Sincerely, I need you to pay attention to what I'm about to say because I've been where you are, countless times. I know what it feels like to wake up and feel nothing. No fire. No drive. No reason to get out of the bed except that the bed isn't going to pay your bills or get the work done for you.
You're not lazy. I need you to hear that before anything else. You're just tired. There's a difference, and most people never teach you the difference, so you grow up calling yourself lazy when really you're just a person whose well ran dry and nobody showed you how to dig deeper.
This is not another conventional article that motivates you, only for it to wear out the second you're back to reality.
What I'm going to give you here has roots that goes back thousands of years before which have held up prophets, kings, and tired people just like you and me. I'm going to give you the WORD.
Stay with me cause you might be blown away.
First, let's talk about what you do when there's no longer the motivation or inspiration to carry on.
There's something almost nobody tells you. And that is, motivation was never designed to carry you. It was designed to start you. It only kindle the first spark. It is not and will never be fuel for the whole journey or the fuel that keeps the fire burning.
The problem is, many of us have built our lives, pursuit of our goals, fulfillment of our assignment, etc around motivation, as if feeling inspired is the prerequisite for moving at all.
So, we only work and persevere in our craft or pursuit when the dam of inspiration breaks lose. Once the feeling dry out, we begin to think the assignment or goal left with it.
No, my friend. It didn't.
Look at Elijah in 1 Kings 19. This is a man who called fire down from heaven. He had the single greatest victory of his prophetic ministry. He humiliated 450 prophets of Baal in front of all Israel.
You'd think after a significant victory like that, the man of God would be unstoppable and walk in the euphoria of such miracle.
Unfortuantely, just one threat from Jezebel made him run into the wilderness, sits under a tree, and asks God to let him die. "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life" (1 Kings 19:4).
The same man who just witnessed fire fall from the sky is now begging to die under a bush, completely uninspired and completely done by a threat.
Think about it. That one miraculous act should have given him tremendous confidence. The same fire that fell from heaven can also consume the woman, if it can burn wet wood.
But the reality is, everyone feels discouraged at some point.
Even the most anointed, most used, most powerful people in scripture had their low moments.
Now, Elijah didn't get to that level because he lacked faith. He got there because he was human, and humans run out. We all do.
So, the "high, exciting" feeling doesn't always last. The fire doesn't always feel like fire. And if it happened to a man who literally controlled rain with his words—by the power of God, it will happen to you. It's not a sign you're failing God. It's a sign you're flesh and blood, just like he was.
Even Jesus had His low moments when He was on earth. In Gethsemane, remember?
Now, what did God do with Elijah? This is the part that will change how you see this season you're in.
God didn't show up with much talk or quote motivational scripture at him. He sent an angel to feed him. Then God let him sleep. Then He fed him again. Only after the rest, after the food, after the body was tended to, only then did God speak. Not in the wind, not in the earthquake, not in the fire. In a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:12).
Do you want your fire back?
Sometimes, the answer is rest. It's nourishment. It's quiet.
Take a time out to refresh your mind, you're thinking too much. Revitalize your spirit, you've feed it with junks life brings on silver plate. You can retreat to a place you've not been before or rarely visit. You can travel. You can do things that inspires you. You can even treat yourself for a meal, go for shopping.
Do something that greatly inspires you.
Retreat is extremely healthy and it doesn't have to be in a particular format.
On the flip side, understand that the work doesn't wait for the feeling.
I have to be honest with you rest is only part of the answer. There is a kind of obedience and perseverance that has nothing to do with how you feel.
Have you read the story of the man with the withered hand in Mark 3?
Jesus tells him, in front of everyone watching to accuse Him, "Stretch forth thine hand" (Mark 3:5).
Think about that command for a second. The man had a hand that didn't work. Stretching it out wasn't going to feel inspiring. It probably felt impossible, maybe even embarrassing.
But that scripture says he stretched it out anyway. And it was restored.
I want you to notice the order of events here, because it matters more than anything I could say to you.
The stretching came before the restoring. The obedience came before the feeling of wholeness. He didn't wait until his hand felt strong to move it. He moved a hand that had nothing left to give, and in the moving, the strength arrived.
This part is often skipped when people talk about faith. They want the restored hand without ever stretching out the withered one.
They want the anointing without the obedience that has to happen in the season where nothing in you wants to move and everything in you wants to stay folded up and hidden.
But God doesn't restore what never stretches. He doesn't release to a person without the first few steps. The stretching, the first few steps are the acts of faith. The restoring is what faith produces.
So when you don't feel like opening your laptop. When you don't feel like training. When you don't feel like writing the next page, making the next call, showing up to the place that's draining you, just stretch the hand out anyway.
You're not doing it because the feeling is there, you're doing it because the feeling was never the requirement. Obedience IS the requirement. Obedience to a higher call, a higher cause.
Now, I want to say something that might sting a little. Sometimes we wear our exhaustion like a badge of honor and continually burn ourselves out.
Look at how Jesus operated. The same Jesus who fed five thousand, who healed the sick until the sun went down, who poured Himself out for crowds that never stopped demanding more of Him — that same Jesus withdrew.
Luke 5:16 says "He withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed."
This didn't happen once, it was a pattern. He pulled away from the noise, from the demand, from the very ministry He was called to, in order to refill from the Source before He poured out again.
If the Son of God needed to withdraw and refill, what makes you think you're exempted? Your uninspired season might not be a punishment. It might be an invitation. God pulling you aside the way He pulled Elijah aside, the way Jesus pulled Himself aside, saying "come away with Me before you pour out another drop you don't have".
You cannot manufacture fire that was only meant to be given.
Psalm 23:3 says He "restoreth my soul" not "I restore my own soul." There's a posture of surrender and humility in that verse. Zeal is good. Ambition is nice but sometimes, just surrendering would save you a lot of pain.
This is what you should actually do.
In whatever uninspired place you're sitting in now, do the next small thing, obediently. Even without the feeling like the man with the withered hand. You don't wait for the fire to do the work; you do the work and let the fire catch up to you.
Discipline is just love wearing work clothes. It's you loving your purpose enough to show up for it even when it isn't romantic.
Catch that!!!
Additionally, stop shaming yourself for being tired.
Actually rest, actually eat, actually sleep, actually sit in stillness long enough to hear that small voice instead of drowning it out with noise because silence feels too uncomfortable.
Withdraw on purpose, the way Jesus did, before you're forced into the wilderness by collapsing—spiritually, mentally, emotionally, financially, etc.
Learn the routine of returning to God before you're empty, not just when you're desperate.
Follow these modules and you'll always be sustained.
Jesus may be calling you to get renewed and comforted in His arms. Do not neglect Him.
God bless you.
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