Hey, Everyone! It’s me, Brandon, again hoping to stir up some excitement for your faith with another blog post! I hope that this Lenten season has been one of immense reflection and exceedingly strong growth in your faith. If that has been case for you this year, awesome! However, I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that, for whatever reason, this Lenten season just hasn’t been the same as the past. So far, I have tried to increase my prayer time and set aside time for reflection, but the internal feeling/response just hasn’t been as strong as it has been in the past. It’s a very difficult thing to put into words and describe, but for lack of better words, it’s almost as if I have been spiritually dry throughout the Lenten season thus far.
I have been so worried about my lack of emotional response so far, and I began to think to myself, “Bro, you’re a student leader on the SPIRITUALITY team, this shouldn’t be happening to you. You gotta set an example for the other people.” It just kept gnawing at me, and I couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on. Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. I had been reflecting on something that my small-group (something you should consider joining if you are able to) had discussed in the fall semester this past year. The group had been led by Laura Benrey and Ian Eckart, and throughout the semester they had planned discussions based on the book God, I Have Issues by Mark E. Thibodeaux S.J. It struck me that one of the discussions was about a chapter titled something to the effect of “God, I’m spiritually dry.” Such a wave of relief came over me because I remembered that there were other members in that group that had also experienced times of “spiritual dryness.” These were students that I had the utmost respect for and I knew that their faith was as strong as could be. Therefore, I knew that if they had experienced times of spiritual dryness, then it wasn’t a bad thing for me to experience it.
Within the group discussion, the members had each given certain techniques that they had found worked best for them to “break out” of their mundane spiritual/prayer time period. One of these methods was to simply shake up your normal prayer routine by listening to some music while praying/meditating. I decided to give this method a shot, so I logged into my Spotify account and just let the Chris Tomlin playlist play for awhile because I knew he was one of my favorite Christian singers. At first nothing major happened, but then the song came on that just rejuvenated my soul from the depths of routineness and awoke me to a burning desire to fill my heart with God’s presence. Oddly enough, the title of the song was, “Awake My Soul” by Chris Tomlin, featuring LeCrae. If you have not listened to the song, I strongly recommend you listen to it, but for the purpose of this blog, I will post the lyrics so you can see the lyrics that stirred up my invigoration to welcome God into my life even more.
Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me
Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me
I come alive, I'm alive when You breathe on me
I come alive, I'm alive when You breathe on me
[Chorus:]
Awake, awake, awake my soul,
God resurrect these bones
From death to life, for You alone
Awake my soul
Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me
Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me
I come alive, I'm alive when you speak to me
I come alive, I'm alive when you speak to me
Then He said to me,
Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones,
I will make breath enter you,
And you will come alive.
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound,
And the bones came together, bone to bone.
And I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them,
And skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me,
Prophesy to the breath,
Prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
Come from the four winds of breath and breathe.
Awake, awake, awake my soul,
God resurrect these bones
From death to life, for You alone
Awake my soul
[Lecrae:]
Yeah, I'm not alone, I realize
I breathe out, I come alive
Your Word gives life to my dry bones
Your breath tells death it can ride on
Awake me, make me a living stone,
A testament to your throne, I
I'm nothing without You, I'm on my own
The only One who satisfies my soul
These lyrics and this song as a whole just spoke to me in such a deep way. For me, the lyrics exemplify what we are called to do as Christians. We are called to let the Word of God speak to us, and then with the knowledge of the Word, we are called to go out into the world and preach this knowledge to everyone! It is quite a vast undertaking to consider going out into the world and simply preaching about the Gospel and trying to reason with others about your faith. However, there can be great comfort in knowing that we are never truly alone when we go out and preach the Word. God is with us throughout it all. The One, the Almighty, the Creator, the Father. You can’t possibly have a stronger presence with you than that.
Now, back to the spiritual dryness. Some of you might not find music to be -that invigorating, and that’s okay! The key is just to try and mix up the routine a little bit when you’re praying. It can be hard to break out a routine if you’ve done it for so long, but it can pay off immensely. Even people who already currently feel a deep emotion in your spiritual lives, it can still be beneficial to alter your praying/reflection methods a little bit. There is always room for growth in one’s spiritual life!
Many of you may have noticed that the majority of this blog has been about improving your personal experience and what you personally get out of your prayer time. However, the single most important thing is giving worship time to our God. Even if you’ve tried a bunch of different methods and still feel spiritually dry, it does not make you a bad Christian! As long as we are devoting time to spend with our Father, that is the most significant thing. The personal emotions will come back with time if all else fails. As long as we continue to model our lives after Jesus Christ we will eventually feel those deep passions once again. Just keep on praying! Don’t let your praying knees get lazy! In the words of Jimmy Valvano (former NCAA basketball coach who died of cancer), “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!”
