Unplugged? Reconnect now.
What to do when you lost touch with the Holy Spirit.
One tragedy that can happen to a Christian on the journey of faith is to be unplugged and stay unplugged. Christianity is a religion of ‘power’. Your effectiveness as a Christian and what you get out of your devotion as a Christian is directly proportion to your association with the Holy Spirit.
No matter how well an electric fan is built, it will remain useless until it’s connected to an electric source. The purpose and beauty of a fan is best known when you plug it to an electric socket. The same way the beauty of being a Christian cannot be known until the Christian is associated with the Holy Spirit. We cannot do nothing and anything without the Holy Spirit.
Without the Holy Spirit, salvation will be far from us: Truly, by Christ death, our salvation was procured yet we can’t get saved without the Holy Spirit. He is the one that convict us of our old way and show us the wonderful love of God and His salvation plan to us. He is the seal of our salvation.
Without the Holy Spirit, God’s power won’t be available for us as a Christian: we will all be in trouble and become a pawn in the hand of the devil. But with Him in our life, devil is the one who is in trouble. He cannot know peace because anywhere he and his cohorts are operating, there is a believer on ground backed with the Holy Spirit to resist and deal with them. The Holy Spirit gave us the boldness to shout out the devil from a person, from our family, from the society, anywhere and everywhere we perceive him and he must go. Who are you to even confront a witch talkless of the devil, their father?
In those days, our parents cannot go to the village because of the activities of witchcraft. In those days a chief priest of an idol is powerful more than the king. In those days, a herbalist can terrorize the whole village but now the table has turn we are the one terrorizing them. They are afraid of you coming back to the village especially when you go in order to evangelism. Devil and his cohort are running from post to post. As we cast him away on our street here in Nigeria, somebody somewhere in America, in China, in Austria is doing the same. Isn’t the Holy Spirit beauty to have?
Yet on the journey of Christianity, it is easy to neglect the Holy Spirit, it is easy to ignore Him, it is easy to grieve the Holy Spirit. And when this happens He will ‘withdraw’ into silence. The most dangerous thing is that the day we notice the silence of the Holy Spirit is not the day He actually withdraw.
When you unplug a working electric fan, the motor will still be rotating for some time before stopping finally. Same way a Christian, who is unplugged from the Spirit. You won’t notice it immediately. You will still pray as usual, sing as usual, preach as usual, study the word as usual but a time will come when you won’t be able to do all this. At that moment prayer and the bible have become burden and boring to you because what gave life to them is no more there.
Unfortunately, many of us like Samson go on with our normally activities without Him. We tend to preach yet He’s not there. We shout in prayer yet He is deafening to our prayers. We cast out demons in the name of Jesus, lo and behold the same demon that will fly out at the mention of that name is there ranting.
Have you not wondered what happened that you can’t do as you use to do? Have you seen a minister or Music minister that you know is anointed but it seems they can’t flow as they use to flow? Many believers are dry. Many of our pulpits are filled with dried and unplugged ministers. We sing lifting up ‘holy hands’ yet there is no connection. What happened? Why is the name of Jesus not working? Why are you feeling so dry in the place of prayer? It’s because you have been unplugged from the socket.
“And she made him sleep upon her knees and she called for a man and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head and she began to afflict him and his strength went from him. And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of His sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him” judges 16:20-21
Samson never knew he had been unplugged from the socket. He thought I’m still the Samson that tore the lion into two. I am still the Samson that killed thousands of soldiers with a new jawbone of an ass but he never knew the source of his power has withdrawn. He became empty and powerless.
Some silent causes:
- Unrighteous living
- Anger/work of the flesh: Although you are saved and spirit-filled yet the work of the flesh if care is not taken can still resurface and manifest
Galatian 5:19-20 has a long list but I will pick the one most common for believers: hatred, wrath, gossip, emulations, heresies, envying and strife (all these seems as nothing but they are small foxes that eat up the vine). You remember what happened to Prophet Elisha, He couldn’t prophesy because he just got angry not long ago.
Click here to read I speak in Tongues but am addicted to something else
- Unnecessary critics and gossip about men of God
- Pride: When you begin to attribute your success in life and ministry to yourself. You are silently unplugging yourself from Him.
- Busy working for Him but not walking with Him:
- Ignoring Him can make Him to become silent: One way or the other, we all have times we have ignored Him. Yet when ignoring Him as become a way of life for you. He warned against something yet you still go ahead and do it. He asked you to take action, yet you didn’t. You can go on with your life for days with fellowshipping with Him. How many of us can stand it when you love ones ignored you?
