Blinded by the Light 21 The Need To See - The Trap

The Bible says "a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign."[Luke 11:29] Although most of us would not consider ourselves 'wicked and adulterous,' deep in our hearts we all need to see evidence that things are true. When we pray, so often there is no instant response.

The attraction of the Toronto Blessing and similar manifestations is that, when you pray for someone, they fall over. Here is evidence that your prayer is working. Or if you are the one prayed for, the spiritual feeling that sweeps over you and takes your strength gives you assurance that God is indeed moving and responding. Yet, how often does this happen and the prayer is not ultimately answered in the affirmative? At the height of the Toronto Blessing I saw a young couple who were living together outside marriage fall down under prayer and get up with radiant faces – and then go home and carry on as before, unchanged. If God truly moves in your life, the experience will change you.

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Legalism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Magic Formulas: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Answers to Everything: The Truth,The Trap, The Solution
Scripture Twisting: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Superstition: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Elitism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
The Need to See: The Truth
Further posts to come in this series:
The Need to See: The SolutionConclusion

Thinking Thursday: Blessings Both Ways

There is a museum on the edge of Carmarthen in South Wales, where there are some very fine embroidered samplers. I was particularly impressed, not only by the embroidery, but by the motto on one. I offer it for your encouragement:

A solitary blessing few can find;
Our joys with those we love are intertwined,
And he whose helpful tenderness removes
Th'obstructing thorn which wounds which wounds the breast he loves,
Smooths not another's rugged path alone,
But scatters roses to adorn his own.

So, bless those you love, and bless yourself.

The Christmas Tree & the Apple Tree

Welcome to my first Thinking Thursday. With Christmas recently over, this seems a good topic to think about:

We cut down a pine tree, take it home, and put decorations on the outside. Nothing comes from inside the tree. Eventually the pine needles fall and the decorations come off.

You do not see people sticking flowers on an apple tree in spring, and later sticking fruit on. It comes naturally from the life within.

Examine your Christian life. Do you have a lot of impressive stuff stuck on the outside but in reality the pine needles are falling? Or do you bear fruit out of the life of the Spirit within?

Blinded by the Light 20 The Need To See - The Truth

God has promised He will answer our prayers, but He has not promised what His answer will be. It can be hard to wait and not to know. Although we read in the Bible, and in the lives of Christians throughout the ages, accounts of God moving in a supernatural way – visions, voices, miracles – these occasions are rare. God will fulfil His purposes, and sometimes He does so in a spectacular way, but mostly it is done quietly and often un-noticed. The Psalms are full of cries that God appears to have turned away, leaving them to trust in faith that He has not forgotten them.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

In the film 'The Golden Compass', of the book by Philip Pulman, Lyra has an alethiometer with which she communicates with the 'dust' – the essence of all life. When she asks a question, the hands move to point to symbols, through which the answer is revealed to her. How we would love to have some way of telling us God's answers to our prayers! But God tells us that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8). We cannot grasp His infinite plans, and must trust what we do not understand.

Peter promised us that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness.” (1 Peter 1:3).There will be times when the way is clear and times when our hearts soar with the touch of the Holy Spirit, but these are times of special blessing, not our everyday experience. Do not let people make you feel inadequate because you do not live your life 'on the mountain top'.

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Legalism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Magic Formulas: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Answers to Everything: The Truth,The Trap, The Solution
Scripture Twisting: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Superstition: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Elitism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Further posts to come in this series:The Need to See: The Trap, The Solution
Conclusion

Thoughts at Christmas

Many apologies for not posting - I took on rather a lot of crafting for Christmas - but my New Year's resolution is already made, to pay more attention to my blogs. In the mean time, here are some thoughts I got from a dear friend a few years ago.

A Special Invitation to a Christmas Party

You are cordially invited to A BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION!
Guest of Honour: Jesus Christ
Date: Every day. Traditionally December 25th, but he's always around, so the date is flexible...
Time: Whenever you're ready (Please don't be late, though, or you'll miss out on all the fun!)
Place: In your heart... He'll meet you there (You'll hear him knock)

Attire: Come as you are... grubbies are okay. He'll be washing our clothes anyway. He said something about new white robes and crowns for everyone who stays till the last.

Tickets: Admission is free. He's already paid for everyone... (He says you wouldn't be able to afford it anyway... It cost Him everything He had. But you do need to accept the ticket!)

Refreshments: New wine, bread, and a far-out drink He calls 'Living Water,' followed by a supper that promises to be out of this world!

