Today I started reading “Drawing Near” by John Bevere. The first chapter begins“There is a call-no, a cry – coming from the heart of God and with each passing day it’s intensity increases: “Why are you satisfied without my presence; why do you remain distant when you could have intimacy with Me?” This – to me – speaks to being a complacent Christian.
Hey, whether we spend six minutes a day in prayer or six hours, we all long for deeper communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, we don’t even know that is what we are longing for. In my life, this “longing” can manifest itself with:
- Anxiety
- The “Blues” (not the music)
- Wonder “is this all there is to life?”
- Insomnia
- A sense of overwhelm
Without fellowship with the Holy Spirit, you run the risk of becoming a complacent Christian.
Yeah, without fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the precious spiritual elements of life become commonplace and boring to us.
This may be a tactic the enemy uses to pull us from prayer.
“You don’t want to pray. It’s sooo boring” he may say.
Why prayer could be boring for you.
I personally believe when we become too “comfortable” with our Christian walk, complacency may soon follow.
Complacency is when we become too comfortable without His presence (as the above quote says). That could also be pride, but I’ll skip that one for another blog post.
Have you ever become complacent in a personal relationship?
I have.
When that happened, I stopped being grateful for the blessings that person ushered into my life. I wasn’t mean to them or anything, I just began to take them for granted.
Proverbs 1:32 says:
For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;
It happens a lot of with married couples.
Over the years, for example, I’ve gotten accustomed to my husband is an amazing provider. I never, ever have to worry about anything financial. He’s given me so much more than I could have dreamed of having.
If I’m not careful, I can just take our amazing vacations for granted. I could take the home we live in for granted.
To be clear: we are not millionaires or anything, but my husband has made certain we have all we need and then some.
As a result, I remind myself (literally, sometimes) to thank him and tell him how much I appreciate what he does for us.
If you were to scroll through my calendar, you’d likely see “Text Husband” scheduled a few times a month. This reminds me to send him an “I love you” text and thank him for his amazingness (I know that’s not a word:).
This prevents me from being a complacent wife.
Would you tell me what you do to prevent complacency in your life? Please comment below and help me (and others) learn to be better!
Back to the topic.
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15-16 Click To TweetFellowship with the Holy Spirit in prayer also prevents us from being complacent Christian.
Again, when we are complacent, we begin taking things for granted – just like when we are in relationships.
Take prayer, for example. Prayer is really a true honor and blessing. Think of it, we get to talk to the Creator of the universe one-on-one. The best part is: He wants to talk to us too!
But, when we get to a place of being too “comfortable”, we neglect that precious time with Him. I know I have. And we can get comfortable being without the precious prayer time that gives us strength, encouragement, and direction.
The same goes for church. When I’m complacent, church seems laborious. It seems like a “to do” more than an opportunity to go to the Lord’s house to worship, love on others and get love for myself.
Complacency is the biggest enemy for Christians.
Fellowship with the Holy Spirit is the magic pill for complacency.
The first step in fellowship with the Holy Spirit is recognizing He is a person. He is a part of God that connects us to the heart of the Father.
As you embrace Him as a person. Your prayer time is more tentative. It’s slower. It’s more meaningful … each second of it.
It’s addressing Him; inquiring of Him. Waiting for Him. Soon, you’ll feel His presence and begin to recognize it. Such a beautiful thing!
Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit breathes life into your prayer time.
‘And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.’ (John 14:16-17)
How could you be a complacent Christian when you know you have an exclusive Helper who will guide you into all truth?
Indeed, the first step to being a grateful, excited Christian, who does not take the Lord for granted is to become intimate with the Holy Spirit. It’s a spiritual conductor for supernatural electricity in your life.
The Holy Spirit helps you out of complacency as He keeps your prayer time relevant.
But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Revelation 2:4
He knows you inside and out.
He knows the Father inside and out. He will put his “finger” on places in your life that require repentance, correction, and confession. This may not be the most fun part of your prayer time, but it’s the most valuable.
The Holy Spirit makes sure we don’t cling to sins we have become blind to in our lives. Sins that facilitate angst and distance from fellowship with the Father.
While doing all this, He makes sure we are affirmed as he performs spiritual surgery on our hearts – removing the things that need to go and nurturing us through the process. So sweet. Even in those rough times, He is so kind.
So, as John Bevere asked, ” “Why are you satisfied without my presence; why do you remain distant when you could have intimacy with Me?”
Reach for the intimacy the Lord is offering you. You’ll be less lonely; you’ll feel more supported and you’ll be energized by your time with Him.
