The Hunger for the Real God

We all need God; but not the commercialised God; not the TV evangelist God; not the false prophets of God; and, not so much the ‘tweeted’ God. The truth is:

“We don’t like the feeling of being left alone.”

—Ravi Zacharias

Where God makes himself known within each and every person, when they are boiled down to their indivisible parts, when all their anger against God is subdued, and they may speak plainly without need of self-protection, is in the existential basis of life.

When all distractions have decayed away, then the need of God is known.

When we are allowed to focus on our humanity, beneath the veneer and common intrigues of human life deeper than politics and established religion, there is a hunger throbbing in the heart. This is the need of God. And no other way is there but faith to live this road.

When we run without God, denying our innate hunger for direction, meaning and purpose, we inevitably begin to swing like a pendulum between two sardonic and sadistic poles: pride and sensuality.

Choose Your Flavour of Sin – ‘Up’ or ‘Down’

We all waver in sin between both pride and sensuality.

Pride, or more aptly spiritual pride in this class, is a predilection of the ascender; the person who is legalistic and judgmental by nature, and there is a little of that bubbling beneath every Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist. Then there is sensuality; the tendency of the descender. This person cannot stand religion and does not know God because they are blinded to their living need. The ascender has put them off. And into the gods of sensuality they go, denying the substance or identity of their existence.

Self-deification and pantheism are the great problems of this age—of all ages. In all ages we have struggles with either pride or sensuality or both.

A Better Calling – Follow Jesus of the Gospels

People can only be assigned positions over us if we allow that to take place, or if God does it (John 19:11). Likewise, why would we seek to gain an advantage over another in any way, unless by pride or sensuality?

True humanity, though, is not an up-or-down affair; it is truly egalitarian.

There is no emphasis on the ascender or descender. Pride and sensuality, as the foci captivating people, become more irrelevant before the transcendent light of God cast into people’s lives. Where God lives, falsity dies.

What takes the place of pride and sensuality? It is freedom that takes its place; the freedom to worship in Spirit and truth. Then, we may know ourselves as we truly are.

***

There is a great need of God—the one and only, true and living God—amongst all people. Though religion can be more distractive than attractive in our day, there is, and always will be, a great need of direction, meaning, purpose, and hope in people’s lives. Only God can fill that otherwise eternal void.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Be Still, and Know that I Am God

God communicates with each of us in small ways from our waking moments each and every day; in fact, God is communicating to us before that, through our dreams if we will listen.

God says things like, “Start small,” and “Don’t miss this little reminder I am reminding you about many times today—do something about it, now.”

One of my reminders of late has been, “Your pants are getting uncomfortable around your waist, Steve.” “Are you looking after the body I have given you?” I often respond, at this time of year, “It’s winter time; it’s time to sit and be lazy.”

All of this talk—this constant conversation with God—occurs almost unconsciously.

I can pretend that this conversation with God isn’t happening, as we all tend to do, but it won’t change my reality. My reality is my truth, and it does me no good at all to ignore it. I wake up with a certain sensation inside my stomach; it is not hunger—it is worse than hunger. My stomach stills feel full. Did I eat too much last night? Most of the time I don’t even get to ask such questions of myself. Most of the time such questions fly under the radar.

The still, small voice of God, in my everyday, is communicating to me through my mind—through my anxiety—through the things I am refusing to grapple with. A lot of these things are unconscious to me, most of the time, because I have repressed the still, small voice of God. This is what we do: repress God.

If I do nothing with these things, God will continue to communicate, but his voice will appear more silent and hardly audible at all.

I know that God has referred me to this quote, and it has many meanings:

“They who reach down into the depths of life where, in the stillness, the voice of God is heard, have the stabilizing power which carries them poised and serene through the hurricane of difficulties.”

—Spencer W. Kimball

One meaning it has in this context is really quite simple.

