St. John Studies

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.

Here it is.

You call yourself Christian and that is wonderful but are you seeking to live a life within God’s will?

“Yes I am”.

That is the best answer

But what does that really mean?

Maybe after we discuss the “seeking to live a life within God’s will” part of the question you may wonder if you are where you are supposed to be in your life dedicated to God. I hope not, but you may wonder if you are a “real” Christian.

Before we begin, I promise I am not judging you [dear reader] and me. That is not my job. For the most part, I know where I am in my “walk with Jesus.” I know in my heart if I am seeking to live within God’s will. To be honest, it is an up and down affair. At times I feel I am moving along in the right direction. At other times [usually when I fail in my battle with sin] I am not sure.

Why discuss this in the context of the book Hearing God?

The answer to that question is simple.

You won’t hear from God if you are not “seeking to live a life within God’s will.” [Willard Hearing God].

To begin, let’s break down the statement. Seeking means to try to locate or discover, to endeavor to obtain or reach, to go to or toward, you get the picture. To seek something is to want to have it, to work hard to get it, to sacrifice to achieve it.

What is your goal in life?

If your goal is to do what God plans for you, you may have more direct contact with Him.

Now, let’s stop before we go too far.

When a person is in the deepest bowels of the deepest, lowest point in life, will God speak to that person?

I believe He will.

He will speak to help that person consider a “course correction.” We have all heard of jailhouse conversions and foxhole prayers, times when people are broken or times when people are scared to death. In short, times when people desperately need help.

But I also believe that God speaks to those who seek Him, people who are not in dire straits, people who believe, people who just want more out of life, they want more through Jesus Christ.

Let’s turn to some goals. These may sound like clichés and maybe they are, but they are significant signs for the Christian who wants more, the Christian who is seeking God.

“My goal in life is to glorify and enjoy God forever.”

“My goal in life is to become more like Christ.”

“My goal in life is to conform to God’s plan for me, that I “be conformed to the likeness of his Son’”

Why is this important? You might be thinking “duh” right now but at the risk of being disrespectful to your intelligence, there are many things in this world that people seek other than God. Need we list a few: money, media exposure, human relationships, our routines, work, hobbies/pastimes etc. etc.

If you are truly a Christian, you have a new identity in Christ when you dedicate your life to Him, along with a new purpose for living. You are on a path to growth with Christ. You seek Him because you need to be inspired by His example.

The second part of the toughest question I want to comment on is “within God’s will”.

What does that mean? On the surface it means little I am not going to discuss surface meaning. I am going deeper. When you think about being within God’s will what happens to your will? When you think about being within God’s will, who gets what they want? When you think about being within God’s will, how should you approach God?

In my opinion, here are the answers.

1. My will is not important when I seek God’s will. His will is all that matters. I have to be willing to put myself last when it comes to God. I have to choose to let Him have control. Is this easy? No it is not. We want control. We want to steer our own ship. However when God is put in control, what happens? Things work out better.
2. Who gets what they want when I am within God’s will? God gets what He wants. What about me? Well, this is a bit hard to understand but the best plan for me in this life is to live God’s plan for me. That plan is based on Jeremiah 29:11 “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” What happens when troubles come our way? Sometimes we may doubt God’s word but then we need to remember James 1: 2 “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.…” Even when times are dark, God’s plan for us is bigger than we can comprehend but we must have faith: it is good.
3. The way to approach God is as a supplicant. It is no fluke that Jesus taught all His followers to pray the Lord’s Prayer with the lines “Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven”. We may ask but we know we will not get what we want unless we are praying in God’s will. Ultimately God’s will is what counts, not ours.

I hope you did not answer the “Christian’s toughest question” with “no I am not.” That is not my intent with this post, to make you feel guilty or judged.

But if you cannot truthfully say I am seeking to live a life within God’s will, you may not be hearing from God.

The siren songs of life may be what you are listening to, or maybe you don’t want to sacrifice, give service to others. Maybe you have to be in a circle of friends where being “Christ like” is not cool. Whatever the case you find yourself in, maybe you are choosing not to hear from the messages that will change your life, the messages that will improve your life, the messages that will give you a purpose that is more satisfying than any message you have ever received.

Words from the Lord.

“There is no reason in the established truths of science to suppose that God cannot reach us and be with us in order to guide and communicate with us.” Dallas Willard on God Can Communicate with Us…

One of the densest parts of the book so far has been Chapter 4 when Dr. Willard tries to confront science.

In simple words, he takes on a knowledge system that refuses to acknowledge God because the system cannot prove His physical reality.

Is this proof necessary?

I guess it is for people who deal with hard sciences. Hard science is science based on methodology, exacting measure and objective thought. Natural science is often labeled a hard science because it requires statistical confirmation for any idea to be accepted. If you don’t have that, your idea is not proven.

Which leaves us with God.

How can we prove God?

How can we prove that God communicates with us?

For most of us, it is not necessary to prove God beyond a shadow of a doubt. We know what we know and we have faith to cover the rest of it. However, for a “scientist” this is not enough.

For a scientist, God does not even have to be a part of the scientific world; in fact, many scientists don’t even figure Him into their worldview at all. Natural matter is in a constant state of evolution and God is not part of it at all.

What is the effect of this on ordinary man?

Some ordinary people may question God’s existence because of the influence of these learned scientists.

To make this personal, I have an educational degree with many years of exposure to science. I did not major in “hard science” yet I did have a well-rounded education that exposed me to these types of people in the classroom.

