, we are in danger of moving into self-justification and assumption. We don’t know what life may bring us next because we don’t know the plans that God has for us.

Christians should move away from the pressure that the church often puts on them to perform works. You should do what you feel is right for you and do it because you want to in your heart, because of love. As soon as we do things because we want people or God to approve of us – we have moved away from love and into fear, guilt, lust or pride.

If a person thinks that if he had faith, he would do this or that, or would have this or that – that person might find that he never has faith according to that criterion.