What Works for You?

For many years, I was told "prayer is when you talk to God, and Bible study is when God talks to you" and mostly, that simple answer seemed

Do You Really?

"Do you want to get well?" That sound ridiculous, doesn't it? Jesus -- who in my estimation was never ridiculous -- asked that exact question of a crippled man. In John 5:1-15, Jesus encountered this man as he lay

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

I think God enjoys drama, good drama, in the healthy sense of raising everyone's expectations
for what he says is a truly spectacular event. He had Noah build

Two Ears and One Spirit

My mom used to tell me I had two ears and one mouth for a good reason.  She tried many times to help me understand
what that reason was, but now finally I think I get it.  At least the two ears part. 

It goes something like this.  We have an outer ear and an inner ear.  The outer ear catches all the sounds outside us and funnels them through the ear canal,* (which sounds gross if you know what canals usually look like), into the inner ear where the sounds are coded and sent to the brain through the auditory nerve.

Just for now, let's look at that ear through Spirit eyes:  by way of analogy, what might the two parts of the ear mean? What if the outer ear is for listening to other people, and the inner ear is for listening to the Holy Spirit's voice?  What if we're supposed to listen deeply to others before responding to them, and listen deeply to the Spirit's voice telling us how to respond to them in the love of God?  How would that affect our conversations and relationships? 

Well. for starters, what if everything we said -- after listening to the Spirit -- was completely along the lines of what God would have us say? What if we never had to take anything back, because all we said was just the right thing? I think, if we listened to the Spirit well enough, it's at least possible.  The fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Gal. 5:22-23) and those qualities would certainly reduce the amount of apology and explanation needed for our wrong words and attitudes to others.  In the book of Acts, the speakers were often said to be "full of the Holy Spirit" and they said some wonderful things -- so maybe what we say would be more wonderful if we could better hear what the Spirit is telling us.   

One of these days I might have to buy a hearing aid to capture those outside sounds better.  But what I really need right now is to capture those inner sounds, that voice of God telling me how to respond to others, and make sure I pay attention to that before I speak.  How about you?  Would listening to God more closely make a difference?  Let's pray for better hearing in the "inner ear."

*sometimes called the "middle ear," but having three parts to the ear instead of two really messes up this illustration. Sorry.

This Is God Speaking...

Jesus said the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, will "teach us all things" and "lead us into truth."  So, how does the Holy Spirit communicate?  How do we know what he is saying? 
Let's take a brief (not complete by any means) look.

Luke seems to have a keen interest in the Holy Spirit, as his gospel account has more to say about the Spirit's work than Matthew or Mark, and nearly as much as John. The book of Acts, probably also written by Luke, describes the Spirit about 60 times, leading the new church just as Jesus said he would.  Quite a few times, someone is said to be "filled with" or "full of" the Holy Spirit, and that leads to some kind of proclamation of God's will.  In Acts 8:29, the Holy Spirit communicates very specifically to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage.”  In Acts 10, Cornelius has a vision of an angel, and the Holy Spirit speaks to Peter, saying "I have sent" the men who came for him.  In Acts 16, the Spirit leads a group in several ways:  he "prevented them" from preaching in one place; "did not allow them" to go another place; and then Paul had a vision calling them to Macedonia (modern Greece).  So we have several different modes of communication in these chapters.  We may safely assume that the Spirit continues to communicate with us in the same ways.  The Spirit also "breathed" the words of Scripture as we read in 2 Tim. 3:16 and we trust the words of the Bible as it has come to us, to be the words of God.

Words, impressions, pictures, the Scripture, and the words of other Christians, are all part of the Spirit's communication to us.  Then, how do we tell if something is coming from God, rather than just an impression, or a false message?  We are cautioned by the apostle John that we should "not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God" (1 John 4:1).  That testing includes a right understanding of the Bible, and comparing the idea or message to the mind of Christ.  Christ is not divided (1 Cor. 1:13) so any prompting or message we receive from the Holy Spirit will point to Christ (John 15:26) and not encourage strife or division, but work toward harmony. 