The depths of my life, at the mind level, are simple indeed. Cream is bad for me, whilst water is good. When I eat less I feel better. When I keep my mind free, as far as my responsibilities allow, I am more able to hear and appreciate the beauty in the still, small voice of God. When I exercise, or do some things, by activating my body, I feel a little better about myself.

The things of God are really so simple, but we miss them, most times, because our lives are so hurried and big with busyness.

That ancient phrase—“Be still, and know that I am God”—resounds within us. Can we hear it, and, do we listen? It is about peace; but so much more than peace. God is not only seeking to communicate with us, he does communicate with us—but mostly in the tiniest of ways. If we master the art of listening we master our lives. It is up to us. Each day, each moment, is a fresh opportunity.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Living Up to a Higher Calling

The Apostle Paul to the Romans in his theologically pregnant epistle about the believer’s living and dying devotion to achieve the will of God:

“We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

~Romans 14:7-8 (NRSV)

This is a tall order in anyone’s perception. We can go to the strictest Bible teachers, contrasting and considering their exposits with due diligence, and we won’t find a stronger imperative.

Living up to a higher calling is no short order.

We have so much on our plates in living for God that judging (all) others should be a most unfavourable desire indeed.

Beyond All Other Distractions

The plain truth of life is we are often distracted from the tasks of truth and love at hand. We are human after all. Being fallible creatures, forgiven by God’s awesome grace, and sanctified in his name, we have no reason to rely on excuses.

We know we will fail in living up to this higher calling.

But, equally, we strive. We know we have the power of conscious intention, and the possibilities of managing each moment, and that these give us the ability to ascend to this higher calling.

We do not get discouraged by the distractions. Rather, we focus on what is coming—how we might live and die to the Lord. The character of this outlook is a spiritual marvel. In what sounds like a terribly limited philosophy or even a dire existence—to live and die to the Lord—is paradoxically a bigger, better, bolder life. But will we be big enough to live it?

A Most Grounded Ascension

It is easy for learned non-Christians like Jungian analysts to cruel the Christian for not attending to the darkness within his or her sins. The strange truth is, in bearing our crosses, we must fully own the comprehensive truth of our sin, even though we are absolved from the weight of it. Far too many critics of Christians fail to recognise what the Gospel calls the Christian to do, so far as the depth of their commitment in living to a higher calling. They see the worldly Christian representing their God. By this comparison, and not of the Gospel, our Lord is blasphemed.

The Gospel is the standard, not how pious humans live.

If we are to live and die to the Lord we must, more and more often, ascend to the holy standard whilst remaining grounded in the knowledge of our base sinful natures.

We are saved not from our sinful natures, but from the enormous, eternal weight of that sin. Because of our sinful natures we need to live and die to the Lord all the more. Because of the sheer size of our sinful natures, and the depth of God’s grace, we should definitely have no desire to judge other people.

***

When we live for God we become far less interested in judging others than when we are living for ourselves. We cannot live for God and feel justified in judging other people. Living for God is our sole and defining purpose. It’s enough for anyone. There is no room for judgment.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Image Credit: Paul Souders | WorldFoto

God’s Presence In Adversity and Affliction

A Messianic Promise we may draw upon:

“Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it’.”

~Isaiah 30:20-21 (NRSV)

Verse 20 is possibly an example of Scripture that reads less well in English. Maybe the secret is to break it up, and certainly to read it in the context of verses 18-26. But there is much spiritual and practical encouragement we can draw from these two verses above.

“Despite Adversity and Affliction...”

Adversity and affliction are quite personal things. It may be difficult to stomach when we read Scripture like this, which suggests that adversity and affliction are part of our divine designate. Yet we know, by the manner of our lives, that we will have adversity as the bread we eat and affliction as the water we drink. Not that these are actual sustenance. But adversity and affliction do run with us, for better or worse, our entire lives.

And despite this fact we are blessed by the fact of the Teacher’s Spiritual Presence.

Adding these two facts together—our adversity and affliction, together with the Teacher’s Spiritual Presence—and we find cause for resilience; to prosper via thriving. Despite adversity and affliction we can thrive because the Lord (our Teacher) is with us.

