There is no special formula to start believing in God. The Bible doesn’t say that if you pray five times and read the whole Bible, then you will believe in God. In fact, the Bible says that belief is not of your own doing. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8 ESV. God is the only one who can open your heart to believing in him.
If you are struggling to believe in God, take heart that even the disciples, Jesus’ close friends, sometimes struggled believing in him. After the disciples witnessed Jesus perform a miracle, they still did not believe he could perform another miracle.
“And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?” Mark 8:17-21 ESV.
Remember that there is no formula to believing in God, but there are certain actions that can help you believe.
3 Ways to Help You Believe in God
1. Pray. Since God is the one who softens our hearts to believe in him, this is the number one most important thing we can do. Ask God to help with your unbelief. In the book of Mark, a father brings his son to Jesus and asks him to heal his son from an evil spirit.
Jesus replies, “If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer” Mark 9:23-29 ESV.
Prayer brings belief.
2. Spend time reading God’s word. Read the gospels, the stories of Jesus, and get to know the God of the Bible. You will read first hand accounts of how Jesus changed the hearts and lives of others and God’s redemptive plan for the world. The Bible is God’s word and it is living and active, thus reading scripture can help you believe in God.
3. Surround yourself with believers and join a Christian community. Seeing other believers live transformed lives can help you understand why someone would believe in God. Listen to others share their stories and faith journeys. Don’t live in isolation or avoid getting involved in a church because you could miss the chance to believe in Jesus. I encourage you to seek out a church and ask the pastor or leaders to pray for you and help you believe.
God works on his own time, not ours.
At my last church in Tampa, I was a part of the prayer team. For five months, the same man has asked the same prayer every single week, “God open my eyes so I can believe in you.” The man obviously wanted to believe or else he would stop asking for prayers. I caught myself wondering how this man could still not believe after months of prayers. I had to remind myself that I don’t have all the answers and life is not about us humans. Life is about God.
We may want belief right now, but it may take years. God has a perfect and purposeful plan for our lives and the lives of those we love. If you’re mad at God that you still don’t believe in him or for your loved ones’ lack of belief, realize that God is using this situation to grow you. We have to stop trying to control people’s salvation and start trusting that God has it under control.
We don’t control if a person goes to Heaven or Hell, God does. Stop trying to play God and embrace being a human.
I encourage you to spend time in prayer, reading God’s word, and surround yourself with other Christians, because when you believe in Jesus, you will have eternal life (John 3:16) and salvation from your sins (John 8:24).
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” John 5:24.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelations 3:20.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” Ephesians 1:18-19a.
Friends, Jesus is here knocking on your hearts. He will be coming back, and I pray that you let him into your hearts now and experience his freedom, love, grace, forgiveness, and redemption.
Would you like to know how to know God personally? Click to read more.
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Diandra Latibeaudiere
at (9 years ago)This is a wonderful blog. Spirit-led and well written. I am indeed proud of you and grateful to you for allowing God to use you as a powerful vessel. The best is yet to come dear.
All the best!
joypedrow
at (9 years ago)Thank you Diandra. I had a high school student ask me “How do you believe in God?” And that moment I knew I needed to write a post on the topic. We are glad to have you join the community!