THE JOY OF UNCERTAINTY

THE JOY OF UNCERTAINTY

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I enjoy a lively exchange of opinions as much as the next guy.  It often stretches us beyond our certainties.  There is so much about existence that is still undiscovered.  However that doesn’t restrain our confidence that our conclusions about reality are anything other than flawlessly accurate, especially when it comes to matters of faith.  The world is witnessing a period of unquestioned certainty so rigged that people are killing and dying for their conclusions about truth.  The tragedy of certainty is that no matter how perceptive we think we are, our conclusions are or knowledge remains partial.  That is way uncertain applies as much to religious conclusions as any belief systems.   “A conclusion,” in the words of Dan Chaon, “is simply the place where you got tired of thinking.”  Perhaps even more to the point is a statement directed at Christians from the Apostle Paul:

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“The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.”                       1 Corinthians 8:2

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Therefore wrong information itself is not the only breeding ground for wrong conclusions.  Even correct information chokes off appropriate conclusions if truth is planted in unyielding certainty.  Uncertainty is the malleable soil that yields life, while rigged certainty is such hard ground it cannot support life.  Oswald Chambers put it this way, “When we become advocates of a creed, something dies: we do not believe God, we only believe our belief about god.”  He goes on to say, “If we are only certain in our beliefs, we get dignified and severe and have the ban of finality about our views: but when we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.”

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Uncertainty is not unbelief.  In fact uncertainty about tomorrow is a virtue of the faithful.  Belief in Jesus Christ requires that we abandon certainty as we face an uncertain future.  (Matt6:25-34 +10:19, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11 + 22-26)  We remain certain of Him even though uncertain of the days ahead.

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 The point is if our certainty overrides all other considerations we nullify the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Cutting off His voice automatically stunts the Christian growth in grace and peace by restricting his knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Pet. 1:2)  Let us not be among those who rigidly cling to certainty but rather let us live so confident in God through Christ that we rejoice in the reality of our uncertain. 

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The Bible’s reliability is certain and it says:

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him.”  2 Peter 1:3a  NIV

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In closing I add my prayer to Paul’s as he pin points the agent of that power in you:

“May the god of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”   Romans 15:13

THE INTERNAL SEARCH Is God There?

THE INTERNAL SEARCH

Is God There?

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Jesus places His image in our heart.  When we look within we see His face, which means our spirit is aware of Him.  Seeking His face during times of pain and sorrow can yield little more than a flickering sparks in the broken heart.  However asking God for God-consciousness during those times achieves the awareness of His indwelling presence often accompanied by His peace.  Recognizing our union with God satisfies our longing for wholeness.  With each of those prayers for God-consciousness I rediscover His life in me.  I am still amazed sensing the Holy Spirit after a period of distraction.  I find myself breathing a sigh of relief followed by a bit of a smile.  The usual release of tension accounts for the sigh and the smile attends the pleasure of knowing He is never absent.  While those involuntary reactions are not the test of His presence they are a welcome comfort.

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There are good reasons for being wary of attempting to experience God within. Brennan Manning cautions in his book Ruthless Trust, The Ragamuffin’s Path to God says, “[T]hat to seek the experience is to seek self, not God.” However I am making no pretense of unselfishness.  God has given us the liberty to come to Him precisely during moments of trouble, doubt, and hardship.  

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    “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give rest.”  Matthew 11:28

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True, the desire to experience freedom from sin and pain are not lofty motivations but to whom else should we go and what other path should we take.  God has made His presence our cure and prayer the way to discover Him as the cure.  Finding Him within is laced with unavoidable sensations.  Having lost my Christ-centered focus once before I was cautiously suspicious.  Men like Martin Luther spoke of the dangers awaiting those who, “…attempt to know God as he is in himself by speculation or by mystical contemplation.”  He said, “It is perilous to wish to investigate and apprehend the naked divinity by human reason without Christ the mediator, as the sophists and monks have done and taught others to do.”  However, the peril is only real if the investigation is attempted, “…by human reason without Christ the mediator.”  Christ, the mediator, is the one who made the invitation to come and designated the place to turn to…deep in the center of our heart. (Gal. 4:6, Eph. 3:16&17, 2Cor. 1:22)

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Nonetheless, I was concerned about being drawn into some foolish mysticism.  I had to ask myself, “How do I know it is God I am conscious of and not a self-induced sense of wellbeing?  What distinguishes God-consciousness from a self-conscious deception and was the experience supposed to be like it was when I was first saved?”  “How would I recognize Him?”  The questions are legitimate.  However, I took courage knowing I was doing God’s will by asking Him and that providing a recognizable revelation of Himself was His business.

