Tag: faith

The Spirit of Faith, Not Fear (Romans 8:14-17)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Come Holy Spirit, by Ed de Guzman, 2014

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. (New International Version)

The distinguishing mark of the believer in Jesus Christ is the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the sine qua non – the indispensable and most essential element – of the Christian life.

Christians are spiritual people, that is, people of the Spirit. Christianity is a religion dependent upon spiritual resources for life and godliness.

There is nothing more practical, beneficial, and enjoyable than the application of biblical truth to our lives each and every day.  

The Spirit’s work is to point us to Christ. The application of biblical truth is an experience of getting to know Jesus Christ better, and becoming ever more aware and involved with God. This involvement, characterized by faith, hope, and love, increasingly transforms every area of the Christian’s character and life. And it is the Spirit who helps us do it.

It is not God’s will that we fail in living the Christian life by succumbing to fear.  

Rather, it is God’s intention that believers have a robust faith which sings with gusto, connects meaningfully and vulnerably with other Christians, and a boldness to embody the good news of grace and forgiveness in Christ. To love God, and love the world, is to have a life of faith, not fear.

The successful Christian life is characterized by:

  • Experiencing inner transformation through suffering
  • Enjoying ministry and worship with others
  • Progressive deliverance from the power of sin
  • Continual enablement to live a holy life
  • Being an effective witness to the person and work of Jesus

Living this kind of life keeps believers from yielding to temptation. Life in the Spirit motivates us to read the Bible and pray; and to live above criticism and pretense.

The spiritual life helps others discern and understand what Christianity is all about. And, perhaps most importantly, life in the Spirit glorifies God, because we are then reflecting the joy and beauty of the Lord in all we do and say.

So, why don’t more Christians experience this kind of life-giving knowledge and joy? 

It is possible, even with the best of intentions in living a faithful and spiritually rich life, to be stonewalled or crippled with fear and anxiety. And in our fearful state, we almost always produce incorrect actions. These mistakes end up becoming barriers to living an enjoyable and productive Christian life. 

Here are just a few of the fearful and/or erroneous statements I have heard as a pastor over the years:

  1. It’s the pastor’s job to do all that stuff (as if parishioners can live vicariously through their pastor and not have to face their fears of failure)
  2. I don’t need to be a part of a church (as if it’s optional for Christians; and as if I can do it myself)
  3. I don’t like reading (as if this gets us off the hook to personally learn Holy Scripture)
  4. I think (or feel) _____ (as if my thoughts and opinions are the final authority concerning what I should do or not do).
  5. That’s nice advice (as if what is heard in a sermon or read in the Bible does not really need to be followed)
  6. God will lead people to Jesus (as if I have no responsibility for involvement with unbelievers)
  7. I sincerely believe ______ (as if sincerity makes something true)
  8. If I can’t do it 100% I won’t do it at all (as if service depends on my effort, and not on the Spirit’s power)
  9. I might screw it up; others can do it better than me (as if the word “grace” doesn’t exist in Christianity)
  10. That might work for you, but it doesn’t work for me (as if certain people are exceptions to the a spiritually successful life)

      What might you add to this list? 

      What are some of the hindrances which keep you from enjoying the Lord and living in faith?  

Fear disconnects us from the God of grace, that is, unless we acknowledge we are afraid and drink deeply from the fount of Scripture, letting the Holy Spirit be our divine mentor in leading us to Jesus, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.
Look to him, and be radiant,
    so your faces shall never be ashamed. (Psalm 34:4-5, NRSV)

Mighty and merciful God, I humble myself before you, trusting that you shall exalt me in due time. Therefore, I cast all my anxiety on you because you care for me. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all your people, along with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. And may you conspire within yourself – Father, Son, and Spirit – to alleviate our fears and bolster our faith. Amen.

Living Into a New Story (Deuteronomy 5:22-33)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Moses, by Rae Chichilnitsky

“These are the commandments the Lord gave to all of you when you were gathered at the mountain. When he spoke with a mighty voice from the fire and from the thick clouds, he gave these commandments and no others. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

“When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me and said, ‘The Lord our God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for people to continue to live, even though God has spoken to them. But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear the Lord our God speak again. Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire? Go back, Moses, and listen to everything that the Lord our God says. Then return and tell us what he said to you. We will listen and obey.’