One way or the other you may have lost your touch with The Holy Spirit. It may not be due to outright living in sin but it can be due to your carelessness in the things of God. Let me be blunt, God is a God of order and principle, although we are under grace yet His justice MUST be served. If you messed up, He will deal with you.
What to do?
- Declare a personal retreat: If I were you, I wouldn’t go for the next outing. I won’t minister on that pulpit until have settled this. What’s the need of me preaching when the Owner of the word is not with me? What is the need of me praying for people when am not in good relationship with the One who will answer? I hate to deceive people. Ministry or Christianity is not a showmanship, it is about Jesus and Jesus alone.
You might be busy for Him yet guilty of not fellowshipping with Him. First thing first, fellowship before activities; relationship before work.
You might be everywhere in the church yet nowhere in God’s presence. You might be known in church and yet no record of you in heaven. Don’t miss church activity for spirituality.
Forget all church activities and lock yourself up for personal retreat. When you get this right, you will get all things right. When you go back to the secret place, you will come out fresh with fire.
- Retrace where you have missed it. Where His silence in your life became noticeable. Show how sorry you are from a genuine heart.
- Acknowledge Him. I don’t know about you but for me I need Him desperately and I think you do too. Acknowledge Him to be all in all. Let your heart cry to Him because with Him, you can do nothing. Worship Him, the same way you worship Jesus. He’s God, give Him the glory that he deserves.
- Seek Him as a fish will seek the water when you take the fish out of the water. Be desperately in your search for Him. Someone rightly said until you seek God desperately you can’t find Him.
- When you found Him, stay connected to Him by constant fellowship with Him. Spend time daily in His presence. This is the reason why the apostles prayed daily, this is the reason why our fathers prayed daily not to ask for the things of this world but to stay connected to the Holy Spirit. learn to pray in the spirit at all times. Let speaking-in-tongues be normal for you. The more you speak in tongues the more you fellowship with Him. Keep speaking, keep blasting, keeping tonguing, you wont know dryness again.
Click here to read how to engage in long hour prayer
- Constantly engage yourself in worship: no matter where you are and what you do, don’t allow His worship to leave your lips. There is something about music that I found out; it has influence on the soul. It’s a tool to bridge the natural and the spiritual. Always let His worship flow at all time.
- Stay away from unnecessary church talks, critics and gossip of men of God. if when they haven’t done well, it’s not my duty and yours to sit as judge over them. They are answerable to God alone. If you cannot access them to show that what you think is wrong, the best is to pray for them.
Touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm, is not just talking about physical touch to harm; it entails any and everything you do that can cause harm to the life and ministry of the anointed.
You may not take this serious but I know what I’m saying because I was unplugged once through this. When I newly joined The Redeemed Christian Church of God and I went to Redemption camp for Convention. Pastor E. A. Adeboye as his custom will always render poet to God. That faithful day I was listening through the outside speaker and the sound was very poor. Instead of me to keep shut, I opened my big mouth and said who is this? Singing like a dead man. Must He sing? Aaaaah beloved, that simple and innocent statement cost me dearly, Instantly, I know something left me and I noticed the struggle and dryness I felt in ministry afterwards, I cry and prayed seriously before I was reconnected.
- Be holy and stay holy: As much as I believe God doesn’t condemn sinners yet I know He doesn’t condole sin and carelessness in walking with Him. In fact the more you grow in your walk with Him, the more He raises the standard for you. Don’t believe another gospel than this, God is “HOLY”, you can’t be one of His association when you are not holy.
We have many unbalanced gospel of grace flying everywhere. No matter the enticing words and articulated words of a preacher, all I know and am sure is that there is a reason The Spirit of God is called “HOLY” Spirit. Why not just call Him the Spirit of God or the Spirit of Christ? Why call Him the Holy Spirit. Beloved, the stress is on the Holy and not the spirit. We have many spirits but we have only one Holy Spirit. If He’s holy, then holiness is only of the criteria for those who will be associated with Him. Take it or leave.
You might have being unplugged before but you can reconnect now before it’s too late. Don’t ignore the signs you are getting. Don’t ignore that boring prayer time, don’t ignore your inability to read the bible, and don’t ignore your emptiness at all times. They are pointing to the fact that you are about to be unplugged or you are unplugged already. Go on a retreat fast and cry to Him.
Thanks for reading this long; we believe this write up is helpful. Please feel free to comment below to share how you are blessed through this and also share this write up to your friends and family. It can save a brother/sister.
There is a beginning to every end.
©Oladimeji Olayinka Joseph