This just the briefest overview, and not even a complete one, of the Spirit's methods of communicating to us.  But the point is, the Spirit does communicate, as he is the mind of Christ in us.  So, we should ask God to speak to us, expect to receive direction from him, and be open and receptive to what he has to say.  And then, of course, be obedient!  But that's a discussion for another day.

A Little More about Prayer

Last time I wrote about prayer, describing very briefly two different types of prayer.  We should recognize that some of our prayers are, as M. Robert Mulholland Jr. describes, "an attempt to manipulate the symptoms of our lives without really entering into a deep, vital, transforming relationship with God."  Prayer is a way of bringing -- sometimes dragging bodily -- our stubborn and flighty selves to rest before the Eternal God of all hope, comfort and love.  So today, let's look at two more types of prayer. 

Contemplative Prayer:  This type of prayer helps develop "an open, restful receptivity to the Trinity that enables me to always be with God just as I am" (Adele Ahlberg Calhoun in Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, page 211).  We might think of the sheep lying in the green meadow (Psalm 23) or the weaned child, no longer needing to nurse, but simply resting in his mother's arms (Psalm 131).  This is, as Calhoun describes it, "a way of waiting with a heart awake to God's presence and his Word...in the presence of the Holy Spirit deep in our own spirit."   To practice this type of prayer, you might try sitting quietly, without distractions (I have to leave my office and cellphone behind!) and simply declaring to God, "Here I am, just to spend time with you."  Then wait, and if you like, think about the goodness of God and his gifts, or how his love is expressed to us.  Be ready to express your love to God and receive his in return, not necessarily in audible words but in a peaceful assurance.  The result, if we practice it often, should be deeper awareness of "Christ in you" (Col. 1:27) and a greater trust in his presence.

Intercessory Prayer:  When we pray for others, we are joining Jesus, the mediator between God and humanity, (1 Tim. 2:5) and the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us and interprets our words to the Father (Rom. 8:27).  In Eph. 4:6 we are told "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."  So then, intercessory prayer is not a frantic attempt to convince God to do something for us -- that is not necessary, and feeds our tendency to worry!  This is a way of joining with God's concern and love for the person we pray for, and releasing our concerns to God for his solutions.  Intercessory prayer can be done alone or with others, and should be done regularly, not just when we think of some need.  A weekly prayer list, with different topics for each day, could be a good tool in intercession, as it would move us through different needs and help reveal to us any unhealthy patterns such as a narrow focus on our own immediate priorities. 

I am asking God to help you, dear reader, to understand him better through the tool of prayer, and to be blessed in every part of your life with him. 

Facing Jesus and Reality

Last week I wrote about spiritual reality:  that we have already been given "every spiritual blessing in Christ," and that we can learn to live in those blessings every day, by perceiving and focusing on that reality.  In this pattern of life, when God speaks to us, we actually hear his will for us and are ready to respond. 

The Triune God said "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us" (Gen. 1:26), and we were created as relational people, so God could have a mutual relationship of love with us.  We are, at the core, spiritual beings (1 Thess. 5:23) so having a spiritual connection with God should be a natural part of life.  The Holy Spirit, who is our guide and helper (John 14:16-17) has come to help us perceive and live within that.

Some think that, if they "get more of the Holy Spirit" then they will achieve mastery over life, sort of like a Jedi in Star Wars.  But that's emphasizing our self-will, when in fact, it is God who gives us both the idea of pleasing him and the strength to follow, Phil. 2:13.  Our life with God is a matter of becoming quiet before God and surrendering our will to his; placing ourselves before God, deliberately, day by day, through practical, useable tools of spiritual development.

These tools are not mysterious matters that can only be practiced by monks in a cave somewhere in France.  They are exercises any of us can do, nearly anytime or anywhere, to experience a deeper Christian life:  "And this is the secret: Christ lives in you" (Col. 1:27).  Human life gets chaotic and broken because we neglect this spiritual journey we are on with Jesus.  Wholeness, the repair of our thinking and our emotions, can only take place as we surrender our self-will in the only truly safe place there is:  the arms and heart of the Father, as we are brought there, in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit's guidance.

We're going to continue exploring, slowly and one little piece at a time, what that spiritual journey is like.  This is not something any of us achieves in a short time, dear reader, so as we journey together with Jesus, let's allow him to lead us one step at a a time, being patient with the process and with ourselves.  I believe we will both find spiritual riches as we go.

