St. John Studies

If you are lucky enough, you know one.

The person who has great faith. The person who perseveres in spite of great difficulty.  The person of strength.  The person who does not struggle with their faith; they have great ease.

Dr. Willard begins Chapter 6 talking about that kind of person.

I have the privilege of knowing such a person. He is an inspiration to me.

I have known him for many years and I have seen him deal with one of the most devastating things that can happen to a person: death of photoreceptor cells in the central portion of the retina called the macula. He has had to deal with blindness now for 20 years.

I knew him before this happened. In fact he was one of my best friends in high school and was my college roommate at Western Kentucky University.  He excelled in college, graduating at the top of the class, no small feat at a large university.  He majored in accounting. Upon graduation, he landed a top job at a major accounting firm but eventually wanted to go back to grad. school and become a college teacher.  We drifted apart for a while but I heard he got his Master’s in Colorado and his Ph.D. at the University of Kentucky.  He came back to WKU to teach.

He excelled in the classroom. He was ranked as WKU’s top professor, again no small feat at a large university.

We would touch base from time to time over the years and he was always the same steady guy, a believer in God from the first time I knew him. A man who knows what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

What intervened: blindness.

I remember the day that I knew something was wrong. We were playing a round of golf and he absolutely could not see his ball in flight.  I had to find his ball all day.  He said that there were too many floaters in his eyes.  Not too long after that I heard that he had this rare macular degeneration in his vision.

I spent some time with him and sure enough, he had serious vision problems.

There was one big difference: it did not seem to get him down.

Some of you may be thinking you did not spend 24/7 with him and you did not see him in his dark nights, the times when he cried out to God “Why?, the times when he just cried. Those times may have happened but he never showed them to me.

He just gets along with life. When others complain, he doesn’t.  When others use lack of vision as an excuse, he doesn’t.  When others lose their faith in God, he hasn’t.

To me he epitomizes great faith.

Dr. Willard says that great faith has an “ease” about it, “the quality of mercy is not strained.” He comments “most of what we think we see as the struggle of faith is really the struggle to act as if we had faith when in fact we do not.”

With my friend it is not a struggle. He has that ease.

Watch him read a menu in a restaurant. He will pull out of his pocket a lighted magnifier and put it on the menu and he will read it.  He won’t make a big deal, he just does it.

When he needs to put a key card in a hotel door, he feels around until he finds the place and he inserts the key and if it does not work he tries and tries until it works. He won’t make a big deal, he just does it.

Watch him exercise on a hiking trail. I get a little worried as he navigates on uneven ground.  I see him stumble from time to time but he values the workout more than the occasional stumble.  If he does stumble, no big deal.  He just keeps going on.

He used to beat me all of the time in golf, but now: well putt-putt is all we play and you might say, I have a decided advantage. I watch him do the best he can as he feels where the hole is.  I win.  He just keeps on trying.

His lack of struggle is amazing. His ease of faith is amazing.

My friend…[if you are reading in Chapter 6]…my certain centurion.

I have written about this before but it was in another book.

Earlier in the year, I blogged on the perfect type of communication between people who really care for each other, people who love each other.

The best way to describe that type of communication is “no communication”; another way to refer to it is anticipation.

When we were studying The Love Languages of God by Dr. Gary Chapman, I wrote about how some people love each other and know each other so well that they don’t have to tell each other their needs.

They can anticipate them.

When you do this, it sends the most beautiful message to your loved one.

What does it say?

“I am thinking about you.”

“I know what to do to please you without having to be told.”

How does this relate to Hearing God?

Let’s put this concept in the context of Dr. Willard’s book. He brings the subject up at the end of Chapter 5 when he writes “The highest form of communication is that kind of communication in which no overt word is needed or wanted.”

The relationship is strong, the connection is solid and the two who are talking don’t need to talk much anymore. They know each other.

Could they be a human being and God?

Dr. Willard seems to think so.

This is a God-man relationship that is special. Man thinks about God a lot and is doing His will.  In fact the person’s life is all about God.

This is serious stuff at this level of relationship.

A person who thinks like this would say “God is number one in my life.” “The main acts in my life are doing His will.”  “My number one objective is to find a way to be like Christ.”

