I Attended Church! Why Do I Keep Doing the Wrong Thing?

How to Overcome Spiritual Dullness: 3 Biblical Practices for the Gap Between Sunday and Tuesday

By Dr. Precious W. Parks

WATCH FULL SERMON

Father, we come to You with open hands and hungry hearts. What we know has not always become what we do. Close that gap today. Let every word spoken be Your word. And when we leave this place, let us leave as doers, not just hearers. Speak, Lord. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Before we read a single scripture, there is a question that deserves a real answer.

How many of us have known the right thing to do and still found ourselves doing the wrong one?

We have sat in service, taken notes, snapped pictures of the slides, shouted, cried, said amen, and walked out of the building feeling equipped, empowered, on fire, and by Tuesday found ourselves right back in the same place.

Calling that same number. Pouring that same drink. Thinking that same thought. Fighting that same argument. Logging into that same website. Falling victim to that same kind of person.

In most cases, we know the right thing to do. The challenge is in the doing of the thing we know to do.

There is a gap between knowing something and doing something. There is a gap between what we know on Sunday and how we actually live Monday through Saturday.

This is what spiritual dullness looks like. And today we close the gap.

What James Says About the Knowing-Doing Gap

Scripture speaks directly into that tension. James 1:21-25 (NKJV) addresses it plainly:

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

A doer is a performer, one who obeys, carries out, or fulfills the law. A hearer merely listens and receives information. The doer looks carefully into the perfect law, becomes acquainted with it, and continues in it. That word "looks" in the Greek carries the meaning of inspecting with curiosity and becoming intimately acquainted. The doer allows the Word to remain beside them, always near, always helping them survive and remain alive. And as a result, the doer is blessed.

Biblical scholar A. R. Fausset captures the danger plainly. There is a deceptive danger in churches where the Word of Truth is faithfully preached, because many walk away with the mistaken concept that simply sitting under a gifted pastor will automatically result in spiritual growth. Too many believers mark their Bibles but fail to allow their Bibles to mark them (Fausset, 1888).

We have the cute pens and the special highlighters. We mark our Bibles but fail to let our Bibles mark us.

What Spiritual Dullness Actually Looks Like

The enemy does not need to destroy us if he can dull us.

Dull: bored, dreary, lackluster, muted, sluggish. And here is the reality we must own together as believers in a real war: we are guilty of being dull.

Spiritual dullness shows up in five recognizable ways:

Information Overload: Too much news, scrolling, and notifications crowd out stillness. The believer struggles to hear the Spirit clearly.

Emotional Reactivity: Offense, politics, and controversy make believers respond like the world. Emotions begin leading instead of spiritual wisdom.

Busyness as Identity: Many believers wear exhaustion like a badge of honor. A tired soul becomes less watchful.

Spiritual Consumption Without Formation: Services, podcasts, and Christian content can feel like growth without producing change. The believer is informed but not transformed.

Anxiety as a Normal State: Worry about health, money, family, and the future keeps the mind spiritually distracted. Fear takes up the space where faith and clarity should live.

1 Peter 5:8 says we are up against an adversary, the devil, who walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. "Seeking" in the Greek means to seek in order to find. "Devour" means to destroy or drown.

What It Means to Be Sober and Vigilant (1 Peter 5:8)

So how do we avoid being spiritually dulled and devoured?

We must be sober. We must be vigilant.

The Greek word for sober is nepho, which means to be calm and collected in spirit, to have evenness of mind under stress, to be self-controlled and free from every form of mental and spiritual intoxication — free from anything that can alter spiritual function or formation, distort judgment, impair discernment, or weaken vigilance.

The Greek word for vigilant is grēgoreō, which means to watch actively, to be awake rather than unconscious, to be alert and ready to respond, and to stay alive spiritually (Barclay, 1976).

Vigilance is sober watchfulness directed at a real threat. William Barclay writes that sobriety is what makes vigilance possible. They are inseparable (Barclay, 1976).

A sober, vigilant believer is the one the enemy cannot dull. They hear it on Sunday, live it on Monday, enforce it on Tuesday, hold fast on Wednesday, stand firm on Thursday, and refuse the roar on Friday.

Declaration: I will not be dulled by what God has called me to discern.

3 Biblical Practices to Overcome Spiritual Dullness

Today we close the gap between knowing and doing. These three practices are ones we can live starting tomorrow.

Practice 1: Identify Your Personal Spiritual Intoxicant

Name it. Write it down. Establish one boundary around it this week.

The command to be sober in 1 Peter 5:8 assumes something has the potential to dull us. Peter names the threat because this is a reality for all believers. And just two verses before, in 1 Peter 5:6-7, he names exactly what the enemy uses: the cares of this world. He says, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." That word "care" in the Greek means anxieties that pull us in different directions.

During COVID, when everything stood still, I was desperate for relief. I was not in open rebellion. I was not running from God. I was just overwhelmed and anxious. When we are overwhelmed, we reach for whatever quiets the noise fastest. My therapist asked me, "What do you reach for when everything feels overwhelming?" And as I listed things, I realized some of what I was reaching for was not feeding my spirit. It was just muting it (Parks, 2024).

