What Does God Think of Us?

August 24, 2012 by journeyintolight

Most of us have a hard time living in the reality that because we are God’s children, He will always love us, never reject us, and always consider us precious. No matter how much we fail or get rejected by people, God does not think less of us. Most of us have been trained to believe that this reality is sheer nonsense.

For instance, my parents let me know at a very early age that they were not going to accept me for who I really was. Instead, they would make me into who I needed to be in order to be loved, accepted, and valued by them.  I learned to live for what they thought of me by pretending to be who they wanted me to be. This trained me to look to people to find love, worth, and acceptance, instead of God.

Today, I am learning to live in the reality that what other people think of me is really not that important. What is important is what God thinks of me. For example, I used to seek leadership positions to make other people think I was important. Today, I am growing in living in the truth that my importance will never increase beyond what I already have as God’s child, no matter how highly people think of me. Living in this reality is freeing me up to assume leadership positions to serve, and not to use them to gain the importance I already have from what God thinks of me.

This wonderful reality of what God thinks of me, has helped me recently to journey through a difficult set of circumstances. A couple of months ago, I was turned down for a leadership position in my church. I could have avoided this fate if I had pretended to think differently than I did. However, God did not want me to pretend to be who I was not, in order to be accepted by people. So, I presented myself as who I really was, and was rejected for the position.

In years gone by, I would have been more shaken by being rejected for the leadership position. However, this time, I endured the pain of what others thought of me, and lived in the reality of retaining my dignity by relying of what God thought of me.

Posted in Self- Knowledge | 78 Comments »

Get to Know Yourself

August 24, 2012 by journeyintolight

 

Did you know that you and I have many false beliefs and strategies for living that we do not even know we have? For example, we can be controlled by what certain people think of us, and reject the clear teaching of God about what he thinks of us, and not know this. We can be afraid of losing status with certain people, even though God has said that we will never lose status with him.

He says to us, “You are precious, you are honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:4). Yet, we can live as if the opinions of certain people trump God’s opinion of us, which it does not. Because this kind of false thinking and dependency often happens deep within our hearts, it is outside of our awareness and often goes unchallenged.

How can we deal with a problem that we do not even know we have? How can we “put off the old and put on the new” (Ephesians 4:22-24) if we do not even know what the old false thinking and dependencies are?

However, God warns us that we cannot really get to know ourselves without the help of the Holy Spirit. “The heart is more deceitful above all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)  He goes on to say that he alone really knows us and what makes us tick.

So, may we ask God to search our hearts and reveal to us any hurtful way (Psalm 139:23-24). This should help us to know ourselves better, and with God’s help, put off our old ways of living.

Posted in Self- Knowledge | Leave a Comment »

Did You Know That You Are an Idol Worshipper?

August 16, 2012 by journeyintolight

Most of us do not think of ourselves as idol worshippers; but we are. When we regularly desire the approval of certain people over doing what we know to be right, we are an idol worshipper. Depending on people’s approval is a substitute for depending on God’s approval we have for being his dear child.

When we depend on our achievements to feel important, instead of who we really are as God’s precious child, we are an idol worshipper. When we usually depend on trying to control all our circumstances to feel safe, instead of depending on God to control our circumstances, we are an idol worshipper.

Many of us get pretty good at getting our needs met through these phony gods. It has been part of our agenda since childhood to make life work without depending on God. This hurts our faith and spiritual growth more than we probably ever will know.

One idol these days that men are using in epidemic proportions is pornography. Instead of relying on the intimacy that God provides in relationship to himself and others, men often turn to the idol of pornography to get their need for intimacy met.

So, may we all seek God in prayer to discern what we are using as idols. May we seek his help in breaking free of these substitutes, and trust God to meet our needs in his wonderful way and timing.

