Spiritual dullness replaced by vibrant joy
Spiritual Dullness being replaced by vibrant joy
What causes dullness? This week we will unpack the sources of our dullness to spiritual matters, and pray that God would do the miraculous work of giving us abundant joy!
A good resource book for this week is John Piper’s WHEN I DON’T DESIRE GOD: How to fight for joy. Crossway 2004.
Monday: Inattention as a cause of dullness.
Joy picked up a “sharp” knife from the drawer the other day, and said, “These knives could use some attention.” I had not been attentive to them for some time. Spiritual matters can be the same way. Over time we are inattentive to repentance, and Bible-reading, and Jesus-treasuring! Tell yourself to “Hope in God!” Praise Him for He is your salvation.
Psalm 42 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation
Martin Lloyd-Jones writes in Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.”
Let us pray: Father, show me what I have overlooked, and grown inattentive to. As my Great Physician, write me a prescription that will result in vibrant joy. Help me to talk to myself more instead of listening to myself. Through Jesus Christ.
Tuesday: Lack of curiosity as a cause of dullness.
Dullness stays dull when nobody asks questions—hard questions. We settle in to passivity, afraid of questions, because of the stir that they make in our lives. We become content with pat answers. We grow used to the status quo. The Holy Spirit engaging us in the Word of God is the only way to awaken us to our spiritual hunger. Our hunger for things of God will cause us seek and find the God who speaks to us, and abides in us, and overcomes sin, death, and the evil one.
1 John 2 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Though hordes of devils fill the land all threat’ning to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand; They can not overpower us.
Let this world’s tyrant rage; In battle we’ll engage.
His might is doomed to fail; God judgment must prevail!
ONE LITTLE WORD SUBDUES HIM!
JESUS!
Let us pray: One little word, O Lord, has the power to awaken us to our hunger, and fill us all the same. Jesus, make me seek you and find You.
Wednesday:
From Kevin Klonoski today…
From my quiet time this morning: spiritual dullness comes from a lack of trusting God to meet our needs. When he allows challenges in our lives his intent is for us to call on him. When we don't trust we begin to take matters in our own hands, discouragement follows, we become overwhelmed and look for other things to dull our discouragement. When we are in the midst of trials we need to press in to ask God for help - even when he seems far away. Are we actively taking advantage of all the opportunities to meet and pray together? God is not far away - he's in his word and in his church when we are actively trusting and seeking his help.
Please God forgive me for not trusting you with everything in my life.
Colossians 2.6, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him…” Friend, you received Jesus by faith. Live in Him now by faith.
Thursday:
I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever.” Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgiveable sin] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God. John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Heb 12 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
It is often true that we use perfectly good tools for the wrong use. For instance, one reason the “sharp” knives in our drawer are dull is I use them in the garden sometimes. The problem isn’t the knife, it is the use of the knife. We sometimes use the portions of Scripture which command and demand to try to motivate and prod us. The point of these perfectly good portions of Scripture is not perfect us, but to point us to our PERFECTER, Jesus! He is our righteousness!
Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, my true Righteousness, help me keep my eyes fixed on You, and not myself. For in me I find only limits and disappointment and despair. But, with You is limitless grace, true justification, and hope. Through Jesus Christ!
Friday
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63.1
Sometimes we can become so familiar with our circumstances that we become dull to the possibility of a change. Sometimes we can become so familiar with holy things that we become dull to the awe that we once had for the things of God. We receive grace upon grace day after day, and we forget how amazing it really is.
Let us pray: God, put earnestness back into my life, that I might recognize the serious thirst that You so consistently quench me with!
Saturday
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalm 43.4
Exceeding joy or exceeding exhaustion? By Saturday we can collapse in a heap of exhaustion. Maybe it is more than a tired weekend for you, but a tired season. Are you dull because of exhaustion--over using the energy that God has given you? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy this week. That can sharpen our dullness, and remind us that God will continue to provide and produce and sustain our world without your direct involvement. Rest so you can go to the altar of God who is your exceeding joy!
Let us pray: Exceeding Joy, I anticipate coming to Your Altar tomorrow to receive the amazing grace of Your Word and Sacrament. Help me to find rest in You, my Sabbath. Through Jesus Christ!
What causes dullness? This week we will unpack the sources of our dullness to spiritual matters, and pray that God would do the miraculous work of giving us abundant joy!
