Spiritual FATIGUE

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

ARE YOU SEEKING?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

^1-3The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

I was working with someone this week who commented that they were just kinda “tired” of the whole recovery thing; too many meetings, too many appointments, the same old questions, worse yet the same old faces. They said they were just “fatigued” with the whole thing. Step this, step that, amends here, amends there. Another inventory sheet, really?

Dare I say it; they were actually a little burned out with this whole “getting better” routine.

Not unusual but it does raise a red flag.

We have to be careful when we start talking and thinking like that. All of us from time to time have and will experience physical "burnout" - those times when we are tired from our many activities or difficulties that assail us.

However recovery burnout or worse yet, SPIRITUAL burnout is a different and quite dangerous dilemma. When we find ourselves becoming fatigued or feeling spiritually burned out, we need to take a step back, reset and re-evaluate.

It is TRUE. We CAN become weary from the pressure of trying to obey God, attend church faithfully, get to our meetings, do our steps, avoid and overcome temptation, and spend time in daily prayer and Bible reading.

I mean let’s be real about that for a second. That is a HEARTY, and for many of us a RATHER NEW “to do”list for each day. Just contemplating everything we BELIEVE we MUST DO to be successful in the Christian life can get a little overwhelming.

BUT WE HAVE TO REMEMBER SOMETHING.

WE ARE NOT called to “DO” Christianity and recovery, we are CALLED to “LIVE” Christianity and recovery and those are two REALLY DIFFERENT things. This new WALK of LIFE is about LIFESTYLE and FAITH and NOT “to do’s” and checklists.

When we experience spiritual fatigue it should alert us that we are on the wrong path; that we have the wrong view of our faith. When we find ourselves keeping mental checklists of dos and don'ts, striving to please God with our religious activities and our paperwork, we are relying on THE WRONG STRENGTH!

Romans 8:5-8
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life…

And that is not freedom.

But if you read further in that passage from ROMANS you get the prescription for spiritual fatigue…

…Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life.

Remember, it is NOT ABOUT YOU and WHAT YOU DO! It is ABOUT Jesus.

Jesus reached down and reconciled us to Himself at the moment we asked Him into our hearts, so we already have God's approval. True spiritual maturity involves our growing awareness that nothing we can do - no attempt to live up to regulations- will make us acceptable. Instead, we trade our weakness and inability to live by faith for God's omnipotent power to carry us through life.

Matthew 11:28-30

²⁸ “Come to Me, all ^[b]who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. ³⁰ For My yoke is ^[c]easy and My burden is light.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So if you are feeling the effects of a little spiritual fatigue this morning, close your eyes and take in this little mental picture.

Think of God's power like a river coursing through hilly terrain. We can hike, puffing and sweating, along the footpath, or we can just ease into the water. We won't have to expend any more energy because the power of the current will carry us all the way to our destination.

That is a nice picture huh?

Have a blessed weekend

I love you all

Freedom Church