Feeling Dead on the Inside

Ever have that dead on the inside feeling? Check out and consider When You Feel Dead On the Inside: 10 Questions Every Struggling Christian Should Answer by Jedediah Coppenger

It wasn’t the first time I’d heard it. In fact, it was something I’d been told quite a bit as a pastor. “I feel dead on the inside.” It’s voiced by new Christians and seasoned Christians alike. I’ve said it a surprising amount of times. You don’t see it coming typically. It seems to just happen. The energy-intellectual, emotional, spiritual, or physical-isn’t there like it used to be.

So what do you do when you feel dead on the inside? What do you say to your loved ones when they feel this way? I’ve found that people who reflect on the following 10 diagnostic questions find the life and energy they’ve been missing more quickly and deeply than those that don’t. The way you answer these questions will determine what steps you need to take next.

How Life-Giving Is Your Devotional Life? Every Christian goes through seasons where their devotional life is incredibly life-giving and seasons where it’s a bit dry. In a dry season, you open the Bible or start to pray, but nothing seems to happen. You don’t leave more encouraged and aware of God’s gracious purposes for you and presence with you today. You don’t walk away with a humble confidence as you face your problem filled day. Unfortunately, you feel just like you did before—weary. When a dry devotional life becomes the norm, burnout is typically not far ahead.

How Often Are You Asking God For Help? Every Christian knows that they should pray, but most don’t. As they find themselves feeling more and more discouraged, rarely do they ask God for help more and more. It’s weird that when many people feel their greatest need for help, when they feel their weakest, they don’t ask for help. Is any of this true of you? If you aren’t asking for help from God, then you’re not accessing all of the resources available to you. If you aren’t accessing the divine resources available to you, then you’re looking for divine help from people and places that aren’t able to provide it—including yourself. Be on the lookout for a lack of prayerfulness as you diagnose your struggle.

How Much “New” Are You Facing? It always takes more energy to start something new than it does to do what you’ve always done. It could be a new job, a new project, a new schedule, new city, new relationship, or anything else that takes you out of your comfort zone. Too much “new” at one time raises your chances for burnout.

It's Okay

I'm sure somebody needs this today - It's Okay Not To be Okay by Jarrid Wilson:

Sometimes it’s hard to express your feelings to the people around you. Not because you’re afraid of what they’ll say, but because our culture doesn’t seem to be very keen on being honest about their pains. The reality is that way too many people are putting on a facade of perfection in order to keep people from knowing how they are truly hurting. It’s as if everyone feels like showing pain is a sign of weakness. I’m here to tell you that it’s okay to not be okay sometimes. It’s okay to admit that you’re hurting, broken or even confused about your current spot in life. It’s okay…Remember, even Jesus himself wept.

1. IT’S OKAY TO CRY.

There is nothing wrong with crying and letting out a few tears. Who ever said crying is for babies was a liar, and definitely not ever watched The Notebook. The reality is that even Jesus himself wept and crying can sometimes be the relief you need to move on and regroup. Showing emotion is good for the soul, and crying has been known to help regulate depression, anxiety and even stress.

2. IT’S OKAY TO GET FRUSTRATED.

No one has the answers to everything, and even the smartest of people in the world find themselves frustrated sometimes. It’s ok to not know the answer, solution, or reason for things that have taken place. The light at the end of the tunnel is knowing that God has everything under control, even when we ourselves do not. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s wrong to get frustrated. Sometimes frustration is the breeding ground of change.

3. IT’S OKAY TO GET STRESSED.

Let’s face it, stress is unavoidable. I’m not saying it’s going to consume your entire life, but stress is one of those things that all of us will eventually encounter in one way or another. When you come into areas of your life that are considered stressful, realize that it’s only going to last as long as you allow it to. Stress is unavoidable, but allowing it to control your life is not. It’s ok to be stressed sometimes, just don’t let stress become who you are.

4. IT’S OKAY TO NOT UNDERSTAND.

Not everything is going to have an answer, but that’s where the beauty of faith comes in. There are circumstances and events in your life that you aren’t going to understand, but you have to realize that it’s ok to not know all the answers. There is humility in saying “I don’t know.” And frankly, sometimes admitting that you don’t know is the first step in finding peace and comfort in your situation. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s wrong to admit you don’t understand.

It’s okay to not be okay. Job, Elijah, Jonah and Abraham were all men throughout the Bible who dealt with incredible hard times, but God continued to see them through their pain. It was ok for them to not be ok. Why? Because they were human, and God created us to feel all kinds of emotions.

Remember What You Know

"In these places of deep disappointment, we must remind ourselves of those things about God that we KNOW to be true ... though they might not FEEL true at the moment. Even Jesus felt forsaken before He was resurrected."

               -  Christine Caine

Feelings

Do not misuse Christ by asking Him to baptize your feelings; instead, ask Christ to fill up your heart and soul and thereby create your feelings...

                     - Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

More Than A Feeling

From Crossroad Junction

Flying on Instruments

All trainee pilots are taught that when you are flying through a storm or in the dark you should trust your instruments, not your feelings. It is easy for a pilot to get confused and to feel like they is flying level when actually in a climb or dive. However, the plane's instruments do not lie.

Hey spiritual pilot - Hey Christian- when you are in a spiritual storm or going through a dark time, trust your instruments not your feelings! Your instruments are the promises of God recorded in Scripture. Your feelings are not reliable. The instruments (Scriptures) are always reliable. Trust your training and fly by instruments, not by feelings.

Here's a good article at Desiring God on this topic.

Unseen Spiritual Growth

Every believer goes through times when it seems like your spiritual walk seems to be going nowhere. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt (in all sizes and colors).

The Resurgence website recently published a helpful presentation on  Five Reasons You May Not Be Seeing Spiritual Growth 

1. Feelings can be misleading. 
2. We have trouble seeing incremental growth. 
3. Spiritual growth is relative but real.
4. Our church family doesn’t encourage one another enough.
5. God is using trial and temptation to grow us.

 Details and explanations are at the linked website.

Feeling Scripture

Thinking about this quote I saw last week from Jared Willson at The Gospel-Driven Church: 5 Ways to Feel Scripture.

"My conviction is that evangelicals by and large have lost their ability to feel Scripture. The great irony is that now when the Bible is more available than any time in history, we are perhaps more biblically illiterate than any Christian generation in history.The great opportunity in this, of course, is that our generation is now extra ripe for biblical transformation and a revival in commitment to the deep well of Scripture."

I have always suspected that our problem is not so much feeling Scripture as in thinking Scripture. We are certainly a biblically illiterate generation. However, most people I know seem to relate almost entirely to the Bible through their feelings. What a passage means "to me" is what is important, and that seems to be determined almost entirely by how it makes one feel. What we need is a return to thinking about Scripture, and a reuniting of feelings to be based on what God actually says in His Word, prior to our personal reaction to it.

However, to give Jared credit, he went on in his post to discuss the rules of hermeneutics (the science of Biblical interpretation), and I agreed with what he then said. Therefore, I don't think he was using the word "feel" in the way I would usually use it. I think what he meant is that the objective truth of Scripture that we learn and know in our minds must impact our feelings and imaginations in order for that truth to change behavior. That is truth!

What do you think?