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In November, Americans face a choice between two candidates who will be entirely imperfect. Not simply this November, but every November. The politically homeless have a few options: don’t vote, protest vote (voting Green party or Libertarian is about the same as the first), or hold their nose and cast the ballot for the slightly better.

We can maintain our purity and lose our vote or we can compromise for the lesser of two evils. We get dirty hands, but sometimes dirt on the hands is the only way to make repairs. We’d rather not endorse this candidate, but we’re left with no good options.

Come November, that’s an acceptable response.

In the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the protests, and riots, an insidious lie has emerged that a November mentality must be had today.

Deep pressure by bullies (and bullies is what they are) tells us we must join their camp, ignoring all potential flaws or we are the problem. They demand obeisance to the party over peace. To say black lives matter is twisted to endorse the murder of police. To reject rioters and looters, then you don’t care about black people.

“Speak out!” “Post now!” “Bow down!” “Do not argue. Do not question. Do as I say.” “You are for us or against us and you will be punished as such.”

It’s only June. We don’t need a November mentality, where we have to check a box between two lacking options. The allegiance demanded by movements belongs to Christ. Which means, to pursue justice we don’t need to make bedfellows with injustice. 

Not yet. Not until November.

Here is the graphic shared during this morning’s worship live stream from Tim Keller’s book, The Reason for God.

Yesterday we published a list of potential causes for feeling spiritually dry.

Dryness often points to something not being right, whether sin or something else and forces us to adjust.

While periods of dryness are universal, how we deal with them often differs. Below are some ways your staff looks to persevere.

Rachel Duncan

When I am in a dry place spiritually it is really hard to even pick up the Bible or pray. I will often pull out a daily devotional or pick a guided plan on the YouVersion Bible app. It feels more approachable and still gets me in the word. Another practical thing I will do is put on some music and listen.

Sometimes I’ll listen to a song and feel like I’m not in a place to really fully believe or mean the words. For example, the words “If you gladly chose surrender so will I” from So Will I (100 Billion X) that we’ve sung in church. I don’t always desire surrender, but I want to. So then I’ll try to pray that I could honestly sing the words.

Finally, and perhaps this should be first, I ask for prayer. I’ll ask my mom to pray for me over the phone or even just send a text to a friend that I know will be faithful to pray. Then I hold on, because God has proven himself faithful and I can trust that I won’t always be in this dry place.

Marcy White

From time to time, I find myself feeling disconnected from God. During these times, my usual devotional methods just don’t seem to bring me into His presence.

I have learned that for me the quickest way back to close communion with my Savior is in thanksgiving and praise. It may seem silly, but I begin thanking Him for everything from the comfortable seat I’m sitting on to the controllable air temperature inside my home. I thank Him for any comfort I see around me that He’s allowed me to have and for the relationships He’s blessed me with.

I progress into thanking and praising Him for all He has done for me and the world on the Cross and for what He continues to do in sanctifying each of us for His glory.

It is so humbling and beautiful to remember and recognize all that He provides, all that He does and I find myself connected once again to the God of Wonders. “He inhabits the praises of His people.” -Psalm 22:3. “In His presence, there is fullness of joy.” -Psalm 16:11.

Pastor Aaron

For me, spiritual dryness often indicates that I need to spend some concerted effort getting things right, so I try to carve out more time to spend with the Lord.

My first response is to see if there is sin, whether it’s allowing busyness to crowd out devotion, a volitional act of rebellion, holding onto anger/bitterness, or having allowed apathy to take over my life. I confess, repent, and seek to restore damage I may have caused.

In other cases, I preach the gospel to myself until I fully believe it. I rehearse in my mind all God has accomplished for me through Jesus, who I am in Him, how He loves me despite my failings, and how my feelings aren’t reflective of reality.

By repentance and remembrance, I am often secured enough to press in. When my vision is shifted from my feelings to the object of my faith, I often find myself nourished and restored.

Pastor Jeff

When I think of spiritual dryness my mind goes to Psalm 63:1. King David realizes his spiritual dryness as he is in an actual desert. “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”

The first step to praying when in a spiritual dry patch is to be honest with God about your heart. David was far from God and yearned to be close again. Maybe you’re not there yet. Be honest about what you feel toward God. Ask yourself, “If I had nothing to lose, what would I say to God?” Complain out loud to God if you need to. David modeled this for us throughout the Psalms.