I find it interesting that Dr. Willard references a poet [Ben Jonson] to express these ideas. Jonson speaks of love in the lines “knowing it is known as it doth know, needs no assuring word or soothing speech. It craves but silent nearness, so to rest, no sound movement, love not heard but felt.”

Poetry holds a high place in our use of language. In its use of single words, phrases, images, metaphor, alliteration etc., the poet not only expresses ideas but also expresses feelings and can even paint pictures. People who study language know that poetry is special.

What a fitting way to end Chapter 5.

Dr. Willard’s last words in this chapter are two lines from Jonson’s poem.

“So shall the Lord thy God rejoice o’er thee, And in His love will rest, and silent be.”

Have you ever thought that a life in Christ is your own private spiritual adventure?

What does God want you to do on your adventure with Him?

Dr. Willard says He wants to “keep us from harm and keep us from harming others.”

But it may be more complicated than that. How are we to know if we cannot understand God’s messages? We also learn from Dr. Willard that listening to the voice of God must be a priority if we are to experience what God has to offer.  The voice of God can be a clear voice if the person who hears the voice is a spiritually mature person.

We have already pinpointed Moses as a Biblical example of a spiritually mature person in previous posts, a man who listened to the voice of God. Along with listening, he exhibited a humble attitude toward life.  He had no hidden agenda.  He was not out for power.  He just wanted to do what God wanted him to do after he began to believe that God saw something in him that he did not see.

Let’s stop for a minute and explore that idea.

Besides being humble, Moses began to forget his own negative vision about himself. He began to understand God’s spiritual vision for him.

Have you ever thought that you are your own worst enemy? Yes, you can stand in your own way.  When you look through the eyes of faith in God, maybe you can do more than you think you can.  You can do what God has purposed for your life.

So many people have a negative vision of themselves. Every day is a non-stop “I can’t do this.  I have no skill to do that.  I am not physically capable.  My brain is not smart enough.  I am too scared.”

Moses finally overcame his inadequacies. He started accepting the idea that God had a much bigger goal for him.  He started believing God’s view of him rather than his negative view of himself.

Some of you may recall that I used the word humble to describe Moses a few words back. I did.  When Moses cast off his negative attitude about himself did he also cast off his humility?

No he did not.

He knew where his abilities came from—God.

He never failed to give God credit for his abilities.

Do you wonder why you are not hearing from God? Maybe you are living a stagnant life.  Maybe you are hanging on to a negative picture of yourself.  Maybe you need a better vision for who you are.  Maybe you need to adopt God’s vision of who you are.

I have heard all my life the slang expression “God don’t make junk!”

What does that mean? In the context of this post, it means that our Heavenly Father “created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” [Genesis 1:27]  God created us as “relatives”, people able to receive His communications.

God did not intend man to always expect the spectacular or be confused by riddles. God intended man to be able to grow and process his messages.  Dr. Willard states “in the process of struggling, we grow to the point where we can appropriate and assimilate the content of truth as it becomes clear.”

The “rivals” of God’s voice are still in place. But when we begin earnestly seeking God and get beyond the need to have spectacular things to catch our attention, we begin “to understand and rejoice that, as Jesus so clearly lived and taught, the life of the kingdom is ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’”. [Romans 14: 17]

“God’s whole purpose is to bring us to the point where He can talk to us quietly, calmly and constantly, leaving us space to grow to be His (often fumbling) colaborers—to have some distance from Him and yet be united with Him because we are being conformed to the image of His Son, bearing the family resemblance.”

This is communication with God on the greatest level. This is the type of communication that only the spiritually mature person can handle.  Let’s recognize that spiritually mature people don’t see themselves as others see them; they adopt the idea that God is going to use them.  They are the conduits of His will.  They are open to being used.  The action they take in life is God-based.

Their private spiritual adventure is directed by God and they are hearing His messages—clearly.

They are humbled by it and they are enjoying the ride.

In chapter 5, Dr. Willard refers to Christians who hear from God [they think] but then cannot articulate a “clear, sane meaning” for their communication. Maybe they have a dream.  Maybe they have a vision.  Maybe they have a feeling but they are not sure what it means.