Posted in False Gods | Leave a Comment »

God’s Word Does Not Play A Secondary Role

July 25, 2012 by journeyintolight

A pastor friend of mine recently read my book, and was concerned that I had placed God’s Word in a secondary role to the various disciplines described in the book as it relates to spiritual growth. I explained to him that I did not think that I had placed those disciplines above the Word. I stated in the book that the standard of truth for all of life is the Bible, and that no discipline or anything else that conflicts with the Bible is to be accepted. Hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on the Word are vital for our healthy spiritual growth.

However, I pointed out to him that what the book does stress is that just knowing the Word is not enough. Much like the Law of Israel, the Bible is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The Bible points us to God. The Bible reveals God and is a medium by which we communicate with each other. The Bible also paints a picture of what life is like in the kingdom of God.

Yet, knowing the Bible does not give us the power to live the Bible. We must learn how to walk in the Spirit throughout the day to do that, and practice appropriate disciplines to enable this to happen. So, I do stress that the Bible is vital for transformation, as long as we rely on the Spirit to help us understand it and give us the power to live it. “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3).

Posted in The Holy Spirit | Leave a Comment »

When God Closes a Door

July 14, 2012 by journeyintolight

I have been dealing with closed doors this summer. I don’t like closed doors, even if God is the one who closes them. For example, it appears that God is leading us to another church after 31 years. This has caused me considerable grief, hurt, and sadness. I love the people at our church and I hate change.

Yet, it seems God is clearly leading Adele and I to leave. He has other works for us to do in other places. At first, I did not fully feel the pain of this closed door because I was so busy. However, a week ago, a ministry I had been heavily involved in ended, and I had time to face the painful emotions deep within. I then developed neck pain, which served as another diversion like busyness did from facing the painful feelings within.

However, in the last few days, I have decided to ignore the neck pain (which I understand to be harmless based on my past history), and focus on the grief I am feeling in the caldron of my soul. Grieving about a closed door is a process and I must be patient, for it does take time. Closed doors often feel to me like rejection, low worth, and not being loved.

However, facing the grief and processing it leads to my acceptance of the closed door. This helps me to develop a positive attitude towards life and not a bitter one. By faith now, but often by sight later, I can thank and praise God for his goodness and grace in closing this door.

Posted in Circumstances | 1 Comment »

God’s Love for Us

July 7, 2012 by journeyintolight

Imagine living in the presence of someone who is very strong, and who is head-over-heels in love with us. Imagine someone whose smile slowly melts away our fears and tensions, for “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). Imagine someone who is always there for us, but gives us space when we need it. Imagine someone who will never reject us no matter how weak and unbelieving we are, for God says to us, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Imagine someone who enjoys being with us and delights in who we really are.

Such is the love that God has for us, his children. There are no strings attached to his love. He gives us his love as a gift. It is too good to be true, yet it is true. We can do nothing to cause God to stop loving us, and we can do nothing to cause him to love us more. His love is already as high as the heavens are above the earth (Psalm 103:11).

Posted in Vision | 1 Comment »

The Importance of God’s Word

June 30, 2012 by journeyintolight

The following is a slightly edited  excerpt from a recent quiet time  I had  from Romans 7, writing it as a personal message from God:

“So, do I mean, Rich, that you are not to study the Bible, listen to good teaching, or memorize it? Goodness, Rich, NO!  I use the Bible to nurture you, guide you, give you wisdom and tell you who you really are to Me. I use the Bible to help you realize how much you need Me to live the Christian life. No, the Bible is important  for all Christians to know and live.

However, knowing My Word has no power against the corruption in your heart, such as you wanting to live your day apart from Me, you wanting to regard yourself as important due to your performance, and your negative thinking about your future, despite Me promising you the stars.  Just knowing the Word does not give you the power to live the Word. My Word holds the standard up to you and shows you how you need to grow. You are accountable to live the truth presented; and you need to live putting off the old and putting on the new.

