April 26th
“Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before” Acts 3:19-20 NKJV
The above passage shows us how repentance can be the vehicle to bring us out of “spiritual dry spells” and into times of refreshing that we desperately need.
There have been many times in my walk when I have felt spiritually dry. Though I know God is with me, it feels like he is a million miles away. Often during these dry spells, I don’t want to give thanks to God, nor worship him. When I’m in such a condition, depression is able to swoop in and sit on me like an eager vulture looking for a meal. Not wanting to fight it, I often let it land and ruin my day.
God has given us several tools to use during dry spells. Repentance tops the list of these tools because often our dry spells are related to some type of sin in our lives. Such sin may not be blatant, and it’s often some subtle sin that we’ve harbored that needs to be brought out into the open and dealt with. Some of the common things I’ve had to repent of during dry spells included:
- Allowing the devil to steal my joy in Christ
- Failing to be thankful for all the things God has already done for me
- Trusting in money or man instead of God
- Failing to use my God-given weapons of spiritual warfare to reject temptations
- Failing to put on the mind of Christ each day instead of the mind of the world
- Personal pride revealed by criticizing others
When the Holy Spirit quickens these or any other sins to us, we need to act decisively and repent from our sin. We can take action to secure our repentance and make things right. Some examples: If I’ve been trusting in money and resisting the conviction to give to the offering at church, I need to go ahead and give cheerfully. If I’ve been criticizing others, I need to start saying only good things about those people. If I’ve been taking God’s blessings for granted, I need to start thanking him each morning for the blessings I have received.
Having acted in repentance, we can expect times of refreshing to come from the presence of the Lord. We also can pray expectantly for God to send Jesus to us in a special way (20)!
Questions for further thought:
Have you been having “spiritual dry times” recently? If so, can you identify any sin related to the dry spells?
What does it mean to be in the presence of the Lord?
How do we enter into the presence of the Lord? (Psalm 100:4)
Prayer:
“Heavenly Father, Thank you for the many blessings that you have showered on me. Thank you for redeeming me from my sin through the blood of Jesus. Please reveal any sin in my life that I need to repent of and convict me of the actions I need to take to make things right. Please teach me how to enter into your presence each day and live in it consistently. I pray for times of refreshing in my walk with you, Lord. Please give me your living water. Thank you, Father! In the mighty name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”