I'll be honest with you: there are days when I feel like I'm swimming upstream in a raging river. The culture around us seems to be moving further and further away from biblical truth, and sometimes I wonder if I'm fighting a losing battle. Maybe you've felt this too. Maybe you've looked around at the moral decay, the rejection of God's design for family and sexuality, the mockery of our faith, and thought, "How do I keep my faith strong when everything around me is pulling me away from God?"
I've wrestled with this question more times than I care to admit. There have been moments when I've sat in my study, reading the news or scrolling through social media, and felt my heart sink. It's easy to get discouraged when it feels like the whole world is going ungodly, isn't it?
But here's what I've discovered through years of ministry and my own spiritual struggles: there is a simple trick to strengthening your faith in an ungodly world. It's not complicated, but it does require consistency. And the beautiful thing is, it works every single time.
The Foundation: It's All About Connection
The simple trick isn't really a trick at all: it's about maintaining your connection with God when everything else is trying to disconnect you. Think about it like this: when your phone loses signal, you don't throw it away. You find a way to reconnect. The same principle applies to our faith.
When Daniel found himself in Babylon, surrounded by a culture that opposed everything he believed, what did he do? He prayed three times a day with his windows open toward Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10). He maintained his connection with God despite the hostile environment around him.
I learned this lesson the hard way. Several years ago, I went through a season where I was so busy fighting cultural battles that I forgot to nurture my own relationship with God. I was preaching every Sunday, leading men's groups, writing blogs about standing strong in faith, but my own prayer life had withered. My Bible reading became perfunctory. I was running on spiritual fumes, trying to give what I didn't have.
The result? My faith felt weak. Doubt crept in. I started questioning whether any of this ministry stuff was making a difference. Sound familiar?
Prayer: Your Spiritual Lifeline
Here's the first and most crucial part of strengthening your faith: pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). I know, I know: you've heard this a million times. But let me share what this looked like for me when I finally got serious about it.
I started my day with prayer before I even got out of bed. Not some eloquent, perfectly structured prayer: just honest conversation with God. "God, I'm tired. I'm discouraged. The world feels dark, and I need Your strength today." Sometimes that's all I could muster, and you know what? That was enough.
Throughout the day, I began what I call "arrow prayers": quick, desperate pleas shot up to heaven. Stuck in traffic and feeling angry? "God, help me have Your patience." Seeing another headline that breaks my heart? "God, Your kingdom come." Facing a difficult conversation? "God, give me Your wisdom."
Prayer isn't just talking to God: it's acknowledging His presence in every moment. It's admitting we need Him more than our next breath. And when we do this consistently, something supernatural happens. Our perspective shifts. The problems that seemed overwhelming start to look smaller in light of God's greatness.
Anchoring in God's Word
The second part of this simple formula is staying rooted in Scripture. But here's where I had to be honest with myself: I wasn't just reading the Bible; I was studying it like a textbook for sermon prep. I wasn't letting it speak to my soul.
I changed my approach. Instead of reading to find material for my next sermon, I started reading to find God. I began each day with the Psalms because David knew what it felt like to be surrounded by enemies. His raw honesty gave me permission to bring my own struggles to God.
"How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?" (Psalm 13:1). David felt forgotten by God sometimes. So do I. So do you. And that's okay.
Then I'd read from the Gospels because I needed to see Jesus. I needed to remember how He responded to opposition, how He loved His enemies, how He maintained His peace in the storm. When Jesus said, "In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33), I let those words sink deep into my spirit.
The Power of Community
Here's something I used to undervalue: the importance of surrounding yourself with other believers. I'm naturally an introvert, and there were times when I thought I could go it alone. Big mistake.
When Daniel faced the lion's den, he had three friends who had already proven their faith in the fiery furnace. They strengthened each other. "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion" (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).
I started being more intentional about connecting with other men who were serious about their faith. We met for breakfast once a week: nothing fancy, just honest conversation about our struggles and victories. We prayed for each other. We held each other accountable. We reminded each other of God's faithfulness when our memory got fuzzy.
If you don't have this kind of community, I encourage you to seek it out. Join a men's group at your church. Find other believers in your workplace. Don't try to navigate this ungodly world alone.
Practicing Gratitude in Dark Times
One practice that completely transformed my perspective was cultivating gratitude, especially during difficult seasons. I know it sounds simple, almost cliché, but hear me out.
When I'm focused on everything wrong with the world, I lose sight of God's goodness in my life. So I started keeping a gratitude journal: nothing elaborate, just three things each day that I was thankful for. Some days it was big things: my family's health, God's provision, answered prayers. Other days it was small things: a good cup of coffee, a text from a friend, a beautiful sunset.
This practice didn't change my circumstances, but it changed my heart. It reminded me that even in an ungodly world, God's blessings are everywhere if I have eyes to see them.
The Jesus Filter
Here's something else that's been game-changing for me: when I encounter worldly pressure or ungodly influences, I ask myself, "What would Jesus do in this situation?" Not the sanitized, Sunday school version of Jesus, but the real Jesus who overturned tables when necessary and spoke truth in love even when it was unpopular.
Jesus lived in an ungodly world too. The Roman Empire wasn't exactly a bastion of Christian values. Yet He maintained His connection with the Father through prayer, stayed grounded in Scripture, surrounded Himself with disciples, and never let the darkness extinguish His light.
When I'm tempted to respond to cultural opposition with anger or despair, I remember how Jesus responded to His enemies with compassion. When I want to isolate myself from the mess of this world, I remember how Jesus engaged with sinners while never compromising His holiness.
Consistency Over Perfection
Here's the thing about this "simple trick": it's simple, but it's not easy. It requires daily commitment. There are days when I don't feel like praying. There are mornings when reading the Bible feels like a chore. There are times when I want to skip fellowship and just stay home.
But I've learned that my feelings can't dictate my spiritual disciplines. My faith isn't strengthened by grand gestures; it's built through daily choices to connect with God regardless of how I feel.
I'm not perfect at this. I still have days when I forget to pray throughout the day. I still struggle with doubt sometimes. I still get discouraged by the state of our culture. But the difference now is that I have a strategy, a lifeline that consistently draws me back to God.
Your Next Step
So what's your next step? Start today. Start small. Choose one area: prayer, Bible reading, or community: and commit to consistency for the next week. Don't try to overhaul your entire spiritual life overnight. Just take one step toward strengthening your connection with God.
Maybe it's setting your alarm five minutes earlier for prayer. Maybe it's finding a men's group to join. Maybe it's starting a gratitude journal. Whatever it is, start today.
The world isn't getting less ungodly anytime soon. But that doesn't mean our faith has to weaken. We have access to the same God who strengthened Daniel in Babylon, who sustained Paul through persecution, who raised Jesus from the dead. That power is available to us today through prayer, Scripture, community, and consistency.
Remember, you're not fighting this battle alone. God is with you, other believers are walking this path alongside you, and together we can stand strong in an ungodly world.
The simple trick isn't really a trick at all: it's a relationship. Nurture it daily, and watch your faith grow stronger even as the world grows darker.
Soli Deo Gloria, Pastor Jody