A good resource book for this week is John Piper’s WHEN I DON’T DESIRE GOD: How to fight for joy. Crossway 2004.
Monday: Inattention as a cause of dullness.
Joy picked up a “sharp” knife from the drawer the other day, and said, “These knives could use some attention.” I had not been attentive to them for some time. Spiritual matters can be the same way. Over time we are inattentive to repentance, and Bible-reading, and Jesus-treasuring! Tell yourself to “Hope in God!” Praise Him for He is your salvation.
Psalm 42 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation
Martin Lloyd-Jones writes in Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures.
Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul has been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.”
Let us pray: Father, show me what I have overlooked, and grown inattentive to. As my Great Physician, write me a prescription that will result in vibrant joy. Help me to talk to myself more instead of listening to myself. Through Jesus Christ.
Tuesday: Lack of curiosity as a cause of dullness.
Dullness stays dull when nobody asks questions—hard questions. We settle in to passivity, afraid of questions, because of the stir that they make in our lives. We become content with pat answers. We grow used to the status quo. The Holy Spirit engaging us in the Word of God is the only way to awaken us to our spiritual hunger. Our hunger for things of God will cause us seek and find the God who speaks to us, and abides in us, and overcomes sin, death, and the evil one.
1 John 2 14 I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Though hordes of devils fill the land all threat’ning to devour us,
We tremble not, unmoved we stand; They can not overpower us.
Let this world’s tyrant rage; In battle we’ll engage.
His might is doomed to fail; God judgment must prevail!
ONE LITTLE WORD SUBDUES HIM!
JESUS!
Let us pray: One little word, O Lord, has the power to awaken us to our hunger, and fill us all the same. Jesus, make me seek you and find You.
Wednesday:
From Kevin Klonoski today…
From my quiet time this morning: spiritual dullness comes from a lack of trusting God to meet our needs. When he allows challenges in our lives his intent is for us to call on him. When we don't trust we begin to take matters in our own hands, discouragement follows, we become overwhelmed and look for other things to dull our discouragement. When we are in the midst of trials we need to press in to ask God for help - even when he seems far away. Are we actively taking advantage of all the opportunities to meet and pray together? God is not far away - he's in his word and in his church when we are actively trusting and seeking his help.
Please God forgive me for not trusting you with everything in my life.
Colossians 2.6, “As you received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him…” Friend, you received Jesus by faith. Live in Him now by faith.
Thursday:
I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, “The same yesterday, today, and forever.” Now did my chains fall off my legs indeed. I was loosed from my afflictions and irons; my temptations also fled away; so that from that time those dreadful scriptures of God [about the unforgiveable sin] left off to trouble me; now went I also home rejoicing for the grace and love of God. John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
Heb 12 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
It is often true that we use perfectly good tools for the wrong use. For instance, one reason the “sharp” knives in our drawer are dull is I use them in the garden sometimes. The problem isn’t the knife, it is the use of the knife. We sometimes use the portions of Scripture which command and demand to try to motivate and prod us. The point of these perfectly good portions of Scripture is not perfect us, but to point us to our PERFECTER, Jesus! He is our righteousness!
Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, my true Righteousness, help me keep my eyes fixed on You, and not myself. For in me I find only limits and disappointment and despair. But, with You is limitless grace, true justification, and hope. Through Jesus Christ!
Friday
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirst for you; as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Psalm 63.1
Sometimes we can become so familiar with our circumstances that we become dull to the possibility of a change. Sometimes we can become so familiar with holy things that we become dull to the awe that we once had for the things of God. We receive grace upon grace day after day, and we forget how amazing it really is.
Let us pray: God, put earnestness back into my life, that I might recognize the serious thirst that You so consistently quench me with!
Saturday
Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalm 43.4
Exceeding joy or exceeding exhaustion? By Saturday we can collapse in a heap of exhaustion. Maybe it is more than a tired weekend for you, but a tired season. Are you dull because of exhaustion--over using the energy that God has given you? Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy this week. That can sharpen our dullness, and remind us that God will continue to provide and produce and sustain our world without your direct involvement. Rest so you can go to the altar of God who is your exceeding joy!
Let us pray: Exceeding Joy, I anticipate coming to Your Altar tomorrow to receive the amazing grace of Your Word and Sacrament. Help me to find rest in You, my Sabbath. Through Jesus Christ!
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