What To Do If You Feel Spiritually Stuck

Why do I feel spiritually weak and stuck? 

Have you ever asked yourself that question? You confess Christ as Lord and Savior. You hear the Word. You’re involved at church. You want to grow. You want to experience the spiritual vitality you once had. You remember being passionate about Christ and the things of God, but now you feel distracted, dry, and stuck. How can that be, and what’s the way out? 

Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower (read Mark 4:1–20). Some seed (the good news about Christ) falls among thorns. It grows, but then the thorns choke it, and it becomes unfruitful. The thorns choke and smother the seed. 

What are the thorns? Jesus tells us: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things. Worry distracts us. Wealth deceives us. Desire for more things, more thrills, more comfort, and success grips us. The Word that should produce faith, fruit, and joy is suffocated under a pile of lesser things. Does this describe your experience? 

God’s Word didn’t lose its power. You just allowed other things to suffocate the seed of the gospel in your soul. You’re allowing other things to shape your desires and identity. Your soul can’t thrive when God’s Word is smothered by competing passions, the love of money and things, and the fleeting pleasures of sin. 

How do you get untangled and unstuck then? Remember and repent. 

1. Remember Christ: remember you deserve death for these sins and that Jesus was punished in your place. Remember that through faith He gives you His righteousness. That in Christ you’re dead to sin and alive to God. That you’re a child of God not a slave of sin. That there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That for freedom Christ has set you free. That sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law but under grace. 

2. Clear the thorns: Repent of your sin. Bring it to the light. Confess it to God and others. Call it what it is. And then violently uproot your idols and distractions by the power of the Holy Spirit. Don’t let the thorns keep growing. Don’t just trim them back. Rip them out (Matthew 18:7-9). Spare none of them. 

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:8-10 ESV)

Chad Kettler

Lewisville Campus Pastor