As the new year rolls in, many believers are looking for ideas to go deeper in their faith. The question in our whispered prayers is ringing clear: Lord, how can I grow closer to You in the new year?

In this article, we'll explore 10 (ten) creative ideas for deepening your faith in 2026. As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in my office for my first 'official' work day of 2026 and - let me tell you - I need this post just as much as you do.

Recently, I've been experiencing my level of faith mellow out a bit. I'm not actively turning my back against God or choosing sin, but there are some places in my heart where doubts and uncertainties ring louder than Truth right now. So, join me and let's brainstorm 10 ways to keep ourselves drawing closer to Jesus this year.

10 Ways to Deepen Your Faith in 2026

New years' resolutions can feel icky, but there is something to be said about starting afresh and inviting a new perspective into everyday, boring life. I feel like we often forget to set goals for our faith-life. Most of our new-year energy is spent on fitness, friends, or even financial goals. But what about the area that matters most?

Here are my ten ways that I will keep in mind this year when I feel my faith wavering:

1. Remember the Gospel afresh (what is faith even?)

2. Try to read more of the Bible (faith is fueled by the Word)

3. Spend less time on social media (faith is focused)

4. Say 'no' to things that don't matter (faith embraces limitations)

5. Talk to a friend about Jesus (faith is communal)

6. Bring God into your home (faith is visible)

7. Spend time in God's Creation (faith is outdoors)

8. Take a step without knowing the end (faith is unseen)

9. Write in a faith-journal (faith becomes real on a page)

10. Sit in His presence more often (faith is felt)

Feel free to click on any point above to jump straight to it, or join me as I prayerfully contemplate each one below:

#1 Remember the Gospel afresh

Remembering what the Gospel is all about sounds simple.

I'll use myself as an example. I grew up in a Christian home with parents who still follow Jesus to this day. The Gospel has always been a part of my life. Sure, there were moments when I realized the depth of it for the first time or when some obscure thing became more meaningful as I grew up, but the whole thing about why Jesus came and the cross was not new news.

Yet it never gets old.

Just this past Christmas, we were standing in a local congregation singing old Christmastime hymns, when I suddenly felt tears stinging in my eyes. It hit me again that He came. He left His place, stooped down to our level, and walked with us to show us a Better Way.

So, for me at least, the first step to deepening faith is just to go back to the basics again. Faith can become this abstract thing and our spiritual journey can be so hard to quantify or measure, but this is it:

I hope that this year, we can come back to the cross more often. Back to this place where we REALLY see it - the sacrifice, the offering, the surrender - so that we can feel faith rise.

(what is faith even?)

#2 Try to read more of the Bible

Most of us start out the new year with the resolution of reading more of the Bible, but it never works. I've tried everything, all the reading plans, all the devotional booklet guides, all of it. Yet, every time, the Bible remains a mysterious, historic, collection of works that is confusing at best and leaves me frowning.

More often than not, I leave with more questions than answers:

Why is Jesus called the Son of David? How come God is never mentioned in the Book of Esther? Why was Enoch taken into Heaven?

Don't get me wrong; I LOVE the Bible. But there's a deep ache inside me that I must admit is often left unfulfilled. Look at this beautiful quote that I scribbled in the front of my own Bible:

I know this feeling well. I have felt it. But I don't know how to have this guaranteed epic encounter every single day as I read the pages - but I do know my chances of finding Him there are bigger than elsewhere. So could we, just for the sake of Truth and Discipline, read more of the Bible this year?

May our hearts come to know the language of Scripture and understand the One speaking them.

(faith is fueled by the Word)

#3 Spend less time on social media

What does spending less time on social media have to do with faith?

Well, for me it's about focus. If we become what we behold, I wonder what staring at the lives of other people makes me. My aim is to grow into a person of love who lives near Jesus, and so I want to (want to) eliminate distractions from that.

What is keeping you from pleasing God? What is stealing your attention and time?

Realistically speaking, I do not spend all the time that would have gone to social media, now reading the Bible, praying, or worshipping with music, but I live more present.

