The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6:13 : Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Mark 11 22-23 says: “Have faith in God,”Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.” Keeping a strong faith in God is really important so this a list of some of my favorite and most effective ways to prioritize my faith.

10.) Watch videos

Sometimes when I’m bored I like to watch Christian videos on my phone. I have an app called BibleProject that has lots of different videos about the Bible that help explain a lot. It also has weekly playlists and video “classes” made by Bible scholars. Also on Youtube, people put together long videos of a bunch of different funny Christian TikToks that I like to watch too.

9.) Read devotional books

I have a variety of different devotional books but the one I read the most is written by teenagers for other teens to read. I think what they write about is pretty relatable and can be helpful for many different situations you might face.

8.) Read my Bible

Honestly, it can be really hard to find the motivation to read my Bible, but after I do, I feel a lot happier. I got a Bible in a year checklist from Hobby Lobby and even if you don’t finish in a year, it still feels really good to check the boxes for each chapter you read. I also have Bible highlighters and pens that I really like to use and they also give me some motivation to read.

7.) Going to church

I have a hard time paying attention at church for some reason but I still love going and I look forward to it every week.

6.) Read/write in my prayer journal

I don’t write in my prayer journal very often anymore, but I used to a lot. Sometimes I like to read my old prayers because I love to see what prayers have been answered and how far I’ve come since then. I want to start writing in it again but sometimes I’m just tired at the end of the day and don’t feel like writing.

5.) Going to Sunday school

My church isn’t very big but before every service on Sundays, we have Sunday school. The adults go upstairs, and the kids and teenagers split up downstairs. The lady that does the teens lesson is named Darlene and her faith inspires me so much. Her lessons are really good and I really love to get to church early enough for Sunday school.

4.) Youth retreats

In the past year I went to two different youth retreats. The first one we just call “the castle.” You stay in a big castle (its more of an old mansion type of thing than a castle) for the weekend. The girls sleep on the top floor in rooms with the other girls from your church and the boys sleep in the dungeon downstairs. The other retreat is Footsteps where you stay at camp Mission Meadows and stay in a room with a bunch of other people. The boys and girls are obviously separated, but I didn’t know anyone there except for my brother and his friend. Both retreats were really fun and definitely strengthened my faith. On Saturday night at both retreats there is a really powerful service or talk followed with other activities that include a lot of tears and prayer. At the castle, we even played hide and seek in the dark and there was a gym where we played games. I would definitely go back again, and I recommend it for any teen.

3.) Youth group

Every Sunday night we have youth group at my church. We play games like four square, basketball, football, and board games, and then we have about an hour lesson/discussion. I love going to youth group and my pastor always makes sure the discussion is relatable to most teens.

2.) Listen to worship music

I listen to worship music all the time. I feel like it has a lot of good reminders and can be motivating or bring me a lot of peace. A lot of people think that Christian music is boring, but really what that tells me is that they didn’t put in the effort to look for any. When it comes to worship music, there’s really something for everyone. There’s probably thousands of Christian songs that aren’t just slow and boring like a lot of people think.

1.) Prayer

Prayer is so important. Lately, I’ve been watching so many prayers get answered and it has really strengthened my faith a lot. Prayer also brings me a lot of peace and I can really feel God’s presence. I’ve also been working on trusting in God’s timing and plan and praying that even when things get crazy, I still take the time to slow down every day and just be grateful and recognize God’s movement and work he is doing in my life.