Spiritual Survival

As human beings, we do what we need to ensure our survival-we eat, sleep, enjoy, and learn. We form relationships, live in houses, invest our energy and our time in jobs and careers, and we buy cars to get us safely where we want to go. If our environments aren’t giving us a sense of safety and reward, we grow unhappy and restless. Most of us will take this dissatisfaction and use it to change what isn’t working and alter what isn’t providing us with what we feel we need.

As spiritual beings, our need to survive often takes second even third place in our lives. We ignore the Word of God and starve, we hide from our relationship with God and suffer from a sense of isolation and depression, we do not rest in his presence and burn out, we do not rejoice in the Lord and enjoy his presence, and we complain we are empty but make excuses for not studying the Word. We spend our time and money “furnishing a house that will decay” and ignore the house of the Lord.

So why do we do that? Sometimes I think because the things of the Spirit aren’t as tangible, I pay more attention to what I can see and feel - the things that I can have more control over. You see, if I am cold, I can put on a coat. If I am hungry, I can go to the store, buy food, and prepare it. If I am lonely, I can call a friend and talk. These things seems so easy and natural to do.

It can be harder when transferring these needs to the spiritual. My natural man fights for control – fights to be in charge. But what happens when we begin to believe that satisfying the inner man can become just as natural as feeding the outer one?

If when I am cold – feeling apathetic and hopeless – I can wrap myself up with the warmth and energy of His Spirit.

If when I am hungry – feeling empty and unsatisfied - I can feed on the substance of His Word.

If when I am lonely – feeling isolated and distant - I can draw close to His love and the love of His people.

Lord of my humanness, help me to turn my affections toward You. I look to You for hope, for satisfaction, and for peace.

Check out: Hebrews 10:19-25

Beneath the Surface

Intimacy with God is not an experience that happens to us. It is a state of being, a state of existence that develops within us. As we allow God into our inner man, we are drawn deeper into His presence. It is when we place ourselves “in” Him, not near Him or around His people, but in Him that we can truly be intimate with God.

But why the need for such intimacy with God? Why not just a little depth? Can’t you just know of God and allow Him to be a part of your life, even the most important part of your life?

I remember my pastor asking the question, “Who here has Christ as the most important part of their life?” I smiled and proudly raised my hand. Was I surprised when he then said, “Christ should not be the most important part of your life. He should be your life.” I had missed it. It was the difference between acting like a Christian and being a Christian.

So many times I had reduced my Christianity with a compartmentalized attitude – God goes here, work goes here and so on. No wonder my walk was a series of up and down emotionally-driven experiences.

Consider: Why is it necessary to live “beneath” instead of on the “surface” of God?

Check out: John 15:4-8

Week Thirteen Question and Response

Week Thirteen Question:

Is my knowledge of Jesus born of internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned by listening to others? Have I something in my life that connects me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Saviour?

“All spiritual history must have a personal knowledge for its bedrock. To be born again means that I see Jesus” - Chambers August 15

My Response to week Thirteen Question:

At the core of any healthy relationship, lies intimacy – singleness in knowledge – a first-hand knowing. What is the bedrock of my relationship with Jesus? First-hand knowledge? Second-hand only?

God is a jealous God – not jealous in a petty way, but He’s jealous in His desire for intimacy. Allowing another into the place reserved for the One is like spiritual adultery.

Father-God, be the bedrock – my foundation. I shall never be shaken.

Know What You Believe

Know what you believe. Seems silly to say that you believe in something but don’t really know about it. Doesn’t believing mean that you have understanding?

Knowing from a biblical perspective is more than casual – in fact, in reference to knowing God, the word “know” is the Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse. It’s not the “Hey. I know you. I remember you from that party. You’re the best friend of my cousin Sally’s Uncle Charlie” type of knowing. It’s the acknowledging, feeling, understanding, perceiving, getting up close and personal kind of knowing.

And what about belief?