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Years of ministry produced in me a keener awareness of the fruit of the Spirit than the recognition of the Spirit, Himself.  I reasoned that only God living inside could produce His fruit.  Unfortunately that way of thinking misdirected my refocus.  Peace within is a fruit of the Spirit, yet the presence of peace within is not proof that God is within.  Peace or what paces as peace can be manufactured by intellectual convictions, emotional satisfaction, or pharmaceutical stimulation.  Peace can be evidence of God’s Spiritual connection but it is not proof.  That is why a sighting of good fruit does not prove the presence of God, even though it is evidence. 1 John 4:16-18 affirms that if fruitful qualities show up in our lives it is evidence that God is really in us.   Nonetheless, evidence is not proof.   

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 The test for a vital spiritual connection with God has more to do with what is alive inside the heart than what it yields.  Paul gives us the test which proves God’s life is in us:

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“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.  And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’  The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”  Romans 8:15-16

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The true test of the presence of God within is the reassuring witness of the Holy Spirit, Himself.  Therefore even during times of turmoil, distraction, and tragedy a believer’s proof that God has not left him is the Holy Spirit’s affirmation spoken from within the believer’s heart…not fruitfulness.

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There will be seasons of dryness in every Christian experience.  In times of fruitlessness,

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“We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.”                          1 John 4:13 +15

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“Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.  And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gives us.”  1 John 3:24 

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Fruit production, like obeying His commands, can be done as we yield to the will of God within.  They provide evidence that God is alive in us.  However, proof that God is in us rests solely on our awareness of the fact that the Spirit of God is in us, even when we are so distracted that we do not yield God’s fruit. 

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The Apostle John restates Paul’s test for proving a Spirit to spirit connection exists within saying:

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“This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.”       1 John 4:2

That is why Jesus could say, without being contradicted by unresponsive distracted saints, that, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” (Mat. 12:34 and Luke 6:45)

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Turning around to inwardly gaze Godward I took the one question test:

 HAS JESUS CHRIST COME WITHIN MY FLESH?      YES _____  or      NO_____   

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If the answer is anything other than “YES” you have reason to doubt your Spirit to spirit connection with God.  The Holy Spirit avoiding an affirmative answer would make Him a deceiver, if He is really in you.  If you do not hear a “YES” within, you doubt the truth of God and you either need to turn back to God again or turn toward Him for the first time.  Take a minute and settle that problem now.  If God is not within, He will be the instant you wholeheartedly follow the instructions given in the book of Acts:

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“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.  And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”  Acts 2:38+39

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Paul gave similar directions: 

“They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household.”  Acts 16:31 

SEEING GOD WITHIN Losing to Win #5

LOSING TO WIN #5

SEEING GOD WITHIN

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I turned around “inwardly gazing Godward” to find the antidote for the disturbance of my heart.  That is where I rediscovered Christ…within.  Christians throughout the ages, at least as far back as the 1600’s, have recognized and acknowledge God within.  The French church reformer Francois Fenelon wrote of the experience; “Let us seek God within us, and we shall find Him without fail.”  However uncertainty about how to turn my own vision inward or exactly what I could expect to “see” caused me to misapply this God ordained method.

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I approached the inward recognition as if it were a self-monitoring cognitive therapy technique.  I tried them all.  Applying the normal array, including self-supervising methods, recovery steps, sin avoidance disciplines, and thought control procedures failed to free me from the grip of sin following my loss of Christian ministry.  Deliberate and disciplined God-focusing exercises worked well during normal everyday life.  However when things got tough, maintaining my God focus was inconsistent.  During bouts of fear, disappointment, anger, or guilt I would lose sight of God within.  One moment I soared above temptation, experiencing the most glorious freedom from decay, but when a rough patch troubled my focus down I came again.  It resembled the old spiritual rollercoaster.  Worst of all, my hope of communion with God’s Holy Spirit teetered on my wavering will power.  Personal holiness became dependent on how strong I felt at the moment of temptation.