That is spiritual intoxication.

A spiritual intoxicant is anything that enters the soul deeply enough to alter spiritual function, distort judgment, impair discernment, and weaken vigilance.

Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:12, "I have the right to do anything, but not everything is beneficial. I have the right to do anything, but I will not be mastered by anything." Paul is talking about the things that are permissible but have quietly become our master.

The real work is in the naming. What is the thing that regularly slips into the day and numbs the spiritual edge?

Name it. Write it down. Establish one boundary around it this week.

The moment we name it, we have taken the first step toward allowing our Bible to mark us.

Practice 2: Turn Down the Background Noise (A Biblical Case for Fasting from Distractions)

Fast from the noise. Choose one source of noise to remove this week.

Once we name the intoxicant, the next question becomes: what has been filling the space where God's voice is supposed to live?

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is the filter in the brain that determines what reaches conscious awareness. A believer who has filled every moment with noise has trained their inner life to tune everything out, including the Holy Spirit. He is still speaking. We have filled the space with everything else.

1 Kings 19:11-12 gives us Elijah on the mountain. A great and strong wind tore into the mountains. God was not in the wind. An earthquake came. God was not in the earthquake. A fire followed. God was not in the fire. And after the fire, a still small voice — qol demamah daqah in Hebrew, the voice of gentle silence.

The enemy understands this. He does not need to silence God. He just needs to keep the volume of everything else high enough that we cannot distinguish the still, small voice from the background noise.

Fasting is the removal of food, things, people, and places that serve as a distractor or inhibitor to the manifested presence of God. Fasting is always more about what we gain than what we give up. Fasting swaps distractions for deeper connection to Him.

Choose one source of background noise to remove this week:

• The content that entertains but dulls discernment

• The influencer voices shaping your thoughts

• The group chat that keeps stirring your emotions

• The background noise used to avoid silence

• The late-night scroll

• The constant news updates

• The need to check every notification immediately

• The multitasking that keeps us from being present

• 
  

Remove the noise. Let God fill what the noise has been occupying.

Psalm 46:10 commands, "Be still, and know that I am God." "Be still" in the Hebrew (raphah) means to relax, to withdraw, to be quiet, to refrain. "Know" means to understand and to know by experience. The command belongs to the overwhelmed and the overstimulated.

Practice 3: Enforce the Victory and Stay Anchored Through Daily Spiritual Routines

Find the scripture that confronts the lie. Write it down. Speak it daily. Anchor your routines in returning to God throughout the day.

This is where overcoming spiritual dullness becomes a lifestyle. We are not fighting to win. We are fighting because it is already won. We stand. We enforce our identity.

Enforcement requires two movements working together.

Movement One: The Voice — Speaking the Word Over the Lie

Lions roar to intimidate, scatter, and isolate. The enemy's roar is designed to make us forget our victory, abandon our identity, and drift from the Body.

Luke 10:19 records Jesus speaking plainly: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy. Nothing will harm you."

2 Corinthians 10:5 instructs us to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Speaking over ourselves is a practical act of enforcement:

When the enemy says, "You cannot hear God anymore" — declare: My sheep hear my voice. I belong to God. I hear His voice. He is still speaking.

When the enemy says, "You have to react to everything you feel" — declare: I am governed by the Spirit. I am quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.

When the enemy says, "Worry is how you stay prepared" — declare: I cast all my anxiety on Him. I release what I was never meant to carry. God cares for me.

Every time we speak the Word, we enforce what heaven already recorded.

Movement Two: The Footing — Daily Routines That Anchor Us

A strong voice on unstable ground remains vulnerable. Great wrestlers win with position, balance, footing, and technique.

Psalm 18:36 declares, "You enlarged my path under me, so that my feet did not slip." Psalm 40:2 says, "He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps."

Our daily routines are our footing — the small, consistent, daily acts of returning to God.

Morning: Set the day with the Word before the world sets the noise.

Before responding to anything: Ask, "Lord, is this Spirit-led or flesh-led?"

Mid-day: Check heart condition. "Lord, am I walking in love right now?" Offer quick repentance. Shift gratitude over complaint. Move in quiet service.

End of day: Ask two questions. Where did I obey? Where did I resist?

A doer of the Word anchors. All day. Every day.

Tuesday Is Coming — Stand Anyway

The enemy will be an enemy. We know that. And now we carry three practices for the doer to diminish the dullness.

We name it. We remove it. We speak the Word over it. And we stand.

Because we are sober. We are vigilant.

When we say "I will not be dulled," we are saying: the noise stops here. When we say "by what God has called me," we are saying: we know who we are. When we say "to discern," we are saying: we will see what the enemy needs us to miss.

Declaration: I will not be dulled by what God has called me to discern.

If this teaching resonated with you, When Hurt Helps goes deeper into the practices of spiritual formation through pain, resilience, and purpose. Available now.

References

Barclay, W. (1976). The letters of James and Peter (Rev. ed.). Westminster Press.

Fausset, A. R. (1888). Commentary critical and explanatory on the whole Bible. Eerdmans.

Parks, P. W. (2024). When hurt helps. [Publisher].

The Holy Bible, New King James Version. (1982). Thomas Nelson.