This is the second in a series on faith and doubt. For Part 1, see HERE.

What is the spark that ignites faith in God? What has to be present in our lives for us to step across the line from unbelief to belief?

After 27 years of following Jesus, I think it’s pretty simple, really:

REVELATION.

When God pulls back the curtain on our world so that we encounter His, we are presented with a phenomenon we must respond to. The Bible describes it in many ways:

• Glory of the Lord (2 Chron. 7:1-3)
• God’s face (Ps. 27:8, Matt. 17:2)
• The Kingdom of God (Mk 1:15, Lk. 17:21)
• The Hand of God (Is. 41:10, Lk. 11:20)
• The presence of God (all of Exodus!)
• The power of God (Ex. 19, Mk. 2:8-12)

Now of course, not everyone faced with a revelation of God chooses to believe. That’s the mysterious zone between God’s sovereignty and free will that nobody will ever fully understand. Nevertheless, I think everyone agrees the spark that lights the flame of faith is God breaking into our world.

Some of us do in fact cross that line towards belief, but “troubles, worries, persecution,” and various forms of “deception” (what Matthew 13 describes as various types of “soil”) give us reason to doubt.

If God is the prime mover, the initiator and pursuer of our souls, but we feel far from Him or doubt His goodness, are we to just sit around and wait for him to show up again?

How can we ever refuel on faith? What options or agency do we have?

Ready to Receive Revelation?

God clearly revealed Himself to me in my adolescent years, while I was mourning the loss of my mother as a 12 year-old boy. My parents bought me an NIV Study Bible in Christmas of 1996; I read that thing cover to cover. And in the midst of grief I cannot put into words, and a darkness I never thought I’d face as a pre-teen, I encountered the presence of Jesus.

Somewhere between reading Jesus’ words in the gospels, considering His death and resurrection, and listening to sermons on AM radio, I began experiencing something different. A warmth and comforting presence began to surround me as I lay on my bed in a suburb outside of Houston, TX.

Suddenly, my heaviness began to lift and I started to hope again. Jesus was revealing Himself to me as the God of the cross and the resurrection.

For those of us who have encountered the presence or glory of God, this experience is shared and understood.

Even Augustine of Hippo, living in the 4th Century during a state of inner turmoil, describes his encounters with God similarly: “It was as though my heart was filled with the light of confidence and all the shadows of my doubt were swept away.”

The common ground between my story, Augustine’s, and that of countless other followers of Jesus is this: we put ourselves in positions to receive God’s revelation.

Even the Apostle Paul had to CHOOSE to obey the voice of the Lord after being blinded by a light from heaven (Acts 9). He could brushed off the experience or hardened his heart, instead of following the path the Lord laid for him. If you don’t believe me, go read how Pharoah responded to Moses when Yahweh revealed Himself over and over again in similarly powerful ways!

And Paul’s life AFTER that fateful day was a testament to continual acts of obedience that showed a persistent willingness to see more of God’s face.

What was the result? Paul’s faith grew with time and with a commitment to continually pursue and hunger for the presence of God.

How to Refuel Faith

If your faith has run out of fuel and you’ve got nothing left, there are a few ways to re-encounter the revelation (i.e., presence) of God. These are practices that put you in a place to receive more from God and willingly position yourself in His presence:

1. Worship through Song – get somewhere quiet (in your room, on a hillside, by a lake) and sing a song that has significance to you. Or listen to music that puts your eyes on God. This has multiple benefits to your faith:
   • Forces you to stop over-thinking and experience the Holy Spirit
   • Encourages you to surrender control of your circumstances
   • Fixates your heart, soul, and mind on the character and person of God
2. Reimagine the Scriptures – for many of us who are weathering a season of grey, rainy doubt, reading the Bible can feel like the LAST thing we want to do. However, I want to submit to you one way to re-enter the story of God that has helped stir my faith–IMAGINATIVE PRAYER:
   • Take a story from one of the gospels, where Jesus is interacting with someone, and imagine yourself as that person. Try Mark 10:46-52, imagining yourself as “blind Bartimaeus—what do you hear Jesus saying to you? What do you say to him?
3. Listening to the Scripture –  another practice to help stir your faith is known as, “Lectio Divina.” Latin for “holy reading,” this is simply reading something like Psalm 103 three times:
   • 1^st time, just let it wash over you
   • 2^nd time, pay attention to a phrase that stands out
   • 3^rd time, pray and ask the Spirit to highlight one word
4. Listening Prayer – sit in silence and ask the Holy Spirit, “What are you saying about God; what are you saying about me?” Take notes on what comes to mind. Check it against the revelation of God in the Scriptures, and meditate on what’s aligned with how God has revealed himself and what he says about you in Scripture.

Take one of these practices this week and let it reconnect you with the presence of God.

He is the great REVEALER, but He also desires we choose to see more of His face. If you want to refuel your faith, it’s going to mean making space for the Lord.

Consider these as gas stations placed on the side of the road. The question is, will you make time to pull over and refuel?