Daily Devotional

As a Pastor, I have to admit, I slip into a mild depression after Easter. Easter is our Super Bowl. We pour our lives into preaching, meeting new people, showing them love, surviving the week on less sleep than normal, and working our tails off. Easter comes and attendance peaks. We always hope that the visitors on Easter will be so impressed with our church service that they will come every Sunday from that day forward. But every year it’s the same, the numbers eventually settle back to reality.

Our many volunteers are exhausted. They’ve taken on extra duties, they’ve arrived early for
set-ups, they’ve gone over the top with rehearsals and prep. If the week after Easter they say, “I’ve put in tons of hours in the week leading up to Easter, I need a Sunday off”, then the excitement of Easter numbers settles back to reality the following week, which can be a lower than normal attendance.

But whenever I talk about attendance, there’s always someone who will say, “But Brian, it’s not all about numbers.” And they’re right. But think about it, when you are talking to someone about their church, it usually doesn’t take too long before someone asks, “How many attend?” And let’s face it, when the sanctuary is jammed every week and we’re considering starting a second service, we’re all feeling pretty good. And when we are in decline numerically, no one feels good.

So when you’re feeling kinda down post-Easter, here are three ways you can recover, and
sustain the excitement of Easter all year long.

1. Connect to God’s Power
Spend time each day in God’s Word. If the only time you are exposed to God’s Word is for an hour at church once a week, it’s not enough. As followers of Christ we need to be in God’s Word every day. After you read and meditate on God’s Word, spend some time in prayer. Pray that God would change your heart. Pray through your prayer list. Lift up your family, our church family, our community, our nation, our world. When we pray we acknowledge that God is all-powerful and He will work according to His will. So we trust Him.

2. Listen to God’s Voice
How do we hear the voice of God? It’s by having a prayerful attitude with our Bible open. God’s Holy Spirit speaks to us through His Word. You pray, “God, please soften my heart to what You want to say to me as I read Your Word today.” And then you read His Word, thinking about what God is saying to you, and obeying Him. But the hardest part of listening to God’s voice is being silent. I believe it is best done without your playlist playing in the background, or the TV on. Just read God’s Word, and be silent. God will speak to your heart.

3. Be Willing to Follow God’s Direction
What’s next for you? Have you thought about what God wants you to do right now? Are you
serving the Lord somewhere? If not, maybe that’s what God wants for you. Are you in
community with other believers in a small group or Sunday School Class? Maybe that’s what God wants. Are you in the occupation God wants for you? Have you prayed about it? Maybe God wants you to change jobs. What’s next for you?

If you were going to take the next step in your relationship with Christ, what would that look like? Getting on a Bible reading plan? Setting aside time each day for prayer? Making sure you’re in church every Sunday? Finding a place to serve? Sharing your faith with a neighbor? Connect to God’s power by listening to His voice and following His direction. Take some time to pray about what’s next for you. And when God shows you...obey.

New American Standard Bible®,
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