“When the Lord heard this, he said to me, ‘I have heard what these people said, and they are right. If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever. Go and tell them to return to their tents. But you, Moses, stay here with me, and I will give you all my laws and commands. Teach them to the people, so that they will obey them in the land that I am giving them.’

“People of Israel, be sure that you do everything that the Lord your God has commanded you. Do not disobey any of his laws. Obey them all, so that everything will go well with you and so that you will continue to live in the land that you are going to occupy. (Good News Translation)

The people were at the cusp of entering the Promised Land. They had experienced four hundred years of slavery; deliverance from Egyptian bondage; and forty years of wandering around the desert with no permanent home. Now, Moses gathers everyone together and restates God’s Law for a new generation about to realize God’s promise.

In today’s Old Testament lesson, Moses recalls his experience of receiving the two stone tablets, known to many as the Ten Commandments. Moses does this because he does not want this new generation of Israelites to be like their parents and grandparents – who experienced a failure of faith, resulting in their sojourn in the wilderness.

Obedience to God and all of God’s commands is central to a life of faith.

For that obedience to happen, all obstacles must be removed so that we can have an unhindered path in living the way we want to live. The Israelites were in slavery four hundred years. They needed a new story, which meant changing the old one. The people could participate with God by doing the following:

  1. Accept their wounded past of slavery. We cannot let something go and die without acknowledging it and having full acceptance that it happened.
  2. Don’t accept the limitations others put on us. The Israelites were slaves for so long that the Egyptians would have liked them to believe that’s all they could ever be. But the reality is that they are the people of God, meant for infinitely more than bondage.
  3. Trust the process of moving out of one story and into another. And it will take time. Forty years of wandering the desert helped the people wrap their minds and hearts around new possibilities.
  4. Take charge of your life by being a full participant in what the Lord is doing. Acting apart from God is pride. Failing to act is a lack of faith. But a divine/human participation knows what God does and what human responsibility is.
  5. Embrace all the emotions that go with what’s happening. Old ways often die hard. It didn’t take long after leaving Egypt for the people to long for the garlic and leeks of their former life. Holding and sitting with our feelings is an important piece of embracing a new story.
  6. Pay attention to constructing a soul which can serve you for a lifetime by taking initiative and action, reflecting on experiences, and living the insights gained.
  7. Discover new sources of growth and development for your new story and the next chapter of life. The same sources and resources which got you to this point may not be the same ones that will carry you on.

Moving through this liminal space enables us to obey God in new and fresh ways for the future. Obedience itself is not the hard thing; its ensuring a solid theological ground to stand on that is free of spiritual impediments that can hinder our faith.

Spiritual growth implies movement and change. This is necessary in order for the strengthening of faith. In allowing God’s commands and God’s sovereignty to have their way within us, we purposely engraft what’s needed for a lifetime of faith, hope, and love.

Glorious and sovereign God, give us your Spirit, so that we will be wise in how we live our lives. Help us to know you better through all of the experiences and learning we acquire in this life.

May our minds be opened to see your light, so that you will know the hope to which you have called us; and how rich are the wonderful blessings you promise us.

Grant us your strength so that we might remove every obstacle to faith. That spiritual power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which you used when raising Christ from death and exalting him above all things. Amen.

A (Needed) Perspective on the Christian Life (Acts 27:39-44)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Paul’s Shipwreck, by Ludolf Backhuysen (1630–1708)

When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach, where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach. But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul’s life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely. (New International Version)

Saul was an up and rising star among the Jewish Pharisees. He was committed to his religion to the point of approving the death of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. Saul saw followers of Jesus as an aberration to Judaism, and did whatever he could to stamp out the sect.

During one of his travels to do just that, he was confronted by a vision of Christ himself, who said to Saul, “Why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4-5) For days Saul was blind, mimicking his spiritual blindness. Both his physical and spiritual eyesight were restored when he came to faith in Christ and began following the words and ways of Jesus. His name changed from Saul to Paul the Apostle.