“In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” –Romans 8:26
I have been so worried about my lack of emotional response so far, and I began to think to myself, “Bro, you’re a student leader on the SPIRITUALITY team, this shouldn’t be happening to you. You gotta set an example for the other people.” It just kept gnawing at me, and I couldn’t figure out what the heck was going on. Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. I had been reflecting on something that my small-group (something you should consider joining if you are able to) had discussed in the fall semester this past year. The group had been led by Laura Benrey and Ian Eckart, and throughout the semester they had planned discussions based on the book God, I Have Issues by Mark E. Thibodeaux S.J. It struck me that one of the discussions was about a chapter titled something to the effect of “God, I’m spiritually dry.” Such a wave of relief came over me because I remembered that there were other members in that group that had also experienced times of “spiritual dryness.” These were students that I had the utmost respect for and I knew that their faith was as strong as could be. Therefore, I knew that if they had experienced times of spiritual dryness, then it wasn’t a bad thing for me to experience it.
Within the group discussion, the members had each given certain techniques that they had found worked best for them to “break out” of their mundane spiritual/prayer time period. One of these methods was to simply shake up your normal prayer routine by listening to some music while praying/meditating. I decided to give this method a shot, so I logged into my Spotify account and just let the Chris Tomlin playlist play for awhile because I knew he was one of my favorite Christian singers. At first nothing major happened, but then the song came on that just rejuvenated my soul from the depths of routineness and awoke me to a burning desire to fill my heart with God’s presence. Oddly enough, the title of the song was, “Awake My Soul” by Chris Tomlin, featuring LeCrae. If you have not listened to the song, I strongly recommend you listen to it, but for the purpose of this blog, I will post the lyrics so you can see the lyrics that stirred up my invigoration to welcome God into my life even more.
Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me
Breathe on me, breath of God, breathe on me
I come alive, I'm alive when You breathe on me
I come alive, I'm alive when You breathe on me
[Chorus:]
Awake, awake, awake my soul,
God resurrect these bones
From death to life, for You alone
Awake my soul
Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me
Speak to me, Word of God, speak to me
I come alive, I'm alive when you speak to me
I come alive, I'm alive when you speak to me
Then He said to me,
Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!
This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones,
I will make breath enter you,
And you will come alive.
So I prophesied as I was commanded.
As I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound,
And the bones came together, bone to bone.
And I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them,
And skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then He said to me,
Prophesy to the breath,
Prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
Come from the four winds of breath and breathe.
Awake, awake, awake my soul,
God resurrect these bones
From death to life, for You alone
Awake my soul
[Lecrae:]
Yeah, I'm not alone, I realize
I breathe out, I come alive
Your Word gives life to my dry bones
Your breath tells death it can ride on
Awake me, make me a living stone,
A testament to your throne, I
I'm nothing without You, I'm on my own
The only One who satisfies my soul
These lyrics and this song as a whole just spoke to me in such a deep way. For me, the lyrics exemplify what we are called to do as Christians. We are called to let the Word of God speak to us, and then with the knowledge of the Word, we are called to go out into the world and preach this knowledge to everyone! It is quite a vast undertaking to consider going out into the world and simply preaching about the Gospel and trying to reason with others about your faith. However, there can be great comfort in knowing that we are never truly alone when we go out and preach the Word. God is with us throughout it all. The One, the Almighty, the Creator, the Father. You can’t possibly have a stronger presence with you than that.
Now, back to the spiritual dryness. Some of you might not find music to be -that invigorating, and that’s okay! The key is just to try and mix up the routine a little bit when you’re praying. It can be hard to break out a routine if you’ve done it for so long, but it can pay off immensely. Even people who already currently feel a deep emotion in your spiritual lives, it can still be beneficial to alter your praying/reflection methods a little bit. There is always room for growth in one’s spiritual life!
Many of you may have noticed that the majority of this blog has been about improving your personal experience and what you personally get out of your prayer time. However, the single most important thing is giving worship time to our God. Even if you’ve tried a bunch of different methods and still feel spiritually dry, it does not make you a bad Christian! As long as we are devoting time to spend with our Father, that is the most significant thing. The personal emotions will come back with time if all else fails. As long as we continue to model our lives after Jesus Christ we will eventually feel those deep passions once again. Just keep on praying! Don’t let your praying knees get lazy! In the words of Jimmy Valvano (former NCAA basketball coach who died of cancer), “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up!”
“In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.” –Romans 8:26