Have you ever found yourself in a state of “Spiritual Rut” and don’t know how to get out of it?. A state where you don’t find joy in reading your bible and your fellowship with God isn’t as enjoyable as you desire it to be.
Trust me, I know too well about this. I have been in this state a countless number of times. At times, the weight of your external environment and internal environment (emotions and mindset) just doesn’t give you room to have a quality time of meditation and fellowship with scriptures. At others, it’s just a matter of focus and finding it enjoyable.
At these various instances, I found out that I was able to navigate through by finding alternatives. I don’t believe or mean to say there exist any alternative to spending time with God in His Word but there were alternatives for me which allowed me to keep my mind stayed on God without directly reading the bible.The alternatives that work for me are ; reading an online Christian blog (The Sower Magazine, Desiring God and others), reading a Christian book but mostly listening to sound doctrinal teachings.
It is important that I emphasize that no other activity can replace reading the Bible but in my walk with the Lord, I have sometimes approached reading the Word in a rigid and religious way which clearly is unprofitable. To read the bible in a religious way to me is; reading just to check the box of your daily reading plan (mostly for those on a journey to complete the bible from cover to cover in a certain period of time), forcing myself to read a certain book of the bible just because I have started it and I must finish it, setting a goal in terms of the number of chapters or hours to read daily and so on and on …
Believe me, such rigidity kills the the joy that you could derive from that time of intimacy and that is true for both God and You. As John Piper would say “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him”. Nobody in the world wants you to feel compelled to spend time with them in order to prove your love to them and that is the case with God too. Relationships must be enjoyable and satisfying.
I don’t mean to say that I have never enjoyed my fellowship time with the Lord while on a journey to reading a specific book only because that would be a lie. I have enjoyed and still enjoy studying specific books such as the gospels or any other book…taking time to carefully soak in, meditate on and ask the Holy Spirit questions as I travel through a specific book.
What I want to talk about here now could help you come out of a state of spiritual rut if profitably used. This method is a Topical Study of the Bible. For so long I had been reluctant to practice this despite hearing many ministers’ encouragements toward this practice. Now, I find it to be an effective way of letting God and His word touch and heal you in different areas of your soul while spending quality time with Him. It enhances intimacy with God as you are able to use His word to give Him access to the most secret parts of your being.
The bible is the spiritual mirror in which we can see the image of our spirit man and align our soul in conformity to that image.
James 1:23,24 (ESV) – “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like”.
Practically, this means that if I am dealing with a situation of anxiety for instance, I will search the Bible for scriptures (let’s say from 2 to 5 scriptures) addressing that and this will build the foundation of my meditation and conversation with God. I can now openly talk to God about what I feel, why I feel that way, what I believe triggers this feeling, acknowledge what the word says about anxiety and ask God for His help. I will keep these scriptures in mind through out the day and declare it out loud.
Joshua 1:8 (ESV) – “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success”.
Salvation Prayer (Please say it out loud wherever you are): - Romans 10:9,10
Lord Jesus, I recognize that you are the Son of God, that you came on earth, died for my sins on the cross, resurrected on the third day and You are now seated at the right hand of God the Father. I acknowledge that I cannot be righteous by my self and accept the righteousness purchased by your precious blood on the cross for me. I proclaim that by this I have now defeated Satan, hell and the grave. I ask you Lord Jesus to fill me with your Holy Spirit now.
Congratulations brethren and welcome to God’s family!
Subscribe
Enter your email below to receive updates on our latest posts.
Your message has been sent
Leave a Reply