As I prepare dinner, single-tasking, not thoughtlessly scrolling; I become aware of the aromas, the herbs, the textures, and I thank my Provider for the meal.

After work, when my brain is tired, I don't fall down and mindlessly scroll, looking at the lives of others; I become still, away from screens and devices, with a cool drink, and let the Silence wash over me.

I just feel like there's more space for Him this way.

It's probably not permanent, but right now at least, I feel the need to focus in and eliminate distraction.

(faith is focused)

#4 Say 'no' to things that don't matter

How can we be awake to God's presence if we are constantly available to everyone at all times?

In my favorite podcast series, Fight Hustle End Hurry, by Jefferson Bethke and John-Mark Comer, they talk about this. Saying no is not really acceptable nowadays and we always have to be 'on'.

It's taken me nearly thirty years to learn how to say no without feeling guilty. If this is not for me, I don't need to feel ashamed or lie to you if I don't want to make plans. If God is calling me to something specific - and I believe He is calling out to you too - everything else is secondary.

Most often, when our faith feels weak it's not when we have lots of time on our hands and are kind of bored. It's when we are too busy that we shove Jesus aside.

But He should come first and we only have so many hours in each day. If we cannot notice Him and intentionally make time in our busy schedules for Him, there's too much going on.

Put something down. I already cancelled two things this year because they are not serving my calling and I hope to continue to say 'no' in 2026, so that I can say 'YES' to what He has for me.

(faith embraces limitations)

#5 Talk to a friend about Jesus

I live in South Africa, but even here, we have adopted such a Western view of what it means to be a Christian. What I mean by that is that it's all individualistic. Faith becomes more real when it is shared, and talking to a friend about Jesus usually leaves me feeling surprised and refreshed.

When we feel low this year, I pray that we will:

• invite somebody over for dinner

• share our testimony

• go on a walking-date with a friend

• send somebody a voicenote

• call someone (yikes, phonecall anxiety is real)

• if using social media, actually use it to connect

Jesus chose twelve friends to walk with and realistically speaking we can only keep that many relationships healthy. Consider who your ten to twelve people will be this year? Who can walk with you? Who can pick you up when you fall down?

(faith is communal)

#6 Bring God into your home

Bringing God into your home goes beyond praying 'Holy Spirit, You are welcome here'.

I wrote a short contemplative guide on it:

• Move your Bible to a visible spot

• Move things that distract you from spending time with God out of eyesight

• Get rid of bad books, TV shows

• Replace wall art with things that prompt praise

• Write down 5 places where you feel at peace? What do all of these spots have in common? Is something present in all of them (like nature or plants), or is something missing from them (like wifi and devices)?

• Who is God to you right now?

• Sometimes we know Him as a protector and a Father. Other times we know Him as a friend. He is either a soft whisper or the roar of a lion. How can you capture who He is right now in your home?

• Imagine Jesus walking in your front door… Become still for a moment and actually imagine what He would do. Where do you think he would sit down? What would He gravitate towards? Remember, He is loving, gracious, compassionate, and kind.

• By only reading the Bible in bed we connotate the Word with sleep - and that often means we are barely awake when we read it. But it also means we kind of separate the Bible from our real lives. Where else can you read your Bible in your home? Where do you feel like you can read your Bible?

• Is everything pointed at the TV or are you able to have a conversation with family as well? Can you look your people in the eye and connect with them? What is your furniture pointing towards?

• You might want to replace some altars in your home or create a new one. Write down what you will do, when you will do it, how you will do it, and why you will do it.

• What is 1 manageable thing I can do today?

(faith is visible)

#7 Spend time in God's Creation

Spending time outside is probably the quickest way to wash our minds off the world's ideas and drench it in our God's glory instead.

I've been thinking about why the Bible begins in a Garden. God plants a Garden. Adam and Eve lives in... a Garden. Nature is not just a by-product of God's plan or the "set"; it's the backdrop but also a crucial element of existence.

