There are seasons in every believer's life that no one prepares us for. These are the days, weeks, or even months when prayer feels like talking to a brick wall. The once vibrant connection feels distant, our words seem to bounce off the ceiling, and prayer, rather than a refuge, feels like an empty obligation.
It is a spiritually exhausting place. We feel guilty, thinking we have failed or that God has abandoned us. We measure our faith by the intensity of our emotions, and when we feel nothing, we conclude that we have no faith.
But it is precisely in that desert where faith reveals its true nature.
We often confuse faith with feeling. We seek the comfort of prayer, the emotion of praise, the warmth of a felt presence. But biblical faith is not based on what we feel, but on what we know to be true. Faith is not an emotion; it is a decision. It is permanence.
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1, NIV)
Faith is certainty when all we feel is doubt. It is conviction of a reality our senses cannot perceive. Praying when we feel nothing is one of the purest acts of faith. It is saying to God, "I don't feel you, but I choose to believe you. My emotions are failing, but my trust in your Word and your faithfulness is not."
Praying without feeling is also a form of love. It is a mature love, based not on what we receive, but on who He is. It is the love that endures. Think of Elijah, who, after seeing fire from heaven, fled to the desert and could only hear God in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19). Or of Jesus himself in Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood, praying not from a place of ecstasy, but of agony and obedience (Luke 22:42).
If you find yourself in that dry place today, don't give up. Don't measure your spirituality by the temperature of your emotions. Prayer that rises from weariness, obedience, and pure trust is incense of profound value to God. Don't stop speaking to Him, even if you feel like you're speaking to silence.