What happened? You used to believe God for anything. People would even come to you and ask you to pray. But lately, you feel like your prayers are going up as far as the ceiling and just staying there.

Everyone has times of doubt. But there are things we can do to help in those times. Here is how to grow your faith when it seems so small.

God tells us we are to love him with all of our hearts. And that’s what we used to do. But somewhere along the line, we got away from that. Maybe it was the cares of this world or disappointments we experienced. Somewhere we noticed we were loving him with half of our hearts. Just like this song, from Nathan Peterson.

And yet, it’s possible to get back to where you were. You can rekindle what you had. And faith that seems to dwindle can be ignited again.

Remember

Remember when you first fell in love? You wanted to be with that person, talk to him/her all hours of the day. They were all you thought about.

You could not know enough about them and with each new piece of information, you just fell more and more in love. It’s the same thing with God.

From the first time I heard I could have a personal relationship with God, I was interested in knowing more. And the more I knew, the more I loved God. Knowing that he loves me totally, just the way I am.

That truth slipped into my heart in a way I almost can’t describe. You see, I had never known that kind of unconditional acceptance before. Someone who knew me completely, warts and all, and still accepted me.

We need to remind ourselves of that. When you’re married and you’re going through a rough patch, it helps to remember what initially drew you to your husband/wife. Because somehow those things get clouded when we go through hard times.

God loves us completely. And we need to reflect on that truth whenever things seem otherwise.

Fight lies with the truth

God often tells us how important other relationships are. One reason is when one person is down, the other can help them back up. God talks about this in Ecclesiastes 4:9–10.

We were made to relate to one another. But sometimes when we are going through a hard time, we try to hide it. We isolate. And that just makes it harder to remember when the enemy of our soul whispers his lies.

Lies like:

God doesn’t care about you. If he cared, this would not have happened.
God has other things to worry about. You are not that important.
This happened because God is punishing you.

None of those things are true. God cares about us so much that he actually has counted the hairs on our heads. God cares so much about our character that he allows difficult things, even disappointing things to happen so that we can grow our faith.

A ship’s strength is tested when it goes through storms. Our faith is tested when we go through trials.

As far as God having more important things to worry about than you, that is also a lie. God tells us in 2 Peter 1:4 to cast our cares on him, because he cares about us. The enemy doesn’t want us to trust God. He loves it when our faith wavers.

And the idea that God allows negative things in our lives to punish us is also not true. Read Romans 5:1. There is NO condemnation. Even when we do things that are wrong, God’s Holy Spirit gently points those things out. Sin is what Jesus died for. When Jesus became sin for us, God looked away. That’s when Jesus called out,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” God took his wrath out on his own Son.

God doesn’t condemn us.

The only way we will be able to recognize and refute lies is if we know what is true. It’s vital that we get into the Word when we feel wobbly in our faith. Another way to get truth into our hearts and minds is to look at truth in the old hymns.

Get a hymnal

Maybe you’re in a place where you just can’t get into the Word right now. Try reading Psalms. There you’ll discover you are not the only one who knows God and struggles. Psalms is a wonderful place to read.

Get your hands on a hymnal and read some of the old hymns. Or sit and sing them if you know them.

If you are struggling with believing that God is faithful, look at the words to Great is thy faithfulness. This classic hymn talks about all God has created, and how he has always been faithful to us. God doesn’t change. He’s immutable. We can trust that.

If you feel that others have let you down, you’ll resonate with the words to the song, Jesus Never Fails. It says, “Heaven and earth may pass away, but Jesus never fails.”

When you get caught up in the problems of this world and you feel overwhelmed, reflect on the words to the hymn, Coming Again. This hymn reminds us that Jesus is coming back. It may be morning, it may be noon…but he’s coming soon.

People love the praises we sing in church, and they are beautiful, but there is something special about hymns and how they minister to our hearts.

Pray

When you feel like you’re not growing, or that you are slipping down, pray.

God is always listening for our prayers. Just like a parent cares for their children, God cares about us. He waits patiently till we call on him. He’s patient. After all, he has all the time in the world.

And when we do come to him, he doesn’t say, “Well, it’s about time.”

No. He’s glad that we realize he holds the answers to any problems we have. He cares more than anyone else ever could.

Look up

The sky is immense. And our Father made that sky. He hung every star in place and even named them. Read Isaiah 40:26.

Our perspective changes when we look up at a sky full of stars. We see how small we are in comparison with the universe. And yet, though we are small, to God we are significant. Not because of who we are, but because of whose we are.

God made us in his own image.

We are of value to God. And it’s not for what we do either, it’s just because we are his creation.

So when you feel stagnant, or in need of a growth spurt, just remember as long as we are breathing in and out, we can grow our faith. And love God with our whole hearts. The very hearts he made.

What about you?

Do you find there are times when you feel distant from God?
What things have you found helpful?
I’d love to hear from you.

Photo Credits
Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Katherine McCormack on Unsplash
Kyle Gregory Devaras on Unsplash

Previously published on Publishous