All Dried Up

Have you ever felt all dried up? Like you've given what you can give but there is just nothing left that you can really do.

Sometimes I feel like that with my spiritual life. While there may be something that I can do about what God is convicting in me, I don't do it, and sometimes I don't even want to do it. It saddens my heart to admit it, but I know it's really true.

That's when I need to consult God and just say hey, I'm feeling all dried up, help me because I need it.

Grace. There is enough to cover me.

Nevertheless, I believe the lie that there isn't. I believe the lie that if I'm not good enough God will condemn me.

That's when I need to remember scripture.

Romans 8:1-3
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,

It really hits home for me when I read "For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering".

Christ covers all.

Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Though we have been redeemed we are not without purpose. We have a job to do. Here Christ tells the disciples to be alert and aware of temptation praying to God for assistance to resist it.

We still live in a broken and sinful world, therefore we must watch and pray to avoid temptation. When we stop watching and praying that is when we fall into sin.

2 Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 

This passage in second Peter is a good reminder that though we live in a broken world God has given us everything we need to succeed in living a life pleasing to Him.

An excerpt from Matthew Henry's Commentary explains verses 3 & 4 in more depth...
Those who receive the promises of the gospel partake of the divine nature. They are renewed in the spirit of their mind, after the image of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; their hearts are set for God and his service; they have a divine temper and disposition of soul; though the law is the ministration of death, and the letter killeth, yet the gospel is the ministration of life, and the Spirit quickeneth those who are naturally dead in trespasses and sins. [4.] Those in whom the Spirit works the divine nature are freed from the bondage of corruption. Those who are, by the Spirit of grace,renewed in the spirit of their mind, are translated into the liberty of the children of God; for it is the world in which corruption reigns. Those who are not of the Father, but of the world, are under the power of sin; the world lies in wickedness, 1 John 5:19. And the dominion that sin has in the men of the world is through lust; their desires are to it, and therefore it rules over them. The dominion that sin has over us is according to the delight we have in it.

The last sentence here is easy to overlook, but it is what stood out to me most. It says, "The dominion that sin has over us is according to the delight we have in it". Hearing myself read those words both encourages and saddens me. I am saddened by this because it means that I am holding a dominion of sin over myself and therefore keeping myself from what God has for me. On the other hand, I am encouraged because it means that the only sin which has power over Christians is the sin that I myself take pleasure in. This means that through the Holy Spirit, I have the power I need to get rid of any sin that is held over me. 

The only question that remains then is how. How do we get rid of the dominion of sin we are willingly holding over ourselves. Well I guess that the easy answer is to let go of it. The more helpful answer is perhaps to watch and pray. In order to get rid of it we need to ask God for help. We also need to be mindful or in other words pay attention to what thoughts lead us into sin. Then, instead of entertaining those thoughts, we need to capture them and toss them out. We can be set free by the power of the Holy Spirit if we watch and pray.