Feeling Empty?

you ever get those days/weeks/months/season in your life where you feel spiritually disconnected? You pray and you feel like no one is listening. Whenever you're caught lifting your hands during worship or taking communion or discussing the presence of angles/demons, (or any part of being a Christian that the World might find strange) and you get that little twinge of doubt in the back of your mind. We all have those moments. Personally, I believe that they're essential for having that relationship. I believe God can use those times for many reasons: to strengthen your relationship, to teach you something, or even to test you.

I am in the process of getting over one of those "fluffs". It's been going on for about a 2 months now. I would pray and cry out to the Lord and hear nothing. Feel nothing; nothing but loneliness. But for the past week or so I've been reading 1 Peter over and over every night. My last post was about the things I learned from reading and rereading it. But I also recently started rereading The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis. (If you don't know Lewis, he is probably the most famous Christian writer there ever has been). I have been learning a lot from this book as well!

If you haven't read the book yet: DO IT. It's a bit confusing the first time you read it, but it's very good. Basically it's about these two demons, Wormtail and his uncle Screwtape. The whole book is just a bunch of letters written to Wormtail. We never read young Wormtails letters, but Screwtape references them in his writing. In this world of the book, each demon is assigned a human, or a "patient". Their job, and basically their life purpose, is to make sure that his human does not get to heaven. These letters that Screwtape writes consist of advice on how to ensure the damnation of Wormtails patient. So basically the book is a "What NOT to Do" book. Lewis is so elegant in his writing. So many times while I'm reading the book I'm a little convicted because the things Screwtape writes about humans are so true.

ANYWAYS, after all that expedition, the point to this post: I read something very profound in the book and I would like to share. (initially it'll seem like a silly and minuscule point but I would urge you to think about it.) In this passage Screwtape is talking about Christians.

"At the very least, they can be persuaded that the bodily position makes no difference to their prayers; for they constantly forget, what you must always remember, that they are animals and that whatever their bodies do affect their souls."

I have never thought about this before. Firstly, I have gotten so used to just praying laying comfortably underneath my covers (since almost as long as I can remember). Of course there have been several times where I actually did the whole, kneeling-at-my-bed-with-my-fingers-interlocked-prayer when I was really desperate for something, but once every once in a blue moon.

So, for the past handful of nights I have been getting down on my knees beside my bead and saying my prayers that way. Sure enough I felt this focus by the 3 times I did it. I was praying for anything and everyone and I didn't want to stop. It felt so great and I have felt closer to God than I have felt in a while.

So give it a go! It's worth a try. Make a goal to kneel beside your bed with your eyes closed during prayer... let's say for one week. Take the Kneeling Prayer One Week Challenge!

If you see any type of difference please comment or message me and let me know!

Praying for you guys!