True faith is vital to a vibrant Christian life. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. But are your moments of deepest, most essential faith doomed to dissipate as quickly as they materialize, leaving you powerless and ineffectual? What would your life be like if you could harness the rush of faith that appears in the most desperate moments when you cry out to God?

Bible Gateway interviewed Shelene Bryan (@shelenebryan) about her book, Ridiculous Faith: Experience the Power of an Absurdly, Unbelievably Good God (Thomas Nelson, 2016).

Why did you select the word “ridiculous” as a descriptor of faith for your book’s title?

Shelene Bryan: The kind of faith I believe God has called us to is something totally different; it’s super natural from start to finish. It’s faith that does the impossible like move mountains and transforms the human heart. The dictionary defines ridiculous as “absurdly unbelievably good.” That’s the kind of faith God’s called us to.

Is fear the opposite of faith?

Shelene Bryan: You can’t have faith in God and let fear dictate your actions. Fear is a lack of hope and gives power to danger, pain, or a threat that doesn’t really exist.

God commands us to “fear not.” It’s not an option. And, most importantly, God is always faithful. We hear that “God is faithful” all the time, but what that means is that he is worthy of our faith. He will not let us down.

What is the act of having faith and why is it so important?

Shelene Bryan: Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we cannot see. Without faith we can’t please God.

What is a “mountain journey” and why is it needed in a person’s life?

Shelene Bryan: When I say “go the mountain,” I’m talking about following the example of Moses, who in the midst of the challenging, relentless assignment of leading his people to the promised land, took 40 days to go to the top of Mount Sinai to be alone with God.

That experience was life-altering and faith-exploding. The intimacy Moses experienced on the mountain with God gave him a ridiculous faith because on that mountain Moses “saw him who is invisible.”

If we want ridiculous faith, we need to find and climb our own mountains. The size and quality of our faith is directly related to how well we know God.

I had a “mountain experience” when I took my first trip to Africa alone without my husband. On that trip when I felt alone, when the fire-hose-pace-of-life stopped, I felt like I was able to listen to and hear God.

You write, “Most of us don’t put ourselves in situations that require real faith.” What do you mean?

Shelene Bryan: We need to start getting comfortable with God making us uncomfortable. We need to allow God to take us on uncomfortable journeys.

Did you know 18 percent of the world population does not have access to clean water? That’s 1.26 billion people who must hand-carry their untreated and often unsafe water in jugs, bottles, or containers to survive.

In 2013 only 12 percent of the world population had a computer and only 8 percent had an Internet connection. Does that surprise you? It surprised me.

Because we have running water, flushing toilets, constant reliable electricity, a computer, and a wireless connection, most of us never give a thought about those who don’t.

According to the Miniature Earth Project, if you slept in a bed last night, keep your food in a refrigerator, and keep your clothes in a closet, like I do, you’re richer than 75 percent of the entire world population. Yet we walk around saying things like “I’m broke.”

We should care about the poor for two reasons: first, it’s our responsibility as Christians to care for the poor. It’s one of the most common commands in the Bible. There are 168 passages in the Bible that reference the poor. Here’s one of my favorites:

“Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.” (Proverbs 28:27)

Second, a life only focused on material things will lead us to ruin. For some reason, having material riches tends to make us apathetic about spiritual things.

You speak of the rush of faith, but shouldn’t faith be more than an emotional feeling?

Shelene Bryan: Sadly many of us don’t really seek God until we are in a desperate situation. A near-miss auto accident, a cancer diagnosis, a family crisis, or other experience that threatens our lives often results in us crying out to God in faith. We start to pray. But, what if you could live your entire life with the clarity those desperate moments bring?

I’ve learned that that kind of lasting faith is anchored in our trustworthy God and His amazing commitments to each of us. Those commitments are promises from an unchanging God—promises that change everything.

How should a person use the Bible to strengthen her faith?

Shelene Bryan: The Bible is source of God’s commitments to us that empower faith. It contains his promises to us. Those promises change everything, but not if we don’t know them. Not if we fail to believe them and hide them in our hearts. Unwavering confidence in those promises changes uninspired belief into ridiculous faith.

True faith in our trustworthy creator can mend a broken heart. It can give us hope when we’re hopeless and strength when we’re weak. It can see our prayers answered. But it’s all dependent upon us putting his words in our mind.

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?

Shelene Bryan: I love Bible Gateway because now Scripture is accessible and instantly searchable to anyone with an Internet connection. Amazing tool. I use it all the time.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

Shelene Bryan: My book Ridiculous Faith is about experiencing the power of an absurdly unbelievably good God. I hope you’ll join me on the journey to ridiculous faith.

Bio: Shelene Bryan is the author of Love, Skip, Jump: Start Living the Adventure of Yes and the founder of Skip1.org (@skip1), a charity dedicated to providing food and clean water to children in America and around the world. She lives in Southern California.