Asking Jesus To Reignite Your Faith
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
Five and a half years ago, I landed in Israel for a 10-day trip full of mission and work and touring the Holy Land. I was super excited about those ten days, but I was also tired…and not just because I had been on an airplane for 14 hours. I was emotionally tired. I was mentally tired. And I was spiritually tired. I felt drained. And I was in desperate need for my cup to be refilled.
During one of our afternoons of touring, we visited the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall. It’s very common for people to write prayers and place them in the cracks and crevices of the wall. So I quickly pulled out my journal and scribbled desperately on a piece of paper. I wrote:
“Dear Jesus, please restore my faith in your faithfulness, compassion, love, and grace. Help me when I’m weak and doubtful to remember all that you’ve done, not just here in this country, but in my life and my walk with you as well. Ignite my belief and faith again, and help me to be a light for you so that the people around me can see your love.”
This prayer is one I go back to often because the Christian walk is not a steady, straight line. It’s a combination of ups and downs, mountains and valleys, peaks and pits. There are days when it’s so easy to trust the Lord and remember His goodness. But there are other days when you’re just trying to muster up an ounce of faith because doubt and disbelief are banging down the door of your heart.
When those tougher moments come, may our first course of action be to sit at the feet of Jesus. May we ask Him to restore our faith in His faithfulness. May we acknowledge our own weaknesses and doubts, and ask Him to help us focus instead on His love, His grace, and His truth.
May we not be ashamed or afraid to ask that He reignite our faith when we’re struggling to believe, and may we never forget not only what He’s done for us throughout our walk with Him, but also that He was thinking of us when He was nailed to a cross in Israel all those years ago.
It’s okay to admit you’re tired, friend. But you don’t have to stay that way.