4 Ways to Sharpen Your Spiritual Senses When They Have Grown Dull

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The Church today is losing the battle.

In my previous post, I shared the Lifeway Research findings that in America more churches are closing than are opening, and my own thoughts about that discovery.

I wrote about my own struggles with offering fresh, spiritual food here on A Little R & R and how that is reflective of what is going on in the church today.

But there is something else at play.

woman with hands folded on Bible praying

We have been through a lot the past 2 and a half years, all over the world.

In November 2019, a doctor I follow on YouTube and Facebook began talking about the Coronavirus. I’d seen snippets about it in the news and, just like everyone else, had no idea what it was.

I listened to his videos, and commented to my husband about how this seemed more serious than some of the other viruses we’d heard about in recent years.

But no one could have predicted that it would have shut the whole world down….

and swept the Church into a corner.

The tragedy is, the Church didn’t fight. And by fight, I don’t mean a fight for religious freedom and the right to assemble (though, that would have been good, too).

No, I mean the Church didn’t recognize that this wasn’t a virus, this was a spirit.

It wasn’t state and federal mandates that were shutting down the church, it was spiritually driven, and that completely bypassed the church all around the world.

The enemy’s tactic was fear wrapped in a package of love and care to con the church into meekly crawling over into a corner called “online church” and being content – even grateful – for this “new opportunity”.

It wasn’t an opportunity, it was a threat, and it wasn’t recognized.

Dear sisters, this is what happens when our spiritual senses are dull; we only engage with what we can physically see, smell, taste, touch, and hear, but utterly miss that which can only be spiritually discerned.

And the enemy is sneaky.

He will often try to distract us with natural events so that we don’t notice that in the spiritual realm, he is laying a trap. Remember, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.

And if we aren’t spiritually minded, we will think he wants to steal our stuff, kill our body, and destroy our lives.

That can happen, too. But Jesus wasn’t just talking about that. Eventually, we will all die and all of our stuff will go to someone else, we will already be dead, and our physically body will be slowly rotting away.

But our spirit will live on forever in heaven or hell.

So, the enemy’s strategy must go further than just this physical life. He’s not nearly as concerned with our “stuff” and our physical body as he is with our heart and our eternal destination.

And he knows that if he can keep our spiritual senses dull, he can also keep us distracted with whatever drama is going on in the physical world while he sets a trap.

What’s worse is he makes the trap look fun, beneficial, or even like a sanctuary, so that when we fall into it, we’re glad were there.

At first.

Until we realize what’s happened, and then we want to fight the spiritual battle we should have fought much earlier.

What would have happened if instead of churches joining in the chorus of “shelter in place”, they’d had gone to spiritual battle against this virus; asking God to give them wisdom and discernment.

Would the world look differently today?

Surely, the Church would look differently today!

1. Control Your Electronic Devices

I know this one sounds not very spiritual, but it is, in fact, the one thing that will prevent you from doing the other three things effectively.

Our electronic devices are a double-edged sword.

They have great potential for reaching large amounts of people with the gospel at one time….and they have great potential for distracting us from what is at hand and keeping our spiritual senses so dull that we lose all sight of eternity altogether.

I know that I am very unaware of how often I pick up my phone, or how much time I sit at my computer.

But, God is revealing to me more and more how distracted I have become from what is truly important; not only around me physically, but around me spiritually.

If we would learn how to control and discipline our devices, we would be able to do these other three things well.

How does one acquire hearing loss? By exposing our ears to constant loud sounds until our hearing develops a resistance to those loud sounds.

The Church has developed spiritual hearing loss by a constant bombardment of distraction called media and entertainment.

And we’ve developed a hearty appetite for this bombardment of media.

Not only has it resulted in spiritual hearing loss, it has simultaneously been our trap to keep us locked in and engaged with it, knowing that it deeply offends God.

We are addicted to media, even though much of blasphemes God right in our homes with cursing His name, glorifying witchcraft and satanic rituals, portraying fornication and adultery, and depicting the most gruesome violence.

Each time we invite this blasphemous media into our lives, we are knowingly and willingly staying in his trap.

2. Wait on God in Prayer

These other three are going to seem trite and simple, but I promise you they are not.

Have you ever tried to wait in God’s presence for a full hour. Or two hours?

In our modern age when we have to be busy all of the time; when boredom is bad and we have to have our senses teased and our brains engaged, waiting on God has been forgotten.

We don’t have time for that.

This is exactly what I thought when God began convicting me that I hadn’t spent time waiting on Him in a long time.

But when He began reminding me of all of the time I waste distracted on my phone, scrolling through social media, listening to podcasts, and doing other meaningless activities, I realized that I do have time….

if it’s important enough to me.

It’s amazing how clearly we can hear God’s voices when we shut everything off and just sit in silence in His presence and listen.

Each time we do, the layers of dulled hearing fall off.

The scales fall off of our eyes.

Our ability to sense His touch in our hearts becomes more sensitive.

Our ability to sense His pleasure or displeasure is stronger.

And we begin living the Christian life exactly the way we were meant to live it all along. Living in this natural world, but fully tuned in to the spiritual world.

In constant communication with the Spirit.

3. Meditate on Scripture

I realize that I include this in so many of my posts, but I cannot emphasize for you enough the tremendous power of meditation on Scripture.

It is the difference between grazing on snacks all day and eating satisfying meal of rib eye steak dinner.

The one will kind of fill you up, but not really satisfy or nourish you; the other will.

Reading a verse or two each day will kind of fill you up, but meditating on Scripture will satisfy and nourish you. And it will do even more than that.

Meditating on Scripture sharpens your spiritual senses because it renews your mind.

By renewing your mind, your thinking changes, and as your thinking changes to align with God’s way of thinking, we are better able to recognize His voice when He speaks to us through His Word.

Even more than that, in those times when we’re faced with a dilemma, God will give us wisdom through His Word by helping us to recall Scripture that deals with that very situation.

David said, “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.” Psalm 119:99

4. Worship Everyday

Do you take time to worship God everyday? To raise your hands and sing; to bow down on your knees in reverence before Him in His presence?

How about singing your own songs to God? Does this sound strange to you?

There is tremendous power in authentic worship; a power that we have forgotten as we have turned worship into a market and profited from it.

But dear sister, just because there are those who have cheapened worship doesn’t mean that it has lost its power and meaning.

Its power and meaning in our lives is only lost when we allow it to be lost.

It is time for us to go back and rediscover the power and meaning of true, authentic worship in Spirit and in truth; and then daily spend time in God’s presence singing to Him about His power and His greatness.

Singing songs that are already written; and songs that come spontaneously from the depth of our own heart of adoration to Him.

Remember the battles that God won for the Israelites when the worshippers went first.

Remember all of the times God told them to shout a great shout to Him, and that He would defeat their enemies.

And when we do, we will rediscover that worship isn’t just music, it’s a weapon. It’s a powerful weapon to defeat the enemy in our lives.

Spiritual warfare requires sharp spiritual senses to discern the enemy’s strategy and to gain God’s wisdom to know how to advance and win the victory.

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