After you’ve said what’s on your heart, get back into your head and remember the things God has done. God heals us through remembering. Remind yourself that nothing you are experiencing is surprising to God. He knows everything about you including every deliberate sin, every lonely moment, every crisis, every desperate hour and He still sustains you. He has not abandoned you, but has given you life and breath in your lungs and a reason for hope; He loves you. The beauty of God’s love is that it survives spiritual droughts.

Don’t believe the lie that spiritual dryness means that God has gotten over you. God is, in fact, utterly devoted to you in Jesus. “This is real love – not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins” (1 John 4:10). Rather than pulling away from God, practice receiving God’s love. Start and end there whether this is the first day you are following Jesus or your fortieth year of walking with Him.

Pastor Sean

When I am feeling spiritually dry, often times I will find a time of the day or place that is out of the ordinary for me to pray. This might mean getting up a little earlier or staying up a little later, or perhaps skipping out on a normal meal time to feast on God’s word instead of food.

I often find that going to the chapel at church to pray is reinvigorating, or finding a space outdoors that allows for enjoyment of the beauty of God’s creation and blessings (Psalm 19:1-4).

Perhaps the most helpful thing I have done when feeling spiritually dry is to share this concern with a trusted loved one in Christ. Being honest about my walk with God to someone I can be real with is always fruitful and almost always leads to feeling closer to God. I encourage anyone feeling this way to seek the counsel and encouragement from someone who you know truly loves you.

In the comments below, share what strategies you have employed to combat spiritual dryness.

If you’ve followed Jesus for any length of time, you’ve probably have come to a time or two where you’re spiritually dry. You may feel like the power and intimacy of your prayer life has been sucked out and that your prayers are wasted time as you’re just talking to yourself.

Potential Causes:

Sin

First and most obvious, pervasive, undealt with sin will destroy our communion with God. Spiritual health will only come with confession and repentance. Secret sins especially are not secret to God.

Coming in Your Own Righteousness

On the flip side, we may not receive His grace. Rather than feeling both freed and humbled to come before God, we have set for ourselves a higher standard and are consumed by our own inadequacy (or worse yet our adequacy). We feel we must earn our way back into His good graces rather than receive His grace.

Unforgiveness

Perhaps this should go under the sin category, but failure to forgive others saps our spiritual vigor as quickly as anything. Time and again, Jesus reminds us that our own forgiveness is tied to our forgiving of others. Bitterness, anger, and jealousy will squash spiritual intimacy every time.

Pruning

For others, it’s a pruning time, where God is calling us deeper in Him-to not settle for safe faith but to seek Him with renewed vigor. Here He calls us to seek Him for His sake rather than our feelings. While difficult, hard, and inevitable, it’s often the period that proceeds tremendous outpouring of grace for those who keep seeking.

Routine

Sometimes it springs from “going through the motions” for so long we may miss a part of God. Like a couple that needs to switch things up to go on a date and relearn who the spouse is apart from the roles of mother and father, we can sometimes settle into our routine and miss a huge aspect of communion with God.

Busyness

Most often this is a subset of sin as it flows from our prioritizing all other activities over spiritual activities: work, school, kid’s sports, etc., leaving little time for communion with God.  On occasion we go through short periods where varying emergencies fill our time and crowd out our communion with Him. Warning:  prolonged experiences of emergency suggest the real issue is my priorities.

Others hide behind multiple activities done for God where they miss the opportunity to commune with God.

Spiritual Warfare

The demonic realm wants us to feel defeated and miss the point of our circumstances. So often they repeat the lie from the garden that suggests God doesn’t care about our suffering or circumstances. When we pray, we may feel anger, suspicion, bitterness, or disdain to the God we are praying to.

Apathy

While this may be under busyness or routine, often times we have a spiritual apathy that may run to God when we need something, but have no desire for real communion with Him. Consequently, our prayer time is little more than a list of circumstances that we want fixed with no desire for communion.

Conclusion

Spiritual dryness is often an indicator that there’s more available for us. For some, receiving more will go through a painful process of throwing off sin and prioritizing God beyond all else.

For others, it’s a time of allowing ourselves to receive God’s grace in a different way.

Therefore, be encouraged that your own dryness is not an anomaly, but an invitation to obtain a greater work of Jesus.

Stay tuned tomorrow for practical ways your staff deals with dryness.

Keep seeking