Paul’s conversion was a complete transformation of life. Yet, this in no way meant that the rest of his life was all rainbows and butterflies. Just the opposite. Saul the Persecutor ended up becoming Paul the Persecuted One.

With the same drive and desire that he once had to do away with Christians altogether, so now the Apostle Paul put all that energy into proclaiming the good news of grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ his Savior and Lord. And, as one might expect, this put Paul in the crosshairs of his former partners, the Jewish Pharisaical leadership. They now despised Paul.

The Jewish religious authorities hated Paul so much that they made sure to stir up trouble for him everywhere he went, even when it was way out in the Gentile sticks of Galatia and the Gentile strongholds of Greece. And that is essentially why Paul landed in prison. He was portrayed as a rebel and a troublemaker, an enemy of the social order (even though Paul himself was actually a citizen of Rome).

As a Roman citizen, Paul invoked his right to appeal to Caesar. And so, he was put on a Roman prison ship, bound from Palestine to Italy. And that is where we pick up today’s New Testament lesson.

Paul had been through an awful lot of adversity, hardship, and persecution. His faith had become so robust that a terrible storm and a shipwreck could not at all wreck his commitment to Christ. In fact, it only strengthened it.

It’s not always easy to see, but Paul’s words to the Roman Christians are true, even for us today:

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

The Apostle Paul (Romans 8:28, NLT)

This is an understanding of God, a deep theological perspective, which is informed by years of walking with Jesus in the crucible of suffering and difficulty. It discerns the Lord as caring and loving, even when it appears on the surface that God is mean and capricious.

Many Christians today tend to believe that the redemption which Christ secured is a mere life insurance policy for heaven. And, if it has anything to do with the here-and-now, it means we ought to have all our desires met for earthly peace and abundance. If that were true, both Jesus and Paul were miserable failures as godly people.

God, however, cares about our salvation, our wholeness and integrity as people on this earth. Yes, we have eternal life, yet that life has already begun, and we are to live into it now.

Christianity is a paradoxical faith. The way to gain your life is to lose it. The path to glory is through suffering.

This, my friends, means that we do not gain a good and blessed life by attempting to make everything in life go our way, without any difficulty. Instead, the good life comes by acknowledging the grit and grist of life. It is in the full acceptance of suffering, persecution, illness, death, and our own psychological infirmities that leads us into becoming who God wants us to be – and thus more open to what joy really is.

On the practical level, this means that our failures, our missed expectations, and our dashed hopes are very important pieces to our faith and it’s development. All of this is what awakens us to compassion – both for others and ourselves.

So then, Paul’s perspective on all the difficulties in his life is that they are significant spiritual incubators of faith for him. Paul accepted his sufferings and hardships – and more than that – he valued them for the ways they developed his faith in God and ability to minister to others.

As one old Rabbi once put it:

“There are many rooms in God’s castle. There is, however, one key that opens every room, and that key is a broken heart.”

Ba’al Shem Tov (1698-1760)

Sovereign God, let our love be genuine; help us to hate what is evil, and to hold on to what is good; and empower us to love one another with mutual affection. Strengthen our spirits so that we might serve our Lord Jesus. With you as our faith, we choose to rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; and persevere in prayer, by means of your blessed Holy Spirit. Amen.

Faith, Hope, and Love (Acts 27:13-38)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

When a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity; so they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called the Northeaster, swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along. 

As we passed to the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure, so the men hoisted it aboard. Then they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Because they were afraid they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along. 

We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.

After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

On the fourteenth night we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight the sailors sensed they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was a hundred and twenty feet deep. A short time later they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. 

Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat and let it drift away.

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Altogether there were 276 of us on board. When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea. (New International Version)

An engraving of the Roman prison ship, by Henry Adlard (1799-1893)

Keeping your courage in the face of an intense stressor is more than challenging. Yet, the Apostle Paul did it. Not only that, but he also had the wherewithal to help keep up the spirits of the people around him – even though he was on a prison ship in the middle of storm.

