We’ve all been there. At one moment, you’re on fire for the Lord, reading your Bible daily, enjoying the personal fellowship and friendship with God, feeling His presence close to you, and then, at another moment…crickets. You feel like you’re so far away from God; nothing is going right in your life, and you just feel stuck. When we stop growing in our faith, we experience this feeling of being stuck, and it’s never a fun time. The devil likes to use this opportunity to parade before us every sinful act or thought we’ve ever done or had as a reason for this state of stagnation. He follows it up with lies about this being our permanent state, topped off with a heavy helping of “there’s no going back to God from here.”
It’s all nonsense, and you shouldn’t listen to Him. There’s a reason He’s called the father of lies; it’s the only real power he has. While this may be true, there are things that we do to come into agreement with his lies and keep ourselves stuck. We can choose to stay stuck or choose to address these issues and find freedom in the Lord.
Consistent Sinful Acheter cialis en ligne france Acts ( Galatians 5:17 )
This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Every Christian bears the nature of God, starting from the point of confession to salvation. According to Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
If we fall into the trap of believing that our actions don’t matter just because we believe in Jesus, then we find ourselves in the dismal position of quenching the Holy Spirit in our lives. By consistently choosing to sin, we become more like the devil and less like God. Sin opens the door to all forms of vices. This is why the Bible warns us to constantly walk in the spirit.
“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”
Daily communication with our heavenly Father is accomplished through prayer. Any relationship that does not have healthy communication as a pillar or foundation will deteriorate over time.
Similarly, a Christian who does not pray does not have a divine connection with God. When we pray, we obtain a fresh perspective and the ability to cast all our worries on Him. If you find yourself feeling spiritually stuck, do an honest evaluation of your prayer life and see if you’ve been going to God with a posture of humility and leaving with an obedient heart.
Conformity to the world (1 Corinthians 15: 33)
“Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”
Christians are not of this world, and we have to be cautious in our interactions with others because of the destructive effects of those who have no respect for God. We need to be surrounded by believers who will stand in the gap for us and encourage us to express God’s nature in our lives. If we find ourselves indulging in worldly things, then it dulls our sensitivity to the Spirit of God, and over time, we lose all interest in the things of God.
Negative Belief System (Romans 12:21)
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
The impact of negative thoughts patterns in our life cannot be underestimated. You need to be able to scripturally reject every evil springing up in your heart. That is why in Proverbs 4: 23, the Bible instructed to “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Your response to life’s challenges is determined by the kind of thoughts you permit into your heart. That sense of spiritual stagnation you’re battling could result from unresolved concerns or unaddressed patterns and beliefs that you have allowed to take up room in your heart. Take note of your mind and prayerfully go through scripture to see if anything you have been holding on to does not align with God.
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge.”
If you recall the narrative of the Israelites in the wilderness, you will recall that many people died as a result of their murmuring. And why were they grumbling in the first place? They moaned because they didn’t know enough about God. Being spiritually stuck indicates that we have abandoned God’s message and that we lack understanding of God. If we’ve “exhausted” this stage of our lives, then the only way to get to the next level is to gain knowledge of the next level. If you feel like you aren’t growing spiritually, chances are you stopped eating your spiritual food. In the same way that our flesh needs the sustenance of physical food, our spirit man needs the living bread. You have to learn more about God if you want to become more like God.
Love of the world ( 1 John 2: 15)
“ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
Every believer who desires to keep their concentration on God and heaven must shun or avoid all forms of worldly enticements. To avoid spiritual and emotional breakdown, you must fix your eyes completely on God. When you shift your affection to the world, the love of God that has opened your heart to peace is naturally exchanged.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
We are more likely to be spiritually stagnant and even sad when we are idle rather than actively involved. This cycle commonly repeats itself: idleness leads to spiritual dryness, and when we’re spiritually dry and miserable, we’re not motivated to work hard. We were made to work, and ignoring this fundamental aspect of our identity will leave us spiritually barren and unfulfilled.
Have you been actively participating in God’s work? Do you think you have a role to play in the furtherance of the gospel? If you don’t believe that you have work to do, then this may be why you’re feeling stuck. When God calls us into communion with Him, it isn’t just to sit around and observe. God calls us to be co-labourers with Him, which implies doing real work!
We should all aim to live above all distractions. Spiritual stagnation is real and dangerous for us as it prevents us from living to our greatest potential as Christians. Examine why you may be spiritually trapped, address them with the help of the Spirit so that you can continually grow.
