I'm convinced that most of the stress we experience in our lives is from trying to live primarily out of our heads rather than out of our spirits, which is the true core of our being. People were not designed to live according to their own finite understanding, and it's exhausing when we try to do so. Decisions that continually come from own limited knowledge will often be flawed and take us in the wrong direction.
All this means that we tend to live stressed out lives trying to fix the messes we've gotten into or figuring out how to stay out of them in the first place!
Unfortunately, I've been schooled very proficiently in figuring things out and relying on my own understanding. If I were to draw a picture comparing the strength and size of my mind and my spirit, my mind would be grossly out of proportion to everything else because it gets so much exercise! It goes and goes and goes, like the Energizer Bunny, and only gets a break when I fall asleep.
On the other hand, my spirit doesn't get nearly as much exercise in a typical day. The Holy Spirit brought this thought to my attention recently, and I was faced with this startling fact: As a new creation in Christ, with my heart indwelt by the Holy Spirit, my spirit contains limitless resources to draw on. Why would I rely so much on my limited understanding and ignore the riches of wisdom residing within me?
Only because I would have to admit I don't know how to access that knowledge consistently. How can I exercise my spirit so I will rely on it more often rather than relying on my own thinking?
Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit is our Helper, so when I feel stumped, that's the Person I go to for help. The answer I got was a simple instruction that anyone can do and which can easily fit into any person's schedule. God is so practical!
Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. (Psalm 1:1-3 NLT; see also Joshua 1:8)
God's instructions are to meditate on His Word as much as possible, and the promise is to prosper in all that I do. Meditation is not memorizing Scripture or having Bible study. It's not prayer, as good as all of those spiritual disciplines are. It can best be described as savoring the Word of God -- chewing a small piece of it slowly and getting all of the nutrition and nourishment and taste out of it as possible. Just as someone can savor and enjoy a fine wine or a delectable dessert, you can savor and get the most out of what God wants to speak to you each day and make it personally nourshing to you.
I don't want to give you a formula, but I will share how this exercise works for me. In the morning after first awakening, I get into a comfortable position and close my eyes. (Best to do this after being well rested!) I ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to speak to me from His word. I quiet my mind and look inside my heart ... and wait. Before too long, words will float up to my mind. Sometimes they will be a verse I've read -- even from a long time ago -- or sometimes just a phrase.
I repeat those words to myself several times, letting them roll around in my heart. I am not trying to analyze them or memorize them (that takes too much brain power), just let them say what they need to say to me. During this time I feel as though the Holy Spirit and I are sharing a secret. He is imparting to me things on His heart about the Word of God that He knows I will need for my journey. It is a relaxing time with Him. There is no pressure to perform, no goal I have to meet. My mind gets a much-needed rest, and I can feel my spirit being exercised and gaining strength through use.
It's the easiest, most pain-free, exercise I've ever done!
Throughout the day, when my mind is free from other things, such as when I am driving, I let my thoughts return to those words. I find it helpful to write them down in a journal to refer to them again. Sometimes I will look up what some of the words mean in the original language in order to get more "food" to meditate on (this is easy to do using internet tools, such as Strong's Concordance). Before I fall asleep at night, I try to repeat my exercise of the morning with these same words from heaven. It's a wonderful way to fall asleep in peace!
If you have ever gone without food for an extended time and then eaten a delicious meal, you will get an idea of the satisfaction that this type of spiritual exercise brings. For someone who has overworked her brain for so many years, it is a much needed rest that has brought a new level of peace and serenity to my life.
Isn't it just like our loving Father to make spiritual exercise an absolutely delightful experience?
During the next few weeks, I'll share some verses that I have been meditating on and some of the nourishment I have received while doing so. I invite you to join me. My prayer is that you will begin asking the Holy Spirit how you can meditate in God's Word and enjoy these benefits for yourself!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Without a Doubt
Ever hear the saying, "Doubt and go without"?
I think that Jesus originated that saying. You might recognize it better in context. He said in Mark's Gospel, chapter 11, after cursing the fig tree. "Have faith in God!"
