Can't Believe in Jesus?  Understanding Saving Faith as a Gift from God

God's grace offers saving faith as a gift, not a human achievement.

### Finding Faith: Resting in God's Gift
* 🙏  Struggling with faith despite two years of trying, the individual feels beyond saving and hopeless.
* 🤔 The speaker suggests this struggle might be God's way of highlighting our inability to produce faith on our own.
* 🎁 This inability to self-generate faith is presented as a gift, revealing our utter dependence on God.
* 📖  The speaker references Ephesians 2:8-9, emphasizing that salvation comes through grace and faith, a gift from God, not our own efforts.
* ✝️ The individual's struggle is reframed as a demonstration of their spiritual death, inability to self-save,  making them realize their need for God's grace.
* 🙌 The speaker encourages resting in God's grace and accepting salvation as a gift rather than an achievement.
* 💝  The core message is to stop striving and receive God's gift of faith, emphasizing the act of receiving, not producing, faith.
* 🙏 The speaker concludes with a prayer for the individual to receive this gift of faith from God.

I've concluded that I don't have saving faith. I've tried to believe in Jesus for two years, but I can't. I fear I'm beyond

saving. What can I do? Well, it may be that the Lord has put you in this situation, that is, withheld from you the kind of faith

that you're looking for—saving faith—in order to make you feel absolutely desperate. Not everybody is given the

privilege of realizing they can't produce their own faith. You have that privilege. That may sound strange; take it

as a gift. You have been given the gift that many people—they're sometimes hurt—don't realize: we cannot produce

faith. If we have genuine faith, it's a gift. The Bible says that very clearly in Ephesians 2:8-9: we are saved by grace

through faith, and that not of ourselves; it's the gift of God. You know that now, I hope you do. I mean, I hope you realize

you are absolutely, radically, deeply, powerfully dependent on God to give you faith. Maybe your statement that you're

trying to believe means you don't believe that. You think it really is your job, ultimately, finally, to do it, and

maybe I could relieve you of that burden. You are commanded to believe; yes, you are. You're responsible to believe, but you

can't believe. You're dead. You know that better than anybody. Maybe my telling you this would be the

means by which God would say, "I have, for the last two years, tried to make crystal clear to you that you are dead in your

trespasses, and you can no more get up on your own than a corpse can get out of the coffin."

I would like now to invite you to rest, to stop trying, and to just rest in me. I did it all for you. I went to the cross

for you. I will give you now the Holy Spirit. Rest in me. Trust me. It's a gift. You can take a gift; you can receive a

Gift? It's not something you do, you receive. May the Lord grant you to receive this gift.

What Do I Do If I've Tried to Believe In Jesus but Can't?

Most people in the world have no experience of lasting joy in their lives. We’re on a mission to change that. All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. 

Learn more at https://desiringGod.org.


Desiring God

The individual has tried to believe in Jesus for two years without success and fears they are beyond saving.

God may withhold faith to create a sense of desperation.

Not everyone realizes their inability to produce faith; this is a privilege.

The inability to produce faith is a gift, highlighting dependence on God.

Ephesians 2:8-9 emphasizes salvation through grace and faith, a gift from God.

The individual is radically dependent on God for faith.

Trying to believe may indicate a misunderstanding of the role of faith as a gift.

While commanded to believe, the individual's inability stems from spiritual death.

Resting in God's Grace and Receiving the Gift of Faith

The speaker encourages resting in God, acknowledging Christ's sacrifice.

Faith is presented as a gift to be received, not earned.

A prayer for the individual to receive the gift of faith.