When I sat down to write Restoring Faith in Difficult Times, I was confronted with a sense of urgency. We live in perilous times and many are facing challenges because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

For babes in the faith, many thought, through believing in Christ, all of those difficult days would be no more. Even those mature in the faith become discouraged as they go through the challenges and difficulties of life. From time to time, no matter where we are in our faith, it is likely we will become discouraged along the way. However, there is hope, restoration, and an increase to our faith when we remain faithful.

For a moment, think about the most difficult challenges in your life that God has brought you through. For many of us, it increased our measure of faith. And as my step- dad once told me, “for the trouble He’ll give you double.” The story of Job, in the Holy Scriptures, show us what true faith looks like, and who is the Builder of our faith through challenging times. Job was a wealthy man and had a large family. Job was the type of faithful person that would pray over his children just in case they missed the mark with God. We notice through that story that God allowed Satan to send Job through trials that God knew would only increase Job’s faith! If you’ve read the story then you know that instead of cursing God he remained faithful after losing his wealth, family, and his good health. As a result of his faithfulness, God blessed Job with twice as much as he had before.

Paul was another person, who experienced hardships for his faith. As Paul writes in his second letter to the church at Corinth, he says, “For if I want to boast, I wouldn’t be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me, especially because of the extraordinary revelations. Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:6-9 CSB)

We see and we know that the devil will use pride, and the sinful nature of man and the desire to be glorified, to weaken our faith. The devil will use fear, discouragement, depression, and anxiety as well. Paul had his own afflictions that were being dealt to him, and though he pleaded for the afflictions to end, God responded; “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

For many of us that is good news. That is the Gospel. Restoring faith is realizing that you are the one, who God loves and has loved since the beginning of time. It is realizing that God is your strength and without him you are still weak on your own. It is realizing that all we could ever need is God’s grace in this life.

Go ahead take a breath… that’s God’s grace. Look around… that’s God’s grace. Say “Hallelujah!” that’s God’s grace.

Stay encouraged brothers and sister of the faith, rejoice always, pray continuously, and give thanks in everything (1 Thess. 5:16-18)!

Article by Kenneth Spresley