How to Stir Up Your Faith When You Feel Spiritually Dry
Most of us can remember a season when faith felt alive. We were in the Word, praying with expectation, and believing God came easily. Then life got busy, a prayer took longer to answer than we hoped, or a disappointment settled in, and the fire slowly turned into embers. We never walked away from God, but somewhere along the way we got used to living without some of what He promised. If you’ve wondered how to get back what you used to have, the Bible speaks to that directly.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he was writing to a young pastor under real pressure, with fear pressing in on him. Paul reminded him of the genuine faith that had lived in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and now lived in him. Then he wrote, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6, NKJV), followed by the reminder that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Paul didn’t tell Timothy to wait for a new word or a fresh touch. He told him to stir up what God had already put inside him.
That’s good news for anyone who feels spiritually dry, because so many of us are waiting on God for something He has already given. Scripture says His divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. Think about a drink mix poured into a bottle of water. Everything you need is in the bottle, but if you leave it alone it settles into a clump at the bottom. Shake it, and it spreads through every drop. When we were placed in Christ, Christ was placed in us, but we don’t feel the full effect of that until we stir it up, and we have to keep stirring.
The Old Testament paints the same picture. In Leviticus 6, God told the priests that the fire on the altar must never go out, and that each morning they were to add fresh wood. A few chapters later God lit that fire Himself, so the priests never had to create it, only keep it burning. The New Testament calls every believer a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), which means tending that fire is now our responsibility. We don’t need to pray for fire, we need to add wood.
That’s why faith has to be a daily thing. Manna in the wilderness came fresh every morning, and anything kept overnight spoiled. Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread and to take up our cross daily, Joshua 1:8 tells us to meditate on God’s Word day and night, and Paul wrote that our inward man is renewed day by day. Yesterday’s bread won’t feed us today. If the priests skipped enough mornings, the fire would slowly go out, and the same thing happens to us when everything else crowds out our time with God.
So what adds wood to the fire? Feeding on God’s Word every day. Praying in the Holy Spirit, which Jude 20 says builds us up on our most holy faith. Making praise and thanksgiving a lifestyle instead of an occasional moment. And staying planted and faithful in God’s house, since Hebrews 10 tells us to gather together all the more as the day approaches. Coming to church works a little like the bumpers at a bowling alley. They won’t guarantee a strike, but you’re going to knock some pins down, and the Word applied in your life is what makes the real difference.
It also helps to know what dampens the fire. Neglecting the Word, prayer, and gathering with other believers will do it, and so will the wrong associations, because all of us have the ability to put faith into people or pull faith out of them. Another quiet fire-killer is constantly talking about what we don’t know. Going over and over the questions we can’t answer only makes things darker, and the better path is to hold on to what we do know. Philippians 3:16 says, “Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that” (AMPC). A dry season doesn’t have to be an unfruitful season.
This week, pick one promise from God’s Word that you may have quietly set down, whether it’s about your health, your family, your provision, or your purpose. Find the actual verse, write it on a card or in your phone, and read it out loud every morning before you check anything else. Thank God for it like it’s already done, because in Christ it is. That’s adding wood to the fire.
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he was writing to a young pastor under real pressure, with fear pressing in on him. Paul reminded him of the genuine faith that had lived in his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and now lived in him. Then he wrote, “Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Timothy 1:6, NKJV), followed by the reminder that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. Paul didn’t tell Timothy to wait for a new word or a fresh touch. He told him to stir up what God had already put inside him.
That’s good news for anyone who feels spiritually dry, because so many of us are waiting on God for something He has already given. Scripture says His divine power has given us everything that pertains to life and godliness. Think about a drink mix poured into a bottle of water. Everything you need is in the bottle, but if you leave it alone it settles into a clump at the bottom. Shake it, and it spreads through every drop. When we were placed in Christ, Christ was placed in us, but we don’t feel the full effect of that until we stir it up, and we have to keep stirring.
The Old Testament paints the same picture. In Leviticus 6, God told the priests that the fire on the altar must never go out, and that each morning they were to add fresh wood. A few chapters later God lit that fire Himself, so the priests never had to create it, only keep it burning. The New Testament calls every believer a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), which means tending that fire is now our responsibility. We don’t need to pray for fire, we need to add wood.
That’s why faith has to be a daily thing. Manna in the wilderness came fresh every morning, and anything kept overnight spoiled. Jesus taught us to ask for our daily bread and to take up our cross daily, Joshua 1:8 tells us to meditate on God’s Word day and night, and Paul wrote that our inward man is renewed day by day. Yesterday’s bread won’t feed us today. If the priests skipped enough mornings, the fire would slowly go out, and the same thing happens to us when everything else crowds out our time with God.
So what adds wood to the fire? Feeding on God’s Word every day. Praying in the Holy Spirit, which Jude 20 says builds us up on our most holy faith. Making praise and thanksgiving a lifestyle instead of an occasional moment. And staying planted and faithful in God’s house, since Hebrews 10 tells us to gather together all the more as the day approaches. Coming to church works a little like the bumpers at a bowling alley. They won’t guarantee a strike, but you’re going to knock some pins down, and the Word applied in your life is what makes the real difference.
It also helps to know what dampens the fire. Neglecting the Word, prayer, and gathering with other believers will do it, and so will the wrong associations, because all of us have the ability to put faith into people or pull faith out of them. Another quiet fire-killer is constantly talking about what we don’t know. Going over and over the questions we can’t answer only makes things darker, and the better path is to hold on to what we do know. Philippians 3:16 says, “Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that” (AMPC). A dry season doesn’t have to be an unfruitful season.
This week, pick one promise from God’s Word that you may have quietly set down, whether it’s about your health, your family, your provision, or your purpose. Find the actual verse, write it on a card or in your phone, and read it out loud every morning before you check anything else. Thank God for it like it’s already done, because in Christ it is. That’s adding wood to the fire.