(Photo grabbed from: https://pixabay.com/photos/desert-drought-composing-dehydrated-279862/)
Have you ever felt your prayer life seems meaningless or your devotional life seems fruitless?
Are there times you feel like the passion and desire you have for God has grown smaller?
Do you feel like you are disconnected from God?
Do you find yourself longing for God to visit you once again and bring refreshment?
If your answer from the above questions is YES, maybe you are in the season that is usually referred to as "spiritual dryness".
"Spiritual dryness" or "spiritual drought" is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a believer. During these times, the enemy will try to convince us that we are all alone in this unseen battle. However, I think that this is a normal experience we all encounter. It's just that some people do not like to talk about it that much because they think that it will make them appear less of a Christian somehow, or maybe they are afraid to be judged rather than to be helped.
I have to admit that I go through this season quite often.
Let me share my story with you.
At one point in my life, I can say that I was really "on fire" for God. These were the times that I was really active in our community — CFC Youth for Christ. I've been a member for about 10 years, but I actually felt the "dryness " on the latter years of my service.
I shared my faith. I invited people to join us. I was excited. I was always present in households and assemblies. I felt the presence of God through worships. I have my own prayer time and my prayers were very passionate and specific. I prayed believing that God would actually answer me. I was convicted about the sins in my life. But somewhere along the line, my fire eventually went out.
Attending households and assemblies turned burden rather than a blessing. Prayers appeared to be shallow and shorter. Prayer time seemed to be off. Worships felt like a ritual. And undoubtedly, it became easier to sin without any conviction.
These things did not happen overnight. It happened over time.
I have no idea why. I have no idea when. I have no idea how.
Spiritual drought, though a persistent and unwelcome visitor, is not something with which we must constantly live. Yes, this may happen to each and every one of us, but we should also note that this kind of season can be detrimental to our Christian lives — even pushing us off the path for a long, long time... or worst, forever.
That is why there are a lot of ways and means by which we can, by God's grace, put ourselves in the way of refreshment and restoration.
ADMIT IT
It is very important to start admitting to ourselves and to God that we are in dryness. One of the worst thing that we can do is to deny the state that we are in just because we're afraid of what other people may say. If we do so, we are bound to stay wherever we are because we are not willing to admit that we have backslidden. Remember, admit where you are so you can find your way back.
TALK TO GOD
We could always talk to Him in prayers. Ask Him what would be the best thing to do for us now in this present stage of our lives. Lift up to Him all the worries and fears, and all the things we cannot fathom. See how God answers and leads you. Like Moses (Numbers 9:8), we should also take a spiritual time out. Moses chose to wait on God in prayer and listen for His will. I think we, in turn, must get ourselves in an unhurried and quiet position as well to listen for God’s instructions on whatever matter we are dealing with. We need to learn to listen instead of guessing at what the answer might be.
SET YOUR PRIORITIES
One of the quickest ways to experience spiritual burnout is to be distracted with our busy-ness in life. This is where the enemy gets most of us because we can be busy doing so many good things that we miss the God things (like the story of Mary and Martha). It’s so subtle because everything we are doing is good and none of it is sin, so we think we are totally okay. If your schedule is filled with activities from sun up to sun down, this will probably lead to a divided mind and heart. People will fill up your schedule if you let them and so you must set your own priorities. Before we know it, we will feel tired, drained of energy, and just burnout.
DON'T SKIP OUT ON YOUR WORSHIP
When we don’t practice our spiritual disciplines of prayer, quiet time, worship, and fasting, we will feel disconnected. In connection to the above point (Set Your Priorities), it is best to include these things in our schedule despite how much busy we are. Honestly, every time I ignore these, I experience short and long seasons of feeling disconnected and dry. Really. Even Jesus understood the importance of spending unhurried and uninterrupted time with the Father... how much more should we?
- 6/19/2019 08:29:00 PM
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