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I remember thinking, “I need some kind of reminder that God is within me, at the instant temptation grabs my attention.”  That very morning, August 19, 1996, five years into that relentless depression, I picked up a copy of My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.  The devotion of the day was “Self-consciousness”.  It described my predicament to a “T.”

“God means us to live a fully-orbed life in Christ Jesus, but there are times when that life is attacked from the outside, and we tumble into a way of introspection which we thought had gone.”

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Reading on I saw a glimmer of the device I needed.  It was such a tiny flicker…so small I am surprised I saw it.

“If we come to Him and ask Him to produce Christ-consciousness, He will always do it until we learn to abide in Him.”

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I read ahead to the next day’s entry, where he reinforced his advice by recommending,

 “Say- Lord, prove Thy consciousness in me…ask the Lord to give you Christ-consciousness.”

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The suggestion seemed a little silly and somewhat insulting.  The idea that a juvenile prayer could accomplish what thoughtful actions and agonizing pleas for deliverance could not was humiliatingly simple, besides it smacking of a superstitious incantation or a magical chant.  However I knew God said that we must become as little children. (Mat. 18:4, Mark 10:15, Luke 18:17)  Secondly, asking God to make His presence known in me was His will, and therefore neither superstition nor magic. (John 14:17)  Thirdly, it is an act of faith to seek God within, where He said he would be. (John 17:23)  Fourthly the prayer takes the supplicant’s eyes (my eyes) off of the problem and turns them toward the solution, Christ’s life within. (Heb. 12:2) 

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I tried it.  I prayed that little prayer for Christ-consciousness, and God honored it.  I gained a new perspective on my problem, “Christ in me the hope of glory”. (Col. 1:27) Later that day, temptation’s old familiar enchantment presented itself.  “Father,” I immediately prayed, “Give me Christ-consciousness.”  Remarkably, that moment I was aware that He was living in me.  Suddenly, I no longer needed that “thing” to fill my heart's deficiency…He was in me, and I knew it.

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I tasted the same Divine connection with God’s Spirit, which was mine twenty years earlier.  I was once again conscious of God’s presents within.  The recognition was at a deeper and more satisfying level than mere emotion or cognition.  Thank God, He provided Himself as the solution.  Prayer is the method and temptation is the reminder.  The old 16^th century French Roman Catholic, Fenelon, was right when he wrote, “The practice of the presence of God is the supreme remedy.”  Others of that era and area like Brother Lawrence practiced that same approach to Christian life, as evidenced by Lawrence's book, “The Practice of the Presence of God”  

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That brings me to the question of recognition.  What does it mean to “see God within”?  Seeing assumes two things; (1) A subject in view, which can be distinguish from its setting and background. (2) A receptor which can recognize and receive the image.

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A Subject

Focusing on a subject assumes that a subject exists.  When the subject is Christ’s Spirit within, we must be willing to rely on a faculty that is neither emotionally intuitive nor rationally imaginative.  Only the spirit of man, by virtue of its intimate connection with God’s Spirit, can experience that unique communion.  It is a recognizable intimacy, not because of our spirit and His are similar, but precisely because they are different.  C.S. Lewis, discussing awareness of God within saying, “…the creature should apprehend God and, therefore, itself as distinct from God.”  Lewis,referring to our “consciousness of God”, said spiritual recognition is based on our “contrast with an ‘other,’ a something which is not the self.”

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His point as it relates to God’s contrasting presents within is that there is “something,” or in this case, someone within that is unlike us.  However, emphasizing the recognizable contrasts between our spirit and the Holy Spirit does not imply that we do not share positive spiritual similarities, as well.  Our shared characteristics are unfortunately assumed to be virtues of our own personality. “Kindness” is one of those, and yet we know that we daily violate our own ideals of benevolence, and God never violates His.  Another, Lewis says is “Shame.”  Even though we try to convince ourselves that shamelessness is a virtue, we still conceal or ignore our own personality flaws. This hypocrisy indicates a standard within that is not our own.  A third example he gives is “feelings of real guilt.”  The sense that something inside is making moral demands upon us that we are unwilling or unable to achieve.

