Jesus Restores All

For the entire month of May, I was in this state of spiritual dryness. In fact, I wrote about how to overcome it in this article. I stuck to what I wrote about. I prayed, I sought after the Lord, I read my bible almost daily, but nothing was happening inside my heart. I felt flat at times in my faith. I felt empty. I felt alone at times, and begged God to be present in me. There were times when I felt the old me creep back into me, and I did what I could to resist the old person whom I used to be.

In my scripture reading, I came across this verse:

Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything

1 John 3:20

I reflected on this for quite some time. I realized that since it is our human nature to feel guilty, it is also in our human nature to feel good or to feel happy. While in my dryness I felt distant from God, and I didn’t feel joy, peace, nor love. John reminds me that God is more than just feelings. God is not limited to what we feel, but rather God is all knowing that we to must continue to know God for God to exist in our lives. I realized that I am limiting myself to how I felt about God, which is all good, but I depended on that feeling all the time. That feeling I have/had about God motivated me to work for God. It motivated me to start this blog. It motivated me to speak to truth. It motivated me to pray more, to worship God, and to read the bible. It motivated me to draw closer to the Holy Spirit thus drawing me closer to God. But when I didn’t feel any of this, is when I shut off and was not motivated to work for God.

It’s not about how you feel about God, but about knowing Jesus Christ

When I reflected back on May, I realized that I was depending on feeling God, and what God showed me is when the feeling was gone so was my faith and confidence in God. During this spiritual dryness, I let the outside world affect me. I watched more TV. I paid attention to the world and its events. I was so focused on myself and what I wanted, that I become more distant from God more than ever since I have been renewed.

Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.

Philippians 3:8-9

Paul uncovers the mystery of faith that it is not a feeling of God or feeling of Jesus Christ, rather is knowing Jesus Christ, and it is knowing of God. I depended too much on my feelings, rather than focusing on knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ personally. Paul says, “I no longer count on my own righteousness” means that he no longer relies on his own accounts or his own feelings, rather relies on his faith in Christ. Faith in Christ means you know who and what Jesus Christ stood for. With feelings it comes and goes. But with knowledge, it stays and lasts forever. This was the issue of my lack of connectivity with God is because I relied on my feelings than knowing of Jesus Christ. My faith depended on my heart, rather than depending on knowing Jesus Christ through faith alone.

Watch out for your own heart

In my last article, I quoted Jeremiah as saying, “The heart is deceitful”, which in my case my heart led me to this disconnection with God. Since I felt a lack of God in my heart, my heart was deceived, and it let the evil one quietly back into my life. I took my focus off God and let other factors in my life consume me like my finances, looking for a new home, worried about my job, worried about my family, and some of my health issues. What I did not do is give God and give Jesus Christ all of these issues. I tried to deal with themself, and in turn focused on myself, and losing focus on Jesus Christ.

I write to you to encourage you to know God and know Jesus Christ. Don’t rely on your feelings or your heart because the heart and feelings can be easily deceived. If you are experiencing any spiritual dryness, continue your faith, and continue to pray, continue to seek God in all forms in your life. The devil wants you to lose. The devil wants you to stop anything with God.

Press on moving forward

But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.

Philippians 3:12-14

I dwelled on my spiritual dryness for about a month. I looked at it rather than looking forward. I was stuck in this perpetual trap of trying to sort my connection with God through my feelings every day. Here Paul inspires us as Christians to move forward, and don’t look back at the past, but seek the heavenly prize for which God promises. Stay with this same attitude and spirit as Paul did by seeking God and looking ahead towards God. Don’t dwell on the dryness but seek the eternal life water of Jesus Christ. Let Christ revive your faith by you seeking for Him and knowing Him. God is not looking for perfection from you, but God is looking for perfection of faith which can only be accomplished by knowing Jesus Christ.

How to press on with your faith

Don’t dwell on the past. Don’t make the same mistake I did and hang on to the spiritual dryness because this will just hold you down, and make you think of how less of person you are to God. The sooner you look forwards and ahead to God, the sooner you can get out of your dryness.

Know Jesus Christ. Best way to know Christ is through the Gospel. Remember Jesus Christ is also a friend, so when you pray, speak to Him about your issues in your life, and let Jesus take control of your issues. This builds trust and in turn increases your faith in Christ.

Keep your eyes on the heavenly prize. Remember as a Christian, you live for Christ and serve God. So, keep your eyes always on Jesus Christ. The prize is eternal salvation with Christ Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven. The devil schemes to have you stop chasing Christ, so be mindful and looking out for the traps that the devil puts in your own heart and in your own mind. Never let go of your faith in Jesus Christ, and always keep God close to you.

You have to want Jesus Christ. This is key. You must want Jesus Christ in your life. You must know Him because if you don’t then you will just sit in a neutral state dryness. It will be difficult to be motivated to live a life with and for Christ if you are unwilling to immediately step forward towards Christ. Remember, Peter stepped out of the boat and kept his eyes on Jesus in the middle of a storm and walked on water. You must want Jesus for your faith to grow beyond the storm of dryness.

If you have your own experience of spiritual dryness and lost connection with God, and found your way out of it, I would love to hear about it. Please comment below or reach out to me.

Thank you!