Why would God do this to someone?

Dr. Willard has an answer.

The receiver of the message does not have much maturity in their Christian experience. Frank Powell in his blog “Restoring Power through Christ” lists some signs of the mature Christian.  Here are some.

Highs and lows of life don’t really affect their relationship with Jesus. We all have them but more mature Christians are consistent in their belief.

Mature Christians find value in the daily happenings of life. Most of life is filled with the small events but to the mature Christian, God is even in the small event.

When things happen beyond their control, they can find peace with their lack of control.

Discipline is a good word for the mature Christian. Whatever they do to advance their faith, they do it on a regular basis, not getting side-tracked.

Mature Christians can see beauty in the world, in fact they often are described as having a “childlike awe” about how the world works.

Mature Christians don’t compare themselves to others. This trap leads to dissatisfaction and it causes one to ignore personal blessings.

The mature Christian listens to other people, trying to learn about them and their viewpoint. They are not in the business of correcting others with differing viewpoints.

Mature Christians tend to feel a lot of pain for the poor and the marginalized in society.

The faith they believe in does not have an on and off switch. They don’t turn it on in some circumstances and off in others.  They live it 24/7.

The mature Christian has a rhythm in their life. They find value in what they do and enjoy their life.  They see life as worthy of living and want to find pleasure in as much of it as they can, from rooting for a favorite team, to work, to a relationship, to a hobby.

Wow, what a list. This gives us all something to aspire to.  It can also scare some people to death.  “I am not anything like this list.”

But what can we do? How can we become more mature? What is the purpose of the obscure message, the riddle?

Dr. Willard states that “we need to stretch out in growth in order to receive the message”. He cites Isaiah who wants God to tell him what to do but an immature Christian might have their belief destroyed if God told him or her in advance of their time what He demands.  Dr. Willard says “it would literally kill us or at least unbalance us if God told us.  So God in his mercy continues to approach us obliquely in one way or another, but increasingly less so when we mature—even until that time when we can safely know Him as He knows us.”

I love the way Dr. Willard says that in life “in its most important moments we have little more than the foggiest idea of what it is we are doing and saying.”  He feels our ignorance is for our own good.

Let’s bring this “home” or into a workable statement. I remember when I enrolled at the university.  I did not know how to survive there but I learned how to.  As each semester went by, I found a way to function and actually I began to sense a growing knowledge about how to operate in this new and complex environment.  The same happened when I became a father.  I did not know what to expect.  I was unprepared, yet the time came, the child came and I was confronted with new work to do, unfamiliar work.  Eventually I learned how to do it and was glad I did.

The same applies to our Christian faith. We may not be experiencing God in a clear manner now.  Maybe you are not sure what God is going to do with you.  But He has a plan.  He put you on earth for a purpose and He will reveal it to you when your time is right.

What do you have to do to mature?

Ask Him to show you. He may not reveal a complex, finished vision but He will show you understandable pieces.  Maybe He is urging you to get regular with Church.  Maybe He is urging you to help at church.  Maybe He wants you to attend a Bible study.  Maybe He wants you to read your Bible or start studying Christian living literature.  Along the pathway to maturity is a lot of work, a lot of things to do.

The life of a hungry Christian is not a life of standing still. It is a life of moving forward.  God may not tell you in detail how to live life but He will show you how to live one step at a time.

Ready to get started toward maturity? Just pray “How can I get to know you better Lord?”

That’s the first step. Eventually there will be no more riddles.

Dr. Willard expresses what the less mature Christian needs.

But what they think they need, can they really handle it?

They need the spectacular.

He bases his comments on the relationship we see between Aaron and Miriam and Moses in Numbers. What is telling about this relationship is the contrast between these people.  Aaron and Miriam are the  brother and sister of Moses and they are jealous that Moses has received communication from God.

To be blunt, they want a little “God action.”

From the perspective of Moses [verse 3 of Numbers 12 “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.”] he could care less who received communication from God. In fact, he wanted other people to be able to prophesy.

Are we different today?

