Prayers For Daydreamers (And Other Mental Escapists)

Photo by Vera Kratochvil        

I confess, I'm a daydreamer.

Okay, to be more honest, I'm an extreme daydreamer.  Or perhaps "pathological" would be a more honest word.

Perhaps you don't daydream...but you DO fill up your mind with other people's imaginations in the form of novels, TV shows, and movies.  Or perhaps you feast your mind on endless video games.  Whatever your mental escape may be, it's probably fine in small doses.

The problem with me was, daydreaming became a drug.  It became Escape.  I never had to "be there" mentally, even if I was there physically.

Do you have a problem with mental escapism?  Perhaps, like me, one of the reasons you find it easy to slip into "escape mode" is that it's hard to see what's wrong with it.  If that describes you, and you really don't feel like you're missing out on anything by excessive escaping, you'll definitely want to prayerfully consider the requests I've written below.

Or, perhaps your form(s) of escapism have become an addiction...as I'm ashamed to admit they have with me. Especially my imagination; my skill at weaving compelling dramas in my head.  It's so much a part of me that I hardly feel like it's optional.  The stories are always there, always waiting, always beckoning, always entertaining, always seeming to fulfill a need.

In fact, our mental escapes are far more responsive than God is.  We've got to wait on the Lord, but entertaining screens are never far away.  We never have to wait for our imagination either.  And how do you walk away from a drug that literally resides inside your head?  There's no passing by the fantasy counter, the way people can choose to pass by the cigarette counter.

But after a while, as Christians, we have to come to terms with the fact that we love and trust our oh-so-available escapes more than we love and trust the God we can't control.

Then what do we do?

Scripture tells us that conquering bad habits by mere force of will doesn't make us righteous before God.  That's the Pharisaical approach, and it only trades the original sin for the greater sin of religious pride.

Romans 8 tells us that we must put sinful deeds to death "by the Spirit."

And how does the Spirit work?  He works by drawing us to read the Scriptures, illuminating it to our minds, helping us love and revere God as revealed in His Word (and to love His word for revealing Him to us), recalling the truth to our minds (especially if we memorized it), teaching us to love what God loves and hate what God hates, and changing our hearts to want to obey Him.  In this way, He turns our hearts onto the right paths.

So I decided to attack the problem of excessive daydreaming with some specifically targeted prayers, ones which help me aim for ways to pursue a joy in Christ that's better than mental escapism.  And I thought I'd share them with you, in case I'm not the only one with this problem.  So without further ado, here are:

Prayers for Daydreamers
(and other mental escapists)

1. Father, instead of daydreaming/mentally escaping today, may I love the Lord my God with all my mind.  If love is spelled "T-I-M-E," then my mind is loving its constant escapes more than I love You.  Help my mind to be set on You and seeking you more and more of the time.

2. Instead of daydreaming/mentally escaping, by Your grace may I obey the command to "Love my neighbor as myself."  Because the fact is, I can't recognize my neighbor's needs or prioritize them in my life if I'm wrapped up in my fantasy world. 

3. Help me to "Walk as as child of light, trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord" (Eph 5:8-10).  I can't be constantly trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord in my real circumstances if I'm daydreaming about being in different ones.

4.  Help to obey Your command that says, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men."  Forgive me, Lord, that I used to think this meant "Try not to mind the work by distracting myself with my imagination."  After all, what's heartier than my imagination?  But no, it means putting my heart into the work itself in order to lovingly serve others and willingly obey You in the situation You've actually created for me.  It means "redeeming the time," in my real world.

5.  Spirit, please help me to "In everything give thanks."   Daydreaming prevents me from noticing things to be thankful for, or from even committing to noticing them.

6. Help me to remember that I can't "Behold the Lord and be changed into His image, from one degree of glory to another" (2 Co 3:18) if I'm constantly beholding the contents of my imagination instead.

7.  Help me, Spirit, to obey the command: "You shall meditate on God's Word day and night, that you may be careful to do it."  Ignoring Your Word is the same as disdaining Your commands, Your promises, and Your blessings.  It means not caring whether I obey You or not.

8. Help me to "Pray without ceasing."  I clearly can't do that while mentally escaping into fantasy or video games.

9. Help me to receive the blessings of Truth, such as sanctification (John 17:17) and freedom (John 8:32).  All commands, promises, and blessings related to Truth are blocked by an insistence on living with the mind marinating in what is not true. The blessings of Truth can only be applied to my actual reality, even in all its periodic ugliness.