We can thrive because having God with us gives us reason for hope during adversity and joy during affliction. We have ways for enduring; that is reason for hope and joy.

“... The Teacher Is with You”

The Teacher is our Saviour. He is behind us, urging us on, even as we endure our adversity and affliction. God is with his holy nation, and each saint who bears the Christ identification.

Wherever we walk, and whatever we do, our Teacher is with us; never to berate us for the things we do wrong; our Lord is for us and never against us; but gently goading us to worship him through the truthful conciliation of our deeds.

Our Teacher is Divine by both reality and mechanism of ministry. Our Teacher dwells within us spiritually, and we are taught as if by a perfect teacher who knows exactly how to encourage us in our adversity and affliction.

Despite any negative schooling experiences, this Teacher of ours is absolutely trustworthy; a Mentor of the Ages.

***

Our Teacher will get us through our bread of adversity and water of affliction. And though life can appear defeating at times, God stands there to remind us—“I AM with you, to the very end of the age!” No matter where we go or what we do, God, our Teacher, is eternally present.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Prayer for God’s Mercy

O Gracious Father of Humanity and All Creation, having failed you once more I sink to my knees knowing my sin and knowing my need of you.

Insight, Lord: Afresh, I have fallen short and have not only sinned against myself, but against you, my God. I have fallen because of my lack of insight, and because I have been deceived again. What is insight without you, Lord? There is no good knowledge that is not yours. Help me to know what is good for me. Give me your Presence through the power of your wisdom. Open the eyes of my heart that I might see you, and want you, and adhere to you. Transform my mind to discern truth.

Save me again, Lord: You sent your Son to die for me, so these despicable places I do see. Had it not been for my salvation I could not see. And having been saved, once and for evermore, I know you will save me again, every time I earnestly seek you. And I seek you now; this very moment; draw me into your holy Presence. Help me to feel the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Courage, Lord: It is difficult for me to be straight with you, because the unconscious shame dwells deeply, and I am a stricken wretch. So I cast myself before you and own even more than my share of sin, if that is possible, just so there would be no barrier between me and you. Save me from self-deceit, and flush out into the light what has long been in darkness. Purge me of long gratuities of vice. Give me the strength to withstand many protective falsities that subsidise my pride. Help me worship you; an exercise in truth.

Refresh my faith, Lord: My faith has taken a hit, and my confidence is shattered. I struggle as I claw up from the ground. My spirit is crushed. But I seek you in faith, to restore my powers of belief. Times as these I forget my successes in living for you. Help me to start again. Help me to reach deeper down into myself, in your name, in redeeming the confidence I have lost.

In the Name of my Saviour, Jesus, I pray—AMEN.

***

When we have sinned, upon our repentance, we are one honest moment from the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Never better is there than the matter of solemn prayer; to pray for insight, for salvation, for courage, and for faith.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Grace, Love and the Spiritual Gifts

The Apostle Paul to the Romans:

“For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you.”

~Romans 1:11 (NRSV)

We are all gifted by the grace of God to extend God’s grace by the giving of gifts—most of all, ourselves. When we give of ourselves, we give specially of love.

Our spiritual gifts—those passions manifest in service—are for God’s consummate delight. And when we give ourselves in service to another we experience the fundament of blessing. God’s delight becomes our delight because someone else is delighted. Gifts and delight are hence synonymous with worship. And when we worship henceforth we hold high the Object of our worship as worthy. To give our gifts as an act of ministry is also an act of worship. As we give we give to the Lord.

As we extend our gifts we reach forth into others’ lives and make differences only we can make. And our gifts speak of something more important than the gift itself—love.

Gifts and Their Underpinning – Love

Our gifts are compelled forth by arms and legs, and words and breath, moved by love.

It is for others’ joy and encouragement that we serve. And as we see the outworking of our service, as it makes differences in others’ lives, we come to be convinced of our impact for love and the use God is making of us in his ministry.

