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Posts Tagged ‘Holy Spirit’

Tipping Point of Humanity

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 21, 2011| Leave a Comment »

I struggled today with the “lawless one,” false signs and miracles and, to cap it off, God willing to send a delusion to those who are determined to believe a lie. No way out for them? No hope? No mercy? Then I saw the truth of it: a tipping point exists for everyone.

II Thessalonians 2:11-12
For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point is one of my favorite books, along with a number of subsequent titles he wrote since 2000. What or who causes a tipping point? In Gladwell’s frame of reference, it has to do with “social epidemics” or how an idea or trend gains and ultimately crosses over into popularity.

I can imagine the “lawless one” being good at any one or all of Gladwell’s people types: connectors, mavens, and salesmen. Charismatic people, in the classic sense, make things happen as they scatter what they “know” and what they’ve “heard” and what is “cool.” And eventually, many are on the same bandwagon and believe.

What is truth and what is the lie? It is a critical question to put before the Holy Spirit daily.

Once that tipping point is reached and the lies are accepted for truth and doubt is cast aside as irrelevant and perhaps irreverent, then it’s possible that a way back is lost.

I don’t want to believe this is possible. I don’t want to believe or imagine the existence of an irredeemable soul.

According to Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, it is possible to reach that moment, that decisive juncture. I envisage someone backing up and with each step, getting closer and closer to a precipice. If any one of us can see the chasm, then we should be holding on, calling out, wooing him/her back to safety. Right?

Does such a calamitous journey only happen with individuals or does it also happen with people groups? I don’t know. I’m just asking. But it does seem plausible.

I cry out for truth, that none would be deceived, that none would be lost. This is another reason to prayerfully “hold back evil” so that each and every person has a real chance to experience God’s mercy, God’s provision in the Anointed One, and God’s Spirit of renewal from within.

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Glorified in the People

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 18, 2011| 1 Comment »

Photo by Marc Adamus

This is another one of the “in” phrases that really strikes hard on my heart. IN! On the inside! And that inside glory will manifest. And that’s amazing. I believe it. Jesus had that “in” stuff and that would make the most sense as to why people were drawn to Him. Light, love and glory.

II Thessalonians 1:10
When He comes to be glorified in His saints [on that day He will be made more glorious in His consecrated people], and [He will] be marveled at and admired [in His glory reflected] in all who have believed [who have adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Him], because our witnessing among you was confidently accepted and believed [and confirmed in your lives]. [Amplified]

One of my favorite signs in American Sign Language is glory. One hand lies on top of the other and then is arced across the body with the fingers waving. It’s like a shimmering rainbow. I imagine that coming out of my own body one day.

I confess this is one of the reasons why I love reading fantasy fiction, stuff like that happens. Magic and wonder and light and transformation are commonplace. But things of the Spirit are no less fantastic and full of marvel. We’ve lost that in our faith. We’re all about justifying our faith, getting it to make sense, trying to convince others that God is real and Christ really did all those miracles, etc.

I’m all about the wonder right now and I’m all about the presence of the Holy Spirit within. And one day, there will be an outpouring of light from within.

That’s the “mark” I want everyone to see. People get entangled in their fears of the “mark of the beast” and forget about the other signs and wonders. What will the glory look like in me. . . in you?

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Contempt for the Prophetic?

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on February 15, 2011| 3 Comments »

In today’s world, unless one participates in a charismatic denomination, the idea of the prophetic smacks of the National Enquirer. So, if most people don’t believe in prophecy, isn’t that already contempt? How does a prophet gain credibility?

I Thessalonians 5:20-22
. . . do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.

Actually, the scriptures speak of the importance of testing what is said by a prophet. All the way back in the Old Testament, it was written, “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.” [Deut 18:22a] This appears to be a straightforward test of a prophecy, if it comes to pass, it’s a true prophecy. Of course, that doesn’t help much in the moment, when a prophecy is uttered.

It’s hard to know, actually. I have experienced a kind of fluttering within my personal spirit upon occasion, a sense of truth being spoken, a type of corroboration or affirmation. But, that’s certainly less than definitive. And so, if the prophecy is important, it’s reasonable to consider putting the words to the test.

But I will say right here, testing a prophecy is about as effective as trusting internal flutterings alone. Oh, I suppose one could compare the prophecy to what is already known and determine if it’s sound and grounded in truth. However, it’s in my mind that a genuine prophecy is outside the normal range of reason. Otherwise, it would just be something the smart folks around us could figure out, they’d be able to predict. You know, those people who love statistics and computers, our weathermen and futurists.

Perhaps the key word here is not the test but the attitude? A prophetic utterance viewed with contempt will rarely find root.

I did check the Greek, as best I am able, and there is a some confusion as to whether the “testing” phrase is about the prophecies or about everything else, that is determining what is good and right vs. what is not. So, perhaps we aren’t supposed to test prophecies alone, but test the world around us.

Others will say that prophecies are not merely predictive, but rather some type of “edification or encouragement.” I think that’s pretty lame. There’s not much danger in doing that, is there? What is there to disregard or disdain?

No, I think it’s all the phrases [20-22] together that have meaning: I cannot hear truth of any kind if I have closed myself off through contempt, either for the speaker or the message. If I have made a decision before the time, then there is no possibility I will hear anything new. In other words, “we hear what we want to hear.”

Also, once we have heard something (anything), we shouldn’t act or react immediately, but let it settle inside. Some testing can be done by comparing the message with what is known, but for what is unknown, it takes a united exploration of those words and ideas with the Holy Spirit. And finally, out of everything spoken, we must hold fast to “good” and truth: once we accept the truth of a prophecy, then we must not let it go. From there comes strength to “avoid evil.”

