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Faith is something that many people have and many people cherish; it is something that you should seek to have, in fact it is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ so it is something we need to have because it is hard to do much without it. That being said I am not here to tell you what you should have faith in or what church you should join, that is a conversation you should have with God [1] not some random guy on the internet. What I am here to give you advice on is how to maintain and grow your faith because I can speak with a bit more authority on that subject, but more importantly I hear all the time, both online and off, stories of people who feel like they are loosing their faith despite wanting to keep it and I've come to the realization that I have not done enough to help these people get themselves back on the right path and I felt inspired to write this as a first step to me committing to help people with this struggle.
James 2:20 reads, "Faith without works is dead." This is a verse familiar to many as it is used to demonstrate how faith is a hope which pushes us towards action, that action of course being to keep the commandments of God and to serve Him (often through serving others), but today I'd like to take a look at this verse in a slightly different light, or at least different from what I am accustomed to.
If faith without works is dead then it requires works to keep our faith alive. In other words, if you want to keep your faith you have to do something. Attending church weekly is a great first step, but in a world with 24/7 stimulation from all kinds of distractions it is simply not enough. We should be conversing with the Lord in prayer and studying His word daily. As you do this there may be other things that you feel inspired to do to come closer to Christ, do those things as well. I can testify that daily prayer and scripture study will strengthen your faith and it will rescue you from temptation. Set aside time in your day to feast on the words of Christ and make a habit of praying when you wake up and before you go to sleep. We cannot rely on the faith of others to get us through these trying latter days, we have to do something to keep our own faith alive.
[1] - James 1:5