I remember a story about a tightrope walker who was famous for daring stunts. This time, crowds gathered to watch him walk across a thin rope strung precariously over a canyon hundreds of feet deep.

First, he simply walked across, from one side to the other. Then he did it blindfolded. The crowds cheered as he rode a unicycle across. He was unstoppable. Suddenly he turned to the crowds and said, “You’ve seen me walk this rope blindfolded. You’ve seen me ride across it without so much as a flinch. Now I will do my greatest trick: I will push a wheelbarrow across to the other side. Who here believes I can do it?”

Everyone shouted, “Of course. We’ve seen you do so many tricks with our own eyes. You can do it!” The tightrope walker set his eyes on one man in the front. He took the handles of the wheelbarrow and wheeled it over to the somewhat startled onlooker.

“Do you think I can do this?”
“Well, yes” said the man.
“I mean, do you really believe I can push this across and back without falling to my death in the canyon below?”
“Yes, yes, I do. I watched you walk blindfolded. I watched you ride without even flinching. Yes, I know you can do it beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

The stunt man was quiet for a brief second, and looking intently into the man’s eyes said, “Then get in.”

This kind of belief does not stand on the sidelines. It literally puts its entire faith in what is intimately known.

Know what you believe and your heart will not only be pliable, but accessible.

Father-God, I put myself into Your loving hands. I desire to know You more and more. Lord, take my intellectual belief and turn it into an all-encompassing heart and soul belief.

Check out: Psalm 46:10

The Current of God

We live in turbulent times. The waves of economic and professional uncertainty, global tensions, and relational anxieties crash over us on a daily basis. Too often we are swept away by this confusing current and left in a state of doubt and hopelessness.

The other day, I started thinking about water and the similarities between how it reacts and how I react. I know – it seems strange, but think about it:

Water reacts to the variables that surround it. It becomes hard when the temperature drops, its currents become stronger when the wind rises, and it boils and evaporates when the heat is turned up.

So I just had to ask: Am I as unstable as water in my personal walk with God?

I asked myself:

Does my heart become hard and unyielding when there is nothing external to “heat up” my emotions?

Do I become double-minded and distracted when the conflicting voices of the world swirl around me?

And do I get agitated and angry when life becomes difficult and unpredictable?

Father-God, bring me to a place where it is not a matter of what I should feel or who I should be, but to what I do feel and who I actually am. Stabilize my heart to move only when I feel Your current within me.

Check out: Isaiah 40:3-5

Week Twelve Question

Week Twelve Question:

Am I as full of the extravagance of love to Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He find me recalling the time when I did not care for anything but Himself? Am I there now, or have I become wise over loving Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no account of where I go? Or am I watching for the respect due to me; weighing how much service I ought to give?

“God is saying to His people-You are not in love with Me now, but I remember the time when you were…” - Chambers Jan. 21

My Response to Week Twelve Question:

"'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown” or as The Message puts it: "GOD's Message! I remember your youthful loyalty, our love as newlyweds. You stayed with me through the wilderness years, stuck with me through all the hard places.”

Do I have a relationship with God where my love for Him is as passionate and intense as a newlywed? Did I once? God remembers – He longs for intimacy. I remember, too, when I first got saved – a Jesus freak – young without wisdom, but full of first-love passion. I would go anywhere - do anything for my Jesus, my Lord.

Father-God, I renew my vows to You – recommit my sometimes listless heart – and follow You through this desert.

Week Eleven Question and Response

Week Eleven Question:

Has God trusted you with a silence-a silence that is big with meaning? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking for a visible answer? Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response?

“You will find that God has trusted you in the most intimate way possible, with an absolute silence, not of despair, but of pleasure, because He saw that you could stand a bigger revelation. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, He will give you the first sign of His intimacy - silence” - Chambers October 11

My Response to Week Eleven Question:

Silence - a sign of intimacy. In Ecclesiastes 3:7, we are told that there is a time for silence – a time to be calmed – to sit still. It is in those quiet times that God’s voice takes on a different “sound.”