Then there is the actual manifestation of the gifts—of many different kinds—of more varieties than can be named, pigeonholed, or categorised. Because there are so many needs and so many ways of discerning and serving those needs, there are many more gifts than we can find clever names and categories for.

But one thing underpins each gift and each flavour of giving—love.

For Paul, his heart overflowed in thankfulness at the joy he received from God at the thought of building up his fellow Romans. And his joy was redoubled, in fact, at the thought that their faith might prove to be a blessing to him, personally, through the expression of their gifts to him (see Romans 1:12).

Paul knew that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35).

Paul knew that to truly be Christian we need to experience the giving of love.

So we are to outdo each other in our giving, but not by proud means, where we might refuse to receive another’s gifts of love. We are to receive, with genuine thankfulness, and then look for ways of loving other people with the love we have received. We pass it forward by modes of love that come natural to us—through our spiritual gifts.

***

By our spiritual gifts we give to others by the grace of God to induce joy in them. And others, by their gifts, love us likewise to the amounting of thankfulness within our hearts. And so the Christian world revolves; each building the other up from everlasting to everlasting—until our King returns.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Living for Truth by Divine Revelation

The Lord, through Jeremiah, says,

“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

~Jeremiah 33:2b (NRSV)

We are, by nature, deceivers of ourselves. Think of many things that we intentionally forget—like, for me, the time last year I chose to resent a tiny matter regarding someone’s rejection to promote a book I had just had published. Only recently did I consciously bear the truth of that resentment. Even though the resentment was small, it was no less real. I believe God only made this known to me because I invite the revelation of truth via prayer. I was then able forgive the person; they communicated clearly to me, which is all anyone can ask. The sin was mine. I owned it and I repented.

I say I live for truth; when we say these things we can expect God to test it. Do we really live for truth? Such a thing will inevitably be costly. At times we don’t bear the cost well.

There is no better resolution for life than living for truth, but we have to expect that God will test our tenacity and our forbearance. Do we really wish to live for truth?

Inviting God To Open the Floodgates of Heaven

I recall a song, Let It Rain, and I hear the words by the fear of the Lord. When we sing songs that invite God to open the floodgates of heaven we must understand the enormity of such a request. We must be ready to receive all sorts of things; lovely, humiliating, and even terrifying things; things of truth.

Many prayers are these sorts of prayers.

If we wish to know the truth, God will give us the truth. But we may not like it. Becoming more Christlike, however, is about praying prayers for revelation, more and more, in order that we may come to see our lives in true light. Praying such prayers will highlight our sin. We need to be ready to hear from God with humble hearts, receptive for bad, nonetheless truthful, news.

We are not there yet. Never will we be entirely there. But our role now is to honour our salvation by living for truth.

We should pray that God would open the floodgates of heaven in revealing truths. But we need to be ready; always ready. Otherwise we will push back and deny God, calling him a liar. Is there a worse profanity?

Our role in screening our thoughts is to sort out God’s revelation—where God speaks into our minds and through our hearts—from the lies of the devil. We sort truth from lies. Discernment has its place, but, also has courage a place, to receive the truth in humility.

***

God will not keep from us the truth. If we ask for revelation we will receive it. But we must be ready, always, to receive it well; so as to live for truth. Picking up our cross and carrying it is bearing the weight of truth in our lives. Can we bear it?

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Finding Beauty In Brokenness

“Our life is full of brokenness—broken relationships, broken promises, broken expectations. How can we live with that brokenness without becoming bitter and resentful except by returning again and again to God’s faithful presence in our lives?”

—Henri Nouwen

Knowing brokenness and living broken is no sadistic blessing; it is closeness to God. It is either that or farness from God, and never the twain should meet. Our instances of being broken polarise us to draw near to God or reject God entirely.

But when we draw near to God in those instances of that brokenness we learn something: there is unabashed beauty there, in it. We gain the real sense that if brokenness cannot break us, if we can survive with our integrity intact, when others would be shamed and embarrassed, and we own every skerrick of truth, nothing can break us.

