Like everyone else I know right now, I am caught up in the Olympics. This week I watched men fly, and it made me want to fly, too.
I am always amazed to see men scooch out on to a bar where they sit calmly as they contemplate the plunge they are about to take. With seemingly no fear, they slip from their perch and race down an insanely steep slope toward an abrupt end of the track. However, instead of falling off the edge and plummeting downward where injury or death awaits, they launch themselves into the air and fly.
When I was little, I watched the men fly then, too. However, they looked different. They would line up straight as possible to reduce friction that would reduce their forward momentum. Now, they fly with arms spread and skis in a wide-V. One of the jumpers explained that they've learned the more air they could keep in contact with, the more it helped hold them fly.
I fully understand.
It is easy to think avoiding all the negative things will make me a better Christian. However, I have found if I truly want to fly, it's not what I avoid but what I choose to stay in contact with that keeps me going.
There are a variety of ways to stay in contact with God. Going to church to worship and learn from the pastor is a great beginning. Being part of a strong group of believers who encourage and challenge really stimulates growth. Periodic retreats or conferences can also feed one's soul, but there are so many more ways to have contact--personal contact--with the Lord every day.
A few of my "constant contact" things include:
Morning quiet time. I get up, and instead of booting up my computer, I open up my Bible. Sometimes I pray, "Lord, lead me where you want me to go and reveal what you want to impart," and I open the Bible and start reading. Other times I research a specific topic. Right now, I am reading through the Bible again. When I struggle with focusing, I ask the Lord for help and keep plowing through.
Journal. Journaling isn't about my religious discipline. I don't journal everyday. I don't journal because someone told me to do it. I journal so I don't forget. I write down prayers, heartaches, gratitude, answers to prayer, scriptures that really speak to me, things people say that feed my spirit. The whole purpose is to remember what the Lord says, apply to my life, and build my faith because of His faithfulness.
Constant prayer. I am a homeschooling mother of two. I don't have time to kneel by my bed for hours. However, I talk to the Lord all day long. We talk about breakfast, the order of the day, how to explain algebra, how to respond calmly when I am frustrated because I don't understand how hard it is to remember 7x8 is 56, how I can bless my husband when he comes home, what to write about in my blog, what to teach at our co-op, and so on. We talk about EVERYTHING. I heard for a long time that nothing is too big for God. What really changed my prayer life was when I realized nothing was too small for Him either. He loves to be right in the middle of everything. He's my best friend, and we talk constantly.
Hearing God. I get asked about this a lot. I think there are two keys to hearing God. 1. Believing He talks. 2. Recognizing His voice. I believe God loves to talk about life in general. I am His presence here. Paul calls it being an ambassador. I am not the Holy Spirit, but I am the representative. The Lord loves sharing how to bless His children, bring His heart into a situation, and impact His world. He loves telling me what I need to eat so His temple is well cared for. He loves being involved.
The most common question is how He sounds. For me, it is usually a lot like a thought that could easily be mine, except it usually requires action on my part that I would probably like to ignore. :-) For instance, one day the children were exploding with behavioral issues. Instead of reacting in anger, I took time to pray for wisdom. I needed to deal with the source of the problem, not simply react. The very clear thought came to my mind, "Take them to the zoo." I promise you that was not me. I was not going to reward these out of control children with the zoo. That was crazy. I prayed again. "Take them to the zoo." Fine. I'll take them to the zoo. I'll add my wild animals with their wild animals, and we'll see just how well that goes. We had been at the zoo less than ten minutes when these rebelling, obnoxious children put their arms around me and said, "Mom, we are sorry for the way we acted. We love you. Thank you for taking us to the zoo even though we were bad." I would have NEVER taken them to the zoo, but God knew what they needed. Odd answers that go against the comfort of my flesh? Probably God.
Being overwhelmed by Him. I make it a practice to be amazed by Him. I choose to make note of good things He does, blessings He gives, and prayers He gives. I take time to consider His love and be amazed by grace. If anything makes me fly, it's the overwhelming reality of a love that uses grace to reach beyond my imperfections to show mercy and connect our hearts.
Saying goodnight. When I lie in bed and am in the process of falling asleep, I talk with the Lord about the day, various things on my mind, ways He overwhelms me. I pray for people who are on my heart, and I thank Him for the multiple of blessings He has poured out on me, those I love, and my country. I think about the scriptures of the morning and the words of the day, and I ask Him for wisdom. Again, we just talk. I listen as He shares ways I could have responded better or been more forward acting. We share hearts, and when I slip into sleep, our hearts are one.
As a Christian, I still fall down. It is part of being human and living in a fallen world. However, I have found I don't have to be imprisoned by my own imperfections. Instead, I scooch onto a promise of His faithfulness, slip from my comfort zone into the wild adventure of His vision, and when I reach the end of my own ability, I leap into His presence and His promises. He is there to lift me above what the human mind believes is possible...
And I fly.