Consider the passage below:

Sometimes we forget what a mountain looks like. So, we make mountains out of silly things like relational drama or financial worries or work deadlines. But go spend ten minutes in nature, gaze up at a mountain, and feel how small those problems become. When everything feels overwhelmingly big, go sit in nature and become small again. We serve a Big God.

(faith is outdoors)

#8 Take a step without knowing the end

This one is a little bit harder but true: Faith is taking a step into the unknown. So if I want to deepen my faith this year, I might need to get out of my comfort zone. Actually, scratch that - I will definitely need to get out of my comfort zone.

The popular Bible verse about faith from Hebrews 11 says:

It's easy to live in the realm of what we can see and touch. Faith is the moment where we move beyond that.

• What is your impossible dream job? Could you send them your resume?

• What is your dream of a restored family situation? Could you live as if it's already true?

• How can you "live by faith and not by sight" - as the old song goes?

(faith is unseen)

#9 Write in a faith-journal

I love writing in a faith journal because it allows me to see my faith grow and deepen.

It’s easy to forget where we’ve been. We forget our prayers, the things we asked for, and we never thank God when He comes through. We forget Sunday’s sermon and don’t realize when the same verse comes up again and again. We forget what happened last month and last year, and so we don’t see a pattern when it appears.

Deuteronomy 6 verse 12 warns us: “Be careful! Don’t forget the Lord. You were slaves in Egypt, but he brought you out of the land of Egypt.” 

This Scripture indicates something profound: The Israelites could forget Egypt. They could go on with their new life and forget how far the Lord has brought them - they needed to remember Him!

Revelation 12 verse 11 also confirms this idea: “They defeated him [the accuser] by the blood sacrifice of the Lamb and by the message of God that they told people.”

Another translation says, by the word of their testimony. Our God-words can help us defeat the enemy when he comes like a roaring lion, threatening to swallow us whole. Sometimes, we cannot see God’s goodness in the moment. That’s when it helps to page through old journals and proclaim: My God is real and He is here.

Simple ideas:

• Write down some faith Bible verses

• Do a daily list of 5 things you're grateful for

• Write down your prayers

• Reflect on the month

• Go Deeper with the Beginners ($3) or Extended ($5.5) Faith Journaling Printable Workbooks

(faith becomes real on a page)

#10 Sit in His presence more often

All of this sounds like a lot of work and my Type A brain is feeling tired just thinking about it, so let's not forget what God wants from us: Relationship.

One day, when I was doing the kids service at our church, one of the kids interrupted a lesson by blurting out, "But teacher, why can't I SEE God?" The other kids nodded their heads in agreement and surprise, "Yes, why can't we see Him?" "If God IS real, like you say He is... Where is He?"

I probably blushed and looked to the ground. They had a good point. So then I whispered a prayer in my heart. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind rushed through our gathering space, catching everybody by surprise. And I remembered a story I heard a long time ago.

"Did you feel that?" I asked the kids, some of whom were still curiously eyeing me and contemplating this existential and theological can of worms they opened. They nodded and commented about the chilly breeze that swept through just now. "How do you know the wind is real? You can't see it? Where is it now?" They nodded, the older kids already understanding where I was going...

Then the wind rushed through again and rustled the leaves of a tree behind our group. "We can see the effect of the wind", I said whilst thanking the Holy Spirit for this divine teaching opportunity. "So yeah, sometimes we cannot SEE God - but when we become very quiet and we look around us, we can see Him at work. In people, in everything, in hope."

So, if all else fails this year, and you do not experience your faith deepening despite 'doing all the right stuff', try just sitting with Him. Come to the feet of Jesus, dwell in His presence, and abide.

(faith is felt)

Closing reflection & prayer

After all of this, I hope you feel encouraged and inspired with new ways to seek Jesus this year.

May you continue to abide in the Vine, drawing closer to Him with each day that goes by. May you live in the shadow of Him, where there is freedom, healing, and fullness of life. Amen.

P.S. Before you go, consider if there's something else that you'd add to this list? Place it in the comments below and let's encourage one another to go deeper in our faith in 2026.