Tell me if this sounds familiar. Your life feels like one never-ending trial, tribulation, and depressive episode. You have problems left and right. If it’s not your job, it’s your significant other. If it’s not your significant other, it’s your family. If it’s not your family, it’s your health. Just as you get rid of one problem, another one pops up in its place.

While you understand that the Christian walk isn’t easy, you feel discouraged. You feel like God has abandoned you (or as one of my friends put it, “left you on read”). Keep reading to learn key reasons you may not be feeling God’s presence in your life.

Lessons from a…TV show

A few months ago, my sister and I watched an episode of The Bold & the Beautiful. One of the characters, Liam, was on the phone with an airline trying to catch a last-minute flight to Rome to surprise his wife, Hope, while she was working. As I watched the scene unfold, I felt confused. Was I misremembering? Wasn’t Liam rich? Or even if he wasn’t, his dad—the infamous Bill Spencer—surely was.

I turned to my sister and said, “Isn’t Liam Bill’s son?”

“Yeah, he is.”

“And isn’t his dad a billionaire?”

“Yep.”

“That’s weird.” I said, “You’d think with a dad that rich he would have a private jet that Liam could use to get there.”

The words were barely out of my mouth before his father came over to see him. 

Liam and his father, Bill Spencer

After Liam filled him in, Bill said (I’m paraphrasing, lol), “Let’s go! I’m headed to Europe on a business trip and you can just tag along and I’ll drop you off in Rome.”

I turned to my sister and said, “You see! I knew that didn’t make sense. I don’t understand why you would have access to a father with his own private jet and that wouldn’t be the first person you called.”

No sooner were the words out of my mouth, and I recognized something. 

How often do you (and I!) do this very thing? 

When the problems come, you do your best to handle things your way. Then, after you’ve exhausted all of your options, you remember to call on God. 

Are you plugged in? 

Dr. Tony Evans often talks about how it doesn’t make sense to have an appliance that you never plugged up and then complain when it isn’t working. Here’s my question for you: are you actually plugged in so you can experience God’s power and presence?

Do you:

• Pray (or talk to God) daily?
• Read your Bible & meditate on it daily? 
• Spend quality time with God (in praise/worship, or pause from asking for stuff long enough to listen to hear what Hehas to say to you? 
• Go to church regularly?*
• Confess and repent of your sins? (there’s a difference between unrepentant sin and struggling with a sin/weak area)

If the answer to any of these is ‘no,’ then you’re not fully plugged in. And by the way, fully plugged in means having a relationship with God—not hitting God with the occasional drive by. 

Now, I would guess that part of the reason Liam didn’t think to reach out to Bill is that he wasn’t raised by his biological father; so their relationship wasn’t necessarily that close. So part of the reason you may not feel plugged in (or like you have access to God’s power) is because you can’t get access to His full power without being in a close relationship with Him. 

What is your relationship like with your Heavenly Father? 

As a Christian, you have unlimited access to God. Unlimited. You take this for granted because you’ve always had it. Imagine back in the Old Testament where the Israelites had to go to the temple to kill an animal and make a sacrifice before the priest. Quite a bit of work, right? Yet, after Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, you no longer have to do any of those things. Which brings me to my final point.

A Secret Weapon

One of the key reasons you’re not feeling God’s power in your life is because not only are you A) not fully plugged in (see above); but you’re also B) not in communion with God which leads you to pray boring prayers. Yes, I said it. You’re giving God all of the ‘B’s.’ Basic, boring, banal prayers. 

You know what prayers I’m talking about… 😶

These are the prayers you can say without really thinking. They’re safe. Mindless. Automatic. And don’t feel bad. I’ve done this too! But God doesn’t want your “autopilot” prayers; he wants communion. He wants an actual, intimate conversation with you, His child.

So let me explain. Too many of us treat God like this genie that we can quickly pray to whenever we need a quick fix. But God doesn’t want to be your genie. He wants to be your Father. He wants a relationship with YOU.

Think about when you’re in pain. Or better yet, think about a pregnant woman whose contractions are intensifying. Does she speak, look, or sound the same? 😳 Of course not! The pain affects the way she reacts in that moment. 

As a Christian, being fully plugged in means having a relationship with God—not hitting God with the occasional drive by. Tweet this!

I was recently going through a tough moment in my own life. It was rough—emphasis on rough! I felt so, so discouraged. But what I found interesting was that I have never prayed (or journaled) as much as I have during those types of moments! My pain brought me closer to God in a different way than happiness did.

Does your life seem to be a never-ending series of unfortunate events? That is not,—I repeat NOT—the time for the mechanical prayers you’ve always prayed. Those are the times when you need to cry out to God. 

The posture of prayer

I’m not saying that you need to come to God like a beggar asking for crumbs at His table. As a Christian, you are blessed & graced to be the child of a King. What I am saying is that you need to be open and honest with your Father about what hurts you. 

Psalm 62:8 says, “Pour out your heart before Him. God is a safe place for us.” That verse is for you. 

• If your relationship—with family or friends—is in trouble, God is your safe place.
• If your marriage is in trouble, God is your safe place.
• If you just received a diagnosis you didn’t expect, God is your safe place.
• If you just learned your child has a learning disability, God is your safe place.
• If your job is in jeopardy, God is your safe place.

Pour out your heart to Him. You also may have to do this for longer than you would like (I know…it can feel like God’s timing sucks 😩). But I want to encourage you in this moment. Don’t lose heart! Have faith and be hopeful, even when your eyes see nothing to be hopeful for. Trust God. Trust that like a good Father He hears you, will comfort you, and will hold your hand through whatever storms come your way.

*Lately, there are quite a bit of Christians who believe that church attendance isn’t necessary or required. Don’t take it up with me (I will not participate in that debate, lol ).. Take it up with God & His word (Heb. 10:24-25). 

**Just to be clear. I am not saying that your prayers need to be overly elaborate or complicated. All I’m saying is you need to move away from the rote, boring prayers and move on to having a real conversation with God.

In what areas of your life have you felt abandoned by God? How do you know when God’s presence is present or absent in your life? What would your life look like if you were plugged in or in a relationship with God rather than in a religion with God?