Have you ever had one of those days where you’re just plain cranky. And your thoughts are running wild. You have negative thoughts, even downright nasty thoughts about your situation or about someone else. Then you catch yourself and wonder what is happening, and why you’re thinking this way. Why are my emotions having a field day! We’re reacting with anger or fear, and perhaps in that single moment, we’ve lost a little faith.

I’ve been thinking a lot about faith lately. Are we exercising our faith muscle enough?

Exercising Our Faith Muscle

We can get tired of hearing the same old song and dance about how regular exercise builds your strength, gives you stronger muscles, and provides stamina. We may get tired of hearing it, but we know it’s true.

Isn’t the same thing true about our faith muscle? Can we build it up and have strength and stamina to get through darker times? Yes, those times when negative, cranky thoughts are crowding out any good things in your mind.

I’m going through a time when I’m feeling weighed down and overwhelmed. And if I see or hear about another friend going through a difficult time and needing prayer I’m going to collapse on the floor and scream and cry and shout like a child having a tantrum. The weight of it all is too much. I can’t carry my own burdens and take on another’s problems, too. This doesn’t mean I don’t care about a friend going through a difficult time. I’m just feeling the crushing weight of it all.  Then my prayer list feels much too long, and I just want to shut everything out. Okay, I know that sounds selfish and I hate feeling this way. But this goes back to building our faith muscle. Maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to pray if I was exercising my prayer life on a regular basis.

Yep, we’re back to the analogy of regular physical exercise. Remember, when you first start exercising, you feel worn out, your muscles are sore, and you definitely do not feel energetic. It takes time to build up the stamina and to build up that muscle memory. And before long the endorphins hit, and you’re feeling strong.

Steps to Take

The same is true with our prayer life, isn’t it? It may take time to build up the stamina to pray, and to build the faith muscle. When it feels overwhelming, start small. Keep it simple. Here are ways to do this:

1. Ask God to watch over your friends and your family, and for those who are hurting. It doesn’t have to be a prayer that lists every single issue. Just pray sincerely and honestly.
2. Pray for the strength to help your friends and to help those who are hurting as best you can. God does not ask you to carry their burdens. He may only be asking you to pray. But only by praying and listening will we know what other action to take.
3. Don’t be afraid of “arrow” prayers. Arrow prayers are those you just shoot up to God during the day, right in that moment. A friend may have a prayer request, and as soon as you hear it, you throw a prayer up to God like shooting an arrow. When I first heard this term, it was said in a negative way. Like the prayer didn’t mean anything. Well, I disagree with that negative connotation. Stopping and shooting up a quick prayer is good. It keeps us talking to God throughout our day. Yes, it’s nice to have dedicated quiet time, where we can go deep with our prayers and our conversation with God. But it’s also good to keep that conversation going all day long. It reminds us that God is with us, always. And that can keep wayward, negative thoughts out of our minds.

After a while of daily prayer, the faith muscle will grow stronger and develop more. Soon, you’ll feel God’s strength flow through you, and that strength is what carries you through difficult times.

When life feels heavy, and you’re not sure you can shoulder one more bad thing, that’s when God is telling you to get on your knees and pray. Turn to Him at any time to find strength through Him and build that faith muscle.

He continues to walk by your side, whether you feel it or not, whether you ask for him to walk with you or not, He will be there. He’s there even in the middle of our cranky, wayward thoughts, or the situation that weighs us down.

On the hard days, take heart that He is with you and that He asks you to build up the faith muscle so together you can face whatever comes your way.

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from you. Do you have a dedicated prayer time? Do you pray all day long and shoot up arrow prayers?

Let’s encourage one another.