As senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, I am often on the receiving end of faith-based questions from people of all walks of life.

Here’s one that came my way recently — and my answer to it, in the hope this will be helpful to many others.

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Question: “I don’t hear God’s voice when I pray, and I’m having doubts He is even there. What do I do?”

Answer: As human beings living in the natural world, all of us understand the ebbs and flows of nature and the seasons. Bright days filled with warm sunlight are always followed by dark, quiet nights. Spring and summer don’t last all year — fall and winter have their turn, too. Even the landscape around us is dotted with majestic mountains and deep-seated canyons. This is normal life as we know it: light and dark, hot and cold, high and low.

Just as we have accepted these continuing contrasts in our physical life, we need to realize they happen just as often in our spiritual life, too. Christians don’t typically experience a constant “high” in their Bible reading, worship, or prayer life for months or years on end.

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Elijah was one of the mightiest prophets of God, but he wasn’t exempt from the highs and lows of spiritual life (1 Kings 18-19).  The same could be said for modern Christians such as Billy Graham or Joni Eareckson Tada. Even the most faithful Christians will often go through periods of “lowness,” when God seems distant, prayer feels dry, and worship looks lifeless.

But does this mean that God isn’t there — or that He isn’t still listening? Of course not. Doesn’t the sun keep shining even when your half of the globe plunges into darkness for the night? Doesn’t oxygen keep surging in and out of your lungs, even when you can’t see it? In the same way, God is always there and He always cares (Psalms 139:1-7) — even when you can’t sense His presence.

If you are feeling that your prayer life is dull or lifeless, the solution is not to give up — but to press on. Keep persisting in prayer as the Bible commands (Colossians 4:2), believing and trusting the valley won’t go on forever.

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Soon enough, the road will begin to rise up into the foothills, and then the mountain peaks will return. God promises that we will find Him as we keep seeking Him with all our heart (Jeremiah 29:13), so don’t quit. Just as you would keep driving your vehicle through a dark tunnel, confident that the end will soon appear — keep pursuing God with a believing faith. By God’s grace, the darkness will give way to light!

As you patiently press on, remember that you aren’t going to hear God’s voice speak to you audibly. God speaks today through His written Word — the Bible — which is His trustworthy “voice” to us. So get your Bible open and revisit those precious passages that speak about His nearness and loving care. Reacquaint yourself with the promises that He knows us, hears us, guides us.

The more you read and think deeply about His character and His faithfulness, the more your heart will be inclined to pray passionately. Stay with it, and soon enough the dying embers of your prayer life will re-ignite and burst into flame. As you enjoy God’s presence, doubts will transform into devotion and worries will turn into worship.

Pastor Ryan Day is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where he has served for 18 years. He is a regular contributor to LifeZette.