So, knowing My Word can lead to being cut off from My life due to disobedience. Certainly, I tell you what godliness looks like in My Word, but this alone does not make you godly. My Word defines your sinfulness. You need to come to Me throughout the day for My life to live in My power and obedience. Alignment is critical for you to do in holding up your life  to the mirror of My Word  and seeing how it fits; then come to Me for the power to live the truth.”

Posted in Truth | Leave a Comment »

What’s So Bad About Trying to Be Good?

June 5, 2012 by journeyintolight

One of the big challenges we face as Christians is learning to let the Lord take the lead in our lives and spiritual growth. I tried for years to grow myself and be good by doing bible studies, memorizing Scriptures, having quiet times, and a host of other activities. Only when faced with major exhaustion did I face the painful reality that I needed more help from God to be good and to grow. Following is an excerpt from my book, Experiencing God’s Transforming Love, that talks about a major barrier we all face in growing and being good.

We are strongly tempted to perfect ourselves and be good in the power of our own fortitude (rather than allow ourselves to be transformed by the power of God). No amount of human effort can transform us; only God can. We are not to focus on being obedient to a set of biblical principles. This will not transform us, nor will having quiet times, Bible studies, or practicing any other spiritual discipline. We were saved from a life of trying to be good and pleasing to God to deal with our guilt and shame. Only the blood of Christ takes care of our guilt and shame (Hebrews 9:12-14).

The first several years of my Christian walk I tried very hard to be good. I had my quiet times religiously; I did everything imaginable with the Word (listened to it, read it, studied it, memorized it and meditated on it), prayed often, and did the right things. I was blessed with much fortitude, and I used it to my advantage. By all indications, I was a spiritual giant because I was doing all the right things. Yet, was I really being transformed into Christlikeness at the heart level? The truth is that I was being transformed at the heart level, but, I believe, there were huge areas of my heart that were resisting transformation.

Spiritual transformation of our hearts does occur when we open our hearts to God, depend on the indwelling Spirit, and use the spiritual disciplines to position ourselves for this to happen. Spiritual disciplines, like listening to sermons and quiet times, position us to behold Jesus, and be transformed by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:18). We are not to try to fix ourselves. We must learn to give up trying and open deeply to God’s work through the Spirit in our hearts. Galatians 3:1-3 tells us that, as we became Christians by dependence on God to save us, we need to also depend on God to grow us, not our own fortitude to crank it out.

My living by grace was expedited when I got knocked off my feet during my midlife crisis. This was a period of spiritual and physical exhaustion. I was exhausted because I had been largely trying to crank out the Christian life in my own strength. During this time, I discovered a deeper solitude and giving myself permission to enjoy life. I discovered a passion for deep-sea fishing and experienced the joy of catching fish and being with God during the many hours of solitude on the fishing trips. I got to experience God loving me in my weakness. I became more patient with myself, and others during this time. This growth came at just the right time to enable me to be a more attentive and gentle father to my two toddler children.

At the end of this three-year period, I emerged a stronger and more useable Christian. Within two years, God provided me with a promotion at work, and I was elected an elder of our church. However, I still had a long way to go in relying on God’s life to do work, fulfill my responsibilities as an elder and live life at a deep level.

I think we evangelicals have taken a good thing (knowledge of the Word) and exaggerated its importance, while we have downplayed the importance of dependence on the Holy Spirit, life in the body, and self-knowledge for spiritual growth (Ephesians 4:4-16; Proverbs 4:23). I think this is because of the way many of us were raised, which was to be good in our own strength. This made it easy for us to buy into the deception of following biblical principles in our own strength to be good and to grow ourselves spiritually.

The temptation to live by biblical principles in our own fortitude (a moralist) is strong. One major reason is because we can avoid humbling ourselves before God and depending on his grace. In Jeremiah 17:5, God considers a person cursed who habitually tries to be good in his own strength and fails to rely on the Spirit.