Copyright Jerri Phillips 2010
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy Spirit. Show all posts
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, March 8, 2007
I've Fallen, and I Can't Get Up on my Own
I have this tendency not to write when life becomes "intense", which really means when I feel I am spending more time picking gravel out of my knees because I just fell again than I am actually moving forward.
My friend Iona is amazing to me. She can be so completely transparent about her victories, encouragement, discouragement, and failings. Today I was reading a book by Lisa Whelchel (www.LisaWhelchel.com), and she talked about her failings and weaknesses a lot more openly than most folks I know. Folks who can lay their heart out there for all to see amaze me.
Now, the irony is that I have been told repeatedly that the strength of my writing is in my willingness to be transparent and vulnerable. People want to know they are not the only ones who struggle, tumble, and pick gravel from their knees. Of course, I can only speak for me, but I like to know I'm not in this struggle alone, and I doubt I am the only one who feels that way.
As I sat here and thought about that, I think there are primarily two groups of people who like to know they are not alone in the "gravel picking" department. I think the first group likes to point at others' failures and use them as excuses for how they are. Perhaps that is cynical. I tend to think some folks call things cynical because the truth of the statement hits too close to home, but then, I could be cynical about that as well. Anyway, the second group that likes to know they aren't alone in picking gravel are the ones who desire to be the best they can be, to be a good and faithful servant. Sometimes it is nice to know that even those who "have it all together" really don't. It gives us hope that we are not beyond change. It helps us be encouraged that someday we won't trip over that same rock...again. Somehow knowing others struggle make us feel less like failures and more like works in progress.
In theory, we shouldn't need anyone else to help us with that. The Bible says that He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). Paul says he moves forward to take hold of the prize, not that he already has, but that he is in the process (Philippians 3). In fact, Paul says the following:
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things..."
Yesterday was one of those days that left me lying face down on the path to eternity, and while it involved an abundance of humility, it was not an act of worship that put me there.
Simply stated, things that were unresolved built up to ungodly levels (Note that if things are not addressed and settled to the glory of God, they are unresolved at an ungodly level, so we had long since taken a flying leap into ungodly levels of unresolved issues). The result was an even more ungodly explosion of anger, hurt, and accusations. Beloved Husband is out of town, so he didn't see the full display, but he heard it. By the time the children went to bed, they had ample opportunity to witness Mommy repenting and explaining that even when someone hurts you or makes you angry, voices elevated to high decibel levels are not the way to handle the situation. The children were forgiving. Beloved Hubby understood the root issues and was forgiving, and when the dust had settled, I lay in the floor and cried.
I hadn't just stumbled. I had taken a header, and from what I could see, I was pretty disfigured. I emailed my friend MaryB and confessed everything. She was loving and kind, and then said the most Realistic thing she could. She said, "But I say, 'Get up. He sees your tears. He knows your humanity. He also knows your familiy's humanity. And He loves because He truly knows YOU.'"
Sounds a lot like Paul, in my opinion. Perhaps Paul's words could be paraphrased, "Instead of lying on the floor crying because I blew it, I get up and move on because I know my righteousness is not dependent on my ability because I have none. My righteousness is dependent on my faith in Christ Jesus who has already become righteousness for me. He is already my perfection, and I am in the process of becoming like Him. I'm not like Him yet, and I won't get there by lying on the floor crying. I choose to press on with faith in Him to make me who He has said I am."
So I embraced Mary's directive, and I got off the floor. I blew it yesterday. I blew it some today. I'm in the process.
You know what really makes me stop and think, though? What utterly fascinates me in all this is my real role in this process. Do you notice that Paul never mentions what he can do to overcome all of his failures? Paul has no four-point plan on how to modify his behavior or stop committing a particular sin. To the contrary, Paul says he recognizes that he will never achieve anything on his own, and his solution is not to "modify" the flesh but to let it die. In fact, Paul considers any effort he can make for his own righteousness to be rubbish, and instead, longs to embrace the absolute necessity of righteousness through Christ as the only means to eternal life. Paul is completely convinced he can do nothing for himself.
So where does change come from? In the two scriptures I just mentioned, we find two simple answers:
1. Dying with Christ and taking His righteousness.
2. Letting God do His job and get out of His way. Notice that Paul does not say, "And if you work really hard, you'll finally get there." No, Paul said that the Father, who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete it.
The last thing I want to mention as a necessity is the filling and leading of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12: 1 and 2 say, " 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. "
How is your mind renewed?
1. Dying to yourself and living in Christ.
2. Letting God do His work in you.
3. Letting the Holy Spirit lead you into all truth (John 16:13).
I won't tell you it is an easy journey. It's not. It hurts. If it were easy, every human being would be flocking to it. However, if you want answers, I got those. I have ALL the answers because I know there is only one Answer, and even when I am lying on my face in the gravel where I just fell over the most obvious rock in the world, He is still the Answer, and when I call to Him, He is faithful to answer.
