The Narrow Path Ministries

What would you Brothers and Sisters recommend doing in a time of Spiritual drought?...

My walk with the Lord has become rather bland, and I long to get back to the season of renewal.

During prayer last night, I don't think my prayers got any higher than my eyebrows. I am reading my bible everyday, though I am having a hard time focusing on what I am reading. My prayer life is slowing to a snails pace, and my attitude is suffering for it.

Another problem is the fellowship thing. Every congregation in my area is in the midst of a split, and no one but me seems to care about it...This has resulted in me wanting to stay home, rather than go listen to gossip from the Pastor and congregation. My heart truly longs to fellowship with other believers, but I find that I feel worse when I get home from such meetings, because either a.) The preacher preached everything but the word of God, mainly charismania feel good stuff i.e Ken Copeland. b.) The Brethren could do nothing but backbite everyone.
Forgive my rantings, but maybe some of you here can pray for me and my family, and give some advice. God bless everyone here, and thanks for reading.

in the past when i am in spiritual doldrums, i've gone to websites like http://www.fireonthealtar.com and listen to some of the good compilations on there. listen to the "freedom" compilations, or any of the ones at the top of the home page. they have a way of getting you pumped up.

i think what you are describing is fairly typical-- we were talking about this very thing in my bible study class last night- particularly the idea of "zeal" and how do we get it/maintain it? i think God tests us by putting us through dry periods when He is not readily apparent. We have to work through them. I think it is a matter of the will, and not emotions. even if you don't feel like praying, resign to do so. talk plainly to God. tell him the truth about what you are feeling-- David did. If you are faithful to carry on with your will during a dry period, things will turn around.

if you can find some like-minded christians around, try to get them together for a time of prayer together. i think that is so important, because somehow the HS flows when we are together.

those are just some random thoughts. one thing i know, from experience, is that your doldrums will pass.

TK

Hmm. So your walk with the Lord is bland. You must be doing the talking. I have a book that was written in the 1880's and it describes a man's trip to the holy land. In one passage he describes walking from Bethany to Jerusalem across the Mount of Olives. The path was steep and the rocks were rolling out from under his feet then when he started downhill he had to exert himself to keep from falling headlong down the hill. His feet and legs ached, he sweated and his lungs heaved. And he pointed out that Jesus walked this path twice a day.

So imagine you're walking along with Jesus and he's telling you about the rock that he'll build his church on. In your present state you think he's talking about the rocks rolling out from under your feet but as you stand on top of the mount you realize he's been talking about something far more precious.

Paul talked about a church that had no walls. My favorite place for fellowship is under an old pear tree in our yard where my wife and I study often on Sunday afternoons. Maybe you need to take your Bible and your family on a walk this weekend. Surely you Georgia boys have some poor excuse for a hill that you can climb and at least get a little short-winded. Once you're on top, let your Bible fall open to whatever page and then see if you can teach your family a lesson from that page. So, it falls open to Job 39 27-28 "Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place." Your family and Jesus are sitting there waiting for you to say something that will make the walk a little less bland. I guess you do have to talk, don't you?

Keeping you in prayer,

livingink

I don't know if this is any help to you but I'm going thru a similar season. Tk said that these times will pass and my expereince says the same. I just have to tell myself "you've been here before" and keep on going. Being in a drought, so to speak, does have a positive effect on me though.... I learn not to be influenced by how I "feel." There are times during the day when I generally get irritated by everything and everyone. But Jesus told me to respond in love anyway... without exception. Even that feels hollow and robotic at the time, like I'm just going thru the motions. But doing so in the past had led me out of this "test of will."

I'll pray for you, brother.

Thanks everyone.

The advice and prayers are needed.

I'm going through it too Brody. I guess because I don't have local fellowship at the moment and also because I feel like I should spend more one on one time with my children, this is difficult for me because I work nights and sleep during the day. Periodically I get the feeling I should be doing something I'm not, but I don't know what it is I should be doing different.

I just have to trust that God knows what He's doing with my life.

Sean wrote:I'm going through it too Brody. I guess because I don't have local fellowship at the moment and also because I feel like I should spend more one on one time with my children, this is difficult for me because I work nights and sleep during the day. Periodically I get the feeling I should be doing something I'm not, but I don't know what it is I should be doing different.

I just have to trust that God knows what He's doing with my life.

Amen Brother.

I should note that I am feeling a little better. Thanks to everyones prayers here. Me and my wife had a long talk about scripture last night, and we got on the subject of unforgiveness, and while we were talking about Matthew 18(Parable of unforgiving servant), I realized that I may have had some "roots of bitterness"(Hbr 12:15) that were growing. About the fellowship thing, I feel your pain. I am thinking about abducting Steve and a few others here and keeping you guys in my utility room, and pulling y'all out on Wednesdays and Sundays .

Perhaps it is best for some of us to feel alone and weak, with only the Holy Spirit and God's word, until we are sure of the source of our strength.

Blessings,
Lazarus43

Is it really wrong to think that sometimes God plays hard-to-get because he wants us to pursue him all the more fervently? This is the impression I get sometimes when I feel like I'm in a drought situation. Actually, not right then, but when it's over and you feel his presence acutely again, it makes me glad that I stuck with the pursuing.

That probably makes no sense to anyone but me.

And if you ever arrange that utility room thing, could you include me? I'd be willing to help around the house in exchange for fellowship.

brody_in_ga wrote:What would you Brothers and Sisters recommend doing in a time of Spiritual drought?...

I was going through one for awhile and no matter how much I studied scripture it didn't really help. One of the reasons was because I felt I wasn't really reading God's word through an english translation. I would talk to a man at church who knew Hebrew and Greek and the things he would speak about blew my mind. Then during this past summer I took it upon myself to learn Greek. The process of learning it was grueling and probably separated me from God because I refused to study the English translations.

I would never criticize anyone for studying out of an English translation, but I believe it can't be rightly called the Word of God. It's an interpretation of God's Word. Sometimes a single english word cannot capture the true meaning of a Greek word.

Additionally, there are grammatical aspects that I think are impossible to translate into English. For instance, when Jesus stated on the cross, "it is finished", He used a perfect indicative which is impossible to translate in English. A perfect indicative means that an action has been completed, but its affects are still currently felt. So Jesus' sacrifice was completed, but the consequences of that death are still felt today.

Martin Luther stated he would have never been able to start the reformation without a sound knowledge of the Greek. In my Greek workbook the author stated this,

"I once heard a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a sailor who as in love with a woman from another country. He wanted to be married and so he tried to familiarize himself with her native country. He studied its customs, history, ect. But finally he realized that if he really wanted to understand her, he would have to learn her native language. I belive that learning Greek is nothing more than a natural extension of our loving relationship with Jesus Christ. Although many translations are good, they are one step further removed from what Jesus said. Ultimately, we want to know him and his message as well as possible. A knowledge of the Greek language is essential to achieve the goal."

My brother in the church states that the English translations are milk and the Greek is the meat. Maybe you're ready for the meat.

I used these resources,

http://www.amazon.com/Basics-Biblical-W ... 214&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Basics-Biblical-G ... 214&sr=8-1

IMO, the best Greek lexicon that money can buy -

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Gree ... 298&sr=1-1