I believe one of the wisest things you can do as you walk with Jesus is to do a self examination of the heart from time to time. And one of the best ways to do this is to actually ask for help. Ask the Holy Spirit help you examine your heart and point out the things that in your own site you may not want to see or may to blind to see. These could be things that have creeped their way into your life and hindered your walk with God, or they may be things that you used to do for all the right intentions that have become things done merely out of religion. I've had many people ask me over the years the question 'what does it matter, as long as I'm still doing them?". And the answer to that question is simply "desire". God sees the desires of our heart and it pleases Him when we desire to do His will, but it pleases Him so much more when those desires actually bring joy to us. Why is that so important? Because when other see joy in what you do it makes a difference. When someone sees something different in you and they know that what you have is clearly missing out of their life, then they will want to seek out what you have. And when someone sees you stepping through the motions of "doing things for God" and there is no joy in it, it will show. And that is when you hear non-believers say things like "why would I want what they have, they look miserable". And I have met Christians who look miserable while serving God. What once was seen as serving Him has and would bring joy to their heart has become nothing more than a chore or an obligation. And because it is being looked at like that the enemy has robbed all the joy from it.
So what do we do if we examine our hearts and we find that things have become routine, obligations or religious rituals to us? Well the first thing we should do is pray. The first thing the enemy would tell us to do is stop doing them. But before you stop anything you really need to take it to God and ask Him if that is the best thing for you. All of us can go through a "dry season" in our lives. A season where things don't have the same impact on us as they once did. I use the word impact because I think we begin to walk in a dangerous area if we use the word "feelings". If we say " this thing doesn't feel like it used to" then we are letting the enemy drive us through emotions, and that is never a good thing. I am pretty sure when I read about the life of Jesus that there had to have been days when He may not have "felt like" walking out God's plan, but that did not stop Him. Instead He would go and pray and make sure that He was connected to the Father, that He was still following the purpose and plan that God had laid out before Him, and that it was still being done out of love. I would imagine after seeing the way Jesus was treated He had to make sure He asked God to keep His "love tank" full so He could continue to do God's will despite the way He was being treated. And I think it would be wise of us to do the same thing. If you feel your love tank is running low then maybe you could pick up a devotional that will help you in that area. If you feel your motivation to carry out God's plan has become less over the years then you could ask yourself if you have allowed things into your life that are distracting you. If you just aren't finding joy in the ministry you are still involved in then maybe you need to ask God if He is nudging you to get involved in something brand new? Or maybe He needs to stretch you and grow you and He needs to see if you really can push through a dry spell and find your joy in Him again.
I don't know the answer for you, but I do know that God holds that answer and seeking His face is the number one way to either regain the joy you once had, know when it's time to move into and out of a ministry, or make sure you are not just stepping through the motions for mere religious purposes. In Psalm 51 we see that David prayed to the Lord concerning three kinds of spirit: a steadfast spirit, a willing spirit, and a broken spirit. We need the Lord to renew a steadfast spirit within us (v. 10), we need Him to sustain us with a willing spirit (v. 12), and we need to have a broken and repentant spirit (v. 17). Self examination, and staying humble enough to ask God for correction, will help in all of these areas. And then ultimately help you make sure you are serving for the right reasons in your heart.
God, thank You for Your help. Thank You that You would rather help us be on and stay on the right path, for the right reasons, then to see us serving with a corrupted heart. Holy Spirit please help us examine our hearts so that the work we are doing is not only for the purpose of serving other, but also drawing us closer to God. And help us hear from You and allow room for correction and direction in our lives, so those we are serving will see the joy of The Lord at work in our lives. In Jesus name, Amen
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