 And I want to just actually share just quickly 10 things that I found out in my own personal life And you probably will agree about overcoming spiritual drought number one is How you respond in the spiritual drought Determines how long that drought is gonna last Israel went through the wilderness. It was supposed to be a 14-day trip Unfortunately, it lasted 40 days a 40 years. I'm sorry Jesus goes through wilderness And it lasted only 40 days and one of the reasons is that you know, you can't escape spiritual drought It's gonna come one way or the other You can't pray it out You can't fast it out and the question is not whether it comes the question is how you're gonna respond in That drought that response will determine How long you're gonna stay there? I believe many people extend their spiritual drought by wrong Responses in the spiritual drought and I want to share with you just few few of those responses That's the second thing so the first one that What I do whether it will extend it or they could shrink it number two is this the Holy Spirit Can bring me to the wilderness, but only the Holy Scriptures can get me through the wilderness The Bible says Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to wilderness But what got him through the wilderness? It wasn't the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Scriptures We don't see mentions of the Holy Spirit. We don't see any spiritual encounters there We don't see angels. We don't see God speaking We don't see none of the supernatural that was accompanying him in the Jordan Jordan River, but we see the Holy Scriptures He used the Holy Scriptures and because of that he got through it And this is what I learned the second thing is that we rely on the Scriptures not on our feelings If you are in the spiritual drought and you look to how you feel and What you feel to determine whether God is with you to determine Where you get headed to or to determine what's going on with you You will always find yourself in a very very shady place The best thing to do is instead of focusing on what you feel focus on what you know Focus on what you know focus on what you know That's why Job said when he was going through the worst time in his life He didn't say I feel my Redeemer is with me. He said I know my Redeemer is with me Paul says that I know in whom I believed Paul didn't say I feel I know that means that when I'm going through the drought. I Don't focus on my feelings now. I don't even focus on the presence I focus on the Scriptures. I focus on what God said and I focus on what I know the third thing is God's silence is not God's absence Many times we equal God's silence to God's absence God being silent doesn't mean God is absent a Teacher many times is silent during the test. That doesn't mean the teacher left the room It just means that the student has encountered a test when the teacher is silent I always remind myself if I feel the silence of God, it doesn't mean God left me It's probably means God has put a test on my desk and it's kind of pointless at that time to start raising your hands and you know Ask the teacher for some answers because during the test the teacher will not give you any answers The teacher will expect you to reflect on what you've learned when the teacher was speaking and To use what you've learned at the time and put it to practice And when the test is over the teacher will speak again Some of you who may be going through the time right now will you feel like God left you God abandoned you God is not speaking no more Maybe you're going through a test God didn't leave you God didn't abandon you But when the test will be over and it will be over you will feel the scent you will feel God speaking again You will sense God speaking again number four If you're going through hell church will set that keep going sometimes People don't recognize this is that you hit a dry patch or you hit a dry season Don't build an apartment there. Don't park your life there David says though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil For you are with me David says I walked through the valley of the shadow of death David didn't build an apartment there. He didn't park his life there many people allow the dry seasons in their life Not to be seasons, but to become places where they dwell. That's what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 He says that put on the whole armor of God that you'll be able to withstand on the evil day Evil day not evil days not evil months That means that the evil days means those hard day God knows they're gonna come and you need the armor of God Not to overcome the evil day. He didn't say put on the armor of God to overcome He says to stand to withstand that means to get through that The best thing you can do is just get through it Sometimes it's that crazy day that crazy week that crazy season maybe month or two. Just keep ongoing angels told lot when he is he and when they rescued him from Sodom They said this he said run for your life. Don't look back and do not stay in the plane It means don't stay where it's mediocre. You're gonna hit a mediocre season, but don't stay there. Keep on Going keep ongoing keep on taking step forwards number five God doesn't just reward us when we find him God rewards us when we seek him Many people get discouraged when they don't feel like they find they're finding God in in their prayer in their pursuit And you must understand the scripture says that God He who comes to God must believe that he is and he's a rewarder of those they seek him God doesn't just reward those who find him God rewards you for seeking him The Bible says that blessed are those who are hungry Who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness? It doesn't just say blessed are those who are righteous We know the blessing exists for the righteous, but if you just hungry for it The Bible says that David was a man after God's heart You know, we always say David was man of God's heart not really David made some pretty stupid mistakes But David was after that and God blessed him. God will bless you For just seeking him Even if you don't feel like you're finding him even you you don't feel like you're breaking through Just for pressing in Just for reaching if you like the key is you let a pressing in and you cannot get a breakthrough You climbed on the tree to get a better view of Jesus, but you still didn't touch Jesus. Jesus will find you Because he sees your reach. He sees your pursuit so many times God encouraged me with that That when I was pressing in through fasting through prayer and I felt like I was getting nowhere I felt like everything was stuck and God was saying Vlad. I don't just reward you Because you get a breakthrough. I'll reward you Because you were pressing in and God will give you that breakthrough number six Suffering is not an excuse to stop serving many times what we do is we use Suffering and the dry season as an excuse to stop ministering and to stop helping others But it goes a contrary against the Bible Because Abraham had to pray for healing when his own wife was barren Job had to pray for his friends when his own life was in shambles Joseph translated dreams of other people when his own dream was on hold Jesus was saving the world when his own family thought he was crazy Jesus was healing people when he was being handcuffed in the wilderness in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus was leading people to salvation when he was hanging on the cross That tells us you cannot allow your dry season to cause you to stop being a nusher Stop being a greeter. Stop volunteering in Sunday school. Stop leading a home group. Stop preaching and stop