10. Help me to cooperate with You as You prepare my heart to "Go to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13)  In our daydreams we feed our lust for glory, we dream of human accolades, we focus on mastery rather than dependence, and we further unfit our hearts for bearing His reproach.

Can you see how different this is from "white-knuckle fighting" with our sin?  By the Spirit we seek to love God more, to find our joy in God instead of in sin.  He alone makes that possible, because we can't change our hearts ourselves.  But we can and must choose to seek Him, to "fight the good fight" against our tendency to believe the promises of sin more than the promises of God.  We can and must pray and wrestle and repent in the fight for the greatest joy there is...the joy of believing and knowing Him.

To Hate Sin, Consider the Holy Spirit

Part 3 in a series

Part 1   Part 2  

  

Think well both how holy the office and work of the Holy Ghost is, and how great a mercy it is to us. Shall God himself, the heavenly light, come down into a sinful heart, to illuminate and purify it? And yet shall I keep my darkness and defilement, in opposition to such wonderful mercy? Though all sin against the Holy Ghost be not the unpardonable blasphemy, yet all is aggravated hereby.  (From “Directions for Hating Sin” by Richard Baxter, 1615-1691)

The dead cannot see beauty.  They can’t hear anyone calling to them.  They can’t give themselves life, raise themselves up, or in any way rescue themselves from their decaying condition.

But for some, light dawns.  It is a gift, precious beyond words, beyond measure.  Completely undeserved.  The rotting heart revives; coldness becomes vibrantly warm; life draws breath, steps out of the tomb, and beholds creation with awe.

What is this death from which we are delivered?  It is the condition of lost sinfulness.  How is anyone raised back to life?  God revives us by placing His Holy Spirit within us, purely by His grace which we did not and could not earn.

And yet, sometimes each and every revived person walks back into the tomb to play in putrefaction.  To luxuriate in the very sin we’ve been saved from.  It’s familiar, it’s comfortable (if we dull our senses enough to ignore the stench), and it offers some short-term pleasure for those times when God doesn’t seem to be coming through for us.

You know what I’m talking about.  But I’m not going to give you the usual argument here.  You know, the one that says, “Hey, look around you!  You deserve better than this tomb!  Wake up and get back out of there!  You’re too good for this place!” 

There may be a time and place for such a plea, but not here.  Not now.  For one thing, we don’t deserve better than the tomb.  It’s exactly where we were when God found us, and we fit right in there.  It’s pure grace, not our “deserving,” which has brought us out.  Secondly, “you deserve better” is a man-centered plea, and this is a God-centered blog.

What does God deserve?  What about His Holy Spirit within us, the One we are insulting when we ignore Him for the siren-song of evil?  Are we going to roll like dogs in the smelly stuff with Him in our hearts?

Don’t misunderstand me here.  I’m not inviting you to think of the Holy Spirit as a hyper-sensitive weakling who can’t handle the stench as well as you can.  Having the Holy Spirit in you isn’t like having a 6-year-old who needs to be sheltered from the scary movie you’re watching.  The Spirit can handle it, all right.  He found you there, remember?  He is working in the tombs even as we speak, seeing the horrors of corrupted souls far more clearly than you or I ever could, and working miracles of regenerating love.

So if I can’t appeal to anyone on the basis of man-centered interests, and I can’t appeal to a perceived need to somehow shelter the Spirit from the reality of sin, then how can I appeal to anyone to hate sin by considering the Holy Spirit?

The answer revolves around who the Spirit is.  He is called both the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ,” which makes perfect sense, since God and Christ are One.  Of course Father and Son have the same Spirit.  Everything you find to be true of the Father’s character, and true of the Son’s character, is also true of the Spirit.  All of the holiness.  All of the power.  All of the love.  All of the hatred for sin.  All of it.

If you and I think we would act differently “if Jesus were right here in the same room,” then we don’t get it.  He’s sees everything, everywhere.  And if we are believers, He is within us.

Why should that make us hate sin?  Because sin opposes God, exalts itself against God, spits in God’s face, and hates Him. 

Can we love such an enemy?

Sin also works against every good thing that the Spirit tries to do in our lives.  It blinds us to His blessings, deafens us to His voice, deadens us to the sense of His presence.

Will we love the one who does that to us? 

