The Spiritual Jitterbug – The Presidential Prayer Team

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful. – Joel 2:13

Have you ever done the spiritual jitterbug? You draw near to God and feel loved, protected, and hopeful. Then something happens. Whether it is a circumstance out of your control, your own choice to do something you should not, or not do something you need to, you back up. You do not feel like praying, reading the Bible, or going to church. You distance yourself from God, whether intentionally or subconsciously. When you realize you need Him, you draw closer to Him. Back and forth, back and forth, round and round.

There are a few things to remember to keep you out of the backed-off place and close to your Lord. When you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you (James 4:8). There is no condemnation in Jesus (Romans 8:1). He forgives and cleanses (1 John 1:9). God loves you (1 John 3:1). He has your best interest at heart (Jeremiah 29:11). He will teach you (John 14:26). He will give you wisdom when you ask for it (James 1:5). You hear His voice when you read His Word (Romans 10:17).

When life seems like it has run amuck, God is the only one who can fix it. He is able to make a heart of flesh out of a heart of stone (Ezekiel 36:26). Expose every corner of your life and every thought to Him for cleansing. Thank Him that you are accepted as a partaker of His divine nature and His beloved child through Christ. Then intercede for those around you who may be doing their own version of the spiritual jitterbug. Lift the nation’s citizens and leaders in prayer and ask God to help them draw near to Him.

Today’s Verse: Joel 2:13

    and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
    for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
    and he relents over disaster.

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Romans 7:12-25

¹²So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
¹³Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
²¹So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.