Romans 5: How to Grow Your Faith in God

What does God give you as the byproduct of your salvation? Peace, or tribulation? The answer is yes.

Romans 5:1 and 3 say, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance.”

Tribulation literally means “pressure.” The same word is used in the Bible for crushing grapes to get wine. God will bring pressure into your life to grow your faith, because without pressure, He cannot make you a strong saint.

The words “luck” and “fate” do not belong in a Christian’s vocabulary. Heartache, disappointment, and conflict may come from Satan or from God, but God is over it all. Satan brings conflict to cause you to stumble. God brings conflict to cause you to stand, and to increase your faith.

“For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). God is not trying to make you happy; He is making you holy. Do you want to know how to have solid faith? Temptation, testing and trials.

 We grow in faith as we persevere.

Romans 5:3 says, “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance…” The KJV says “tribulation worketh patience.” Patience means constancy and endurance. When the pressure comes, it reveals what you are made of.

How many want strength, victory, prosperity, contentment? You will never have these without constancy, endurance, and patience. There is no instant maturity. Salvation brings tribulation, and that is meant to teach perseverance.

Some people retreat from conflict or resent it. Others give in to despondency. God’s plan is for you to resolve by faith that you will follow Him. Faith is not as much about receiving from God the things you want as it is about accepting from God what He gives. Tribulation works patience. Don’t try to wiggle out of what God is doing to you.

Perseverance produces character.

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character…” (Romans 5:3-4a).

Reputation is what others think about you. Character is what God knows about you. The faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.

That is how you learn how much dross needs to be burned out of your life—the sludge in the gold ore. The times when you will grow the most, and increase in faith the most, are the times when you are going through pressure and sorrow.

God does not take away evil; He transforms it. God did not stop the crucifixion—He gave us Easter. God took Paul’s weakness and transformed it into strength. (See 2 Corinthians 12:9.) Job said, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).

They say the refiner knows the gold is pure when he can see his face reflected in it. God is looking for His character, His likeness, reflected in our lives.

Character brings about hope.

“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

Character will give confident hope. When the Bible says “hope,” it doesn’t mean “maybe.” This hope comes when you have been through the fire, and you know God has not failed you. Now you have faith that He will not fail you.

Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That is biblical faith. Hope is faith in the future tense.