Sadly, sometimes we will.  Our remaining sinfulness is dark beyond words.  But I have one more appeal here.  One more call to hate sin because of the Spirit in us.

When we sin willfully, we don’t simply break fellowship with God.  We join in open revolt against Him.  We declare our allegiance, however temporarily, with the enemy.  We become weapons in the enemy’s hands, discrediting God in both the visible and invisible realms. 

People can only see what is visible about us.  They draw inferences about the rest.  And what inferences will they draw when an avowed Christian lies, or steals, or commits adultery, or does any of a thousand other deliberate, evil things?

Won’t they infer that the Spirit makes no difference in us?  Won’t they infer that He matters less to us than whatever pleasure or reward lured us away from Him?  Won’t they laugh at the very idea of a Holy Spirit who lives in us?  Won’t they blaspheme because of us?  Does the Spirit within us deserve this?

And what of the unseen realms?  Holy angels and fallen ones see our choices as well.  Will we mock God before such awesome witnesses?

The fact is that our fallenness makes us deceivable.  Sin has the power to trick us, allure us, trap us into doing things we never wanted to do in finer moments.  It persuades us to spurn our Lover even as He faithfully shines light into our once-blind hearts, and breathes life into our once-dead souls.

If we can hate the sins of those who are disloyal to us, or to what we value, how much more should we hate anything that can make us commit treason against our Lord?

Father, help us to honor and treasure your Holy Spirit within us, and to do nothing to grieve or quench Him!

No Good Thing

In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.  (Rom. 7:18 KJV)

Oh how often I get stark reminders of this reality!  I know better than to trust in my own resources, but I do it anyway.  And every time I do it, I end up in the same spiritual swamp…complete with noxious fumes and disgusting slime.  Not to mention predators lurking to take a bite out of me at any moment.

Yes, I’m a believer (and yes, I believe that Romans 7 refers to a pre-conversion experience), but I am convinced that this statement is still true of believers as well. 

In my flesh dwells no good thing.

Do you know the feeling?  That sinking in your gut when you realize you’ve “gone and done it again?”  Do you know that whenever you try to walk in the flesh, the result is inevitably disastrous?

Or do you still have confidence in the flesh?  Do you still think you only need Christ to bail you out in emergencies, because you believe you’re doing fine on your own the rest of the time?

“For we are the circumcision” (i.e. we are those who are truly set apart for Christ), “who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Php 3:3).

So how is it that I keep putting confidence in the flesh again? 

Oh, and by the way, notice the word “the” in Php 3:3.  It doesn’t say, “My flesh,” it says, “The flesh.”  Not only am I not to rest my hope on my own resources, but I’m not to rest it on any other human sources either. 

Why?  Partly because people will let me down, true.  But that’s not the deepest reason.  The stark reality is this:  we either trust in flesh or in God.  To the extent that we do one, we will not do the other.

Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD.”
Jer 17:5

So how do we know when we’re putting confidence in the flesh?

1.  When the failures of the flesh steal our hope, our peace, or our joy.

Do your own failures make you feel hopeless?  Do you lose your peace and joy when other people fail you?  Do you get angry at yourself or others for not straightening up, not making the flesh better?  I know I do, all the time.  And that’s a sure sign that my hope was in the flesh. 

Picture it this way.  Suppose you were planning a pool party, and you invite lots of friends over for a fun day of swimming.  The day of the party ends up being overcast and rainy, but that doesn’t dampen your plans one bit.  Why?  Because it’s an indoor pool.  Since your hope didn’t depend on the weather, the weather couldn’t spoil anything for you.

By the same token, our hope, peace, and joy can’t be stolen when man’s abilities, efforts, or resources fail us…if our confidence was in God and not the flesh.  People and circumstances can disappoint, grieve, and hurt us, but they can’t take away our God-given spiritual blessings in the process. 

If the world didn’t give it to us, then the world can’t take it away.

2.  We know we are putting confidence in the flesh when we focus on reforming the flesh rather than crucifying it.

The Bible does not teach us to reform our flesh, to improve it, to make it shape up and get right.  No, what God tells us to do is crucify the flesh (Gal. 5:24), put it to death (Col. 3:5), consider it dead (Rom. 6:11), and refuse to “walk in it” (Gal. 5:16).

This doesn’t refer to destroying or abusing our bodies, as some ascetics and legalists do.  The “flesh” referred to here is our sinful nature which pervades every part of our being. 

