If you’re a human being like me, you’ve likely gone through, are currently  going through or will go through a season of complete dryness and feeling like you lack intimacy with the Lord. It’s expected. It’s normal. It’s okay. What’s not okay is staying complacent and comfortable in the dry season and forgetting how to be intimate with the Lord. The Bible tells us that the Lord leads us into seasons and takes us out of seasons but through any season, no matter how dull and no matter how dry, intimacy with the Lord is possible and even expected from Him.

Because seasons lacking intimacy is expected in our walk with the Lord, I’m going to give you a few basic and practical steps on how to stay intimate with the Lord amidst dryness that have helped me a ton!

1. Be cautious on who and what you’re allowing in.

Are you allowing friends who lead you down the wrong path in? Where is your heart when you’re listening to secular music and is it glorifying to the Lord? Are the movies you’re watching and the people you follow on social media growing you in the Lord or are they distracting you from Him? If you allow the things that aren’t of God in rather He Himself, there’s no room for Him simply because light and dark cannot co-exist. The Bible says that the Lord will spit lukewarm people out of His mouth. Lukewarm isn’t an option. You’re either in or you’re out. The Bible also tells us that suffering is expected, but if the apostles rejoiced because they had been counted worthy of suffering for the name of Jesus after being thrown in prison, we have no excuse not to rejoice when trials nowhere near this intense come our way.

2. Find a community of believers and friends/leaders who can hold you accountable.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” / Hebrews 10:24-25 

If you’re not surrounded by people constantly who can lift you up and encourage you, escaping complacency and the dryness is nearly impossible. Being involved in a community of believers is crucial. It’s a necessity in our walk with the Lord. If it weren’t, the Lord wouldn’t have bothered to tell us in His Word how crucial it is. Be open with your struggles with leaders in your local church, community, or Godly friends. Allow them to give you wisdom and point out places of your life that need improvement and that need to be healthier. They’re there to help, not hurt.

3. Recognize how you’re spending your time.

When we don’t “feel” God’s presence, it’s easy be content outside of it. It’s easy to let dust cover your Bible and it’s easy to “forget” how to pray, but these are things that we must fight through. We have no option. We need to be in constant prayer and we need to be constantly in our Word, not only for the holiness and betterment of ourselves, but to give a worthy Savior the worship He deserves even when we don’t “feel” like it. I mean, I’m pretty certain Jesus never “felt” like being tortured and murdered on the cross for you but He did it anyway because He loved you too much to leave you broken. If we fail to recognize the holiness and the utter goodness of God, we then become complacent in our relationship with Him and choose to spend our time essentially ignoring Him when all He desires is for us to run to Him.

God desires for you to be in communication with Him and for you to be in His Word. He desires to fill you with Himself and if we’re not doing those things, we become full of ourselves rather than full of Him. Again, light and dark cannot co-exist. It’s Him or the world. One will leave you feeling temporarily pleased and satisfied but later on broken, hopeless and lost and the other promises trials and sufferings but also promises eternal life, unshakable joy amidst trials and freedom. It’s up to you, my friend. Although there is nothing in this world He desires more than You, He was gracious enough to give you a choice between Him and the world.

Escaping complacency is never easy, but it’s necessary. Jesus is worthy of all of our praise, not our “when I feel like it” praise. That type of worship is empty, from the wrong place of our heart and not what the Lord is worthy of. Worship is a privilege, not a chore. Once you begin to see it that way, I promise you’ll want to do nothing but worship. You’ll find yourself falling more in love with the Lord daily. You’ll find yourself in a place of such awe that you feel like you can’t love Him any more than you already do but then He’ll be faithful to wreck that and you’ll continue to fall even deeper.

Remember, Jesus never “felt” like dying on that cross, but He did anyway. The Father never “felt” like allowing His son to be murdered, but He did anyway. He didn’t do it for your “when I feel like it” worship, He did because He saw your brokenness and chose to save you. I beg you, please recognize that. That alone should be enough to make you want to drop everything and worship Him right now. I promise, you’ll never escape complacency if you don’t recognize His utmost worthiness to be worshiped.

Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, all you families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!” / 1 Chronicles 16:23-31