Not all my clients are Christians, but I hear from many about bad church experiences or spiritual abuse from church leadership. I wrote this in March of 2015—this post is for you.
Discouraged. Weak. Tired. Bored. Numb.
Do any of those words describe your relationship with God? You can be honest. Go ahead try it. How are you really doing?
Sometimes I’m exhausted by life; my heart is cracked and dry, and I don’t feel like the great “Jesus-disciple” I want to be. So, what do I lack?
Many times I think, “I need to try harder! Maybe I should read my Bible more. Maybe I should pray a little louder—straining my voice with zeal. Or I could even worship more aggressively. Oh yeah, and I could really conquer some things in the Kingdom by committing to a few more ministry opportunities.”
Okay, timeout.
Those outward things are essential ingredients in your relationship with God, and we can discipline ourselves to meet with Him “in and out” of season. However, if you are truly tired or burnt out on the inside, merely doing more will not ultimately refresh you, rejuvenate you or make you more fruitful.
What if you let God love you first?
“We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).
We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Real conquerors triumph by receiving God’s love first.We can get it backwards. When we try to accomplish Kingdom goals in our flesh so that God will love us we can quickly grow weary. But you are loved right now just as you are.
Come and be with Him. Rest. Receive His love.
You can’t stop His wonderful love. You might even laugh out loud today because of God’s loving-kindness, or find yourself spending more time with Him because of His loyal love. And maybe the answer to your quiet time problems or that overwhelming personal struggle is to stop, take a deep breath, open your soul and let God love you.
Come and “know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Come to Jesus just as you are. With all your victories, failures, boredom and exhaustion. Let your heart soak up His heaven-down love from the inside-out, like a lake welcomes water from a waterfall. When that nagging religious voice says, “Try harder!” respond to Abba’s invitation instead: “Dear child, let Me love you!”
If you work on anything today, work first on positioning yourself to receive His love.
-Jarrod