Gift Suggestions: Your life. He's one of those people who already has everything else. (He's very generous in return though. Just wait until you see what He has for you!)

Entertainment: Joy, Peace, Truth, Light, Life, Love, Real Happiness, Communion with God, Forgiveness, Eternity in Paradise, Contentment, and much more! (Bring your family and friends)

R.S.V.P. Very Important!
He must know ahead so He can reserve a spot for you at His table. Also He's keeping a list of His friends for future reference. He calls it the 'Lamb's Book of Life.'

Party being given by His kids (that's us!). Hope to see you there!

How Did That Get Pubished?

Here, for your amusement, are some examples from an article in Writing Magazine, December 2009. Howlers and blunders that should never have made it into print. Presumably to spare their blushes, the quotes are not attributed by author or book.

'The old man opened his eyes metaphorically.'

'Don's eyelids fell shut with a silent thud.'

'Penny was a rain cloud. Lightning flashed over her office desk as she rained all over her paperwork. As Ross drew closer, he could make out her features, hidden within the swirling cumulonumbus. Obviously, he had come on a bad day.'

'Embarrassment is something I can feel in my flesh, like a handful of sun-warmed mud clapped on my head... The embarrassment had turned runny. It was horrifying my scalp along a spreading frontier.'

'My face drew back from my skull as if I were vomiting and tears ran from my eyes like blood from gashes. I was sad -'

'Tom looked up and saw the deep blackness that was space. "It's like looking into a mirror, Roger," he breathed in awe. "Only there isn't any other side - no reflection."'

'I was wondering if we could find some cloud of dust to anchor to ...'

But of all the awful description, here is my favourite. All you writers out there, take note:

'The things were odd, weird, grotesque. There was something horribly uncustomary and unwonted about them. They were completely unfamiliar. Their appearance was outlandish and extraordinary. There was something quite phenomenal about them. They were supernormal; they were unparalleled; they were unexampled. The shape of the aliens was singular in every sense. They were curious, odd, queer, peculiar and fantastic, and yet when every adjective had been used on them, when every preternatural epithet had been applied to their aberrant and freakish appearance, when everything that could be said about such eccentric, exceptional, anomalous creatures had been said, they still remained indescribable in any concrete terms.'
Yes, but what did they look like?

Blinded by the Light 19 Elitism - The Solution

Firstly, my apologies for the delay in posting the last part on Elitism. So much has been happening that I completely forgot about it (see my other blog, The Grey Lady of Oystermouth). There is another topic - The Need to See, and the conclusion to the whole series to come, so I promise to post those more often. Here is the solution for Elitism.

The Bible teaches us that all Christians have the Spirit.

For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body ... and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Cor.12:13)

Indeed, it is the Spirit which lives in us which makes us Christians.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. (Rom.8:9)

The problem is that so many Christians do not know the overwhelming power of the Spirit manifest in their lives, and when they experience it, they feel as if they never had the Spirit before. Michael Green quotes from the Catholic writer Fr. Killian McDonnell, O.S.B.:

Hence, many prefer to use other expressions to describe what is happening in the charismatic renewal. Among other alternatives which have been proposed are: "release of the Spirit", "renewal of the sacraments of initiation", "actualisation of gifts already received in potentiality", and "a manifestation of baptism, whereby the hidden grace given in baptism breaks through into conscious experience". These are all ways of saying that the power of the Holy Spirit, given in Christian initiation, but hitherto unexperienced, becomes a matter of personal conscious experience.
(I Believe in the Holy Spirit, Michael Green, pp.176-7)

We should not be satisfied with a low level of spirituality, and should encourage all to allow God to release them into deeper experiences. We must ensure that Christian initiation is the full New Testament concept, including "the water and the Spirit" (John 3:5). But let us not divide the church and accuse others of not being Christians because they are not experiencing the fullness of what God has for them.

Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Cor.4:6b-7)

In the same way, Christians with different worship styles or dress codes must look beyond the superficial and welcome one another as brothers in Christ.

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! (1 Cor.10:12)

When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honour ... But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honoured in the presence of all your fellow guests. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Luke 14:8-11)

Previous posts in this series:
Introduction
Legalism: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Magic Formulas: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Answers to Everything: The Truth,The Trap, The Solution
Scripture Twisting: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Superstition: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Elitism: The Truth, The Trap
Further posts to come in this series:
The Need to See: The Truth, The Trap, The Solution
Conclusion