At one point in your life your faith was strong. You trusted in God. You went to church. You read your Bible. You prayed for other people. But somewhere along the line, circumstances in your life have taught you that God cannot be trusted. You still believe in God, but you are struggling to believe in the goodness of God. 

I'm going to share five practical steps to help you restore your faith when your faith has gotten off track.

First, read faith stories in the Bible

I know what you're saying.  You're like, “brother Allen, that's the problem. I don't want to read the Bible.” But hang on with me! Romans 15:4 says such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us and give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. My friend, that is where you are today. You're waiting patiently and because God has not fulfilled those promises, your faith in God is slipping. So, I want to encourage you to read some of the Old Testament people like Joseph who spent 13 years of his life in prison before God would have him fulfill his purpose. Look at people like Naomi and Ruth who lost loved ones and had every reason to be disappointed in God, but God restored that and gave Ruth a husband whose name was Boaz. Look at David who said in the Psalms, "God why do you forget me?" Even though at one point in their life their faith was struggling, God brought them through every single time. My friend, when you read faith stories in the Bible it confirms in your mind, "Yes, God can do this for me because He has done it for people in the past!" 

Second, engage with other people of faith

You've got to get around people who are trusting God and have testimonies of what God has done in their life. Let me read to you Hebrews 10:25, which says, "And let us not neglect our meeting together."  Why? Because it says, "encourage one another especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." I'm going to tell you how this worked out in my life. I got married on my 40th birthday to the love of my life, but up to that point I was frustrated as a single guy. I found myself in a season where my faith started to slip. I still believed in God. I still went to church. But I was struggling to trust that God wanted the best for me. Well, I had a friend named Marvin. Marvin and I played chess together for years, and we were both single and we were well into our late 30s. One day Marvin met the love of his life. They got married. I was still left single. I could have really struggled to trust God. But when I saw how God blessed my friend Marvin, it gave me hope that if God can do this for my friend then God might be able to do something similar for me. When you put yourself around other people who have faith and trust God, it will encourage you to wait on God. 

Third, identify when your faith started to slip

I want you to identify what might be causing the block in your faith relationship with God. If you see somebody whose faith is struggling, it's typically because there was something that they expected God to do for them or there's something that happened in their life that didn't go the way they planned. It could be a loss. It could be a failed relationship. It could be some other circumstance going on in their life. I want you to go back to the place where you found your faith slipping and ask yourself this question: "Am I the only person that this is happening to, or is this just something that happens as a result of being a human being on this planet?" What right do we have to be angry at God and not have faith in God when the thing that we want is not something that He ever promised that He would give us in the first place?

Four, simply practice gratefulness

And you say, "Brother, I hear you, but that's tough for me because I'm not feeling God right now." Listen, what the enemy wants to do in your life and in my life is to get us to focus on the things that we do not have. When I was single, he wanted me fixated on the fact that I was not married and not be grateful that I had great health, I had a great family, I was used by God in ministry. I had all sorts of reasons to be grateful, but I wasn't practicing gratefulness because I was fixated on the one thing that I felt God wasn't doing. When you look at the nation of Israel in the Old Testament there's one major thing that kept them stuck in the wilderness for 40 years. That was mumbling. That was complaining. That was ungratefulness. So, my friend, if you want to be stuck in the same season that you're in, continue mumbling, continue complaining and continue being ungrateful. But if you want God to elevate you to the next season, practice gratefulness. 

Finally, develop a morning routine

I know what you're thinking. "Now brother Allen, that's the problem. I don't want to do the morning routine. I don't want to study the Bible. I have no motivation for it." Don't worry about the feeling, just develop a habit in your life. As you do it more, the feelings will come. Let me give you a very simple template. Wake up every morning and…

1. Confess your sin. Just let God speak to your heart of whether there's something in your life that you need to confess.
2. Pray for other people. That will help you get your focus off of yourself and on to other people so that you can intercede for them and not focus on your own situation.
3. Pray for yourself. Ask God for whatever it is that you're trusting him for and do not give up on prayer just because God has not done it for you yet.
4. And then finally, get into the Word of God. It could be five minutes. It could be a paragraph or a verse. 

That may take you 15 minutes a day.  Just start small by developing that morning routine to get your day started off on the right track and my friend, I can assure you that as you do those things you will connect with God.  

I forgot one - worship music

Put some worship music on and just meditate on the words of that song and what God means to you. It will help reconnect you with God so that your faith will be restored. 

So, my friend, if you're in a season where you're struggling to have faith and trust in the goodness of God, the good news is that it is just a season. There are some simple things that you have to do as a believer so that you can get back to trusting and believing and loving on the God who saved you.

Used with permission by Global Media Outreach from Allen Parr.  This article was first published as a video on The Beat.