Friday, February 29, 2008
Surviving Dry Seasons...
Hi guys, just read an article (in blue below) from Spirit-Led Women, that you can subscribe too FOC too. Even the guys, the contents are non-gender differentiating.Thought this will be a great blessing to you just as it had been to me. It's long, but bear with the length. So...enjoy and let God speak to you!
SURVIVING THE DRY SEASONS
"One Saturday morning several years ago when I was thanking God for the delight of His presence, I heard a quiet voice say, "If you seek Me for the way you feel in My presence, it is no different from any other soul-realm passion."
I had never thought about my relationship with Him in those terms before. God was saying that if I pursue Him simply for the pleasurable experience I have when He makes Himself known to me, then my enjoyment of Him is dictated by my feelings.
For months after this encounter I experienced a season of dryness -- called a "dark night of the soul" by 16th-century mystic John of the Cross -- during which it seemed as if God was not there. This season was all the more difficult because for years prior to it I had walked in an almost continual awareness of His presence. Now, suddenly, I sensed nothing.
During my "dark night" I realized that on our path to spiritual maturity, we don't go from mountaintop to mountaintop. We have to walk through valleys as well. Even after we have arrived in our "promised land" we may experience spiritually dry times.
David confirmed this truth in Psalm 63, in which he expressed the thirst he had for God in the midst of a “dry and weary land” (v. 1 NIV). He wrote the psalm in the desert of Judah -- a dry region in the promised land! David had experienced God intensely before (see v. 2) but found himself for a season in a place "where there [was] no water" (v. 1).
There are different reasons for dryness. Once during David's reign, there was a drought in Israel (see 2 Sam. 21:1). God told David that the drought had been brought on by Israel's sin. When David dealt with the sin, the rains came.
But sin isn't the only reason we enter dry seasons. God may be working in us to prepare us for a greater release. We are like trees in winter that appear to be dormant -- even dead -- while their roots are growing and preparing for greater fruitfulness. During these seasons we are learning to walk by faith rather than by sight or feeling.
Whatever the reason, a dry season can be a difficult period in our lives. So how do we respond?
God's Word tells us that He "will never leave [us] nor forsake [us]" (Deut. 31:6,8; Josh. 1:5; see also Heb. 13:5). This means that whether we sense His presence or not, He is there. We must determine to believe Him and walk by faith.
When I am faced with dryness, I encourage myself in the Lord by reading the promises He has given of His nearness to me. They remind me that His love for me is not diminished even though He seems far away.
Ultimately, the key to breaking through is prayer. There is nothing that will dispel the dryness more quickly than significant time alone in your prayer closet. The main thing is not to despair. God has not abandoned you, and in His time, He will bring you out of the desert and lead you again "beside springs of water" (Is. 49:10)."
Just last night in my QT, one of the things God has been speaking to me about is in 'maturity'. Most of us have been Christians for some time, but what constitutes one that is truly mature? And this is what God said, "Maturity is understanding the life MUST have its seasons. (Double confirmation with the article above!) Maturity involves tenacity and walking through both ups and downs with accountability, because being accountable demonstrates how willing you are to protect yourself as a child of God."
A friend once shared with me that the more accountable and open you are to your peers and leaders, the less your tendency to backslide from your relationship with God. That's coz if you ever do or want to, these people will know which buttons to press to shock you back into realising how much you are not honoring God's possession: yourself. Sometimes we say our friends and leaders do not understand, but how much have we allowed them to do so? Let's take the 1st step to taking the immunization jab today, and give no room for the works of the devil.
Zoe
i posted this at 1:26 AM
and i have received 1 comments.
I want to subscribe! How how?
Yeah I understand what the author mean... "Immunization jab", I like that. =)
