5 Reasons You Feel Spiritually Dry (and What to do About It)
You’ve been trying.
You love God - but lately, it feels like He’s far away. Your prayers feel flatter than normal. Scriptures seem hollow. You’re wondering what happened to the closeness you once felt.
If that’s you, you’re not alone - and you’re not lost.
Here are 5 reasons you might be feeling spiritually dry:
You might be disconnected from God’s word
You might be holding spiritual clutter or unconfessed sins
You’re emotionally overwhelmed and BURNT OUT
You’ve been waiting for Him to move for a long time
God might be trying to invite you into deeper faith
Dry seasons happen, even to the most faithful hearts. But God hasn’t moved away from you. In fact, He might be inviting you deeper.
Here are 5 powerful, grace-filled ways to begin reconnecting with Him today.
Talk to God like He’s right beside you
I grew up praying very traditional prayers to God. Saying “thee” and “thou” and only addressing Him in what I considered to be respect and reverence. It wasn’t until I really let myself burst through the veil of formality into real, authentic raw relationship that I saw a new side to God. I experienced a depth of intimacy and love from Him that overwhelmed me. For all of us, prayer looks a little different…and I think that’s totally okay! So does God by the way.
“Henceforth I call you not servants...but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
However you come to God, do it authentically. Tell Him all the feelings and thoughts that run through your head. Tell Him how your day went…how you felt when that person said that thing..how crazy your kids made you feel…how much you’re struggling in work and why. Ask for His advice. More than that, be honest about your heartbreak. Don’t just tell Him about how other people hurt you, tell God when you feel hurt, rejected and abandoned by Him.
That might feel wrong to you. I understand! But consider this:
You cannot tell God something about yourself that He doesn’t already know. Bringing the raw emotions and pain to Him just allows YOU to experience true healing in the same way that you only get a bad wound treated if you go to a doctor. Bring it to Him and watch Him clean it and bandage it. Jesus Himself asked God in His time of trouble “why has thou forsaken me?”, so I think God can handle a little more honesty from you, too.
Step into the story
This one was a gamechanger for me. Growing up in church, I had often been told to put myself in the perspective of the character I was reading about. To try feeling what they felt…thinking what they must have thought.
Have you done this before? It’s great! BUT…
It wasn’t until I began dialoguing with God while I read those stories that I felt a fire burn deep in me.
“God, how in the world were you so patient with them?!” led to the Spirit whispering, “the same way He’s patient with you everyday.”
“I cannot believe he did that. That is so outrageous…” led to the Spirit whispering, “Mhmm and God saw you do the same thing in a different way!”
The stories became live action commentary for me to see myself through a different lens…God’s lens. I could see myself in these people which then led me to see how God handled them…and how these people’s choices either led them out of the same struggles as me or how their choices led them further down the wrong path. It’s an incredibly humbling experience that God will use to draw you deeper into Him.
Return to your First Love
In the same way as any relationship, the feeling of love ebbs and flows. But real love is not merely a feeling…it’s an act. It’s a choice. When we feel far from someone we love, returning back to when we first fell in love with them will often rekindle feelings we haven’t felt in a long time. The same is true with God. Maybe you’ve been in a waiting season for so long that you forgot how His miracles felt…how His blessings used to warm your spirit like laying in the sun.
“Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.”
What drew you to Him in the first place?
Go back there. Revisit the wonder. Remember the first time you felt God in a song, the first time tears poured out of your eyes as the Spirit engulfed you like flames, the first time you knew Jesus was your Savior.
Let longing lead you deeper
This time, I want to START with a very important verse.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Feeling spiritually dry doesn’t mean you’re faithless - it means you’re thirsty. That thirst is sacred..instead of resisting it, lean into it. Let your longing become the doorway to deeper intimacy.
“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you...”
Don’t listen to the internal lies that tell you you are weaker or ‘less than’ because you’re feeling less connected to God right now. Lean into God’s promises. You ARE chosen. You are His. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and there is not something wrong with you. This is a season…a season that God wants to use to draw you into deeper relationship with Him. Don’t stop reading..don’t stop praying, don’t stop worshipping until you feel Him.
Slow down until you notice Him again
God rarely shouts, He whispers. But just like a vocal whisper, it is easily drowned out in noise. When the noise fades, that still small voice becomes easier and easier to hear.
Is it possible you aren’t far from God, but instead are just dealing with a lot of noise right now?
God does not leave His people, we leave Him. He can be found the very minute that our souls decide to seek Him. His answers might not come immediately, but His presence is ALWAYS available
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”
I know, I know. Easier said than done. The usual “Just read and pray more” falls flat when you’ve been trying that forever and still feel stuck. Let me recommend something to you:
Begin noticing again. His goodness in the breeze, His mercy in the mundane. That’s where closeness and revival begin.
He desires you in every way. He wants you to speak to Him more than you speak to anyone.
He wants to heal your pain, He wants to show you who you are and, more importantly, who HE is in His word. Slow down, listen close for His voice and don’t stop trying until you feel Him.
Just to tie all of this up in a pretty little ribbon, you don’t have to feel spiritually dried up much longer. If you implement these biblical action steps, you will notice God in little ways, you’ll rekindle that love and intimacy you once felt with Him and He can come in and begin healing areas you didn’t realize were broken..because you’ve been numb for so long. YOU GOT THIS!