Posted in Faith | Leave a Comment »

More Questions and Answers About Spiritual Formation

June 2, 2012 by journeyintolight

1.   How come my church does not teach Spiritual Formation?

  • Many seminaries have tended to neglect connecting theology to how people are transformed.
  • Many pastors have tended to not provide practical application of the Word to the daily struggles with sin that people face.
  • Too many pastors have tended to make knowing the Word an end itself, instead of it being a means through the Spirit of experiencing God at the heart level.
  • People are often taught by word and example that knowing the Word is more important than being godly.
  • There has been the tendency to lose God among the wonders of his Word, and fail to cultivate a relationship with him.
  • The focus of much teaching tends to be on doing the right things and doctrinal correctness. This can lead people to believing and doing right things, instead of being the right person through changed heart beliefs.
  • Many pastors often do not teach people how to experience the presence of God in their daily lives.
  • Many pastors have tended not to teach people how to cooperate with God practically in growing spiritually.

2.  How may this approach to spiritual transformation affect my church?

  • There would be much more dependence on prayer, and less dependence on intellect to lead the church.
  • There would be a greater emphasis on small groups, mentoring, discipleship and spiritual direction.
  • The sermons would not lose their emphasis on teaching truth, but also they would be tailored to help people to engage the text at the heart level.
  • There would be less busyness and ineffective programs, and more informal one or two-day retreats.
  • There would also be greater transformation in the lives of the elders that leads to a more open, loving fellowship at the Board-level that God can use in a more powerful way to do his work through the church.
  • Small groups would provide fellowship at a much deeper level, and be more of a living all of life together, as they relate at the heart-to-heart level.
  • Many people would become “unstuck” in their growth process by being provided with spiritual disciplines that can help them to better cooperate with God.

3.   Whatever happened to just knowing and doing the biblical commands and principles in the Bible?

The doing of the biblical commands from the heart requires God’s participation in the process. Spiritual Formation trains practical disciplines and concepts that aid in receiving God’s power to live the Bible’s commands and principles.

4.   Doesn’t Spiritual Formation tend to lead people to neglect the ministry?

In the short-run, there will often be some withdrawal from church activities to provide time to practice the spiritual disciplines. However, the purpose of the disciplines is to connect to God in a deeper way, so that a person’s life becomes more supernatural. So, in the long-run, as people do the ministries of the church, they will often become more fruitful, for God will be increasingly leading and empowering their efforts.

5.      What are these spiritual disciplines that you are talking about?

The following list includes several of the most commonly practiced spiritual disciplines of Spiritual Formation:

  • The Word disciplines (reading, hearing, studying, memorizing, and meditating on the Bible)
  • Contemplative and Centering prayer
  • Small Group
  • Silence
  • Solitude
  • Mentoring
  • Retreats
  • Spiritual warfare
  • Ministry
  • Walking in the Spirit
  • Putting off the old and putting on the new
  • Journaling
  • Being yoked to Jesus
  • Asking God to reveal beliefs of the heart
  • Spiritual Direction

These are some of the most common practices of Spiritual Formation. Some of these are widely practiced by evangelical churches today. Many are not. God will lead each of us  in which ones to practice during each day and season of our lives. These practices are not to become a form of earning spiritual growth, but as a means to position ourselves for God to transform us.

6. Is Spiritual Formation charismatic?

No, not as the term is commonly used. Spiritual Formation does emphasize an experiential love relationship with God that lives truth from the heart. It does not teach focusing on the charismatic gifts at the expense of all the other gifts. It teaches that all the gifts are important in the body today. It does emphasize relating to God through his Word as of primary importance, but also teaches the importance of prayer and other spiritual disciplines as important means that God uses to fellowship with us. It does teach the importance of feelings as an indicator of the truth about the condition of our hearts, but stresses that the truth of the Word is our guide for life. It does teach that the Christian life can only be lived in the power of the Spirit.

Posted in Spiritual Formation | Leave a Comment »

What is Spiritual Formation?