Such beauty is unconquerable.

It draws on gospel strength. It otherwise makes a mockery of every power and principality set up against the Lord.

Appreciating the Wonder in Defeat

Not many can allow themselves to think this way; but the victorious broken can. The victorious broken are no proud or brash lot. But they know that having survived defeats means they can survive future defeats.

Defeat does not define them; their identity in God defines them, despite what anyone might say in attempts to scare or sway them.

Any person well connected with their brokenness can appreciate the wonder in defeat, including what can be learned. They are keen observers. Winning and feeling good are not the be all and end all to these. Winning and feeling good offer only veneer value.

When we take on life in these ways we tend to glory in the fact that despite our wound we have a faithful God who has promised to get us through. Our endurance grows. We become safer within. And when we are safer within, we are safer without—in the midst of others’ lives.

Wonder is a Concept Most Beautiful

In our experiences of brokenness we will be asked to move toward God via surrender or away from God via bitterness and resentment. We will make that choice; each time.

If we can approach the circumstances that cause our brokenness with a sense of openness and wonder, not despising the truth, and certainly not denying it, God will open our minds to a concept most beautiful.

Brokenness is the path to divinity. Brokenness is the agency facilitating light. How wonderful! But we cannot achieve something so beautiful without letting go.

***

Finding the beauty in our broken lives is about acknowledging truth, and, in spite of the pain, letting go. Then the door of meaning is opened up to us. Such beauty is freedom—a better freedom no one can achieve.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

True Spiritual Grit

“The will of God will never take you to where the grace of God will not protect you. To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else.”

~Bernadette Devlin

I am sensitive about writing too much on this topic. But it can seem that everyone who believes in God needs daily or at least periodic encouragement for enduring this life. And sometimes it can appear that the strongest looking individuals are actually floundering. It is far too easy to become isolated in copious and prevalent spiritual warfare. And when we live truthfully, refusing to be anaesthetised by the many comforts of worldly life, spiritual warfare has even a more diabolical effect.

In the tradition of the great Westerns, then, comes the idea of true spiritual grit.

And to coin a phrase out of the movie True Grit (2010), “There is nothing free except the grace of God.” And this is the golden clue regarding the resource of a grace-fed resilience in and through true spiritual grit.

Don’t Expect Anything Improbable

God can manage the impossible and certainly from our viewpoint grace can seem to have been an impossible prospect, pre-Jesus. Our Saviour changed everything!

With God all things are possible. But we tend to be fooled into believing in the improbable.

The trouble seems to be that we have faith in many things besides God these days. This is a practical concern for just about everyone. Our minds are lulled into many imaginings surrounding our desires, and we only realise we have been deceived when it’s sometimes too late.

It pays not to expect anything improbable. Yet, it is the impossible that is easy for God; if it is God’s will.

Grace, the once-impossible, is the great exception. Grace is the great surprise. It is the great hope. And this grace that defines our salvation, and reclassifies our lives as thoroughly renewed, is worth everything.

We realise this when all is taken away. Grace is the great compensation.

Grace is Everything – Particularly When We Have Nothing

When we are required to show true spiritual grit, when our hope has nosedived, and life has reached a deathly dearth, grace is what makes our lives flourish.

When the heart is ripped out of the man or woman in Job-like fashion, yet they cling to the Lord, stoically resisting the wiles of the enemy, by faithfully continuing to surrender their will to the Divine will, their true spiritual grit shines like a beacon for all to see.

Grace is everything, and never more when we have nothing. With grace we have hope that God can make the impossible, possible. For faith in the impossible we employ true spiritual grit.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Image Credit: Paramount Pictures.

Seeing Bigger – Walking By Faith

“Here is your God...

he will come and save you.

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.”

~Isaiah 35:4c,f, 5 (NRSV)

What is a multi-dimensional vision in Isaiah is a thing that works for us when we resolve to implement it. Having faith that God will save us enlarges our perception.