worshiping I know so many people who have allowed their dry season to drive them out of the church Drive them out completely out of relationship with God because they did this they felt like I'm gonna be a hypocrite If I'm gonna serve now But I'm not feeling it if you're gonna only serve when you feel it you might as well just stop serving completely because We're not doing that because of us We're doing that because of God who lives in us and we're doing that out of our obedience and because it's a privilege to serve But sometimes honestly you just do it because it's a leg obligation and that's fine as long as it's not an obligation all your life number seven Sometimes the best thing you can do on your worst day is take a nap Yes, you heard me right take a nap Many times when we physically are exhausted when we are in fatigue. We're not eating right. We're not exercising We're not sleeping right. What happens is that our emotions become very Affected by that. We actually our perception of God becomes broken and the problem isn't always the demons A lot of times the problem is that we are tired That's why when Elijah was running from Jezebel God's angel didn't give Elijah a scripture He didn't give him a prophecy. He didn't even give him a visitation He didn't even give him an encounter. He gave him a good meal and a nap That's why Jesus slept in the storm and he was the only one able to stop the storm You need to learn to rest Because if you are fatigued physically It will affect your spiritual life and you may think it's the devil coming at you and yes, the devil is Probably behind that but he will use your physical fatigue to arrest you if you're on the rest from fatigue You will get arrested by fatigue Rest is a must God created us at night. We sleep during the day we work If we work so much that we sleep that we don't sleep at all And we we constantly driven by that it will affect our emotions and our emotions will affect our spiritual life number eight This is powerful If you missed devotions That does not mean you lost your devotion Devotions is a time you spend with God Devotion is the life given to God problem with us is the many times we equal Devotions with devotion that if our devotional life Has taken a little struggle or if we're not reading the Bible for a day or two or maybe we're not getting through Anywhere with our devotions and we now question our devotion. We say well, I guess I'm not loving God no more I guess God doesn't love me no more. That is a lie of the devil. You know, I am married He's a ring. I'm currently in Pennsylvania With my friends doing a camp. My wife is back at home in Pasco I'm not physically able to see my wife. I'm not with her since Saturday morning and now it's Wednesday night Just because I haven't been with her physically and we haven't spent time physically since Saturday That doesn't mean I'm divorced That doesn't mean I don't love my wife Now don't get me wrong. I want to be with my wife. But because of this, you know camp. I'm not able to be Actually, my relationship with her is not dependent on the dates. I have with her My relationship with her depend on the love and the commitment I've given to her the weather I am with her physically or I am in the other country My heart is hers and she belongs to me now. I love the dates I have with her but these dates are not a relationship. They are the expression of relationship So when I don't spend time with her, I miss her. I don't feel guilty. I feel I feel more feelings of affection. I Sometimes when I was younger I used to guilt-trip myself if I would skip a day of prayer or somehow my fasting didn't finish You know and and I would like say oh my goodness You know now my devotions are suffering therefore my devotion is suffering and I would be guilty and the Lord started to teach me He's a lad. Do you have a relationship with me or are we in some kind of a contract if we are in a relationship and you Don't spend some time in the Bible or something something happened You shouldn't feel guilty. You should feel hungry and that completely set me free number 10 Don't make decisions when you are in your dry season Don't make permanent Decision when you are spiritually dry When you are emotionally down and you start making relationship decisions career decisions Where to live decisions where to minister decisions you will always Make a wrong decision The best thing to do is to put off those decisions Until you come out of that fog until you come out of that funk until you come out of that cloud and only then Make the decisions when your mind is alert when your spirit is receptive and your emotions are stable Not when you're broken and shattered and lastly number 10 develop Stemina one of the reasons I believe God allows dry seasons is to develop within us a fruit of patience Because patience makes you complete What makes you complete is not having a girlfriend or a boyfriend what makes you complete is not having a car or big Muscles or even reaching a bucket list? Bible says let patience have its perfect work because that makes us complete something about patience Changes our character, but patience is not a gift. It's a fruit fruit starts sour and it becomes sweet Fruit develops fruit grows. How does that fruit goes? God allows us to go through seasons and times and things Where we have an option to be patient or we have an option to just tap out and quit And when you go through a dry season and you don't complain you don't whine you don't throw the towel You don't start asking God where are you? Why did you leave me? But you stand your ground. You know, this too will pass You know God didn't leave you, you know, he is with you You know that everything will work out for your good and you literally you just keep on going you keep on going you keep on Going and you know, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and the light is not the train It's the Holy Spirit He will break through that that this wilderness this temptation will end and then you will be starting your ministry You will be starting a new season in your life and you keep it something happens with your spirit your spirit stretches You become a person who's not moved by feelings and then when you reach that new season It becomes amazing because you no longer shaken too much with the compliments or the criticism Why because your stamina is developed. There is something about your spirit that is developed Through the things you went through a lot of people crumble when they reached their new season Because they've never developed a character Saul when he reached the kingdom, you know, it took one bad song Where they were singing against him in the favor of David and he went mental he went crazy Because his character wasn't developed see David went through hell David went through dry seasons and we see that in Psalms and God developed his stamina That's why David wasn't afraid of anything He wasn't afraid with Emsalom rose against him when things came against him. He stood his ground There was something about him. He was anchored. He was solid God is far more interested than just bringing you to a new place It's to develop within you a character that once you reach that place You will be able to stay in that place and move forward out of that place But let you guys hope you have a wonderful day. If this was a blessing to you, please share that with your friends I know this will be a blessing to many people because this these truths have helped me in the last Many years to get through the dry seasons that I encountered in my life If you have other tips that you would like to share with others, please comment below. God bless you and have a wonderful