Hearing God, Part 2

Last time we looked at humanity's on-again, off-again way of hearing from God, starting with Adam and Eve and going through Abraham. The times when people actively tried to listen, things went a lot better with them, and vice versa. Now we come to Moses, in the book of Exodus.

God had been keeping track of the descendents of Abraham and their problems for the last 400 years. In Exodus 2, he arranges for a new leader to be born and trained to accomplish the next step in the plan. Moses is a sheepherder, and God starts talking to him out of a burning bush. Moses has enough sense to listen; although his version of listening includes a lot of arguing and complaining (see 3:11, 4:1, 10, 13). Moses continues to listen to God and to complain to Him for another 40 years. But God seems to enjoy the give-and-take; He compares His conversations with Moses to that of friends in Ex. 33:11.

God brings the Israelites out of Egypt, where they saw His miracles in the plagues against the Egyptian gods and His parting the Red Sea for them. They still hadn't heard His voice, though, as Moses had. So He calls them to Mount Sinai and there He speaks. But they can't listen; in a kind of irony, after Moses was afraid they wouldn't listen to him at all (4:1), they want to hear him instead of God: "don't let God speak to us, or we will die!" (20:19).

Moses was like the later prophets: he told the people, over and over, to hear God and not turn away, even though he knew they were going to (Deut. 4:1-14, 31:27, etc). Moses had seen from his own life and from watching others that we aren't very good at listening, but that God is talking and we should pay attention.

Now, here's a point: God had continued to find various ones who would listen, and He kept up the dialog. Why? Because He wants relationship with us. He wants the dialog, even when we get argumentative and difficult. And He sent His Son to talk to us, tell us more about Him and to call us back to that dialog and to walking together. We'll see some more of that next time. In the meantime, keep your ears open. He will definitely have something to say.

Hearing God, part 1

Humans started out hearing God's voice, kind of like a baby hears its parents' voices, just as a part of living. Adam and Eve seem to have listened to God (Gen. 1:28-30) as he told them why they were in the garden and what they should do about it, and to stay away from that one pesky tree of 'knowledge of good and evil' (chapter 2). But in chapter 3, after they'd already taken the one thing they weren't supposed to take, the tone of the conversation is strained -- it reminds me of some discussions I've had with my children. "What did you do?" "I didn't do it, it was her fault!" and evasion instead of honesty. Adam even tried to blame the whole thing on God ("“It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”). I can imagine God sighing at this point, and shaking his head.

From then on, things get tense. God tries to discuss things with Cain, who isn't in much of a listening mood (chapter 4) and from that time, there don't seem to be many who are in a conversation with the Creator. God speaks with Noah (Genesis 6) and Noah does everything God tells him to (verse 22). But Noah is the only one who seems to pay attention at that point. Not even his three sons and their wives, who get saved from the flood also, seem to have any ongoing contact with the Lord.

After the great flood, everything continues much as it had before. The gift of speech, which includes the need to hear, is used by the humans to plan and build a tower. They are listening to each other, but nobody is listening to God. So he confuses their speech (11:7-8) and now they can't hear each other!

Along comes a fellow named Abram. This man seems serious about hearing God; when the Lord tells him to pick up and move to a different land, he does (12:1-4). And throughout the rest of his life, through all sorts of adventures, God talks to this man and this man listens. Sometimes the conversations are more difficult, like in chapter 15 where Abram complains that God's promises aren't coming true because he doesn't have a son. But Abram/Abraham learns to trust God and even more, to be honest with him -- as Adam and Eve didn't do. And he keeps hearing when God speaks.

There's a lot more to the story, and I want to go into that the next few weeks. But every time we read in the Bible about God, it seems like he is trying to reach out to us, to help us, to teach us. Will people learn to hear him? Will we learn to trust him? That's the continuing question -- not only for humanity as a whole, but for each one of us.

What are you doing to hear from God today? He speaks through his word, the Bible, and to our minds and emotions as we pray, and through circumstances and other people. I need to hear from him about all kinds of things and I bet you do too. How about spending some time talking with him, and asking him to talk to you? And then actively listening? It will change you. It changed me, and a lot of people I know.