Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. - James 4:8a (NKJV)
I write this post with an extremely heavy heart.
- Yesterday at church, I was singing on stage, looking out at the sparse crowd of people. It seemed like every Sunday, there were less and less attendees. I knew that Covid did a big number on our church, but I just couldn't fully believe that Covid was still the reason for the steady decline of people each Sunday. Even the attendees who had shown up yesterday, looked tired. It made my heart heavy. I could remember the days when our church was so crowded, people couldn't even find a seat! Some weeks, they would be worshipping loudly, cheering, and clapping with the music. They seemed so joyful. What happened?
- Fridays are the nights I lead a college and career small group. Because of the virus, we took some time off. But when we finally got back together, everyone seemed so gung-ho - excited to meet up again! In fact, we didn't lose any members at all due to the circumstances. But then, people just gradually stopped showing up. Now, only two attendees other than myself and my husband typically join on Friday nights. What happened?
- I used to love doing online devotions through the YouVersion Bible App. (If you have never done one through YouVersion, I recommend it. They have thousands of free Bible studies you can do by yourself or with a group of people.) I loved to invite my friends in YouVerson to participate in studies with me, and most of them seemed so excited to do so! But recently, I invited every single one of my friends to partake in a study with me, but very few seemed interested. What happened?
- Through my website app, I created a 20 day challenge to read the Bible every day. I truly hoped that a new challenge might make people really excited to dig into the Word! I put a lot of thought into the challenge as I planned out steps, notifications, motivational tips, and quotes to help people stay motivated to read the Bible! I was hoping that at least a few people would want to join. I shared it on social media, hoping to gain some interest in the challenge. However, at the end of the day, I was the only one who signed up to participate in the challenge. What happened?
Friends, I am so sad because of these examples I listed above. My heart is broken because of the joylessness, laziness, and complacency I have been seeing in Christians over the past several months. Christians are meant to have joy, even in hard times. Joy is a God-given gift to Christians. But where is the joy and why don't we have it? Why are more and more people falling away from church, Bible studies, and their own relationships with God all throughout 2020? Aren't these hard times the times when we are supposed to grow closer to God and trust in Him to help us?

I really believe Satan is doing a number on the church right now. He is causing divisions, complacency, laziness, and joylessness. He is breeding fear and anger within people.
We need to nip this in the bud. Fast. If we let Satan win, he will take out the church as quickly as he can through any means necessary. If he succeeds, it will be bad for everyone, both Christians and non-Christians. But, this is not the end of the story. We can stop this from happening. We need to make the commitment within ourselves to not be complacent, angry, divided, or stagnant, no matter what Satan throws at us. We need to pray to be strong, that God will give us power and strength in the midst of whatever attacks may come.
I would be a hypocrite if I didn't admit my own faults here. Friend, I am far from perfect. Throughout this year, I have also been prone to stagnation, complacency, and even decay in my Christian faith. Yes, I am reading the Bible every day, but I am not doing it for personal growth. I am doing it to create podcast episodes. Yes, I am going to church every Sunday, but I feel just as depressed and joyless as everyone else looks. I am leading a college and career group study, but many weeks, I wish I could skip and do something else. I have been creating Bible study challenges and groups through my website app and YouVersion, but I have been terrible at following through to the end of the studies!
I hate this complacency I have allowed myself to get into. I don't want to feel this way. I want to be on fire for God once again, ready to dig into the Word every morning as soon as I wake up... Not to read the Bible only to create podcast episodes, but to read it because I truly want to.
I want to have a closer relationship with God. I want to have joy again!!
And I want everyone else to have this fire and joy too. I want Christians to renew their faith. To be excited about church and studies once again. To worship God loudly and with a glad heart!
So you know something?
I am going to partake in that 20 Day Bible Reading Challenge that I created on my website app. I want to stop feeling complacent. I want to have a better relationship with God. And I want you to feel joy and closeness with God once again. So if you choose to, join me in the Bible Reading Challenge. Take that first step to getting yourself on fire for God again!
It is up to us to take that first step of drawing near to God.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. - James 4:8a (NKJV)
I'm in Girl! I signed up last night. Thanks for the challenge. Let's keep the faith!
Jen,May the Almighty Lord bless you my awesome & sweet Christian sister
Jen, I feel like I could have written this, I am so with you! ❤️ Please keep up the good fight, it's motivating me and I pray it will do the same for someone else! Thank you, I enjoyed this blog post very much. I will also do the 20 day reading challenge!