Why Do I Feel Spiritually Tired or Drained? Causes and How to Restore Your Strength • In Milky Way
Our souls, which are our emotional and mental states, can drag our spirits down. Our human spirit is the life force of our soul, because our spirit is from the Holy Spirit of Life Himself.
Just as blood is the life of the body, the spirit is the life of the soul (Leviticus 17:11). If the blood is not functioning well, the body will subsequently suffer the consequences. And if the soul is not doing well, the spirit may suffer that reality.
What is spiritual manifests physically. Physically, blood and water are like the spirit and soul spiritually. Though our blood is well in our bodies, if we suffer thirst long enough, we will not survive; indeed, the blood needs water.
Just as having life in the human body is to have a conscious mind, which brings forth the soul; this is how the spirit can live. Without the soul, the spirit makes no use of its body in having life. The spirit needs the soul.
The grand reflection of our physical and spiritual reality is this: though we are eternal (spiritual) beings, and are wonderfully made, we need God, our Maker and Father. Our being exists intrinsically in interdependence; how could we ever think that we, as beings, have no need for what has given us life?
And we know the Spirit, who is God Almighty, has given us life because no physical atom, nor physical element could have ever created the untouchable (spiritual) spirit and its soul. Physical things can only perpetuate physical things, and so our spirits can only ever have a Spirit origin.
Only Jesus Christ has revealed the Holy Spirit of God the Father and made Him known.
Therefore, just as the Bible says, as the only revealer of this Holy Spirit, in whom man wrote through and it was therefore the Word of God, having Scripture be the Word of God in no other way possible, we know the God of the Bible is the only true God.
When our human spirits cannot live without their human souls, how could we as beings live without our Maker? How could a baby live without a parent? It cannot be.
I say all this to say: when the minds that manifest our souls are rooted in the flesh and not the Spirit, even for a moment, a time, or a season, our spirits will suffer this reality.
The true revealer of where our spirits are rooted (the Spirit or the flesh) is seen by the reality of the soul and the mind that brings it forth. Not calling yourself a Christian, not going to church regularly, but only the presence or absence of the fruit of the Spirit in our minds and souls reveals if we are children of God or not.
Why Do I Feel Spiritually Tired or Drained?
Feeling spiritually tired or drained happens when our human spirits are not fully connected to their Source of Life, the Spirit of God.
To be fully connected to the Spirit of God, we have to be in complete agreement with His Word. We need to make God’s Word the living standard in our lives and in our reality.
We do not go around condemning people, for even Christ came to save the world not condemn it (John 3:17). But we let no one set a different living standard that in any capacity goes against what God says. We know what God says, and even when we repeat what God says, we don’t say it as if it is we who say it, but we say it as it is: what God says.
In this way, it is never we who are judging, but only God who is the Judge. When we are making disciples of all nations, indirectly telling them that their way of living is not the way, is that judging? Or is it what God has said, which is only ever the truth?
In the past, I would always feel awkward around homosexuals, especially those who would say ‘God’. Because I would use the Word of God to judge them, instead of using the Word of God as my standard of life.
Now, if I meet the acquaintance of a homosexual person, and they discover my robust faith, and they ask what I think about their homosexuality, I’ll say: God tells me He made man and woman, with clear intentions of them being husband and wife. That’s what I believe in, and that’s what I live by.
In this way, if the person gets offended, truly, truly, they have to take it up with God, never me. I am only a slave to God’s Word and righteousness and His precious presence in my life. I am only a sheep who is a follower of the voice of her Shepherd.
In a fallen world, which one cannot help but be spiritually drained by because it is void of light as only Christ is the Light and it never recognises Him, we need to stay fully connected to our Source of Life, the Holy Spirit: the Life Force of our human spirits’ life force. This is the only way we will not be drained.
Staying fully connected to Him means being in complete alignment and agreement with His Word. Not turning to the left or to the right from it. And for us to have this alignment and be in complete agreement with His Word we need to be constantly engaged in His Word so we are expert hearers and obeyers of His voice.
What Does It Mean to Be Spiritually Drained?
The meaning of feeling spiritually drained is having a soul that has dragged down its spirit to its level. A soul that sucks the life out of the spirit with death. A soul that is operating in the flesh, and as the flesh is sin, that brings death, having the spirit wrung out of its life force.
The death that the soul uses to spiritually drain the spirit is from the flesh, the fallen nature of mankind through sin. This death is such as envy, covetousness, hate, negativity, bitterness, uncontrolled anger (wrath), pride, selfishness, self-centredness, self-righteousness, fear, worry, anxiety, idolatry, no self-control, etc.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
The soul engaged in the flesh will start to drain the spirit immediately, and the soul that reconnects to the Spirit of God will start to feel life immediately. If ever, this spirit is rooted and cemented in Christ and His Word. If so, the reconnection to the Spirit is instantaneously uplifting and rejuvenating.
But for those without an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, who are not already filled and full of the Word, the rejuvenation is a process that will take time and the intentional work of growing spiritually through the knowledge of God.