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My personal view is, that because we so readily accept internal virtue as our own goodness, we normally overlook God’s internal presence.  Therefore, we remain unaware that we actually see God within our heart.  When Paul admitted “nothing good lives in me” (Rom. 7:18) he was speaking for all of us.  Seeing anything God within us is actually a God sighting.  I believe this is the point Jesus was making in His response to the flattering inquisitor who called Him, “good teacher.”  Jesus answered, with no deceptive modesty, “No one is good - except God alone.”(John 18:19)  Furthermore, I don’t believe it was a misprint of the Old Testament prophet that declared,

 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”  (Jer. 17:9a KJV)      

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The point is, when we see virtuous impulses in us we are not seeing ourselves, but God within.  I know that without God’s influence over my life, there would be few more selfish narcissists than me on the planet.  For that reason alone, any honest person recognizing something other than “selfishness” within their heart, is seeing a spiritual presence, which is not their own.  The "Subject" seen within does exist, and He is God's Holy Spirit. 

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A Receptor

The fact is, God is so glorious that not even spiritual eyes can steadfastly gaze directly at His holy presence.  Therefore, our view of Him is, “through a glass, darkly” (1Corinthians 13:12 KJV).  Despite the limitations of our spiritual eyes, recognition of God’s Spirit is certain.   Paul describes in physical terms both the limitation, and the certainty involved in seeing God within.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”           1Corinthians 13:12 NIV

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The mirror does not block God’s image but it does represent a boundary, which does exist in our union with God’s Spirit.  The Spirit to spirit union is not a melding of spirits, as the more radical Christian mystics of old and the present day pantheists believe, but a communion of individuals…One Divine the other human.  Married partners, though separate individuals, share an intimacy so close that they are reckoned as, “one flesh”. (1 Cor. 6:16)  In the Spirit to spirit union Jesus said, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me…” (John 17:22 &23b)  Paul described it like this, “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” (1Corinthinans 6:17) Nevertheless as a married couple’s oneness is not a fusion of flesh into one body, neither is the union of spirits a fusion of spirits.  It is nonetheless a oneness in spirit, shared by two distinct beings within the human heart.  Our spiritual recognition is further reassured by the Apostil Paul.

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God in the face of Christ.”  2Corinthians 4:6 NIV

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The receptors God gave us for this recognition, spiritual eyes, is faith... faith in Jesus Christ. (Galatians 2:16 & 20)  Believers enter Christian life by faith and are expected to operate daily in that faith, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2)  The way A.B. Simpson puts it is we should, “…just accept the fact that the Spirit is in your heart and act accordingly.”  A.W. Tozer expressed my opinion well saying, “the whole tenor of the inspired Word,” as he wrote in, The Pursuit of God, “concludes that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.”  Our spirit gains authority over our soul by gazing Godward, and thereby yield to God’s Holiness.

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I hope my struggle against the grief of loss marks a clear path to recover for others dealing with its accompanying personality disruption.  We can summarize five fundamentals from the previous “Losing to Win” series as follows. 

(1) The Spirit to spirit connection when recognized relieves our painful thoughts and emotions. 

(2) Our heart is comforted knowing we remain undiminished by loss when we are conscious of God’s indwelling presences. 

(3) A completed personality need never kneel to sin’s offer to satisfy some sense of incompleteness. 

(4) Aware of God’s Spirit within and therefore assured of God’s reconstruction, the heart can yield to God’s desire rather than its own. 

(5) Turning around and seeing God within is as simple as a prayer, “Father, Give me Christ-consciousness.”

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I sincerely hope you will click to the introduction and the other entries in this 5 part series and the conclusion(#6).  If you have, please know I am praying the series will help you or a loved one experience a healthy recovery from loss’ disruptive effects on our personality.  Recovery can and should mark an important transition leading to a new and wonderful future…as it has mine.  

May God bless you and those you love.