The Lord bless you! He is with you right now...you might want to pause a moment to be in awe over this reality.
This week I'm going to slow the pace down with this book in spite of the fact that I've laid out a particular schedule for getting through it, so please bear with me, ok?
I'm concerned that in the pressure to meet the deadline each week, we may not really get from the Lord what He wants to say in these chapters. The mad pace of life can swallow us up, and as people of the times we live in, we tend toward thinking that the more correct information we can get on a certain topic, the better we'll be.
Of course, we need to know truth. If I didn't believe this, I wouldn't be doing this book club. However, when the Scripture speaks of "knowing," it's a deeper knowing than mere gathering and retaining of information. It's an intimate knowing of Truth. In my personal devotional life right now, I'm spending time in the Psalms and the Gospel of John. I just read this morning the much-quoted words of Jesus in chapter 8, "...and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
If Jesus is Truth (see John 14:6), then knowing truth is knowing a Person, and it is in that intimate knowing of Him that I am made free. And because knowing a person is a never-ending experience, the implication is that I will need to be moving from one degree of freedom to another all my life.
My experience in life has taught me that knowing a person takes a lot more work than knowing information about the person. It takes time and is messy and interferes with getting things done. Our drivenness as a culture to get things done can be a huge obstacle to really knowing Jesus.
So this week, rather than continue to plunge into the next two chapters (5 and 6) as scheduled, I want to encourage you to go back to chapter 3 on The Renewed Mind and take the time to consider carefully the author's words about "retaining a renewed mind" and ask the Holy Spirit to help you govern "what is going to occupy your mind." He is in you to empower you for this but it will require that you be intentional about reprogramming the way you think about God and others and yourself.
In the rush of life, it's easier to keep piling on the knowledge and information without digesting it and obeying it. But if we move too quickly through the chapters on the emotions without taking seriously the need for getting free from mental strongholds and walking in that freedom, then our emotions won't be helped; the mind must be cleansed and healed and delivered and brought into alignment with God before the emotions will align correctly.
Last week Nonie made a comment on the reading in which she shared a practical way that has helped her in the process of renewing her mind, and that is the practicing of the presence of the Lord through contemplative worship; in other words, taking the time to get before the Lord without an agenda and without doing a Bible study in that time (that's for another time) to practice the reality that He is with me and to simply adore Him and listen to Him. Like any other discipline that we want to develop, this will usually require more time devoted to the practice at first until it becomes an easy thing to do throughout the day. Sitting down and listening to worship music can be one way of beginning this, and if thoughts begin to arise that are self-accusing or judgmental of others, it's important not to stuff those down but to write them out and then ask the Holy Spirit to replace the negative thoughts with His truth from the Word of God.
In his wonderful book Setting Love in Order, Mario Bergner (a healed homosexual) tells of a primary way in which the process of his full healing took place, and that was through practicing the reality of God's presence with him. In the early stages of his healing process, all he heard from the Lord when he was quiet with Him was, "Mario, I love you." After some time of this, Mario wanted to hear something more than that and asked God why He kept repeating that so much; and the Lord answered something to the effect, "Because you still don't believe Me."
Being made free through knowing Truth is costly and messy and will interfere with cherished and good things, but there is grace for this, and I'm praying that we will all keep moving to greater degrees of freedom, no matter how much we have already experienced.
The Lord bless you this week, and next week we'll take up chapters 5 and 6.
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This week we'll cover the first two chapters of N.T. Wright's book, Simply Jesus . These chapters are part of the first section abou...
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In chapter three, N.T.Wright describes the "perfect storm" that is swirling around Jesus today; in chapters four and five he uses ...
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Chapter 6 begins the second section of the book, Simply Jesus . In the first part N.T.Wright deals with who Jesus was; the second part is ab...
In reading through chapter 6 on Emotional Hurt, I was remembering painful encounter w/my dad growing up and seeing how God is on the move now to show Himself to me as FATHER...b/c there's lots of screwy/false mindsets in my head of father's.
ReplyDeleteRegarding this particular season God has me, in a very real way He is hemming me in (not that it's always pleasant, b/c there's pain from being hedged in & cornered on every side). I hadn't experienced much discipline growing up as a child except the regular, "Go to your room!" and then things weren't talked about later. So in these days of Him showing me WHO HE is as my Father and speaking to me about authority and discipline and obedience, etc- and just beginning to get understanding (in my heart rather than the head having knowledge) that HE is my Father and He is disciplining me BECAUSE He loves me...and though the pruning and cutting back feels painful and I may not understand it at times...it's good, because He's FOR me and He really does love me. He's bringing in the boundary lines (in my life) so that He can set things in order in my life from the place of inner & outer chaos. He really does love me and approve of me as a person - He doesn't reject me. This is FUNDAMENTAL stuff...but how I need to KNOW this truth deep within.