The capacity and velocity of our life supply from the Source is fully dependent on our intimacy with the Holy Spirit and the inner work He will have already started, the inner work we will already be living in. Without this inner work of the Spirit, the life source supply has nothing to run through.
What Causes Spiritual Exhaustion?
Spiritual exhaustion is caused by the emotions and thoughts that are a reflection of being rooted in the flesh, not the Spirit. These emotions and thoughts go against the fruit of the Spirit, and so they are the fruit of the flesh and of death (void of life and light).
Emotions
As the mind is a spiritual entity in that it is not touchable (physical), its production of emotions and thoughts is also a spiritual entity as they too are untouchable. Though these are a secondary form of our spiritual identity, they are nevertheless spiritually effective and robust.
Meaning, they most certainly will play their part in making or breaking us. Whether our emotions break or make us will be dependent on the presence of healing in our bodies and souls, which can only come through the work of the Spirit.
Thoughts
Thoughts are the words of emotions. Sometimes our emotions are too subtle or don’t have a name. But our thoughts will certainly tell us how we are feeling in each moment. Our thoughts will reveal the state of our emotions to us continually.
For thoughts to be wholesome, our emotions need to be wholesome. We do not control thoughts in the mind, we control thoughts by how we are feeling. We control our thinking based on our state of feeling. We should not try to think perfect thoughts, we should endeavour to have healed emotions and self-beliefs, that will therefore reflect on our thoughts.
We should step out of our minds (both emotions and thoughts—our souls) through mindfulness, for, that mindful awareness that we have is our spirits having quiet moments in their bodies. As long as the mind is alive, the spirit can live and be in the body, and this should not mean predominantly living and being in the mind.
Interdependence isn’t complete dependence. Our spirits still have a place in our midst separate from our souls. Just as God has given us the freedom to choose and create, our spirits can decide when to engage in the soul, and preferably a healed, transformed soul by the Word of God through constant meditation (pondering, reflecting on the Word).
We do not, and should not always be thinking and feeling. We should learn how to just be. Through mindful living, we can and will.
Why You Can Feel Drained Even When You’re Doing “Everything Right”
The Word of God exists outside of us as the Bible so we can read it and meditate on it till it lives within us. The Word became flesh (John 1:14) so the Spirit of the Word can live through us (John 16:7). When we are spiritually (internally) drained and tired, it isn’t what we do on the outside that will help us, it can only be what is happening on the inside that can help.
Meaning, as we read the Bible, and this is ever good, if we find ourselves not feeling better, it is because this Word wasn’t made to solely exist outside of us but inside of us. It is because the Word of God in our minds does not yet have complete reign in our souls. So we must be patient, as we are depositing the Word in our souls, we must be understanding and compassionate towards ourselves.
The only right thing to do in our lives is to be filled and full of the Word, for, in this way, we will live for the better of not only ourselves, but of everyone and even all things pertaining to life and righteousness.
Signs You Are Spiritually Burned Out
Feeling negatively is a sign of being engaged with the wrong source. Even when we have reasons to feel these states, even when we are feeling them in the arms of God and His warm, compassionate, understanding grace, it is embracing these emotions through their source, so we can process them out of us, and realign with our God, who loved us while we were sinners, how much more now still when He is in our midst?
We are not dibble dabbling in the flesh of sin, but for as long as we are still in these fallen bodies, the body is dead, and only the Spirit brings our bodies back to life. Yes, we live in the resurrection in our daily lives in intimacy with the Spirit.
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” – Romans 8:11 ESV
Even as at times we may be required to weep or be sad because of this fallen nature, so long as we do it on the Rock foundation that is Christ, these winds will not tear down what the Spirit will have built and what He will be building.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” – Philippians 3:20-21 ESV
What the Bible Reveals About Spiritual Weariness
Matthew 11:28–30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Isaiah 40:29–31, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak… those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength”.
Jeremiah 31:25, “I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint”.
Psalm 62:1–2, “Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him”.
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble”.
How to Restore Your Spiritual Strength
- Be in complete alignment and agreement with the Word of God
- Read, meditate, and fill yourself with the Word of God
- Let the inner work of the Spirit accomplish its goals of healing, restoring, and establishing you through His process
- Embrace a transformed soul by the power of the Spirit and His fruit
- Live mindfully as your spirit
- Continuously live in the Word of God and in intimacy with His Spirit as a constant Source of life, even unto eternal life
- Live on the foundation that is Christ; feel in Christ, think in Christ, and see that you are never forsaken
How Spiritual Fatigue Can Lead to Growth
Spiritual fatigue is a sign of a need for spiritual strength and resilience. It is an invitation to grow deeper in the knowledge of God, which will bring forth the knowledge of self and all things. This knowledge, along with God’s wisdom and understanding through His presence in our lives and in our midst, will empower us and strengthen us unto life everlasting.
Summary: Why You Feel Spiritually Drained
- An untransformed soul (emotions and thoughts)
- Living from the flesh and sin that causes death
- Not living from the Spirit of God
- Not staying meditated on the Word of God
- Not living mindfully as your spirit
- Not being healed, restored, and established by the inner life working of the Spirit
May your mind be renewed, your faith be strengthened, and your peace be anchored in Christ, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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