Many in today’s world want flash but they shy away from substance. And there are numerous examples of people today who can make a big presence but they have very little to say.  They can command the stage but in less-subdued circumstances, they can’t articulate impressive thought.  The world is replete with politicians who look attractive, have larger than life personalities but when pressed for specifics, they can produce none.  Is that ok?  For many I guess it is but I prefer substance over pleasant outward appearances.   Substance means the person can think, make good decisions and guide others in challenging times.  Flash is just not enough.

Dr. Willard states that the “need to have big things happening” reassures people that things are all right but does God always work in that way?

What we think we need is often different from what we really need, what we can really handle. When we think we need a lavish, loud experience maybe we really need a quiet time to reflect, breathe and think.  Dr. Willard writes “Who among us would really know what to do if the great God came down in splendor and somehow stood before us?”  Job says it best in the Biblical citation “These are indeed but the outskirts of His ways and how small a whisper do we hear of Him!  But the thunder of His power who can understand?” [Job 26:14]

The bravado of people today may pale when God appears. Many believe such expressions as “Go Big or Go Home” and “Go All In!” and they love to say things like “Is that all you got?” when they are challenged but can they back up those expressions with the courage to follow God?

Dr. Willard cites James and John as two perfect examples of disciples who felt they could handle the rigors of Jesus’ life. Dr. Willard describes their behavior as politicians asking for favors.  They are asking  Jesus when he becomes president to be His vice president and secretary of state.

Jesus replies “can you drink the cup that I will drink of, be baptized with my baptism?” They were eager and felt they could.

Little did they know what was in store as James became the first Apostle to suffer martyrdom. John’s hard life was long but he had to endure torture [burning oil] and exile.

What they asked for, they received.

What they asked for was more than they bargained for.

They wanted the spectacular but could they handle it?

We think we need that too but the life of Jesus is not full of the spectacular; it is a life of patience and fortitude. It is a life of peace and quiet inspiration.  At key times in the life of Jesus when he could have summoned armies of Angels to help him, he chose to listen to his accusers and not respond; he chose to bear the pain and not inflict pain on others.

He bypassed the spectacular and chose instead, the understated strength of a confident humble servant.

Many feel that Moses was a humble predecessor of Jesus. Evidently his humility in the face of his role as leader was astounding.  God appreciated it and set Aaron and Miriam straight.   They may have wanted direct communication with God but when God addressed them He scolded them and supported Moses.

“Listen to my words: ‘When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

At that point, they knew that they had angered God: “The anger of the Lord burned against them” and Miriam was turned into a leper when God left her presence.

Do you think they got the message?

Immature Christians think they can handle all that God has to offer.

Mature Christians are satisfied to receive what God is willing to share.

Dr. Willard poses a question in Chapter 5 that deserves comment.

Do we need anything more than the Bible?

It seems he is reflecting the thought that some Christians have that the Bible and the church are all that God needs when it comes to communicating messages to man. Voices, dreams, visions, prophetic people and individual thoughts are no longer needed.

Where do people get the idea that a word from God is no longer needed?

The closed canon of the Bible is one means of support. Granted, scripture was canonized in 363 A.D. at the Council of Laodicea and most Christians accept the extant books of the Old Testament and New Testament as “the Bible”.  It seems that this is enough for some.  We don’t need personal guidance from the Holy Spirit.  All we need is in the Bible.

Another argument is that Holy Spirit communication was good for the early church but it is not needed now. The people in the early church needed to have miracles and inspirational visions, voices and prophetic words.  They were just beginning to believe in Jesus and without all those “helps” the church would never have started.

What are they saying?

Do we think we are solid in our beliefs now as a church in today’s world? How can we think this when a recent Pew Research poll shows a 5 million person drop in people who identify as “Christian?”  The greatest shift in religious affiliation is the number who say they are not affiliated with any religion.

Maybe one way to bring people back to God today is have some God to man communication that is powerful.

Some would argue that we are much better than in more primitive times. I admit that I don’t have the statistics that would support the assertion that we are more “civilized” today than days of old.  Maybe the violence we hear about today pales in comparison to the violence of earlier days.  Maybe the public display of immoral behavior pales in comparison to the display of days gone by.

