what can you do to strengthen your faith?

Question

i go to church every sunday, i pray several times a day, but my hearts just really not in it. i'm trying to sooo hard... but i just don't really feel it. i'm just 15, so there's hopefully time. but a girl in my grade died last year... and i was just sorta thinking, you have to always be ready to go...

i'm not saying i'm only in it to go to heavan... it's just i want to live a good life. and build a relationship now.

Answer 1

The most important things you can do are to pray and to read a bit of the Bible daily.

I find the Christian media very helpful. Check out your church library or local Christian bookstore for books,music, and movies that focus on Christ.Also get a teen devotional book. The Alive series is good. I can't remember the name of the author. Point of Grace has a good devotion called Steady On.

Don't be too hard on yourself. None of us has perfect faith. We won't be perfect until we get to heaven.

I hope you have some Christian friends that you can talk to and maybe even pray with. That may sound scary now, but hopefully in a few years you can do that. My best friend and I started doing devotions and praying together when we were about 18 and it helped our faith as well as our friendship.

God bless you.

Answer 2

Although I have no religious views, I do respect those who do.

You sound very wise for your age to be thinking about your faith in this way.

Try not to worry too much about this because at least you are seeking understanding, and it is in the seeking where you find purpose and understanding.

Going to church and praying are good, but don't expect to come into understanding over night. Sometimes it takes awhile before you know things in a spiritual way as opposed to just an intellectual way.

Continue your journey for understanding and spiritual enlightenment, but don't put too much pressure on yourself to know and feel all there is to know and feel spiritually.

Life and faith are not like a math test you can study for and then take the test and pass. Life and faith are a never ending pursuit one should enjoy and grow from.

I bid you peace.

Answer 3

Your faith gets strengthened when you read and understand God's Word in the right context and according to the whole counsel of God's Word and then you put it into practice and see God bring results as you face various trials and tests that by faith and obedience you end up victorious in Christ our Lord.

At 15 you probably have to believe God for things other than food and work and a house to live in. What kind of church do you go to? Do you go to one where there are faith walking people and where God's Spirit is at work?

If you don't know for sure and you want to take 20 minutes to listen to the Pastor of such a church and compare what you hear on the Internet to what you hear at the church that you attend, then click on the My Pastor button @ http://web.express56.com/~bromar/ and either listen to the latest message or scan down the page till you see a description of one that peaks your interest.

Answer 4

Exercise you faith and it will grow. There are different ways to put your faith to work.

prayer- when you pray **talk** to God, just like you would talk to your best friend. And give him some quiet time to talk back.

fasting- not many people do this anymore it seems. Fast for a couple of days when you don't have to be in school.

Bible reading-- The Bible is God's message for us *today*. Read it prayerfully

Bible meditation-- Take a verse or passage from the Bible and spend some time thinking about about it.

Bible memorization-- Memorize some verses that have a particular meaning to you. During times of trouble these verses can be a comfort to you and you can use these verses to bring comfort to fellow believers too.

helping others-become involved in your church's outreach programs to the poor, homeless,elderly, ect. Think about ways to bless those around you. Maybe do something nice for your little brother/sister. Do things before your parents ask you.

Going through trials and temptations successfully. Trials aren't fun but they reveal our character to us and help us to grow at the same time.

Answer 5

You can't. Faith requires suspension of logic and reason. The more you study and think and learn about the real world, its history and how it functions, the less you'll be able to buy into what the professional priest class is trying to sell you. That does not mean that living a moral and upright life is not the most important thing in the world -- it is -- but you will likely eventually find that seeking it in religion or superstition is a waste of time.

Answer 6

Take a University level 'Comparative Religion' class. I did and it was amazing. There are a tonne of beliefs out there to consider. Your path is just that, yours. If is up to you to gather as much information and question it. You are right to question yourself, it's a good thing.

If nothing is working for you then beating yourself over the head with a Bible won't help. You will just become empty. You need to understand your faith from a larger perspective, perhaps a global perspective. Obviously your questions are not getting answered. There's a lot of answers out there. You don't need to stay in such a narrow view and let people dictate what you believe. Find out what you believe, there's a whole world to discover.

Answer 7

We all have a purpose in this life. You are trying so hard which is good, but don’t fake it, go by what your heart tells you. I know a lot of fifteen year old and believe me they don’t think about being good Christian; your worries only prove that you are on the right track. Just try to follow GOD’s rules. Be a good person, let your heart be pure, read the Bible. You will be fine, I will pray for you and please do the same for me.
God bless.

Answer 8

>what can you do to strengthen your faith?

Given that faith is already irrational by definition, I don't understand why you would want to strengthen it.

As a freethinker and an atheist, I don't have much experience with faith myself. All I can say is, if you want to strengthen your faith, try to think in the kinds of irrational ways that seem to support your faith. For example, when you see empirical, scientific evidence that suggests God doesn't exist, make sure you consciously reject it, telling yourself that the Bible is a better authority on the real world than the real world itself is. Make sure that you don't start relying on scientific facts, because when they start to contradict the Bible, it can tend to weaken your faith. You need to convince yourself that the logical principle of refining one's beliefs according to the evidence doesn't actually lead you to the truth, that you already KNOW the truth from your 2000-year-old book and that critical thinking only leads you away from God. In fact, try not to think at all, if possible. Instead, FEEL. When you think, you end up noticing things that show that God doesn't really exist. On the other hand, if you avoid thinking and simply feel, it can lead you straight to God. Convince yourself that your developing adolescent emotions are a better guide to what really exists in the Universe than hundreds of years of careful scientific research. Because that's what true faith is all about.

Answer 9

Faith doesn’t need to be strengthened. Faith is having confidence in something you are convinced about because it has worked for you in the past, like the faith (or confidence) I might have that my car will work today as well as it has yesterday.

Faith is weakened by poor performance and can only be regained after the performance is restored to what you need it for.

You are losing confidence in your Church's faith message partly because you find it hard to see how it relates to your everyday life.

This could mean that your minister is too lazy to do his homework and come up with messages that you can readily apply to your daily life. In your case, your youth minister is not striking a chord relating biblical teachings and principles that are relevant to your life.

Faith is supposed to be replenished by hearing the “word” in a context that makes daily sense to your life.

I’m guessing but I bet that if you approach your youth pastor he or she will dismiss your concerns with a broad recipe to simply “pray about it.” I would also venture to guess that they are not living the Word to its fullest potential since it is difficult to impart what you do not have to begin with.

Find another Church that has a thriving youth program or else you will grow to despise it altogether.

Or better yet, drop the fear based ideology altogether and learn how to find meaning in the beauty of life that is only limited by your own imagination.

Answer 10

it is not about going to church or praying to God. It is about finding God within. And when you pray, try being quiet. If you are in communion with God, then why are you doing all of the talking. Try listening. You sound very strong, dont give up hope. Try something different. Listen to God, learn to sit in silence try meditative prayer or contemplative prayer, those help a lot. Try to find God within, dont think of God as some far away in the sky "guy" who will only come to you when you ask. God is everywhere, including in you, and God is always there.