Besides being exposed to “hard science” professors in my education, I also had exposure to other religious worldviews, one of which was Buddhism. I did not feel compelled to become a Buddhist because I found the Buddhist deity too distant and the road to improvement to be too self-centered. After a dalliance with Buddhism, I returned to Christianity, or at least a feeling that the Christian Church was where I belonged.

One thing I do recall from those days which seems to bridge the gap between Christianity and science is the Buddhist idea that all matter is in a state of change. All matter is in a process of growth and then decay and after decay, matter takes on a new form. I found that idea very appealing at the time but I have never considered it to be a Christian idea. I don’t feel the need to cling to this idea as a way to explain Christianity.

Until now.

Matter is the main problem that Dr. Willard is tackling in Chapter 4. How can he prove that God is matter? How can he prove that God communicates to us through matter?

Then he speaks of Jacob and I can see a parallel. Jacob is asleep on a rock in a desert ravine in Genesis 28: 16-17. He goes to sleep seeing only a physical landscape. In his dream [it is not clear if it is a dream or not] he begins to see that God is interacting with the place where he has fallen asleep. He sees a stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending on it. God tells him that he will be blessed as well as his descendants. In fact all people on earth will be blessed through Jacob’s offspring. Jacob awakens to see the world through different eyes. He says “Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it! …How awesome is this place! There is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” [Genesis 28: 16-17].

Is our God in matter?

Is our God capable of communicating through matter?

What do these two questions do to the hard scientist who has to prove God through rigid methodology, exacting measure and objective thought?

When one ponders what happened to Jacob, the doubts become meaningless because Jacob sees that God is a part of it all.

Most of us have a hard time grasping that and truthfully, I would rather not think that God has to be in my water glass, the book I am reading and the pencil I am writing with.

But maybe Jacob has it right.

God is in everything; just as he awakened to see God in the place where he was, we can awaken to see God everywhere. He has control. He permeates reality.

Does God exist in matter? Of course He does.

Does God communicate through matter? Of course He can.

Why don’t “hard scientists” see this?

They may one day, if only they could have the dream of Jacob.

Let’s get a little uncomfortable.

I know you don’t want to but as we read about receiving a word from God let’s ask a very tough question.

What if the word you receive from God is not a word that you want?

Dr. Willard poses this question in a very Biblical way: “are you a ready vessel?”

We settle into our patterns of life. All of us do. We may not be happy. We may want more in life. We may think we are not living the way we are supposed to live.

However, we have adjusted to life as it is.

Human beings are like that, and even though we may think we want to hear from God, what if God sends us a “disturbing word?”

What if we hear God say, “give up a possession you cherish,” “change your occupation and become a more mission-oriented person,” “dedicate yourself to your church,” or “that habit you have; you have to quit that.”

As I have said in the past, for a message to be received, we have to play the role of the receiver. What if our attitude is “I am ok the way I am,” “thanks but no thanks God,” or “let me get back to you on that one Lord.”

The bottom line. We want God on our own terms.

When we have a terrific need, we pray to Him.

When we are in a pinch, we implore Him.

When we just have a desire for something, we ask Him for it like He is Santa.

But what if He says that to become my follower, “YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHANGE.”

What is your purpose for God anyhow? Is He just a convenience that you pull out when you need Him? Is He the edge you seek when you need a little something extra? When you want to make a good impression, do you “play the God card?”

This brings in the all-important question, “Why would God speak to someone who is not even in business with Him?” And if you are not in business with God, are you what Dr. Willard calls a “ready vessel.”

Let’s be honest.

If you are not willing to receive His messages, you are not getting them.

He may be speaking to you but you are ignoring Him.

He may be speaking a disturbing word.

You don’t want to be disturbed. Are you a “ready vessel?”

You are not.

This brings up the question. How do I become a “ready vessel?” What do I need to do?

1.Make sure that God is number 1 in your life.

Above all your other concerns in your life, He is on top. You exist to do His will. You are aware of the many distractions of life but you know that those distractions are just distractions and that is all. The most important thing for you is your relationship with God.

2.You know that your main acts in life are doing His will.

You may have to do some things to make a living, you may have to do what you have to do to keep your family together, but underneath it all you know that the job exists to give you an income to live and the family is a gift from God even though it has challenges from time to time. But when God calls in your life, you are there to do what He wants. Even if it is inconvenient. He is your real Boss.

3.Your number one objective is to find a way to be like Christ.

You know that is every “real” Christian’s objective. God has given you a job to do. To put it bluntly, He wants you to bless others in your time here on earth. Dr. Willard states that we should “live among His people and serve them and Him in this world.” We can say “My life is to bless others in the name of God.”

In Chapter 4, Dr. Willard challenges us. He makes strong points that there is a big difference between a “real” Christian and a Christian who uses God as a convenience.

He cites G. Morgan Campbell who basically says that the person who is not disturbed from time to time by God’s voice is not living a Christian life.   Christians who make their own plans and are content to do what they please are probably not living a true Christian life. To quote Campbell, they are “living still in the land of slavery, in the land of darkness.”

Then Willard cites Frank Laubach who felt he lived a dead life, like a “rotting tree” until he got real with God and decided to do God’s will in his life: “I would find God’s will, and I would do that will though every fiber in me said no, and I would win the battle of my thoughts.”

Are you ready to receive a word from God?

Dr. Willard makes a good point: a ready vessel is one that is open to receiving the Spirit that is poured out from our Lord and Savior.

God is not an intrusion in our lives.

God is the reason we are here on earth.

Know that and you will be ready to hear from Him.