The Great Treasure Behind Spiritual Weariness

“Though we might not be “weary of God’s work….we often grow weary in it” ~ Charles Spurgeon

Even though I am a strong woman of faith, recently it was as if my faith grew wings and decided to fly away. I was in a severe spiritual battle where I actually began to doubt if God really existed. I felt exhausted from the decades of praying for some specific things in my life, and yet not seeing God respond. The spiritual weariness I was feeling had such a heavy grip on me that I felt I couldn’t pray anymore!

I’m grateful that the Spirit of God that lives in me is greater than the enemy of my soul, Satan (1 John 4:4) The Lord sustained me and got me through the battle that was raging within me. I believe He allowed me to feel the spiritual weariness I felt because He wanted to teach me some valuable lessons. I’d like to share these with you in this blog post.

When God doesn’t seem to be moving on our behalf, spiritual weariness often settles in. However, getting to the end of our rope is good!

I know I’m not alone in my recent battle with weariness. We all get weary, at times, in our walk with Christ. It’s understandable to feel like giving up after having warred in prayer for months, even years, and having waited faithfully on God, only to sense His silence. These seasons of spiritual exhaustion bring us to a crossroad between the devil’s plans and God’s. It’s precisely at this crisis of faith where many believers give up on their dreams, their hopes and in the faithfulness of the Lord. They fall into Satan’s trap, allowing their weariness to wear them out.

The spiritual fatigue we feel leaves us vulnerable, giving Satan a foothold in our lives. When God seems silent and our heart is downcast, the enemy of our soul whispers in our ears, “just give up.” Satan will try to convince us that God doesn’t hear our prayers, doesn’t speak to us, and maybe doesn’t even exist. His ultimate goal is to draw us away from our faith in Jesus Christ.

What I learned from my recent battle with weariness is that as a Christian, it’s important to accept spiritual weariness as a vital part of our faith journey.

Seeing spiritual weariness as a way God refines our faith can help us actually move out of it. If we push through the exhaustion of waiting on God, there is a great treasure that the Lord has for us. If we allow Him to, He will reveal His faithfulness to us by bringing us into a richer, more intimate relationship with Him. But first we must be able to respond with sincerity to His loving question of “Will you still love and worship Me, even if I don’t give you this desire of your heart?” Will God still be sitting on the throne of your heart, no matter what the outcome of your prayer is? How you respond to this will reflect the condition of your heart.

God wants to strengthen our faith through our complete surrender.

He will allow His beloved children to endure the burden of weariness because His hope is that we seek Him above our desires. When we push through our weariness and persevere, we grow spiritually mature, seeking the Giver more than the gift. Moreover, relying on God, even when He doesn’t seem to be answering our prayers is an act of worship. Our perseverance honors Him because it’s putting your trust in His character, knowing that He is a good Father to us. Counting on God means that we don’t trust our feelings, because our feelings lie to us. We lean on Almighty God because He is trustworthy.

We have to believe God’s promises to us, that they are authentic. Promises like the one in Isaiah 41:10, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” There are many many more Bible verses about God’s promises (click here to read a few more). Practice declaring the truth of God’s word out loud over yourself, your loved ones, and your circumstances.

Rest is a weapon and in times of weariness we must discipline ourselves to rest in Christ alone.

In times of spiritual weariness, it’s important to do what we are told in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” Spend extra time with Him, in prayer and reading His word. The key is to keep persevering and not get tired of doing what is right before God. He wants to use the weariness you are feeling to build you up. Leaning on the body of Christ, listening to worship music and encouraging podcasts, and reading books the uplift your faith, will also help you not give up.

Weariness is good! God uses your weariness as a knock on the door of your heart to grow you into a stronger, more mature warrior for Christ and His kingdom.

We often see exhaustion as a negative thing, something that makes us uncomfortable. We don’t enjoy feeling weary. Learning to recognize our spiritual weariness as a hidden treasure from God, an opportunity to trust God will actually reap a harvest of blessings. God has instructed us in Galatians 6:9 “And let us not get tired of doing what is right, for after a while we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” The key words in this scripture are “if we don’t get discouraged and give up.” My dear brothers and sisters, put a stake of faith in the ground and declare that you will stand strong in the Lord and not give up.

At the core of why we get weary is that we aren’t surrendered, and being completely surrendered is what God wants from us.

The truth is, when we completely surrender to God, we actually find strength. Here’s an exercise to help you know if you are surrendered. Ask yourself would you lose your joy if you didn’t receive the thing you are hoping for and praying for? If your answer is yes, then it means you have not completely surrendered the outcome to God yet. Ask Him to help you do so. Our surrender has to be to a point of being able to honestly say “I don’t know what the outcome is Lord, but I have no doubt that you are going to take excellent care of me and my loved ones.” You may want to say this simple prayer: “I am willing to submit my will to Yours, Lord. I trust Your plans.”

God blesses us when we give Him our absolute surrender.

He is the God of sweet surprises and He loves to surprise us. But a surprise can only be a surprise if we aren’t expecting it. Surrendering helps us to release our expectations to a sovereign God. Fill yourself up with a joyful anticipation and expectation of the goodness of God. You can trust that He has your very best in mind because He created you with a plan and a destiny (Psalm 139:16). He is your creator and He adores you. Surrender your will, your desires to Him, and trust in His love for you.

We find that as we surrender, the great treasure behind our weariness is complete satisfaction in Christ.

There is no joy like the joy of the Lord. We will never find this type of joy unless we completely surrender to God. Spiritual weariness creeps in when we want things done in our timing and our way. Our weary heart becomes like a pressure cooker, and we have to decide how we are going to stop the strain we feel. We either choose to submit and surrender to God, or we give up. We have to decide to believe in an almighty God that fights our battles for us, and find peace within, or we give in to the enemy’s plans of despair and hopelessness. The choice is yours. The harvest of blessings are to be found within you, when you choose to be an overcomer and find victory over your spiritual weariness.