I am not a fan of people who wring their hands about the state of the world and say things like “the world is going to hell!”  I am a person who will say I am not sure we have worked things out that well yet.  We have more work to do and I need God to help me to make a positive statement through my life.

Maybe other people say, “we are doing all right. Thank you very much God.  We don’t need you.”

What I am saying…I am not one of those.

Then Dr. Willard mentions the Bible deists. A deist is a person who believes a creator god does exist, but that after the motions of the universe were set in place He retreated, having no further interaction with the created universe or the beings within it.

This type of worldview has been around awhile. Dr. Willard points to the Sadducees in the time of Jesus who felt that God to man communication stopped after God spoke to Moses.

Deism picked up steam in the 18^th Century when many philosophers such as the Englishman John Locke and the Frenchman Voltaire wrote powerful and popular works that influenced many thinkers in society.

As I return to the original question “Isn’t the Bible enough?” I question that it is.

Certainly the Bible is what we need to study as Christians. It is a Divine Work that deserves careful, thoughtful consideration as the Book of God.  We need it.  We should read it.  We should let it be our guide, but we need more.  It all goes back to the fact that we are “free, intelligent beings” who have lives to lead that are full of choices.  We can think, we can choose, we can act and we need guidance.

We need a communicating God.

We need a Holy Spirit connection.

Dr. Willard says “Surely one of the most damaging things we can do to people’s spiritual prospects is to suggest that God will not deal with them specifically, personally, intelligibly and consciously or that they cannot count on Him to do what He knows best.”

We are supposed to be priests.

What does the expression “priesthood of all believers” mean?

Protestants believe that through Christ they have been given direct access to God, just like a priest; thus the doctrine is called the priesthood of all believers. God is equally accessible to all the faithful, and every Christian has equal potential to minister for God.

For me to be a priest, I need help.

Help from God.

The best way for me to receive that help is to hear from Him. I believe this communication happens.  It happens to me.

I need it.

We have all heard it: the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

We know: Father refers to God, Son refers to Jesus, Holy Ghost refers to the divine spark that resides in all of us.

Dr. Willard gets down to the nitty gritty in pages 100 to 102.

The Connection is there…

1^st Corinthians 2^nd Chapter: “For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.”  Let’s break these verses down for they are the crux of Dr. Willard’s main point that there is a Holy Spirit connection in place.  As human beings we try to understand each other and often we feel we may be getting close but our understanding is never perfect. The same would apply to God except for Jesus Christ who is our intermediary.  Jesus was a human being and Jesus was God so he serves as our bridge to the Lord.  “So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.”  This next verse serves as the proof that the connection is in place.  “We can know the mind of God due to the Spirit that lives in us.”  1 Corinthians 2:16 is the strongest statement of the connection: “But we have the mind of Christ.”

 Do we use our connection?

If there is a hunger for a God connection we will use our line of communication to our Lord and Savior.

No one says that we must. That is the “free, intelligent being” part of our human makeup.  We are choosers.  Dr. Willard cites Russ Johnston who states “We would see wonderful results if we would just deal with the thoughts that continue in our minds in a Godly manner. But most people don’t….Most people ask God ‘do you really want me (or us) to do this?’…God looks for someone else to stand in the gap.”

What are we going to ask God to do?

Dr. Willard tells us what to do to establish a strong Holy Spirit connection.   We need to come around to the idea that God is friendly and helpful and “he desires to straighten, inform and correct us for our good.”   We need to ask Him to examine us: “Search me, o God and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts” [Psalms 139:23].    Dr. Willard says we need to approach God as a doctor or dentist:  “Examine me please, and see if corrections to my physical condition are needed.  Find out what is wrong and repair it.”

What will happen when we establish the Holy Spirit/God connection…

God will come to us in our thoughts, our perceptions and our experiences. God’s thoughts can actually become our thoughts.  We begin to grow in God’s grace and His laws become more acceptable for us.  His love becomes something that we can exhibit to others.  We can show the faith that He asks us to show.  I am not saying I am there but changes to our world begin to occur as Dr. Willard points out the many areas of life that can be altered: our attitude toward death, our attitude toward God, our attitude toward sexuality, our concern for our reputation in society, our concern with our appearance and so forth.  When God communication occurs on a regular basis, a God man or a God woman is changed through what Paul calls “a renewing of our minds.”  We are not the same anymore.

