Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation? If so, the enmity between you
and your Creator is gone, and you have entered a secure and loving
relationship with God. If you have no faith in Christ, then you have
no relationship with God (John 14:6).
Feelings come and go, and you may not always "feel" love for God.
Hearts tend to grow cold, and even the most on-fire Christians can
struggle with maintaining their love and service to God. The church in
Ephesus had to be reprimanded by Christ: "You have forsaken the love
you had at first" (Revelation 2:4). A lack of feelings of love,
however, does not mean the relationship has ended. God does not
change; His love is constant.
As cliché as it may sound, don't give up! Know that God loves you and
desires for you to have an abundant and peaceful life within the
parameters of His will. God is a loving, compassionate Father who
looks upon you in great love. Second Corinthians 1:3 describes God as
"the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort." He loves you
and desires to help you through this trying time of feeling
disconnected from Him.
Our relationship with God is based on love. He loved us and sent His
Son (John 3:16), and our response to His love is to love Him in return
(1 John 4:19) and serve Him. Not service out of obligation, but out of
true love for Him and who He is. God's will is not that we give of
ourselves "reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful
giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7). So how do you become that "cheerful giver"
who gives your heart freely to God?
Reflect upon your walk thus far
Should Christians feel warm and fuzzy toward God at all times? No. We
all have valleys and deserts in our walk and feel all kinds of
emotions at various points in our lives—just like we do in other
relationships. In rekindling your affection for God, start at the very
beginning. Reflect on where and how your walk with Him first began.
When were you saved? Why were you saved? What did you feel when you
first began to discover who God was? How has Jesus made Himself known
to you in your daily life since? What things in life has God brought
you through? Consider past victories (1 Samuel 7:12) and those times
when you felt a deep desire and longing for God in your life.
Pray
Spend some quality time with God. Get to know Him more. To know Him is
to love Him. Ask God to increase your desire for Him. Ask Him to fill
you with His Spirit and rekindle your appreciation of His character.
Continue submitting to the Holy Spirit and confess to God that you
cannot overcome these struggles on your own—none of us can. When we
ask for His helping hand, He always hears us! Psalm 18:6 says, "In my
distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his
temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears."
Read Scripture
During the times when you feel nothing toward God, it helps to read
His Word to remember how He feels about you. Dig into Scripture as
much as possible while dealing with these feelings of disinterest.
God's Word is truly "a lamp to my feet and a light for my path" (Psalm
119:105). Try reading a psalm a day. The book of Psalms is very
encouraging and has many prayers that you might really identify with,
given your current situation. It is in the Word that God reveals
Himself and His will for you.
Seek Christian counseling
This is especially important if you are angry or upset with God for
some reason. It is difficult to feel love for someone while you are
angry at him. If there is an anger problem, how long have you felt
this way? Can you attribute your feelings to a specific situation?
Does anything help relieve your feelings or temporarily change your
perception? Biblical counseling can help you work through specific
issues. Through the healing process, guided by a pastor or other
counselor, you should be able to let go of the anger and hurt, and
your perception of God should change for the better.
Find a godly mentor
Surely, there is someone you know who loves the Lord and whose
Christian joy is evident. Ask this person to meet with you regularly.
Spend time together, study the Bible together, pray together. Ask
questions about your mentor's spiritual walk and how you can love the
Lord more. This friend can encourage you on your journey.
Plug into your local church
God intends for the Christian life to be lived corporately. That's why
He calls the church the "body" of Christ (Romans 12:5). There are many
opportunities to serve the Lord through your church and many people
who can exhort, support, and encourage you.
God will continue to love you dearly! "I pray that you, being rooted
and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's
holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love
of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may
be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians
3:17–19).
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