Having worked on a dairy farm at a younger age I was assigned to take care of the newborns; the calves. And like newborns of all of God's creation they were born equipped with all the equipment they would use later in life, legs, eyes mouth, teeth, stomach, etc.. But being newborns even the simpler things like legs were difficult for them to use. They had them, they just didn't know how to use them. Shaky, wobbling, kicking downward in an attempt to do something resembling walking, usually falling over letting out a high pitch, saliva filled moo, (sounded more like "maaa" to me).

  Faith is very similar. When we are born again we are given an allotted measure of faith (Romans 12:3) which is part of the gift of salvation from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). But like newborn calves trying out their new set of legs, we fall a lot when we try to walk by faith. We have faith, we just need to grow in it. It's also important to understand as I wrote about in my previous chapter that having doubts does not indicate an absence of faith. Faith is rooted in our spirit, doubt is rooted in our flesh.

  The Bible talks a lot about growing in faith, (2 Cor. 10:15, Rom. 4:20), Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians talks about giving them milk to drink and not solid food as they were infants in Christ and not yet able to move beyond (1 Cor. 3:1,2). Take note however, even as infants, they were still "in Christ". Even without growth they were still covered with the righteousness of Christ.

  One part I hated when taking care of calves on the cow farm is for the first few weeks of their life they had to be bottle fed milk. That's not the part I hated, that was cute. But since the calves were taken away from their mothers immediately after birth they were not taught how to drink from a nipple, they were utterly helpless (pun intended). If the calf would not drink it then it had to be force fed. That's the part I hated. I had to take a bottle and run a 2 foot tube from the bottle down the calf's throat and into his stomach. I didn't like it, and from the faces I got from the calf, neither did they.

  My point here is Christ is both the author, (the creator, originator), and perfecter of our faith. (Heb 12:2) He will not abandoned you (John 6:39). And if need be, I am confident that he would even shove a tube down your throat. And if you're in the state of mind I was in (having a hard time trusting God), you are delighted at the fact Jesus is willing to do that.

  For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. - Philippians 1:6