Geese have a goosy nature that pervades their goosy flesh.  It makes their bodies honk, swim, and fly south in the winter. 

Dogs have a doggy nature that makes their doggy flesh bark, their doggy tails wag, and their doggy noses intrude in strange places.

Sinners have a sinful nature that makes their sinful flesh…well…sin.  We aren’t defined as sinners because we commit sins.  We commit sins because we have sinful natures.  It’s who we are.  It’s what we do.

Attempts at reformation are based on confidence.  If you keep trying to reform an addict, it’s because you believe there’s some glimmer of hope.  If you give up on them, it’s because all hope is gone (as far as you’re concerned.)  In the same way, if we’re busy trying to reform our flesh, that means we’re still putting confidence in it.  We ought to be putting nails in it (figuratively speaking, of course)!

I confess that, for most of my life, that sort of talk sounded like nonsense to me.  Because I did not truly have the Spirit of God dwelling within me, I could make no sense of the notion of choosing to walk in Him rather than in the flesh.  The flesh was all I had!  To choose not to walk in it left me with a vacuum.  You might as well tell me to walk in nothing at all.  It just didn’t work.

But praise God, His Spirit now lives in me, and I have a choice I did not have before.  My flesh has nothing good in it, and whenever I choose to walk in the flesh, I am instantly as miserable a sinner as I ever was.  But I don’t have to walk in the flesh any more! 

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(2Co 3:17)

What a wonderful freedom!  Why do I ever turn my back on it?

One of the hallmarks of a true believer is that they will not continue in sin (Rom. 6:2).  They will sometimes fall, but they will miss their Beloved too much to stay in the muck.  And their return to Him does not come as a result of self-reformation.  It happens because of the genuine presence of the Holy Spirit of Christ who indwells them, and in Whom they can find their way (John 14:6).

3.  We know we are putting confidence in the flesh when we feel prideful about anything.

Pride is giving the flesh more credit than it’s due.  ‘Nuff said.

4.  We know we are putting confidence in the flesh when we put people on pedestals.

Hero worship.  Idolizing people.  Believing that the perfect mate would make our lives perfect bliss.  Believing that there’s someone on this planet we just can’t live without.  Even idolizing the ideal “self” that we hope to become someday.  It’s all confidence in the flesh.

Ever see someone so “in love” that they actually worship the other person?  Ever been there yourself? 

While it’s great to appreciate the good in others, it’s wrong to put our hope, our peace, our joy in their flesh.  If there’s good in anyone, appreciate it and bless their Maker for it.  Keep your hope, peace, and joy in Him, and they’ll be safe even when mere mortals let us down.

5.  We know we are putting confidence in the flesh whenever we sin in any way.

The Spirit says, “Come to Christ to find the abundant life.”  The flesh says, “Forget Christ.  Pamper me with sin to find the abundant life.” 

We’ll follow the one we have confidence in.  Period.

In my flesh, and in yours, dwells no good thing.

But the Bible doesn’t always use the phrase “no good thing” in a negative way.  Let’s close with the following promise:

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
(Ps. 84:11)

There's no need to be discouraged about the "no good thing" of Rom. 7:18, when we have the “no good thing” of Ps. 84:11!

May we rest our confidence fully upon the One who is our sun, our shield, our grace, and our glory!

Why This Jesus?

In the last entry, “Which Jesus?” we looked at the heresy which claims that it’s the name of Jesus that matters, not His actual identity. In other words, it doesn’t matter who you believe Jesus is or was, it only matters that you believe in someone called “Jesus.”
I referenced an article which showed alarming statistics about American Christendom’s view of Jesus (including the belief that He was a sinner), and then I made the following statement:

Whenever someone claims to believe in Jesus, it might be wise to ask, “Which Jesus? Why Him?”

The previous entry then went on to address the first question. Today’s entry will look at the second.

Why Him?

