Dealing With Spiritual Fatigue

Have you ever just wanted to quit – everything? I think we’ve all been there a time or two. Over the course of a lifetime, situations and circumstances can overwhelm us and cause us to want to just check out of life’s responsibilities. Then we take a vacation or even just a break from our pressures and then we’re good and ready to handle life again.

Yet other times, we become fatigued spiritually and we don’t just want to quit our jobs and send the kids to grandma’s house for a year. Instead, we find ourselves hitting rock bottom and wanting to quit on God and walk away from serving Him. What’s happened? What causes someone who has spent his or her life serving the Lord to want to just give up?

Dealing With Spiritual Fatigue

Spiritual fatigue can overcome the most dedicated Christian. Unfortunately, almost every few weeks we hear of another faithful servant pulling the plug on service and taking a seat on the back row.  Yet, it’s not only church members that are affected by this fatigue, but many times it’s church leaders who’ve given everything to serve God and they’ve now decided they just can’t do it anymore.

It breaks my heart to learn of another casualty to this silent, but fatal spiritual malady. To be transparent, I would have to tell you that I have felt this fatigue sometimes in my ministry and walk with the Lord. It has caused me to search for the causes and seek the Biblical wisdom and solutions so I don’t become a statistic on the journey.

What Causes Spiritual Fatigue?

1. Working to Please Others

As children, we learn that good behavior brings favor from other people. It’s a great motivational tool to encourage children to do what’s right. However, it can really mess us up as adults. If we’re not careful, we become a people pleaser and will do anything to try to keep everyone happy with us. It takes about 10 minutes in the ministry to figure out that is truly impossible and it’s not what God wants us to use as motivation. We are to always be a blessing to those around us, but sometimes they expect us to be perfect and do everything they think we should do. This causes difficulties and burnout in God’s servants. Hebrews 12 teaches us that we are to keep our eyes on Jesus. Working to please others take our eyes off Him as we look to others for acceptance and approval and become discouraged by our flaws and inabilities as they judge us.

2. Comparing Your Life With Others

Comparison brings discouragement, depression and discontentment. If you compare yourself to someone you think is doing a greater work for Christ than you, you will be discouraged. If you compare yourself to someone you believe is having a lesser impact than you, you will be prideful. Either way, when you choose to compare yourself you lose. You are opening the door to a habit that will continually wear you out. Why? Because there will always be new people and new ministries to compare your life to. It’s extremely defeating and discouraging.

3. Replacing True Spiritual Growth With Self-Improvement

Many people are confused about spiritual growth. They believe it is achieved through good character, willpower or discipline. While all three of these are good in that they will help us improve our lives, they do not create spiritual growth in the life of a Christian. Many people have impeccable character, strong willpower or discipline and yet they are not even born again. True spiritual growth happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to work in out lives and change us by His grace into the image of Christ. Human effort in the flesh does not bring about spiritual change. When we focus on self-improvement as evidence of spiritual growth we will never see lasting changes in our lives.

4. Striving to Live the Christian Life in Your Own Strength

Spiritual problems are never solved in the flesh. When we try to live the Christian life in our human strength, we find ourselves failing over and over. This failure causes fatigue and weariness. We cannot live the Christian life in human brokenness. No matter how hard we try, we cannot create enough strength to battle spiritual warfare in our flesh. The power needed to live the Christian life is not self-generated. So when we try to live this way we become spiritually exhausted.

What is the Remedy For Spiritual Fatigue?

1. Live Your Life to Please Only God
   – Galatians 1:10

God very clearly tells us in Galatians 1:10 that we cannot live our lives trying to obtain the favor of other people or striving to please them. The Lord alone is our audience and we must only work to please Him in all of our ways. His approval is all that matters, not what any other human thinks. Yes, we may be affected by their opinions, but we don’t need to be directed by them. However, we must remember that no matter what we do, we should make a conscious decision to do it for God and seek to please Him.

2. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others
   – 2 Corinthians 10:12

God’s Word tells us that comparison is damaging and those who choose to compare are not wise. Life is hard and the ministry can be difficult. Why add a burden God never intended for His children. He doesn’t judge us against one another, why would we? Comparing and measuring our lives against the lives of others brings either pride or discouragement. It will cause you to strive to keep up with or ahead of others. The result? Spiritual fatigue. Instead, keep your eyes on Jesus and don’t compare any area of your life to anyone else.

3. Allow God to Change You Into the Image of Christ
   – Galatians 4, Philippians 2

Many Christians are confused about growth in the Christian life. They believe that they must work hard with their own ability and character to become a better version of themselves. This is not God’s goal for us. He longs for us to be conformed into the image of Christ. A better me won’t make it. You never solve a problem in the spirit with the answer of the flesh. I must ask the Lord to work in my life and to change me into the image of Christ. It all begins in the mind. God changes us from the inside out – not the outside in! God can give you the right thoughts, emotions and actions that will enable you to deal with spiritual fatigue as we serve Him in Christ’s image. Ask God to work in your life that you would become more like Jesus in every area. You can’t look at your life and make this happen to yourself. As we are yielded, He works through trials, situations and experiences to change us into the image of Christ by growing the fruit of the Spirit in us. We then begin to resemble Him in our spirits, which then results in right actions and stamina for the journey.

4. Yield to the Holy Spirit & Depend on His Strength
   – Ephesians 3:16, Galatians 5, Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 12

The Bible very clearly teaches us that as we live our lives, someone is controlling us. For many Christians, they are trusting in their own abilities, willpower or character to lead them. Others just allow their flesh to run their lives and find themselves a slave to their feelings and desires. To have true victory and success in the Christian life, it will never be achieved through the power of the flesh – not our strength or our good works. Every believer in Jesus Christ must yield to the Holy Spirit of God and allow Him to guide, direct and lead through His power and strength. The strength that comes by the Holy Spirit’s control enables us to keep going and not quit, even when spiritual fatigue is threatening. The Apostle Paul not only learned this for himself, but also was willing to share his weakness so that we might learn the answer for dealing with our weakness. It is when we allow God to carry us and shine through our infirmities by His strength, that we find that the power of Christ rests upon us to allow us to accomplish all that we need to do!