We are moving on with God…

Some people may think this is daunting. I can’t do this.  It is more than I can handle.  That’s ok, God will go to someone else who is willing to be used.

Some people may think this is too much commitment. They like their worldly lifestyle and all these changes upset them too much and will upset the crowd they are running with.  That’s ok, God will go to someone else who is willing to be used.

Some people are just incapable of giving up control. They don’t want to do what the Lord and Savior tell them.  They want to be the captain of their own ship.  That’s ok, God will go to someone else who is willing to be used.

All I can say is we are choosers.

Sometimes we make the right choice; sometimes we make the wrong one.

If you choose to establish the God connection, pray the bold prayer “God search me and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Examine me and make the corrections that need to be made.  I am yours.  Use me as You will.”

Get ready.

His response, “Ok, here we go.”

What does it mean when someone says “that image is rich.”

To me that means that the image is full of significant meaning. An image is a representation of something.  The image may be a real thing that you can pick up and hold but to you it represents something else, if it is a “rich” image.  In this case, it becomes a meaningful, significant representation for me.

In the pages of Chapter 5 the image Dr. Willard uses is the image of the Holy Spirit as a candle.

Let me explain why this is a “rich” image for me.

I see my soul as a house. Stay with me here before you go away and say “this guy is a nut.”  I have many rooms in my house, many facets of the person that God has made.  Some rooms are very useful, some are for looks, some rooms are necessities.  But they are all me.

One thing I can tell you about my image of my soul as a house is all my rooms can be comfortable. Also all my rooms can be neat or they may become cluttered.  They can be clean or they may be dirty.

Where does the candle come in?

The candle shines a light in my house.

Repeatedly Dr. Willard speaks of the candle of the Holy Spirit. He cites Proverbs 20: 27 “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.”  He writes “the spirit of the individual truly is the “candle of the Lord,” in the light of which we see ourselves and our world as God sees.”

What is he getting at?

God sends us special messages via our thoughts if we seek Him. This is the Holy Spirit  manifested in human thought, the “still small voice.”

He writes, “Those who begin to pray that God will enlighten them as to the nature and meaning of the processes that go on in their own soul will begin to understand. They will begin to see their spirit functioning as the candle of the Lord.”

To me that is so meaningful.

This is the nature of images though. Just because they work for one person does not mean that they work for another.  Some people don’t see the Holy Spirit as a candle at all.

I must be truthful.

I am glad Dr. Willard writes of this because I want light to shine within my soul. I want to be real to people.  I want to be real with myself.  I don’t want to be comfortable in the rooms of my home, especially if my rooms have grown cluttered and dirty.  I want the light to shine brightly as I put things in order and sweep out the dirt.

And I want God to take his candle and show me rooms I have not yet explored.

Too often, we get so comfortable where we are. Where we are is so familiar.  It is so warm and cozy.  I don’t know about you but we get so used to existing in the same places in our homes.  People who sell carpet talk about “wear patterns” which is just a fancy way of saying that we wear out carpet due to the paths we take every day in our homes.  We wear out furniture by sitting in it the same way every day.   For example, we have a very nice couch in our home.  I tend to sit in the same spot a lot.  I put my body on that spot the same way.  Over the years, that spot has developed an unusual quality.  There must be a small spring inside the upholstery that has come lose.  When I get up the couch makes a little popping sound.  When others sit there it does not happen.  Much to my wife’s dismay, she hears it when I get up to leave “my spot” on the couch.  It is not that loud but it is audible.

Why do I elaborate on this?

I want a new place to sit.

I want a new path to walk.

I want to find new rooms in my house.

Let’s go further. Not only do I want this, I need this.

How can this happen? I must follow the urging of the Holy Spirit [God’s Holy Spirit] as He communicates to me about new challenges He wants me to undertake.

You see, I don’t think He wants me to stay the same.

I don’t think He wants me to get too comfy.

I think He is beckoning me on to new opportunities.

What do I have to do?

See His candle and follow Him.

