Spiritual Dry Spells

Sometimes we feel closer to God than others times. So I am writing down some points that are needed by every believer including (especially) myself to deal with the “dry seasons” that are inevitable in our spiritual walk...

We often do a good job of short-circuiting or walk with God without the help of others. We do this very well, and although some are better at it than others, I would say we all have a propensity towards this. Although there are many scenarios, this one is quite common for me and I suspect others too.

It can be sin that separates us, but whatever causes the “dry spell” does not necessarily have to be inherently sinful in itself. It just needs to be something you can condemn yourself about – like not reading your Bible, missing church, road rage,  or virtually anything that we can beat ourselves up over.

 Sin keeps us from God in this way. Even though I know that scripturally there is no condemnation since I am in Christ (Romans 8:1). I still beat myself up from time to time (I am getting better though) over little things. You see sin does not keep God from us (John 3:16) – it keeps us from God.

He knows all about sin. He has been rescuing us from it since that fateful time in The Garden (Genesis 3:6). Sin is no surprise to Him and is nothing He can’t deal with.  As always, it’s us with the issue of dealing with sin. The good news is He loves us anyway.

 Like right now I am tempted to castigate myself for not being a faster typist – after all, if I were a faster typist, I would get more blogging done and spend more time with my wife.

 That’s not to say that we shouldn’t improve ourselves, of course we should. We should be improving at every turn. Let me try to explain the differences between improvement and condemnation:

·         Improvement says – “how can I get better at doing _______?” – My service to (God, family, people, employees, etc.) I will improve….and then DO IT!

·         Condemnation says - “I can’t do ______, I never could, so I guess me and everyone else will just have to live with it” – now I’m going to let everyone down, and I call myself a Christian!

 Notice here the focus on self. In Jesus’ work on the cross, His focus was (is) on was on YOU and ME!

I would like to suggest some ways to overcome the spiritual “dry spells” when they come and in time avoid them completely or at least they will be a lot less frequent. You see, we are spiritual beings, made in God’s image. Praise comes naturally to man. That’s the way He planned it before Genesis 3.

The spiritual dry spell is the result of the rebellion of our imperfect flesh against our perfect spirit (spirit made perfect by Jesus’ sacrifice and our acceptance of it) – (Genesis 3, James 4:4, Matt 10:28, Romans 10:9, John 3:16).

The problem is, when man fell (Genesis 3), man no longer always praised the right thing. That’s why sometimes we need to get back on track, for our own good - God doesn’t need us to praise Him, we need to praise God.

Although it’s true that we don’t need to do anything to be saved (Ephesians 2:8-9), my God given common sense tells me that I do need to take action to get back on track – to praise Him. The Word tells me that He draws close to me as I draw close to Him (James 4: 8). I also know that it is easier to keep doing something than to start doing it.

I have three sons. All of them are wrestlers. I asked one of them how to get out of a cradle (a dangerous to be in pinning combination). He replied “don’t get there in the first place”.

My suggestion is to give the God Of The Universe, His Son and His Spirit the place in your life and heart they deserve.

Do it daily, and on purpose.  

As always, take whatever I say and make sure it lines up with scripture. I think I’m correct but it’s up to each one of us to test the spirits as the Word says (1 John 4:1). Whether it’s your pastor, a book you’re reading, a commentary or someone’s blog.

These are some of the things I do daily to stay close:

·         Read the Word daily – you must know about someone before you can love them. I got to know my wife before I loved her. Now I make it a point to increase that knowledge base and I love her more and more every day.

·         Pray  - In good times and bad – The Word says to give thanks in all things  1 Thessalonians 5:18  (not for all things)

·         Meditate on the Word daily – This (the Word) will change your life! About 20 years ago my Pastor challenged his congregation to do this for 30 days. Every morning, before doing anything else, pick out a Bible verse. It can be any verse, one of your favorites from way back, one on your heart, one from a devotional – it really doesn’t matter. Find it in the Bible and write it down. Then 3-5 times per day, take that piece of paper out of your pocket. Write down a synonym for each word in the real verse – think about what you have written compared to scripture. The idea IS NOT to re-write scripture, it is to compare your thoughts to the way God says the same thing and think about it. This should take 10-15 min. per day.   

·         Go to church – Find  not only a Bible believing church but a Bible teaching church. Find out everything you can about God, Christ, The Holy Spirit, the customs of the times in that (His) part of the world etc. Renew your mind to the Word of God (Rom. 12:1&2) Being around other believers is essential to your spiritual growth. Only then can you help others BECAUSE of your faith.

When we start renewing our mind to God’s Word, we will start to think like Him more and more. We begin to view situations in our lives differently. The Word tells us to be like Him (1 John 3:2). In context that is in the future, but the more we think like Him the more we will be like Him in the present.

Until that day comes and we will be fully as He is, our flesh will war with our spirits. We will certainly experience spiritual dry spells from time to time. Rest assured that God has not only provided a way out but has provided a way to make those dry times fewer and further between.