How did Paul do it? How did he remain encouraged himself, while also encouraging others? What’s the answer? Three words which are essential to the Christian life: faith, hope, and love.

Every believer knows from experience how difficult it is to practice these in daily life, especially the crucible of multiple stressors. One reason it’s so doggone hard, even when we want to please the Lord, is due to the confusion between our inner feelings and our outer actions. Yet once we understand the incongruence, and how to evaluate our inner experience, then it’s a whole lot easier to make daily decisions of faith, hope, and love.

In the beginning God created humans in the divine image. Humanity’s relationship to God was central to daily life (Genesis 1:26; 2:16-25). And God created people with the capacity to interact with the divine through our ability to think and reason. (Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10)

Before there were broken relationships between Creator and creature, our original ancestors had complete self-control, along with unity and harmony between one another and God. (Genesis 1:31; 2:7, 16-25). 

It’s vital for us to recognize the distinction between human being and human doing; there’s a difference in who we are and what we do. (Romans 1:21-32; 6:16-22; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Ephesians 4:21-32)

And if we fail to grasp this distinction, we’re going to have some big stress in living as Christians.

In Adam and Eve’s disobedience toward God, humanity took on its own authority, and started making decisions independent of God. In other words, the source of authority switched, and we began relying upon ourselves.

The problem with this is that our brokenness has left us in disparate parts, badly in need of integration. The fall of humanity compromised our integrity, and so, we have a messed up sense of what to do, how to feel, and how and what to think.

This is why rational people do irrational things, and why fear, stress, and anxiety rule so much of our lives. Many a church pastor, not understanding this dynamic, is forever frustrated and flabbergasted that parishioners do not simply take what has been taught them, and go do it. (If it were that simple there would be no place for the Holy Spirit!)

There’s more. In our fallen state, we lost control of our capacity to function well – and are now vulnerable to manipulation from others, and from Satan. (Ephesians 2:2-3; Galatians 5:16-21)

As a result, our inner conscience has become confused. We are not always certain of right and wrong, or what needs to happen whenever we’re distressed. We end up misunderstanding what life is really supposed to be about. We’re disconnected from our original source of faith, hope, and love.

However, the good news of Christianity is that through the redeeming work of Jesus, and a new birth, the bondage of shame and disconnection is reinstated. God once again becomes central to daily life. The Lord’s gracious authority is restored.

In this renewed relationship, we can again receive truth through the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures. Our daily practical experience of this relationship brings freedom, joy, assurance, peace, and self-control. Yet, even though one is redeemed by Jesus Christ and believes in him, it is still possible to regress into conflict, doubt, fear, anxiety, frustration, disappointment, and confusion. (Romans 7:14-25; 1 Corinthians 3:1-4)

We must, therefore, make daily decisions of faith, hope, and love based in our identity as God’s image-bearers:

  • Recognize you have the ability to function in faith, hope, and love as God’s beloved child.(2 Corinthians 7:1; Romans 8:14-17)
  • Understand the difference between your being and doing. Evil thoughts and emotions do not make you evil. What you do with your feelings and thoughts is what’s vital. (See how Jesus handled this in Matthew 4:1-11).
  • Know that you can take charge of your thoughts, feelings, and actions. (Galatians 5:22-23)
  • Know also that you can reject whatever is harmful and out of sync with your basic identity. (Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:5-9; Titus 2:11-12)
  • Respond to God and God’s Word by daily obedience. Learn to think and act on the basis of truth. (Acts 27:25)
  • Discern that practicing the truth will result in freedom, and a re-patterning of thinking and functioning. (John 8:32; Titus 2:11-14; Philippians 2:12-16)

Supportive communities help one another live into shared values and commitments. Faith, hope, and love exists and grows in the context of community.

Paul had faith by believing what he heard; hope by looking ahead to the end of God’s promise; and love by reaching out to his fellow prisoners and the ship’s crew. Whereas stress moved to distress for most on the ship, Paul found strength, within that same stress, by practicing faith, hope, and love.

Almighty God, give us true faith, and make that faith grow in us day by day. Also give us hope and love, so that we may serve our neighbors according to your will; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.