Dr. Willard quotes Samuel Shoemaker on being used as a speaker for God: the quote bears repeating.

“Something comes into our own energies and capacities and expands them. We are laid hold of by something greater than ourselves.  We can face things, create things, accomplish things, that in our own strength would have been impossible…. The Holy Spirit seems to mix and mingle His power with our own, so that what happens is both a heightening of our own powers, and a gift from outside.  This is as real and as definite as attaching an appliance to an electrical outlet, though of course such a mechanical analogy is not altogether satisfactory.”

Self-actualization–“the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for an individual to become actualized to the point where he can reach his potential.” The definition of self-actualization is very revealing.  If you are acquainted with motivation psychologist Abraham Maslow, self-actualization is at the top of his famous pyramid; it is the time in life when we are doing our very best work.  There is a reason it is atop the pyramid [the figure he uses to picture his theory]; it is rarely experienced.

Some people believe they have to do self-actualization on their own, that is, they have to be in charge of maximizing their own potential. What is their formula?  Hard work and lots of it.  Toss in a lot of motivation.  Goal setting is another essential.  Vision of the future is helpful.  Man, that’s a lot of stuff.

Is it no wonder that some people just don’t self-actualize “on their own?” It just seems to be too much work and many just are not up to it.

But what if you could plug into God’s electrical outlet?

What if we could let Him direct us to the better life we could be leading?

What if we could have more right now…we don’t have to wait for our pass to the “other side,” our “eternal reward?”

Joel Osteen is an American preacher, televangelist, author, and the Senior Pastor of Lakewood Church, the largest Protestant church in the United States, in Houston, Texas. He is a dynamic speaker who likes to preach on what we can accomplish in this life.  Pastor Osteen comes under some criticism from time to time.  I have heard other pastors say that his message is too watered down, it is filled with too much of the prosperity gospel, it is unbiblical, his church is so big that there is no personal touch, he has become a celebrity.

Ok Ok Ok…

But is part of his message correct?

What if we could have a better life, right now?

Let’s get back to Samuel Shoemaker. Is the key to the best life now letting God use you?  Can you be a spokesperson for God and experience the energy, expanded capacity, creative ability and strength that is beyond yourself?

Is Shoemaker right?

Is Osteen trying to make us see the promise of God, the promise that has eluded us…the promise that our best life can truly be experienced in this world.

This type of thinking is truly hard to swallow for many people. It seems we are tuned in to hear a negative message.  We have newspapers that put the sad and even horrific stories on the front page.  We watch programs on tv that focus on crime and social problems.  Politicians like to talk about what is wrong and ignore what is right.  Even everyday conversation becomes more intriguing if it is peppered with messages about the troubles that people are having rather than successes that people are experiencing.

Why are we that way?

Why do we focus on the problems rather than the positive promises of God?

Osteen often prays the prayer “Thank you God for this amazing and incredible life, for making it possible to enjoy every part of it, even the tough times.” One of his favorite quoted scriptures is Hebrews 11: 1 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Why does this prayer fall flat for a lot of people?

Look again at Hebrews 11:1 and let’s break it down: assurance is a key word in that Scripture. Assurance means a positive declaration intended to give confidence.  Assurance means a promise.  Couple assurance with the phrase “of things hoped for” and you have a very positive statement about the future.  Essentially you have a promise that what you hope for will come true.  You believe it and it will come to pass.  Conviction means a firmly held belief or opinion. Couple that with the phrase “of things not seen” and you have a strong statement that even though you cannot see it now, YOU WILL SEE IT!

What has to happen to us to get to this level of belief?

Hard work.

Goal setting.

Motivation.

Vision.

Maybe, but works by man may fall short, despite the most uplifting words by the most popular self-help guru. The works of man without God can just be works of the flesh if a person is not founded on God.

What if our “self-help guru” is the one and only Lord and Savior? Our power source is God?  All our efforts to self-actualize would be so much easier and more productive if we just turned to God and said “I am ready for more good things in my life than bad.  Lead me to the better life I can experience here on earth Lord…I am ready…”

To live my best life now.

When God uses a human to speak to you, Dr. Willard calls that speaking conjointly.