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Spirit Quenching

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on February 13, 2011| 2 Comments »

If we are told to NOT quench the Spirit, then it must be possible. We must lean toward quenching on occasion or maybe more often than that. Apparently, it’s a concern. It requires adjustment. It’s a call for change. Or simply: stop doing it!

I Thessalonians 5:19
Do not quench the Spirit. [NIV]
Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; [Amplified]

When I finished my most recent fast in November, I became aware of my ongoing struggle with “grieving the Holy Spirit” and how my behaviors and my choices were interfering with the free flow of that Spirit within.

Quenching that same Spirit, is just another way of saying the same thing. It’s putting out the fire. It’s extinguishing, choking off, and dampening the passion. It’s pulling back.

Here’s one problem I can see happening with this directive. Some people don’t recognize the Holy Spirit in their lives and therefore, don’t even realize they’re in the quenching business. It’s hard to “stop” doing something if one doesn’t realize what that might look like. Have I? Have I, in my haste to move on to the next thing, to go for the feeling, or whatever, have I actually drowned the still small voice?

A friend told me of a small group of women who meet regularly for “the wait.” They don’t plan what happens, they wait. They don’t necessarily sing or shout or pray out loud, they don’t seek a miracle or a sign, they respond. They listen first. They wait and then they share what they have heard with one another. They are putting a firebrand to the embers. They are kindling the fire.

“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of us your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love. . . ”

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Wrath of Night

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Here’s what I’m thinking about Paul’s references to day and night: it’s not literally day or night that is the issue, but light and darkness. Light can overcome darkness. But darkness can also mean lack of awareness, disconnectedness, isolation, and blindness. It is a personal spirit asleep.

I Thessalonians 5:5, 6a, 7a, 8a, 9
You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. . . . So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, . . . For those who sleep, sleep at night, . . . But since we belong to the day, . . . For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Being asleep in this way is a type of wrath, it’s a loss, a handicap to full living.

How often have I chastised my teens for sleeping away the day. For me, it’s time wasted, time lost to an unconscious activity. Oh, I know, that many good things come from sleep and the body and mind both need this time of recovery. But, there is the long sleep, the running away from life sleeping, the disengagement. And just as people sleep overly much when depressed, so can the personal spirit sleep. John Sandford calls it a “slumbering spirit.”

As believers, followers of the Christ, we are supposed to be awake. We are encouraged to be awake. We are expected to be awake and to operate in the Light.

Unfortunately, even believers can be asleep in the spirit.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” [John 14:12]

Gotta be awake to do any of the things that Christ did. Gotta be in the Light. Gotta be transparent. Anything else is living in the wrath of night.

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In Christ: Dead or Alive

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

In love, in Christ, in trouble, in the weeds, in style, and so on; the preposition “in” has many meanings, but the first one is about inclusion, whether in concrete or abstract terms. And the crux of Paul’s message is about our inclusion in Christ and what that means, in life as well as in death.

I Thessalonians 4:13, 16b-17
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. . . . the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

It’s really the whole point, isn’t it? Some people still think that following one’s belief is merely an attitude or determination to live a better life, to manifest love, kindness, honesty, sincerity along with a number of other behavioral metamorphoses.

I am not discounting this interpretation since transformation is part of the process. But I am also interested in the idea of being included in the Spirit world by my relationship with the Christ. Of late, I have been intrigued by the import of the Holy Spirit “in” me, but today, I am captivated by my presence “in” Christ. It is some kind of mutual inclusion. The biggest difference is that the presence in me is holy and pure and working toward cleansing that which is impure within me while Christ takes my “me” into Self as is and acts as a covering for me, like a mama kangaroo who carries her young in a pouch until the little joey is ready.

Being in Christ is a permanent arrangement, not unlike the traditional marriage vow: “. . . to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.” But the difference is that death does not “do us part.” We remain “in” each other even then; that’s the promise. It’s a spirit thing, not corporal.

Being of, for, and in Christ, is not just following some teachings, writings, or interpretations by people throughout the ages. It’s an interior experience above all. And that is where it all counts the most.

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Why I Need A Strong Heart

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 1, 2011| 2 Comments »

Quilt by Dee Mallon

Paul speaks a specific blessing on the Thessalonians: a strong heart and so much love that it overflows on everyone. Now there’s a blessing I can embrace. But heart strength must accompany love, because loving others is not easy–it’s not just Valentine roses and chocolates.

I Thessalonians 3:12-13a
May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts . . . [NIV 2011]

Oh, this thing called love. It’s one of the most powerful aspects of God and yet, it’s the least understood or exercised. It’s become a word of hippies and lovers, cupids and cartoons instead of a force that can rock a people, even a nation. It’s the ultimate expression of paradox.

Love poured out on us from God is capable of healing and renewing hope for others. If I could operate in that anointed love, I could live a I Corinthians 13 life.

Love never fails.

If love is the action, then the heart is the container where love is rooted within and married to the Holy Spirit. The heart must be strong to endure rejection, hatred, anger, abandonment, prejudice, lies, and ignorance. The heart must be flexible, sometimes a fortress and sometimes a cloud. The heart can have doors but they cannot be locked. The heart must be a sponge and a drum. Sometimes, the heart must be a mirror and at other times, a vacuum. The heart, blessed by God, is a micro-universe, always expanding to make room for more love.

Keep me mindful this day of my heart and the hearts of others, that love would flow, overflow, and become a river, undaunted, ever changing, and reaching into the depths of those dry places.

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