Will God ever give me the gift of a strong faith?

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Irishmom2 said:
He may “give” us troubles to strengthen our faith (which some see as testing)
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James chapter 1 assures us that God does not give us temptation or troubles. Every good and perfect gift comes from God! Testing, trials, come as a result of our own decisions, of original sin, and Satan does tempt us as well.

Blessed is the man who perseveres in temptation,* for when he has been proved he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.

* No one experiencing temptation should say, “I am being tempted by God”; for God is not subject to temptation to evil, and he himself tempts no one.h
Rather, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death.

* Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers:all good giving and every perfect gift* is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no alteration or shadow caused by change.i He willed to give us birth by the word of truth that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.*

 
TheLittleLady said:
James chapter 1 assures us that God does not give us temptation or troubles. Every good and perfect gift comes from God! Testing, trials, come as a result of our own decisions, of original sin, and Satan does tempt us as well.
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On the one hand, it’s true that all negative things in the world, such as illness, do stem from original sin. Some things may also stem from Satan’s temptations or our own choices, but for now let’s focus on the things that do not, the “life accidents”.

On the other hand, God allows us to face certain challenges in this world in order for us to learn from them or better serve his purposes. For example, Mother Angelica thought God had allowed her to become partly disabled from an accident for the purpose of her setting an example for other disabled people, to show that they could still accomplish things despite pain and disability. Obviously it was not her own choice to become disabled, it was an accident. Many years later, she was inexplicably cured of her disability and she believed the cure was by the power of God.

So, one can say her disability came from original sin in that without original sin, there would be no illness and pain. But God also allowed the condition to persist for his own purposes and then when it was his will, he took the condition away.

Bottom line is that God does “give” us challenges or “allow us to face” challenges, however you want to word it. The trick is to understand God’s purpose in doing so and even to come to see such undesirable things as good things.
 
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Jesus did not lose his faith. God did not tempt him, Satan did.
You still have not explained or cited where you got the idea that God takes the gift of faith away. As others have explained, it is not God taking anything away. It is our decision based on what happens in our life.
 
From the title of this post it implies you have asked God for faith? if so keep on asking. You remember the bit in the Bible where Jesus talks about persistence in prayer (Luke 11 5-13). Paraphrasing if you ask your neighbour for bread in the middle of the night by knocking on his door and he doesnt want to as his children are already asleep and he has locked up for the night but you insist as you have guests, he will give it to you not because of friendship but because of your nerve in asking. So Jesus tells you to keep on asking and reminds you that even us who are imperfect give each other good things, so just imagine what God who is perfect gives. God is our parent so he will give you what you need when you need it. He is perfect so he knows when to give the gift and how, you who are not perfect do not know when or how to get the give. Concentrate instead on being receptive because believe me the gift will not come as you expect it too. You will not wake up one morning and suddenly believe everything. I don’t mean to make you feel disheartened but all that is good (and God is good) requires sacrifice, so give up the idea of having everything at once and accept these things. One you are a sinner and that God does not owe you anything. This is not your life, it belongs to God. You are and will always be a beggar before God. You owe Him everything. ou an never repay this debt but you can love Him. The good news is He doesnt want anything you cant do, he wants you to love him. Start with prayer and He will take it from there. Oh and ask for faith hope and charity… and well yes add in some humility and patience because God’s time is not often instant 😃 . It can be if it’s what you need but not if it’s what you want. Only he truly knows what you need. We mix them up and honestly dont know which is which. God bless you
 
Irishmom2 said:
You still have not explained or cited where you got the idea that God takes the gift of faith away. As others have explained, it is not God taking anything away. It is our decision based on what happens in our life.
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According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, God can withdraw His gift of faith, but He would only do this as a punitive measure when someone had already withdrawn from Him. God would not withdraw the gift of faith merely to test someone.
From what has been said touching the absolutely supernatural character of the gift of faith, it is easy to understand what is meant by the loss of faith. God’s gift is simply withdrawn. And this withdrawal must needs be punitive, " Non enim deseret opus suum, si ab opere suo non deseratur " (St. Augustine, Enarration on Psalm 145 — “He will not desert His own work, if He be not deserted by His own work”).
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http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05752c.htm

However, God would certainly allow someone to be assailed by doubt stemming from original sin, Satan’s temptation and/or the person’s own choices, to see if that person stands firm in his faith or starts to waver or in the worst case rejects God over the doubt. God doesn’t create the doubts or negativity, but he allows them to occur/ exist/ happen. (And Catholics might say as shorthand, “God gives you doubts as a test” even though God didn’t really “give” us the doubt, it came from original sin, Satan etc and God is simply allowing it to be in the world. It’s similar shorthand as when we say, “I prayed to St. Basil” meaning that we asked for St. Basil’s intercession.)

If the person “failed the test” by succumbing to doubt and turning away from God - in other words, rejects God rather than praying for God to help their unbelief or continuing to persevere through the spiritual dryness - then God might respond by withdrawing his gift of Faith. Of course, if the person were to earnestly turn back to God, then God certainly might give His gift back to the person.
 
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Faith is strong after it has been tested. Are you willing to accept the tests that will come? My faith has grown as I’ve stood in an ICU and had the doctors say that my husband will die in two days.

He is still alive, doing well, but faces surgery and a heart transplant. Those will greatly test my faith, and sadly the Catholic hospitals in our Diocese no longer offer Mass on Sunday. It will be a very, very, serious test. Sometimes I long go to go back to that simple faith.
 
‘In God’s gift of faith, a supernatural infused virtue, we realize that a great love has been offered us, a good word has been spoken to us, and that when we welcome that word, Jesus Christ the Word made flesh, the Holy Spirit transforms us, lights up our way to the future and enables us joyfully to advance along that way on wings of hope.’ - Lumen Fidei by Pope Francis
 
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