Enough said or the ramblings could go on for a while. :>
I appreciate what anonymous said about his/her dad. Just last night I thought about how my dad would get angry at me when I would make a mistake, rather than be patient and teach me. I think that's one of the reasons why I am so insecure at the age of 51. I often question if what I've said, written, or done is the right thing. I feel handicapped.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad Nita is slowing things down a bit. I have been trying to read the chapters more than once to let things sink in, but have found it hard to find time to spend with Jesus to hear from him. When I read Nonie's comments about listening to music and hearing from the Lord, I knew it to be a good way to get in touch with God because I've done that - about a month ago - and it was such a good time.
I have much to deal with as my parents sort of had that "You're to be seen and not heard" attitude and almost never interacted with me in a substantial - heart-to-heart manner. Being quite sensitive, it had it's effect on me. Thanks for any prayers on my behalf and I'll pray for those of you who may be dealing with past hurts.
So…it is back to chapter 3!
ReplyDeleteIt is a good time to be re-working this chapter in the light of the news in our Christian world today.
The author states: “…the renewing works of the Holy Spirit becomes a continuous experience.” We can’t get away from it—we are still in our earthly flesh and thus vulnerable…no matter how much we have grown in the Lord. How some issue or event happens in our life and we get exposed to the enemy of our very souls that is out to steal, kill and destroy us….and he is relentless in his attempts. Not that we should hover in fear—
But oh, if we could:
…..remain ever watchful and not put one ounce of credit to our flesh, our humanity. This leads to secular humanism that we all are confronting more and more in our day.
….ever pray for leaders---leaders of the flock, the shepherds and all those bringing true spiritual life to another.
We are flesh, we are human…it is only by the Holy Spirit’s effect on our spirit and it’s effect on the soul that we can remain and walk in righteousness. How we need to totally realize this.
An event happened in my life that left me exposed and very confused. I somehow did not get good spiritual guidance or prayer at the time. My vulnerability became a disastrous effect in some choices that I made…thinking that they were good and true! Not so---I was not watchful. Oh yes, I thought I was!! But the wound was so great that it brought up other deeper, early childhood wounds that I obviously kept tucked away…and I couldn’t handle it. I wasn’t meant to!! They had to come up for me to offer forgiveness, and to be forgiven so the Lord could heal. Sounds simple?? Well, it wasn’t easy to admit to wrong thinking and behavior no matter what the seeming cause was…it was excruciating painful…but wow, the Lord is so good, much more than we will ever know here. Oh, to be instruments of this love and healing.
In a way, the above produced a great desire and drawing for the deep healing that I so needed. (It’s funny, because now I can recall that I could sense that something was needed and in a way had pursued some help but didn’t know how to get it….strange after all the teaching I had been exposed to). This desire and drawing towards the Lord has only deepened. How desperately it has made me desire this for others that find the “old” things hampering them in the freedom of the spirit. I’m sure there could even be some deeper things…but, wow, I’m grateful for the Lord’s patience and grace at work in me and in us, especially to be drawn to Him for all that is needed in our humanity in order to remain faithful to the only One Worthy of our worship.
Here are some words of a song that I play over and over again in my car:
It is Your love,
It is Your goodness,
It is Your kindness,
It is Your compassion,
It is Your grace,
It is Your tender mercy,
It is Your presence in my life….
Also read Isa 40:28-31… how “He gives power to the weak”..”and to those who have no might He increases strength.”
Bless the Lord.
As I think about slowing down the pace of life, as well the traffic in my mind, I realize how hard that is to do.
ReplyDeleteLast night I was busy running around finishing up things that needed to get done, but had a rude awakening when I stopped for a short time to just BE. I sat in the Bethany prayer room for just a few minutes and cried out to God for HELP, but found that everytime I closed my eyes or tried to slow down, the inner traffic was running life mad. I was frustrated, because I wanted to spend just a few moments with God and think upon Him, but my mind was so distracted with many other things....so many voices, events of the day being processed through my mind, that in my frustration I got up and left.
I know of the things to do to fight against that such as: speaking His name or a short phrase, but I felt too tired to fight.
One thing I do know (and now remind myself) is my own efforts to stop the inner chaos does not get me far - BUT He is able, willing, and desirious to COME and free me, but He wants me to join Him in the process.