Best Christian Books on Faith: 10 Classics on Trusting God
If you want one book on faith, read C. H. Spurgeon's All of Grace. It is short, plain and warm, and it answers the question most people are really asking: what is faith, and how do I get it? If you already believe and want to learn to live by faith day to day, read Hannah Whitall Smith's The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life. If you want to see what faith looks like in a real life, read the story of George Müller.
The old writers spoke about faith in a way that is easy to say and hard to learn. Faith is trust. It is not a feeling, and it is not a good work we offer to God. It is leaning your whole weight on Christ and on His word. They loved to say that faith is only the hand that takes the gift, so you should look at Christ, not at your faith. And they were sure that real faith never stays idle. It rests on God's promises, it obeys, and it works by love.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
Here are ten of the best books on faith in TheWay Library, all free to read, ordered so you can start simple and go deeper.
Start here
1. All of Grace, by C. H. Spurgeon
Spurgeon says on his first page that the aim of the book is the salvation of the reader. He starts with God who "justifieth the ungodly," then explains grace as the fountain and faith as the channel, what faith is, why God chose it, and how to answer the cry, "I can do nothing." It takes about three hours.
He comes, not because we are just, but to make us so: he justifieth the ungodly.
All of Grace, chapter 3
See our All of Grace summary, its best quotes, and what it means to be saved by grace through faith. Read All of Grace.
2. According to Promise, by C. H. Spurgeon
A smaller and less known Spurgeon book, and one of his best. The first half uses Ishmael and Isaac to sift real faith from its imitations. The second half is about the promises themselves: whose they are, how freely they are given, and how to plead them in the day of trouble.
Many unconverted men have a belief which is similar to faith, and yet it is not true faith.
According to Promise
3. The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life, by Hannah Whitall Smith
For believers who trust Christ for heaven but not for today. Smith's whole book rests on one line: our part is to trust, and God's part is to work. Then she takes the common troubles one at a time: no feeling, a will that seems unchanged, the habit of doubting, and what to do after you fail.
It is not the feelings of the man God wants, but the man himself.
The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, chapter 7
It also appears in our guide to the best Christian books on holiness. Read The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life.
Faith explained from Scripture
4. Faith, by James W. Alexander
Sixteen sermons from a Princeton-trained pastor in New York, published after his death. They move in order: the nature of faith, its object, justification by faith, union with Christ, how faith grows, how it works by love, and the joy it brings. Plain teaching for a reader who wants the whole picture.
Here we see the infinite importance of union with Christ.
Faith, Treated in a Series of Discourses, chapter 6
Read Faith, Treated in a Series of Discourses.
5. Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews, by H. C. G. Moule
A short, warm walk through Hebrews, with two chapters on the heroes of faith in chapter 11. Moule's cure for weak faith is always the same: look again at Christ.
The remedy is Christ; a deeper, fuller, always maturing sight of Christ.
Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 3
Read Messages from the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Faith lived out
6. George Müller of Bristol, by Arthur T. Pierson
Müller cared for thousands of orphans without ever asking anyone for money. Pierson's biography, drawn from Müller's own journals, shows how he read the Bible, how he prayed, and what happened when the money ran down to the last penny.
We are to argue our case with God, not indeed to convince Him, but to convince ourselves.
George Müller of Bristol, chapter 10
See Who Was George Müller? and George Müller on prayer and faith. Read George Müller of Bristol.
7. A Retrospect, by J. Hudson Taylor
Taylor's own short story of learning, before he ever sailed for China, to move people through God by prayer alone. The episode of his last half-crown is here. About three hours.
How important, therefore, to learn before leaving England to move man, through God, by prayer alone.
A Retrospect, chapter 3
See Hudson Taylor on faith and money and our guide to the best missionary biographies. Read A Retrospect.
8. Unfailing Springs, by J. Hudson Taylor
A single address on Jesus and the woman at the well. Taylor notices that Jesus says "whosoever drinketh," not "has drunk." Faith is a habit of coming, again and again. You can read it in half an hour.
The habit of coming in faith to Him is incompatible with unmet hunger and thirst.
Unfailing Springs
Taking God at His word
9. The Future Tenses of the Blessed Life, by F. B. Meyer
Eleven short addresses, each on one of God's "I will" promises in the prophets. Meyer's point is that we pray a great deal and claim very little. More of Meyer is in our F. B. Meyer books guide.
We do not enough distinguish between praying and claiming by a simple faith; but there is a wide difference between the two.
The Future Tenses of the Blessed Life, chapter 9
Read The Future Tenses of the Blessed Life.
10. El-Shaddai, by A. B. Simpson
A one-hour address on the name God gave Abraham: the God who is enough. Simpson calls faith the pull that brings a person back into the orbit of God.
Faith is the law of spiritual gravitation which brings man back to God and swings his life into the orbit of trust, fellowship and obedience.
El-Shaddai
More to explore
Faith and prayer go together in almost every one of these writers, so our guide to the best Christian books on prayer is the natural next step. If your trouble is less "how do I believe?" and more "how do I know I'm saved?", go to our guide to Christian books on assurance.
Where to start
- Not sure what faith is: Spurgeon's All of Grace.
- Believing, but anxious and tired: Hannah Whitall Smith.
- Wanting the doctrine: Alexander's Faith, then Moule on Hebrews.
- Wanting to see it in a life: Pierson on Müller, then Hudson Taylor.
More books are on the faith topic page.