Many years ago, Simeon and Garfunkel wrote a song called “The Sound of Silence.” What is the sound of God’s silence in my life right now? How have I interpreted this silence? Disapproval? Removal? All negative? Honestly, yes, especially that last few months. I haven’t even considered that these times of silence are simply God listening. What is He hearing?

Knowing Where You're Going

Whether it's in our daily everyday life or in our spiritual life, belief affects direction and knowing where you’re going is essential. Right? I rememeber the first time my husband and I drove in Chicago. No GPS to guide us - just some sloppy, hand-written directions. There's nothing worse than feeling lost and confused while driving, especially if you have been designated the "navigator." But how does feeling confident in where you’re headed affect the way you communicate?

Have you ever been in a car with your husband when he doesn’t know where he’s going? He wants you to believe he’s not lost, but it’s clear by the many turns and the tense feeling in the car that he really is. How do you communicate with him? And he with you? Not the best picture of marital bliss.

When you don’t have a sense of the destination, you don’t have confidence in your current location. And when you daily confidence is shaken, you find yourself living a life of haphazard circumstance. This often leads to the “it-was-meant-to-be” or the “I-can’t-fight-fate” mentality that believes not that a life yielded to God has purpose, but that life “is what it is” so why fight it. Once the victim stance takes hold, it is very difficult for someone to find their way back.

I had a friend who used to say, “I know that I know that I know.” When I first heard her say it, I thought that it was just one of those things that you say but don’t really know what it means. But after spending time with her and seeing how she allowed God to daily direct and lead her, I finally understood that statement: her level of knowing began in her mind, passed through her heart, her feelings and emotions, and rested in agreement with the Spirit of God within her.

Knowing – acknowledging, feeling, understanding, and perceiving – where you are headed is essential for daily peace and health. How deep does your understanding go of where, as a Christian, you are headed – in this life and the next? Do you acknowledge God’s providential hand in your life and perceive how His will works in your life? Do you care enough to find out?

Father-God, I desire to know that I know that I know not only where I’m headed after I die, but where I’m headed in the here and now.

Check out: Isaiah 48:17

Week Ten Question

Week Ten Question:

Are you debating whether to take a step in faith in Jesus or to wait until you can see how to do the thing yourself? Are you loyal to Jesus or loyal to your notion of Him? Are you loyal to what He says, or are you trying to compromise with conceptions which never came from Him?

“Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out where I do not see anything; loyalty to my notions means that I clear the ground first by my intelligence. Faith is not intelligent understanding, faith is deliberate commitment to a Person where I see no way” - Chambers March 28

My Response to Week Ten Question:

Loyalty: faithfulness, devotion, constancy, dependability, fidelity. It is no coincidence that fidelity means the extent to which an electronic device, such as a stereo system or television, accurately reproduces sound or images. Is my devotion to Christ so deep and constant that what the world sees and hears, what I reproduce, accurately portrays the character of my eternal Parent and Lord?

Am I willing to step out when there is no pathway in sight? I am reminded of a song the Lord gave to me years ago:

You called me on the water. “Step out” You said to me. “Set your eyes upon my face and walk courageously. For I will hold your head up and keep you from the sea. Set your eyes upon My face for I have chosen thee.”

On stepping out I heard the wind, my face could feel the waves. I took my eyes off Jesus and sank into the grave. At once, I cried out “Jesus!” for He alone could save. At once, His hand took hold of mine and rescued me that day.

He calls us on the water, “Step out into the deep.” Set your eyes upon His face and walk courageously. For He will hold your head up and keep you faithfully. Set your eyes on Jesus for He has chosen thee.

Father-God, I am spending too much time in the shallows. You call me to step out into the deep where my dependence on You is essential for life. I make a deliberate commitment to walk when I cannot see, to wait when I want to run ahead of You, and to cling to the Truth of who You really are.