Praying you remeber that even when the questions are hard or you think you might be bombing your test, there is only one Answer, and He is faithful to answer you when you call to Him...
My friend Iona is amazing to me. She can be so completely transparent about her victories, encouragement, discouragement, and failings. Today I was reading a book by Lisa Whelchel (www.LisaWhelchel.com), and she talked about her failings and weaknesses a lot more openly than most folks I know. Folks who can lay their heart out there for all to see amaze me.
Now, the irony is that I have been told repeatedly that the strength of my writing is in my willingness to be transparent and vulnerable. People want to know they are not the only ones who struggle, tumble, and pick gravel from their knees. Of course, I can only speak for me, but I like to know I'm not in this struggle alone, and I doubt I am the only one who feels that way.
As I sat here and thought about that, I think there are primarily two groups of people who like to know they are not alone in the "gravel picking" department. I think the first group likes to point at others' failures and use them as excuses for how they are. Perhaps that is cynical. I tend to think some folks call things cynical because the truth of the statement hits too close to home, but then, I could be cynical about that as well. Anyway, the second group that likes to know they aren't alone in picking gravel are the ones who desire to be the best they can be, to be a good and faithful servant. Sometimes it is nice to know that even those who "have it all together" really don't. It gives us hope that we are not beyond change. It helps us be encouraged that someday we won't trip over that same rock...again. Somehow knowing others struggle make us feel less like failures and more like works in progress.
In theory, we shouldn't need anyone else to help us with that. The Bible says that He who began a good work in you is faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6). Paul says he moves forward to take hold of the prize, not that he already has, but that he is in the process (Philippians 3). In fact, Paul says the following:
8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things..."
Yesterday was one of those days that left me lying face down on the path to eternity, and while it involved an abundance of humility, it was not an act of worship that put me there.
Simply stated, things that were unresolved built up to ungodly levels (Note that if things are not addressed and settled to the glory of God, they are unresolved at an ungodly level, so we had long since taken a flying leap into ungodly levels of unresolved issues). The result was an even more ungodly explosion of anger, hurt, and accusations. Beloved Husband is out of town, so he didn't see the full display, but he heard it. By the time the children went to bed, they had ample opportunity to witness Mommy repenting and explaining that even when someone hurts you or makes you angry, voices elevated to high decibel levels are not the way to handle the situation. The children were forgiving. Beloved Hubby understood the root issues and was forgiving, and when the dust had settled, I lay in the floor and cried.
I hadn't just stumbled. I had taken a header, and from what I could see, I was pretty disfigured. I emailed my friend MaryB and confessed everything. She was loving and kind, and then said the most Realistic thing she could. She said, "But I say, 'Get up. He sees your tears. He knows your humanity. He also knows your familiy's humanity. And He loves because He truly knows YOU.'"
Sounds a lot like Paul, in my opinion. Perhaps Paul's words could be paraphrased, "Instead of lying on the floor crying because I blew it, I get up and move on because I know my righteousness is not dependent on my ability because I have none. My righteousness is dependent on my faith in Christ Jesus who has already become righteousness for me. He is already my perfection, and I am in the process of becoming like Him. I'm not like Him yet, and I won't get there by lying on the floor crying. I choose to press on with faith in Him to make me who He has said I am."
So I embraced Mary's directive, and I got off the floor. I blew it yesterday. I blew it some today. I'm in the process.
You know what really makes me stop and think, though? What utterly fascinates me in all this is my real role in this process. Do you notice that Paul never mentions what he can do to overcome all of his failures? Paul has no four-point plan on how to modify his behavior or stop committing a particular sin. To the contrary, Paul says he recognizes that he will never achieve anything on his own, and his solution is not to "modify" the flesh but to let it die. In fact, Paul considers any effort he can make for his own righteousness to be rubbish, and instead, longs to embrace the absolute necessity of righteousness through Christ as the only means to eternal life. Paul is completely convinced he can do nothing for himself.
So where does change come from? In the two scriptures I just mentioned, we find two simple answers:
1. Dying with Christ and taking His righteousness.
2. Letting God do His job and get out of His way. Notice that Paul does not say, "And if you work really hard, you'll finally get there." No, Paul said that the Father, who began a good work in you, is faithful to complete it.
The last thing I want to mention as a necessity is the filling and leading of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12: 1 and 2 say, " 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. "
How is your mind renewed?
1. Dying to yourself and living in Christ.
2. Letting God do His work in you.
3. Letting the Holy Spirit lead you into all truth (John 16:13).
I won't tell you it is an easy journey. It's not. It hurts. If it were easy, every human being would be flocking to it. However, if you want answers, I got those. I have ALL the answers because I know there is only one Answer, and even when I am lying on my face in the gravel where I just fell over the most obvious rock in the world, He is still the Answer, and when I call to Him, He is faithful to answer.
Praying you remeber that even when the questions are hard or you think you might be bombing your test, there is only one Answer, and He is faithful to answer you when you call to Him...
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