How do I believe without wavering?

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ArtwithHeart said:
After moments like this, I get mad at myself and feel unworthy to talk to him.
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God wants us to talk with Him, right? So it is not He Who thinks you are unworthy to talk with Him. Who could it be who wants you to stop talking with God?

Tell God you are sorry when you lose your temper with Him, just as you would with a friend.

And try to thank God more.
ArtwithHeart said:
But how do I make sure I´m not treating God as a genie?
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End your prayer with “Thy will, not mine, be done,” then follow up the saying with acting as if everything depends on you.

I imagine if you think your father has always failed that you might feel unsure that you can achieve success. Ask God for help with this, that He find and send a solution for you.
ArtwithHeart said:
I want to have the humility of Saint Martin de Porres. But I also fear of the trials God will have to give me.
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To have the good things you want will take time: have patience. Trials will also come to you, but God will always be there to lend you strength when you need it.
 
I feel this way a lot. I converted from a Protestant background, and I could never figure out what I should do if I didn’t “feel” faithful. My best friend leans more Pentecostal, and he is blessed with the ability to always be excited for God and it just seems like I’m less emotional so I often despair because I feel nothing when I think of God. I even have times where I can’t feel happy about heaven because even the thought of being with Jesus doesn’t cheer me up. When this happens I pray and pray but sometimes God doesn’t help me. While I can tell myself facts about Christ and His mercy, it’s like my emotions won’t follow, which leads me to worry that I don’t have faith.

One day I was in the chapel praying the rosary and God revealed something to me. When I pray the rosary, I read a short Bible verse dealing with the specific mystery before each hail Mary. I don’t remember which mystery I was on, but I read John 15:10 for the hail Mary:

10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

I’ve said that verse so many times, but since then it has stuck with me. Even today after work I was feeling down and thinking how I can’t seem to feel faithful and worrying, but I prayed to God this prayer:

“Lord, I can’t control how I feel, and even though I can recite facts about you to myself, I can’t seem to feel it. From now on when I feel like this, please know that I will continue to live faithfully outwardly to show you I love you…even when I can’t feel love. This is how I will show you I love you and I still have faith. If you will give me the emotions, that would be cool,but if not I’ll still act on faith no matter what.”

I hope this helps you.
 
It is entirely possible that all of the answers I am about to type out will be obsolete by the time you read this, because of something else you have read that has helped to shape your beliefs or some other reason but I think I can help you grasp and define these things a bit more concretely. I’ll try to number my paragraphs to directly respond to each of the 7 primary paragraphs you’ve presented so you can easily see the context of what I am saying.

[1] To have faith is to believe and (metaphorically) be grounded like a tree or sign - when the wind blows it may bend a little, but it does not move much and almost always returns to its original position. Look at what the Lord tells the father of a child who has a spirit: "Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” (Mark 9:23-25 NKJV) Don’t let this “I believe; help my unbelief!” deter you or confuse you, this is a man who came to Jesus hearing that he performed miracles and had hope that Jesus would help his son, this man had enough faith to bring his son to Jesus for even the possibility of being healed (as we all bring ourselves to Jesus hoping that he will heal us), and then Jesus very frankly tells him to believe more, because there is doubt in his heart. So what does the man mean by the “help my unbelief”? He is admitting he is weak, he is admitting there is doubt that troubles him but he has also showing that he believes in the help Jesus offers and so in one act cries out “I believe; help my unbelief” - and from that is the basis by which Jesus heals his son and from the healing of his son, the father leaves with his son having a much more grounded and deep belief, therefore a deeper faith.

[still 1] This leads up to your question about asking without wavering. The simple answer is “if you ask then you have not wavered” because your faith carried you to ask. You may have some doubt but the essential aspect of the issue is that you asked even though you had doubt (which means that the doubt wasn’t enough to stop you). Once again, look at the verse I quoted above, where the man says “I believe; help my unbelief” - he has doubt but that doesn’t stop him from asking. Eventually, you will be able to put your doubts to rest as you gain knowledge so do not stop seeking.
 
[2] Mark 11:24 is focused on the idea that you are asking the God of creation for something. I have heard there are a list of requirements for this particular method to legitimately work (just look at James 4:3 as one such requirement). I am actively afraid of telling you how this can work because you may try it and it may not work for you and you’ll say “that guy was full of bologna”. I am aware that this puts me in a pinch. So be aware, I don’t have perfect knowledge about this, only my own experience. My experience is that if you ask God for something and you believe he will provide it, then it will be provided (or the need of what you asked for will be taken away) even if it isn’t in your time frame although there are times when it does feel like I haven’t gotten what I felt I needed.

[3] In regards to Elijah, it should be noted that many of the prophets that God chose did not raise their hand super fast to get their mantles. They were normal people (for the most part) but it was the grace of God that allowed them to stop even their smallest sins. I recall a day where I asked God to rip the clouds from the sky and so I went to my class for an hour and a half or so, and when I came out later I noticed that it looked as though the heavily cloudy day had been raked by a massive hand as though. There was another day just last year at work where I was praying from a place of anxiety and asked God to shine his light on me and I had to grab a box; and to grab that box I had to stand at a certain spot; and that certain spot was lit up by the sun shining through the window that was normally closed; and so I took my phone out and took a picture of the sun that turned out beautifully. If you wish to be like Elijah and to attain the miracles that he performed then chase after God and seek out his knowledge and follow what God has declared is good and stay away from evil and be merciful to all even as Jesus was merciful and when the day comes that you must ask God to bring down a mountain, He will do so.

