BEHOLD…
The days come, saith the LORD God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water…
but of hearing the words of the LORD. (Amos 8:11)
My lack of a joke wasn’t really intentional… y’all know I’m a goofball. But this scripture stood out to me in my devotionals because we really don’t realize that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4). If you are a God seeker like me, then you KNOW that if the Holy spirit stops dealing with you in your life, you are really stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Unfortunately, because our names aren’t Jesus Christ, and “we all like sheep have gone astray” (Is. 53:6), and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), we get into places of dryness. The sermons aren’t as poignant. The prayers aren’t as fervent. The quality of living feels grayed out as you try to find what’s wrong with you are those around you. It is a difficult place to be in.
Not yet in destiny, yet not in sin. But in that peculiar place where you have to learn how to live for Jesus instead of self.
So what do we do when we are in positions like this?
SOLUTION: the solution will forever be to repent. By definition repenting means to turn away. We have to ask the Holy Spirit like David did “see if there be any wicked way inside me” (Ps. 139:24).
It’s hard to see your own eyeball. You need a mirror for that. And the scriptures have stood as the truest mirror of the human heart to this day and forever more.
As you begin your journey to get back the fire that the Lord has already given you, and that you cannot lose, keep in mind that he has ALREADY forgiven you, and that sometimes he uses pain, loss, and other unfortunate circumstances to deepen your relationship with him.
Sometimes pain is just a road to Penance!
Jesus, Leland, and Reason 