(posted : Friday Jun 24, 2011)
If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you have figured out that you don't always feel like one. Sure, sometimes you have those "mountain top" experiences where you feel really close to God. Anything can be a M.T. experience: camp, conference or retreat, Sunday morning service, or even a really good quiet time by yourself. I love those M.T. experiences. You feel as though you would go anywhere or do anything to God, because at that moment you are so in love with Him. Sin is far away from you; you are remembering Bible verses like never before. You are sharing the Gospel with everyone you meet, and revival has broken out in your front yard! You're even quoting entire sermons by Johnny Hunt, or Matt Chandler or Rick Warren!
If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you have figured out that you don't always feel like one. Sure, sometimes you have those "mountain top" experiences where you feel really close to God. Anything can be a M.T. experience: camp, conference or retreat, Sunday morning service, or even a really good quiet time by yourself. I love those M.T. experiences. You feel as though you would go anywhere or do anything to God, because at that moment you are so in love with Him. Sin is far away from you; you are remembering Bible verses like never before. You are sharing the Gospel with everyone you meet, and revival has broken out in your front yard! You're even quoting entire sermons by Johnny Hunt, or Matt Chandler or Rick Warren!
But then, sometimes you feel really far away from God. You feel like you are in the desert; you're all alone. You feel totally dry spiritually. You don't even know where your Bible is...or even if you own one! You feel lost. When you are in the desert, you don't feel like you are saved. You don't feel like doing your quiet time, praying or going to church. You definitely don't feel like sharing the Gospel with anyone. You go days or even weeks without doing your quiet time. You miss church or Sunday School, and you're absolutely not showing up for Sunday night!
I think King David went through a lot of these times. Just read the Psalms. In one Psalm, he is praising God for always being with him, while in the next one, he is asking God why He left him alone! Sometimes we look at things like that and laugh, but the truth is, we've all been there.
So, how can you love Jesus even when you don't feel like it? Here are a few things I've found that help me, but I have to mention, it takes discipline and it is not easy. (These are not in order of importance, and should not be considered steps.)
1 - praise God. Sing songs to Him. Put on your Passion CD; crank some Chris Tomlin or Steve Fee and just worship God through song. This is hard, because when you are in the desert, you don't feel like doing this. But it is absolutely necessary.
2 - read through the Psalms. I don't mean you need to read all 150 Psalms, but that isn't a bad idea. But read through several of them in one sitting. After all, these are praise songs from back in the day.
3 - pray. Even if you can't get the words out, pray! The Bible tells us that one of the Holy Spirit's jobs is to interpret our groanings. Maybe all you can utter is, "God, help me!" That is enough.
4 - share the Gospel. Now, this is going to be really tough if you don't normally share the Gospel with people. But, I am going to assume that everyone reading this shares the Gospel all the time with others. Nothing recharges me more than sharing the Gospel with someone. Even if they do not respond to God's call, just sharing with them about our gracious, loving God is enough to bring me out of the desert.
5 - be quiet. Sometimes we just need to reflect on who God is, what He has done, what He has said in His Word and how much He loves us! When we do this, we put things into perspective.
One further thing to note - we must realize that we cannot allow our emotions to control us. Emotions are good, and they are God-given. But they cannot be in control of our lives. That is why disciplines, such as Scripture memory, a daily quiet time and prayer are so vital in our lives. They help us to have a foundation so that we are not emotion driven.
Let me remind you that I am not perfect, so I don't have any perfect solutions. What can you add that helps you to get out of the desert and back onto the mountain top?
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