Praying for faith

[nobody]

(I posted this in Scripture and didn’t get any response, so I’m trying here as well).

I struggle with doubts, and pray for an increase in faith. The following passage troubles me, because it makes me feel I am stuck in a Catch-22.

James 1:6-8
“But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways.”

If you are lacking in faith to begin with, and you pray for faith, you will not receive any because of your lack in faith???

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[Deacon_Tony560]

The section that you quote has to be understood with the previous verse that tells the people to ask God for wisdom. James is not asking for “Perfect Faith.” He knows that his church is struggling. James is saying that when we are in the midst of doubts and trials to hand everything over to God, even our doubts. I have simplified this to make it short.

 

[trliber8]

I am a teenager and I was suffering the exact problem. You just need to keep believing. I know that sounds corny, but that is exactly what faith is: perserverance.

Here’s an analogy:
Ever gone fishing? You know for a fact that fish are in that lake right? Even though you have maybe never seen a fish come out of the lake, you know they’re in there. How? Because of signs that said so or people that told you about ‘the 101 pounder’ they caught there. Do you see my point?

Obviously the fish are God, the lake is religion or spirituality, the sign that told you that you could fish there was The Word or The Bible, and the person telling you about the ‘101 punder’ could be me. I was sitting, fishing, seeing everyone catch their ‘101 punder’ and I wasn’t. I wanted to go home and quit. I didn’t and I caught my huge fish this Saturday at Mass.

Long story short: keep fishing, you’ll catch one. And once you find out what “bait” (or prayer) that works for you, you’ll want more and more.

 

[cardenio]

I’m in a similar position. What’s helping me is praying the Rosary in a different language. Because I hardly know what I’m saying and it forces me to trust that God gets what I mean, even when I can’t put it into words.

I discovered C. S. Lewis this summer. He says faith is different than reason. Reason is being told by a credible source that this anesthesia will work and you won’t wake up during surgery. The second they put the mask over your face and you freak out that maybe it won’t work - you have reason but you have no faith.

St. Augustine (as described in Sophie’s World - evil book, by the way) said that reason is like an arrow or an arm that will point you in the right direction. But like the arrow or arm, it won’t take you all the way.

I can’t tell if I’m helping or maundering, so I’m gonna shut up now…

By the way, trliber8 - hello to a fellow teenager!

 

[AsStAnselmPrays]

trliber8:

I am a teenager and I was suffering the exact problem. You just need to keep believing. I know that sounds corny, but that is exactly what faith is: perserverance.

Here’s an analogy:
Ever gone fishing? You know for a fact that fish are in that lake right? Even though you have maybe never seen a fish come out of the lake, you know they’re in there. How? Because of signs that said so or people that told you about ‘the 101 pounder’ they caught there. Do you see my point?

Obviously the fish are God, the lake is religion or spirituality, the sign that told you that you could fish there was The Word or The Bible, and the person telling you about the ‘101 punder’ could be me. I was sitting, fishing, seeing everyone catch their ‘101 punder’ and I wasn’t. I wanted to go home and quit. I didn’t and I caught my huge fish this Saturday at Mass.

Long story short: keep fishing, you’ll catch one. And once you find out what “bait” (or prayer) that works for you, you’ll want more and more.

Man, that is a PERFECT analogy. I’m a teenager too, and I love to see other teenagers show wisdom. Thanks man, I’ll be using this one…hope it’s not copyrighted!