May 30, 2012 by journeyintolight

I am often asked, “What is Spiritual Formation?” I prefer to refer to Spiritual Formation as the spiritual transformation of the heart.  I have complied a list of questions that I am frequently asked or heard asked about Spiritual Formation . The following is some of those questions and my answers to them:

1. What is Spiritual Formation?

Spiritual Formation has been a generally recognized movement for the past thirty years that emphasizes lifelong spiritual transformation of the heart. One of its emphases is the importance for us to intentionally seek spiritual growth through practicing various disciplines. This provides us a way to position ourselves for the Spirit to transform our hearts.

Spiritual Formation emphasizes that the Bible is the standard of truth, but does seek truth in other disciplines, like psychology and sociology. However, these teachings from other disciplines cannot conflict with the Scriptures, or they will be rejected. Spiritual Formation also draws on appropriate spiritual traditions from the historical church. It uses the Bible as a means to deeper spirituality, and not Bible knowledge as the end-goal.

2.   What are some ways that Spiritual Formation may differ from the usual  approaches to spiritual growth?

  • Stresses that the Bible is the standard of truth, but does accepts truth not explicitly stated in the Bible from other disciplines, as long as the teachings do not conflict with biblical truth.
  • Emphasizes developing a love relationship with God, rather than just serving God.
  • The focus is on heart change, and not just on knowledge and behavioral change.
  • Emphasizes knowing self, as well as knowing God through the Bible.
  • Stresses that knowing the Bible is a means to transformation, but does not automatically cause transformation.
  • Emphasizes prayer, as well as knowing the Bible, as important for spiritual growth.
  • Values feelings as a means of knowing the heart, rather than regarding them as unimportant.
  • Emphasizes the high value of community in the transformation process, rather than regarding community as an option.
  • Emphasizes living the Bible, as well knowing it.
  • Teaches the practice of a large variety of disciplines to position oneself for God to work, rather than trying to obey Scripture through trying harder.
  • Teaches that God is the change agent, and not us.
  • Helps us realize how sinful we really are and in desperate need of change, rather than just needing a little tweaking.
  • Stresses the need to be intentional about transformation, and not think it just happens as we study the Bible and do ministry.
  • Emphasizes relying on the Spirit, besides fortitude and knowing the Bible.
  • Stresses that God is the one who makes things happen, not us.
  • Accepts that we are in a spiritual war and teaches how to function in this reality, rather than assuming that it is largely a naturalistic world.

 3.  Is Spiritual Formation biblical?

Yes. Spiritual Formation emphasizes that the Bible is the standard of truth, but does seek truth from other disciplines, like psychology and sociology, as long as the teachings do not conflict with the Bible.

4.  What benefit will I likely receive from studying and practicing Spiritual Formation?

  • You can learn to more fully cooperate with God in the spiritual growth process and grow more Christlike.
  • You can become more skilled at recognizing bondages to sin in your life, and take them to God for transformation.
  • You can become a more godly person deep within your heart.
  • You can live a more supernatural life.
  • You can experience a more intimate love relationship with God.
  • You can experience living life with God, rather than performing for him, in deeper way.

5. How does Spiritual Formation work?

  • Recognizes that the Word disciplines are very important to practice to cooperate with God in the spiritual growth process.
  • Provides practices to work with God in putting off the old and putting on the new.
  • Helps you to better recognize sin in your life.
  • Provides many additional practices to cooperate with God in the transformation process.
  • Teaches how to allow the Spirit to lead the way in the transformation process.
  • Helps you to live from your identity in Christ, and not from a false self.
  • Helps you to walk in the power of the Spirit.
  • Encourages and trains mentoring and body-life support.
  • Helps you know what is really going on in your heart, and how to cooperate with God in transforming it.
  • Recognizes supernatural opposition, with prayer and the Holy Spirit as important weapons.
  • Recognizes that the Word is a means to an end, with the end being transformation and ministry fruit.

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