4 Ways to Strengthen Your Faith During Difficult Times

1. Be in Community

One of the best reminders to strengthen your faith is to surround yourself with other like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ. As I mentioned above, tumultuous family relationships tested my faith at the beginning of my spiritual journey. If not for my church family's love, prayers, and support, I don't know if I would have survived that trial. I saw the tangible expressions of Christ in my life. I was flooded with cards, gifts, and people saying they were praying for me.

Additionally, a young family in the church had heard of my situation and offered to let me stay in their home. I lived with them for two years until I got married. This allowed me to continue with college and graduate. If it were not for that church family's love and support and willingness to say yes to God, I would not be where I am today.

We are not meant to do life alone. God Himself exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From Adam and Eve to the Apostles, no person in the Bible does life alone. Therefore, getting within a local church body and attending church regularly is important. Hebrews 10:25 tells us, "Do not give up the habit of meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day approaching." 

Being in community with other brothers and sisters in Christ will help us get through the difficult times. Above all, it will remind us that we're not alone and everyone is going through the same trials.

2. Pray

I know that sounds simplistic, but prayer is one of the most powerful weapons we can have when our faith is being tested. The enemy wants to tempt us to turn away from God and not pray. He may use our anger or sadness as a weapon to keep us from being intimate with God. Yet, it is in the trials that God wants to be present with us the most. God's desire is to walk with us every day of our lives. Even if you are mad at God because of your situation, sometimes the only thing that gets me out of bed is to know that I'm praying to the One who can do something about the situation. This gives me hope that at least I'm being productive by crying out to God. This may seem counterintuitive as we want to take matters into our own hands. However, prayer is perhaps the most productive thing we can do in times of difficulty. Pour out your heart and pour out your feelings. Allow the Holy Spirit to heal your broken wounds. God wants to be with us in our trials. But we must let him.

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3. Remember the Promises

In the Old Testament, people stacked rocks called cairns along their path as a memorial to remember what God had done. As the people walked along the path and saw the cairns, they would remember that God had been with them. Joshua 4 says, ""Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' Tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

Take a moment and remember all the ways God has been with you during your life. If you're having difficulty remembering, ask God to remind you of the small—and large ways—he has been with you. Are there times when God showed up in ways you never thought possible? When our faith is being tested, it is important to remember all the ways God is with us. Not only will this remind us again that we are not alone, but we will also know that God can be at work even when we don't see him or feel his presence.

Photo credit: © Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema

4. Love Others

In times of trial, looking inward and becoming selfish is easy. It's easy to focus on our difficulties and our circumstances. Yet, the antidote to selfishness is other-centeredness. Think about people who may have it worse than you. Are there people who are dealing with even worse circumstances? If you're unsure, scroll through your social media feed. There are always people who are dealing with worse trials than you. You may be having financial difficulty but consider the person who is suffering with cancer. The excruciating pain maybe at times more than they can bear. In what way can you be a witness to them and show them the love of God? When we take the focus off ourselves and place it on someone else in need, not only does it help feed our soul, but it also helps us be the tangible expressions of Christ that others are to us.

Times of trial are never easy. But when we live in community, remember all the ways God has been faithful, and take the focus off ourselves and love others, we find that trials become much more bearable. Not only this, but at the end of the trial we become more spiritually mature and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit through the Christlike character God wants for us.