overcoming being lukewarm

[camsdaddy]

I guess this is the right place. What do you do when you find yourself lukewarm. I assume this has been a gradual thing but I have found myself ho hum. I am somewhat in a haze. I have plenty to be grateful for on top of salvation. I have a great wife, a wonderful daughter, a new born son, a great job, church etc. I just dont have any enthusiasm. I have found I have drifted from being in prayer and in my Bible to just being. I am wondering what yall do when you find yourself lukewarm.

[Qualitymilk]

Not sure if this will help, but I found myself in a similar position over the last couple of years.  New business partnership going well, six great kids, loving wife, but really not any drive and/or appreciation for what and who I have in life to be thankful for.  My son was recently involved in an accident and he may not regain sight in his right eye.  Not anybodys fault, just kids being kids, and I am afraid for him.  I have never prayed so hard for anything in my life, and he still has a long road to go with much healing and possibly more surgery if the eye shows some promise over the next couple of weeks.

I guess my point is maybe when we become complacent/lukewarm as you say, maybe things like this happen to let us know we need to be more thankful and energetic about who and what we are.  Maybe this is psycho-babble, but your post rang a chord with me, so I thought I would share.  give those kids another hug tonite and do something special with them this weekend.

[zeke08]

I have found my self Lukewarm several times and I think there are a couple things that contribute to this 1st I think like qualitymilk that we become complacent and are just on auto pilot because things are good. 2nd I think that the devil uses times when we are on autopilot to slide in and redirect our thoughts and uses that as a wedge or starting point to get you away from God. I fish 1-2 times a week with my Pastor and we talk about this sorta stuff all the time and he always says that when things are going "SMOOTH" pray and pray hard thanking God for how he has blessed you, so you are 1 in practice and 2 you are giving thanks when owed and it doesn't give the devil a toe hold to try and slide in on ya. I have a very hard time with becoming jaded due to work and dealing with the scum of the earth almost everyday. It is very easy for me to discount and think anyone I don't know or that doesn't wear the uniform is up to know good and I have to pray hard to not be that way! I hope you the very best, that you are able to grow closer to God and beat this complacency.

[longwinters]

I think what you are going through is very common, but not many would openly admit that it is where they are at.  I have thought long and hard about this concerning myself.  In Revelation God says, concerning the luke warm, that He will spit them out of His mouth.  I find it hard to equate this with true believers.  My opinion is that you are not luke warm or you would not be concerned about your spiritual state before God.

I would think most if not all Christians in America go through these times.  We live in a wealthy, self absorbed culture with no real persecution to sort out the real believers from the religious.  So I try not to compare myself with other people because I can always find someone that I am "spiritually better than" and can in effect draw my own line to compare myself to.  I have begun to compare myself with what God tells me I should be according to His Word.  I focus on the fact that I am to be an alien in this world (I Peter) and am an adopted child of God (Eph).  I am a believer in Christ who happens to live in America not an American who happens to be a Christian.  Eternity is long and life is short.

Might I recommend reading or looking on the internet at things by Francis Chan.  His book Crazy Love is excellent and talks about being luke warm.  It has ment a lot to myself and several others that I know have read it.

Long

[mrcoolid]

long

you hit the nail on the head, when you said focus... we sometimes lose our focus... if we thank God for all that we have, and all that we don't, and we think about good things, and that He loves us, and read his word, we will get closer to Him. Paul died to self daily.. he had trouble with focus as well.

now therefore there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ...

have a great day

mike