We must be careful in our use of the word “use”. God does not take a living, breathing, thinking human being and use them like a telephone.

Why is that?

Because a human has options.

One option is to refuse to be “used”; the other is to allow yourself to be “used.”

Why won’t we allow God in? Why do we insist on our own effort when we are called on to speak?  Why do we deny our abilities [like Moses] when we can speak with “God power” behind us?

It is frightening.

The word of God may overpower me. Most of us like control.   We like to think we are in charge.  However untrue that is, we still like to cling to that notion.  People bend themselves into all kinds of unhappy shapes just to maintain control.  Maybe you have heard the expression “dance like no one is watching.”  That expression is for all of us who have a buttoned-down exterior that we are presenting to the world.  We want to fashion our presentation to others in a certain way and that certain way may not be what God wants.  Maybe God wants a more powerful version, a more honest version, a more open and relaxed version of you in this world.  If you could work with Him and give Him more of that, He could use you to influence others.  Our desire to control ourselves keeps us from being the conduit that God needs to express His word.

Well I have my way of doing things and my way is comfy.  Yes, we all settle into habits.  I have had the honor of observing many seniors in my life and I see this all the time.  People settling into patterns of life and they won’t budge.  This past Sunday, a very young member of our church preached a sermon on Youth Sunday.  At the beginning of her sermon, she asked us to get up and move to a different pew.  Some moved a little, some moved a lot and some did not move at all.  Why?  That was her point.  We need to shake things up in life once in a while.  We need to examine our patterns of living and try something new from time to time.  A habit is just a comfortable repeated pattern.  It is easy, it is repetitious, it is calm, but it can also kill your soul.  If God wants to use you to speak to someone.  Let him.  Maybe that is out of your comfort zone but maybe you need something new in your life.

I see myself a certain way and that way is not as “spokesperson for God.”  To me that is the Moses excuse.  He was fully capable and God knew it.  Paul was fully capable, yet he was also not eloquent.  Sometimes we don’t feel we have the tools but for God, that is no problem.  Over and over in the Bible, God takes the ordinary person and uses them for extraordinary things.  We get in the way because of our own image or our lack of skill.  Maybe God’s view of you is “the view”—the one that counts.  It is humbling to think that God would use you to influence another human being or a group of human beings, but He can.  In my opinion, humility is an excellent quality if it is in place as the servant serves.  If humility keeps a person from serving, humility is just another stumbling block in your life that will keep you from achieving your goal in life.

Is that goal to serve God?

I am already a busy person. I can’t take on any more. I can’t do what I once did.

I hear that excuse all the time in church. Parents who have raised their children no longer want to work with children in the church.  Teachers who have retired from the classroom feel they are highly allergic to the Bible study teacher role.  Seniors who have some physical limitation can’t do anything anymore because one physical limitation keeps them from using their ability in other areas of life.  Before you think me too cruel, a person with a hearing deficit can still pray in the Tuesday prayer group.  A person who has to use a cane can still make it to Wednesday church activities from time to time.  A man who is not strong enough to swing a hammer may still be able to drive another senior to the doctor for that appointment.

We all get to the point [if we live long enough] where getting around is truly too hard to do and we are actually limited. I guess what I am saying is that some limitation is acceptable.  The man who is blind yet uses his remaining abilities to do God’s work is truly impressive.  The man who is blind and never complains that God has taken away his sight is truly impressive.  The man who says, “I can’t see” but I can still function in other ways.  That man inspires me.  He doesn’t focus on what he has lost as much as what he has left.

I recognize that some people are overcommitted and they need to draw a line. I also know that physical limitation is real.

When do statements like “I am already a busy person. I can’t take on anymore. I can’t do what I once did” become just excuses that people use for avoiding committing to the new work that God wants us to do?

When do we just fear that God is calling us to do more than we feel comfortable doing, spend more than we want to spend or use skills we have let go dormant.

We just get selfish.

We focus on what we lack instead of what we have.

We deny the power of the Lord to use us as He sees He can.

Is God calling you to do more? Is God calling on you to speak for Him?

Truly you have options: to refuse to be “used”; to allow yourself to be “used.”

Your choice.