Feeling weak can induce a spiritual rut. Find out the secret to your weakness and where strength lies in it.
Summer is a beautiful season: the sun, the beach, the holidays. But I think summer can be a huge distraction.
Our relationship with God can start resembling the weather in relaxation mode. This week I certainly felt that: laying about lazily and doing very little to push my relationship with God any further. We need rest, that's very true. However, this state left me unprepared for a battle that came my way shortly after. It was like one of those waves that hits you and dunks you in the water, where more waves then work together to keep you down.
A small whisper passed by my lips: ‘I miss being strong’.
Later, I was listening to a sermon that talked of our strength in Christ, working to lift up the spirit of its listeners: and it certainly did. Yet, I found a small whisper pass by my lips: ‘I miss being strong’.
I felt weaker than usual. As if I had received just the right amount of strength to help me stand up but not enough to start helping others, which is what I’m used to. Personally, every time I conquer a battle, my immediate prayer afterwards is almost always the same: 'Lord, help me to now use this new weapon to help those that face the same battle.' But this time it didn’t work. I felt weak still.
The Lord showed me a vision not too long after where I saw a large brick wall stand before me. I found myself in front of it without any idea of what to do next. Then the Lord told me, move forward. Obviously, I protested that I would end up crashing into the wall if I did that. But He insisted: move forward.
Finally, I obeyed and took a step forward, expecting nothing but a brick wall to tickle my skin and collide with my knees. But of course the ‘however’ then showed up in this story: seems to happen a lot with Jesus. He always takes our expectation and puts a however next to it.
The brick wall suddenly changed into a staircase. The very bricks I thought had built this giant wall were the steps I needed to conquer it. I treaded back and forth in disbelief. It had been a staircase the entire time yet somehow my eyes couldn’t see it. All I needed was to move forward and trust that God would open my eyes to what truly stood before me.
Keep moving forward and trust that God will open your eyes to what truly stands before you!
Perhaps you’re also in front of a brick wall today. Perhaps you’re saying to yourself, I miss being strong, I miss seeing staircases from the get-go. Why do I only see walls and obstacles?
In those moments, that same distraction of summer’s dull state hits us in the spiritual. We can't pray, we lose energy, motivation and everything turns into a grayscale memoir of tiredness -- a rut that has us feeling distant from God, and in turn, hitting brick walls that won't shake or move.
I felt the same. It was like I had no reason to worship or sing. So I didn’t. Like God wasn't as beautiful as I had remembered Him. As if all the promises He gave me suddenly held no power over me anymore. His truth seemed nothing but a repetitive bunch of statements that didn’t invigorate or revive me like they used to. I was weak. Dulled.
Of course, I could sit here and tell you how it was all lies and how the enemy was attacking and so on and on and on. But you most likely know these things by now. You know that feeling this way only proves that someone else is working against you, and your focus has just shifted from the one who holds the Truth to the father of lies.
What I needed was a good session of worship. That’s how it all unlocked for me. I recommend it! That was how colour returned back into my life. I just began to worship and sing. Even if initially my heart was still so far from it, I pushed. I pushed until I could see his glory yet again. It reopened my eyes to His beauty and to how much I had missed His presence.
“The battle is the Lord’s” He told me.
And He's telling you the same today. The battle is His. I didn’t have any strength to fight myself. So He won it for me and gave me the victory.
"Your weakness is not an obstacle, it’s an advantage." (Steven Furtick)
Maybe you don’t need to fight after all. Maybe you just need to bask in the glory of the victory you already have. You may not see it or feel any light or energy. You may feel frail and unlike yourself, just as I did, but that does not make you weak.
The Holy Spirit whispered in my ear -- when I thought that I missed being strong -- you are not weak. Your strength is merely being tested differently. And your weakness is not an obstacle, it’s an advantage.
Take the so-called weakness you see: whether it’s a situation, a person, an emotion, take it and declare over yourself that it’s actually an advantage. It’s there to propel you, to stand as your staircase; taking you higher, closer to God, His promises, His destiny for you.
In the name of Jesus, I declare this spiritual rut, this grayscale 'weakness' as a place of life and breakthrough over you. One that God will reveal to you, even whilst reading this, as an advantage for your future. What’s most important is that it still comes in strength, it’s just a different type; it's a resilience that the Lord could not be more proud of you for.