Then:
"I can guarantee this truth: This is what will be done for someone who doesn’t doubt but believes what he says will happen: He can say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will be done for him. That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours."
A promise that even mountains will obey my words -- wow! That sounds too good to be true. There must be a catch.
There isn't a catch, but for many years, the part of Jesus' words that tripped me up was what He said about doubt. Anytime I tried to believe God's promises and then later experienced thoughts of doubt and fear in my mind, I thought I had lost my faith and gave up on my request. It was discouraging because it seemed I couldn't keep those doubtful thoughts from coming, so I always had to keep starting over in my petitions to God.
But that is not what Jesus is saying. Another passage about doubt in the book of James (chapter 1) is helpful. James defines doubt as wavering back and forth between two decisions instead of staying fixed on one direction. If you started down a path toward your destination, and then halfway along decided to stop or turn around and go back the way you came, you would never get to where you're supposed to be going.
That's what happens when we start out believing God and then allow doubt to derail us.
The opposite of wavering, then, is to be focused on your goal with determination. Faith means to stay the course, no matter what it looks like, seems like or feels like. It's up to us whether we decide to keep going forward or not.
When it comes to impossibilities happening in our lives, that resolute path means we keep going in the same direction as what we first affirmed, both with our words and our actions. The way we talk and the way we act should be aligned with what we say we believe. Our emotions may be screaming, "It's not working! God didn't hear you!" Our will may want to give up the fight. Our minds may be full of questions. It doesn't matter. We can say, like the Apostle Paul, "None of these things move me." We can focus instead on what God has promised, knowing that He cannot lie, and continue to move in the direction we started without giving up or letting go.
Faith and doubt, then, are not so much uncontrollable feelings as they are attitudes inside us that determine if we will keep going or if we will draw back.
If we stay on the path of our belief in God's goodness and His promises, eventually those things that we continue to say will come into existence. Our words will be fulfilled.
It cannot be otherwise. Jesus promised.
I think that Jesus originated that saying. You might recognize it better in context. He said in Mark's Gospel, chapter 11, after cursing the fig tree. "Have faith in God!"
Then:
"I can guarantee this truth: This is what will be done for someone who doesn’t doubt but believes what he says will happen: He can say to this mountain, ‘Be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it will be done for him. That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours."
A promise that even mountains will obey my words -- wow! That sounds too good to be true. There must be a catch.
There isn't a catch, but for many years, the part of Jesus' words that tripped me up was what He said about doubt. Anytime I tried to believe God's promises and then later experienced thoughts of doubt and fear in my mind, I thought I had lost my faith and gave up on my request. It was discouraging because it seemed I couldn't keep those doubtful thoughts from coming, so I always had to keep starting over in my petitions to God.
But that is not what Jesus is saying. Another passage about doubt in the book of James (chapter 1) is helpful. James defines doubt as wavering back and forth between two decisions instead of staying fixed on one direction. If you started down a path toward your destination, and then halfway along decided to stop or turn around and go back the way you came, you would never get to where you're supposed to be going.
That's what happens when we start out believing God and then allow doubt to derail us.
The opposite of wavering, then, is to be focused on your goal with determination. Faith means to stay the course, no matter what it looks like, seems like or feels like. It's up to us whether we decide to keep going forward or not.
When it comes to impossibilities happening in our lives, that resolute path means we keep going in the same direction as what we first affirmed, both with our words and our actions. The way we talk and the way we act should be aligned with what we say we believe. Our emotions may be screaming, "It's not working! God didn't hear you!" Our will may want to give up the fight. Our minds may be full of questions. It doesn't matter. We can say, like the Apostle Paul, "None of these things move me." We can focus instead on what God has promised, knowing that He cannot lie, and continue to move in the direction we started without giving up or letting go.
Faith and doubt, then, are not so much uncontrollable feelings as they are attitudes inside us that determine if we will keep going or if we will draw back.
If we stay on the path of our belief in God's goodness and His promises, eventually those things that we continue to say will come into existence. Our words will be fulfilled.
It cannot be otherwise. Jesus promised.
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