How to Have Faith in God During Difficult Times

What happens to your faith when life gets hard?

Maybe you are going through a difficult marriage, raising a rebellious teenager, or struggling to make ends meet. Even if you are a Christian, we shouldn’t be surprised when trouble comes our way. Jesus said that in this life we will have tribulations. It’s not something we should be surprised by. Life will consist of sunny days, but the rain will fall sometimes, and sometimes major floods will come and shake the foundation of our lives!

So, what do we do when storms come? For example, how do we show up to work when we’re dying inside or respond lovingly when we’d rather scream at someone? The first thing is to consider what you have built your life on. Storms will reveal the foundation of your life, whether it’s stable or unstable.

Matthew 7:24–27 reminds us that storms reveal what we’ve built our lives on. A firm foundation is built upon a Biblical faith that consists of a relationship with Jesus, a life rooted in God’s Word, prayer, obedience, and trust during life’s ups and downs.

Key Takeaways

Here are three ways to have faith in Christ so He can become the foundation on which we build our lives, especially when everything around us is shaking and swirling.

1. Understand your faith will be tested and tried

James 1:2–3 says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” That means that the very thing you’re asking God to remove may be the very thing that will strengthen and increase the faith you have.

Remember when the Apostle Paul asked the Lord to remove a thorn in his side three times, but God refused to do so? In 2 Corinthians 12:9, the Lord told Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This means, we can’t always escape difficult situations or expect a positive result when we face challenges. But we can trust God even when we can’t control or understand the outcome and experience joy and His power during the process!

2. We can learn more about God in a storm than we can when things are pleasant

If we never go through a storm, our faith would never grow but would remain stagnant. In difficult times, we learn how faithful God is. He becomes our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. In murky waters, we understand that He will sustain us when we can’t see what’s in front of us.

The good news is that storms produce a faith that says, “I know God will bring me through this because He’s done it before!” That’s a testimony you can give to others when their faith is being tried and tested, because if He did it for you, He can certainly do it for them!

3. Storms require us to examine any sins or weights that are hindering our faith walk and look to Jesus for help

Hebrews 12:1–2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.”

These verses let us know we each have a responsibility to lay aside anything that hinders our walk with Jesus. When we’re tempted to sin, we look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, to help us. If we fall into sin, we look to Jesus, repent, and turn our lives around with the help of the Holy Spirit. When we’re tempted to quit, we continue to look to Jesus.

As we continue to look to Him, we’re building a foundation that’s unshakable in good times and bad. This week, think about how you are doing at building your faith. What does your relationship with Jesus look like? What do your spiritual disciplines look like when your days are calm and when they are rocky?

This means we pray when times are good and when times are bad. We read Scripture when there’s a crisis and when there’s not. We fast when everything is going smoothly in our lives, and we fast for others when they are going through a crisis. We attend church and serve others faithfully when we would rather stay home or attend another event.

And when we do, we start shoring up our foundation in Christ, so when storms come, we will be able to stand firm and secure in any situation with the joy and peace that only the Lord can provide!

Want to go deeper?

Watch Pastor Teresa's message, Unshakable Faith: A Firm Foundation on YouTube.

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