Prayer for Faith

The Prayer for Faith belongs to a long tradition of Christians bringing their struggles with belief directly before God. Unlike many theological virtues that may grow gradually through discipline and practice alone, the New Testament consistently frames faith as something ultimately given by God rather than generated by human will. This creates the distinctive posture of the prayer — asking for the very thing one is attempting to exercise. The foundational cry of the prayer — "I believe; help thou mine unbelief" — comes from Mark 9:24, one of the most transparent moments in the Gospels. A father has brought his demon-possessed son to Jesus after the disciples had failed to heal him. Jesus questions whether the father has faith; the father's reply is neither a confident affirmation nor a defeated admission, but a genuine paradox: he believes and yet knows he does not believe enough. Jesus heals the boy anyway. This exchange became one of the most beloved and frequently cited passages in Christian devotional literature precisely because it captures the actual experience of most believers — faith that is real but incomplete, trust that coexists with doubt. Hebrews 11:1 offers the New Testament's formal definition: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The Greek word translated "substance" (hypostasis) carries the sense of a firm foundation or underlying reality. The verse teaches that faith is not mere wishful thinking but a present apprehension of realities that lie beyond ordinary perception. The chapter that follows this definition, often called the "Hall of Faith," surveys the great figures of the Old Testament — Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses — all of whom acted on the basis of promises not yet fulfilled in their lifetimes. Romans 10:17 grounds the growth of faith in a specific means: "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Paul's argument in Romans 10 concerns the proclamation of the gospel, but the principle has always been applied more broadly in Christian devotion. Faith is not cultivated in isolation from Scripture; it is fed, nourished, and strengthened by the living word of God encountered through reading, preaching, and meditation. This is why the great spiritual directors of every era have prescribed regular, attentive reading of Scripture as the primary discipline for believers who wish to grow in trust. Ephesians 2:8-9 provides the theological foundation that shapes the entire prayer: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." The exact referent of "that not of yourselves" has been debated — whether it refers to faith itself or to the whole process of salvation — but the dominant Reformed and many Catholic interpreters have held that both the grace and the faith through which it is received are ultimately divine gifts. The prayer is therefore not presumptuous but theologically coherent: one asks God to give the very faith by which one approaches God. The history of Christian prayer literature includes numerous expressions of this petition. Augustine of Hippo wrestled deeply with faith and doubt in his Confessions, ultimately arriving at the conviction that God had been at work in his seeking long before he turned toward God. Thomas Aquinas taught that faith is a theological virtue infused by God rather than acquired by human effort, though it must be freely received and actively exercised. John Calvin devoted extensive attention in the Institutes to the nature of faith, defining it as "a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit." In the Reformed and Puritan traditions, praying for faith was understood not as a contradiction but as the very exercise of whatever faith one already possessed. The act of asking God to increase faith is itself an act of faith — a reaching out toward God on the basis of His promise to give good gifts to those who ask. The Eastern Orthodox tradition has a parallel emphasis in the prayer "Lord, I believe; help Thou my unbelief," which appears in Orthodox liturgical texts and is frequently commended to those experiencing spiritual dryness or doubt. The prayer is seen not as a crisis of faith but as an honest posture before God — one that He honors. Martin Luther, in his sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, observed that the disciples' request to Jesus "Increase our faith" (Luke 17:5) showed that genuine believers are those most aware of how much their faith falls short. The prayer for faith is thus, paradoxically, one of the most mature prayers a Christian can pray.

The Prayer for Faith is best approached not as a formula to recite but as an honest conversation with God about the actual state of your trust in Him. Begin by reading Mark 9:14-29 slowly, placing yourself in the position of the father. His cry — "I believe; help thou mine unbelief" — may already feel like your own. If it does, let it become your opening word to God before moving into the fuller prayer text. As you pray, be specific about the areas where your faith is weakest. The prayer acknowledges doubt without excusing it; following this model, name the particular promises you find hardest to believe, the circumstances that have shaken your trust, or the prayers that have gone unanswered and left you uncertain. Bring these directly before God rather than praying in vague generalities. The petition drawn from Romans 10:17 — that God would plant His word deeply — carries a practical implication. Pair this prayer with a commitment to regular Scripture reading. Many Christians find that praying for faith alongside daily Bible reading creates a cycle in which the reading feeds the prayer and the prayer opens the heart to receive what the reading offers. For those in seasons of acute doubt or spiritual crisis, this prayer may be prayed very briefly — simply the cry of Mark 9:24, repeated as often as needed. The brevity is not a diminishment; it is the prayer in its most essential form. Pray this prayer also for others. "Lord, increase the faith of [name]" is a legitimate intercession, grounded in Jesus' own prayer for Peter: "I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32). The prayer is suitable as a morning prayer before the day's challenges, as an evening reflection on the day's moments of trust and doubt, and as an immediate cry in moments of sudden fear or discouragement. It requires no particular posture, setting, or length — only honesty before God about the gap between where your faith is and where you long for it to be.