[4] Elisha stuck to Elijah like glue. It was Elisha’s zeal that allowed him to ask for a double portion but it was not Elijah’s choice to grant such a thing, but Elijah (being influenced by the Holy Spirit) told Elisha “if you see me taken up to heaven, you will receive what you ask” (read 2 kings 2:8-14).

[5] “*When you stand praying, burdened with many sins and overpowered with despair, begin to pray with hope, with a fervent spirit, and remind yourself that ‘the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered!’ (Rom 8:26). When you remember with faith this action of the Spirit of God within us, then tears of of emotion will flow from your eyes, you will feel in your soul peace, sweetness, justification, ‘and joy in the Holy Ghost’ (Rom 14:17) and you will cry in your heart, 'Abba, Father!” ~St. John Kronstadt, My Life in Christ page 125
 
[6] Perhaps it is wise to think of God like genie. In confession, God merely asks us to confess our sins and He is the one who blots them out. In prayer, we make our petition in words, it is God who contrives the action of those words in the world. God has only asked us to help the people we can help as though we are all brothers and sisters, especially when we are moved to compassion. Perhaps it is wise to treat God like a genie. Perhaps it is wise to turn to Him at every minor bruise and scratch to scream for help. God is both Father and Physician in the Bible, a Father that gives good gifts and a Physician that heals sickness and injury; if we as a parallel are children who hide our wounds and do not cry out at every turn at the pain, then how can we receive that blessing from our Father who will calmly say “its okay, its okay, I’ve got you” - such a blessing can strengthen us later in life so that when we are adults, even painful looking cuts may have no genuine pain because we are so comforted by the Father and know how easily healed by the Physician we are. These are interesting aspects of God to play around with and I wholly suggest that you think about the parallels of the Father and us the children and how we may hide our wounds from God the Physician and what that might entail. I think it entails the beginning of resentment of some kind towards God but this is not a fully explored conclusion so it is prone to increased error.

[7] Don’t forget, God made you. When you pray then consider His ears open; if you wish to hear Him, ask everyday. The more you trust that God will contrive things to work in your favor and in other people’s favor, the more humble you will be. How can you grow your trust for God? Ask more from Him and if it feels like He hasn’t delivered then ask more. The trials might be hard but God will help you.
 
Thank you very much. Your words, and everyone who has responded has comforted me. I’ve seen all of the responses here and I am very thankful. At the end, I know that I’m the problem. But for God, nothing is impossible. I know He can fix me. And I know He exists. The whole creation screams it and I’ve felt the Lord before when I was praying the Rosary. But it was when I was much smaller, more innocent, and it was so much easier for me to believe in His power. But in times like this, I feel like he is trying me too hard. Me and my family. I need to change my stubbornness and grow in humility. Thank you ALL very much. And thank you.
 
You know what, we all have moments where we seem to have little faith. This cannot be helped. How you react to it can be helped. If you accept that you will have these moments and continue holding onto to faith in God then they will hit you less severely.

The “Dark night of the soul” often describes a period of time when you feel like God is nowhere to be found. Saints, such as Mother Teresa of Kolkata, experienced this, in her case for decades. In these times you must hold onto God, no matter how bad it is.

When you doubt, simply sit down and say “Jesus, I trust in you!”.

May you find peace.

IC XC NIKA
 
Even the saints have periods of doubt. You’re in good company. As she was dying of tuberculosis at age 24, St. Thérèse of Lisieux wrote about her difficulties in her memoir “Story of Soul.”
The trial did not merely last for days or weeks. As I write, it has gone on for months and still I am waiting for relief. I wish I could explain what I feel, but it is beyond my power. One must have passed through the tunnel to understand how black its darkness is.
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When we make acts of faith without “feelings” that is how we grow spiritually. God knows when to let up and what we need. Cling to Him in faith and you will be blessed.
 
ArtwithHeart said:
In the bible, Mark 11:24, it does say, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe you have received, and it will be yours.” How do you do that? How do you believe? And is it really that easy? I’ve never heard Catholics talk about this verse.
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Since it’s you asking for understanding .
without Judging … I discern that
You come across as one whose Faith is weak at best… … if at all.

Consider two groups during the days of Jesus.

Not just a few who’d heard Him Speak … instantly believed Him … and others did not.

Some of the latter had no faith in GOD to begin with - and Hated Him.

And Faith itself - divided those who were then in touch with God’s Holy Spirit aka The New Way

Today… for starters - one must seek to get to Know Jesus to the best of their ability…
Go to the Source - Him - in the Gospels and as reflected in the rest of the NT

and from that - if one is seeking w/an Open and Honest Mind and Heart - one can gain Faith

IF one’s merely seeking Faith so as to Ask God for this or that . one’s already walking the wrong way
 
The only thing Jesus promises is eternal life - someone seem to think there is perks in believing and they will gain materially .

You pray for spiritual help not for houses, girlfriends, good jobs and cars although others will argue that. If your in it for material gain you missed the boat.
 
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