This is the phenomenon of seeing bigger; to see more as God sees.

But first, several things must be achieved: among them, the willingness to forego pride and to accept the truth; and, the ability to believe upon the salvation qualities of God delivering us—in many forms.

When we truly desire knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry it out, and when we know that God is working all things toward our good, even if they seem bad just now, we can be blessed with the ability for seeing bigger.

What ‘Seeing Bigger’ Looks Like

We stand to be surprised. We will always be surprised. Our Lord is the God of Surprises. Not all of these surprises are pleasant initially, but we do find they are for our best when we look for the meaning in them.

That is what seeing bigger looks like.

It is about searching higher, longer, and deeper regarding the mysteries of life that confound us. Most of all seeing bigger is beneficial when we are tested; when we are all at sea in our little boats of quaking faith. It is seeing bigger that gets us through.

But seeing bigger is limited by the constriction of faith. When we come forth boldly in our faith, on the other hand, God blesses our faith with spiritual sight. He opens our eyes to see bigger. For those moments we are no longer blinded by the enemy. We can see the truth in all its glory.

When we stand expectantly in our faith, but expecting most of all to be surprised by God’s answer, because we can never anticipate how God will answer, we see bigger.

Seeing bigger is a commitment to jettison our judgments and to cling to the holy vestiges of faith that are due our relationship with our Saviour, Jesus. Would a friend so perfect ever betray us? Should our faith be unstinting?

Ours is to wait patiently with open eyes and an open heart for what God is doing. God is active for us; those he calls his own.

***

We walk by faith and not sight. And when we do, we learn to see bigger. Then our faith grows. This is where life truly begins. We are happier when we see bigger.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Living On Eternity’s Threshold

“Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear... Many prophets and many of God’s people longed to see what you see but didn’t see it, to hear what you hear but didn’t hear it.”

~Matthew 13:16-17 (GW)

The great and significant difference between the person who believes in God and the person who doesn’t is perception. Not that we choose to see or hear; we cannot but see or hear. Perception is a matter of fact. And such perceptions—sight and sound—are how God communicates. This faith-life is real! An open mind and an open heart are blessed.

God has communicated this Gospel into our lives.

With what we know—the terrific salvation in the name of Jesus, and the grace that is borne on, over and through us in his name—we happily sit in the midst of a throng, gently, serenely, poised on eternity’s doorstep. Eternity—for us—awaits.

We live this day on the threshold of eternity; we all do.

And presently we have eternal life, in Jesus.

Appreciating the Fleeting Passage of Time and Life

Time is something we take for granted; it is a very human thing to do. But one of the urgent mandates of living saved-to-the-Gospel is that we come to appreciate the tenuousness of life, because we see life in the context of eternity.

It could be one heartbeat or hundreds of millions before we breathe our last. Our plans could come to fruition or they might falter at the first step. We may even achieve far more than we could ever hope to achieve. This latter state is more probable.

Besides all this uncertainty is the fact that eternity stalks us. We never know when that light-filled passage might occur; when the passage of time—fleeting as it is—splutters to a stop for want of biological fuel.

When we cease to be a ‘he’ or a ‘she’ and we come to become comprehensively a spiritual being—and we are a memory—our life force, here, is spent. Then we are with God... for eternity—beyond the finite realm of time.

Coming to appreciate life on eternity’s threshold holds us to a magnificent proposal. We begin to see more and more, and our ‘hearing’ becomes salaciously acute. We see things more as God would see them. Meaning and purpose take on a fresh significance.

As we are challenged to live on this cusp of time, to the most of our appreciative abilities, we enjoy time with our loved ones. We enjoy the process of learning. We even appreciate the temerity of pain. Everything has meaning and significance, especially the little things.

Real life, eternal life, is really a lot different to how it appears.

***

Appreciating the simple things and learning to see and hear are the objects of living on eternity’s threshold. We never know when life will be over. This frames our lives in thankfulness, purpose, and meaning. We make the most of life as a result.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.