The Bible says in Colossians 2:7, “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness” (NLT).

How does God grow a strong faith like that?

The first way God grows your faith is through his Word. He wants you to know the Bible—to read the Bible, listen to the Bible, study the Bible, memorize the Bible, and talk about the Bible. Why? Because God’s Word says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17 NKJV).

If your faith is weak, you’re likely not in the Bible very often. But the more you’re in God’s book, the more it will feed your soul. God’s Word is soul food, and spending time in it is the easiest way to grow your faith.

The second way God grows your faith is the hard way—and that’s through circumstances that test you. While you may read the Bible only a little bit each day, you have things happening all around you 24 hours a day. Your circumstances are what God most often uses to grow your faith and build your character.

Faith is like a muscle. You don’t grow muscle without some sort of resistance. The only way you grow a muscle is by stretching it, testing it, and putting weight on it. The same is true with faith. You don’t grow faith just by sitting around and saying, “Oh, I want more faith.” Faith needs to be tested. So God allows circumstances in your life to build your faith muscle.

Because God cares so much about your faith, you can know that he will always answer this prayer: “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5 NIV). Make that your prayer as God grows your faith through his Word and through circumstances that test you.