Strengthen Your Faith in God
Simple ways to strengthen your faith in God help Christians who struggle. When facing desperate times, we turn back to God after leaving His embrace temporarily.
Living your Christian faith isn’t easy because evil is alive and well and usually captures you when life is good. What Christian hasn’t said, “I’ve got this” only to wander off course away from God when adversity strikes. Then you look for ways to strengthen your faith.
That’s what happened to King David, a man after God’s heart (I Samuel 13:14). He was on the wrong side of faith many times. Still, he remained devoted to God throughout his lifetime.
Strengthen your Faith: #1 Observe What David Did
King David is my personal faith hero regardless of the blunders he made. Sure, David slept with Bathsheba, another man’s wife. Rather than lounge about at the palace, he should have joined his men in battle. Yes, he messed up again by arranging to have Bathsheba’s husband killed. But eventually, David got back on track with God.
At another time in his life, Saul persecuted David’s every step in an attempt to assassinate him before he ever reigned as king over Israel. In I Samuel 19-24, David sought God’s counsel on what to do. He remained close to God and kept his heart tender. David had several opportunities to kill Saul but didn’t.
Many people believe David wrote Psalms such as 7, 27, 31, and 34 when running away from Saul and his men. The following phrases reflect how trusting God in difficult times became a way of life for David.
Strengthen Your Faith: #2 Live by God’s Words
- Psalm 7: In you I take refuge. God is my shield who saves the upright in heart. I will give the Lord thanks due to His righteousness.
- Psalm 27: The Lord is my light and salvation. The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Though an army encamps around me, my heart shall not fear. He will hide me in His shelter. He will set me high upon a rock. I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Your face Lord do I seek. If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage.
- Psalm 31: In you Lord, I seek refuge. You are my rock and fortress. Into your hand, I commit my spirit. I trust in You, My God. O how abundant is Your goodness that You have laid up for those who fear You. You heard my supplications when I cried out to You. The Lord preserves the faithful.
- Psalm 34: I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall be continually in my mouth. Look to Him and be radiant. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and rescues them from all their troubles.
Strengthen Your Faith: #3 Express How You Feel to God
Many times Christians are mad at God when life beats them up little by little. Trials and temptations pound away at faith lessening God’s importance. Then like David, these prodigal sons and daughters find their way home to God.
It’s easy during dark times to listen to other voices when there’s no visible light shining on your life. That’s why strengthening your faith in troubled times is important. You learn to choose God as your anchor so struggles don’t overtake you. As noted above, David kept his faith intact by writing heartfelt songs to God. You can do that too or post encouraging scripture in prominent places (your bathroom mirror, refrigerator, or bulletin board).
#4 Change Your Lifestyle
Cultivate faith in good soil by staying close to people who love you. Start each day reading the Bible, playing praise music, or downloading a Christian app to listen to encouraging devotionals and meditative scripture.
God’s Word is active and alive and the means by which faith grows. It’s comforting to know that Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to increase their faith in God. (See Luke 17:5-10). Even the people closest to Him struggled with faith.
Strengthen Your Faith: #5 Follow Jesus and Do What He Says
Jesus slept as a storm raged while He and the disciples crossed a sea.
His disciples panicked, woke Him up, and asked, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
Really? Jesus, the Son of God, is in their boat. Yet, they are beside themselves. Faith and hope disappear. He’s the same one they saw multiply bread and fish, heal incurable diseases, and raise people from the dead. Jesus asks them a probing, obvious question, “Have you no faith?”
I’ll admit. Most likely I would have responded as the disciples did. Like them, I know that people drown and boats overturn in killer storms. Then, I remember that Jesus stayed in my boat because the Holy Spirit took up residence in me when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. God promised He would never leave me regardless of the storm as evidenced by these scriptures.
Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Matthew 28:20 “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Those scriptures indicate you and I can trust God ALWAYS. When you live through hard times, ask yourself this question, Can I implement these 5 simple ways to strengthen my faith in God when my faith isn’t in Him but something else?