Why should people believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and not the Jesus of the New Age, or the Islamic version, or the Mormon version, or the Jehovah’s Witness version? If the above-referenced Barna statistics are accurate, many of America’s self-described Christians don’t take the Bible seriously enough to even use it as their source of information about who Jesus is.
Why should people believe in our Jesus, the one the Bible teaches?
I can almost hear the reply coming back, “Because He’s the true one, that’s why!”
I know, I know, and that works just fine when you’re talking to people who are already convinced of the truth. But it falls flat on the ears of those who are not convinced. My question is on behalf of those people, the outsiders, the ones who need a good reason to believe in the true Jesus Christ. What can we offer? On what can we base our appeal?
Can we appeal to tradition, to upbringing? Do we want “insiders” to stay true to Biblical teachings just because they were raised that way? Then how do we justify asking people who were raised in other faiths to convert to ours? Clearly, if we try to convert outsiders, then we don’t really believe that being raised in a faith is a good enough reason to be loyal to it.
Do we want people to accept the truth of the Biblical account because there are so many wonderful proofs of the historical and prophetic accuracy of the Word? Well…there’s nothing wrong with winning someone’s mind with a good argument. I’m very grateful for solid Biblical apologetics. But while convincing the mind may be important and helpful, I don’t believe it is sufficient. What happens when someone comes along with a better-sounding argument? Do we want people to be tossed to and fro with every new scientific theory or religious whim that can be presented convincingly?
On what can we base our appeal for their faith? Should we fall back on the “Cover all your bases” approach to enlightened self-interest, the fire-escape theology which says, “Hey, if I’m wrong, no harm done to me, but if you’re wrong, you’re going to burn in Hell, so you might as well play it safe and…” (Here the witness usually inserts some act that he wants the other to perform, such as repeating a prayer.) We can’t appeal to true faith with such an argument, since by definition those who are using “Jesus” to cover First Base are doubtless using others to cover Second, Third, and Home. Besides, every religion out there can use the same argument right back at us. The Jehovah’s Witnesses may not have a Hell to threaten us with, but they can tell us that we’ll be annihilated and miss out on Paradise Earth if we don’t believe in their version of things. The New Ager can threaten us with a loss of pleasure and power in this life, and a less-desirable reincarnation. I can’t really imagine a weaker appeal than the “just do it to be on the safe side” approach…especially since true saving faith can’t spring from it.
Ok, so let me ask you. Why do you believe in the Jesus of the Bible?
If it’s your tradition, that’s wonderful…but is that the only reason? What if you’d been raised some other way? Would you be just as loyal to that way, because your faith is just something handed down like old clothes?
Have evidences in science or convincing religious outlines led you to believe? Great! But do you feel a sick twisting in your gut when someone makes a logically appealing argument for another path? Could you be wrong? How do you know you’ve heard the best argument out there?
Or are you just trying to do whatever you can do to buy up fire insurance for the next life? Do you have a policy with someone named “Jesus?” Is that what faith means to you? How many other policies do you have? If this is the only one, do you find yourself wistfully hoping it will do the trick for you? What’s holding you back from buying more policies elsewhere?
Is it pride? Is there something in your soul that rises up in anger if someone dares to imply that you could be wrong? Is your faith in your own inherent “rightness” more than in Christ?
Why do you believe in the Jesus of the Bible?
Are you squirming now?
Or are you smiling?
If you find yourself described in one of the “shakier” reasons for faith above, please don’t push your concerns away. They could be the best things that have ever happened to you. The Lord is calling you to seek Him, so let your response be, “Your face, Lord, I will seek (Ps. 27:8). He is wonderfully good to those who seek Him (Lam. 3:25), and He will be found by those who seek Him wholeheartedly (Jer. 29:13). Immerse yourself in His Word. Ask Him to grant you a heart that hungers and thirsts for Him, that is possessed by Him, sealed by Him as His very own. Ask Him to make you new, and to give you a heart that loves Him. If you don’t sense His answer right away, keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking (Matt. 7:7). His delays always have a good purpose, and His timing will eventually show itself beautiful (Ecc. 3:11). Hope in Him, because He will not always hide His face (Isa. 8:17). Know this: we are always seeking. Either we are seeking Him, or we are seeking idols. So no matter what, keep seeking Him!
If you were smiling through my probing questions, I know why.
You believe because of His Spirit in you. You know Him. You sense Him. You love Him. He convicts you of sin, convicts you of righteousness, and convicts you of judgment (John 16:8). He pours the love of God into your heart (Rom. 5:5). He is God’s “Seal of Ownership” on you (2 Co. 1:21-22 NIV), and He testifies to you that you belong to God (Rom. 8:16). These things aren’t mere points of doctrine to you. You know His touch.
New scientific theories, new clever-sounding arguments, new heresies cannot move you. You don’t appeal primarily to tradition, to intellectualism, to superstition, or to pride for your confidence. Those things may factor in, but they aren’t your main focus. You simply can’t help knowing the Spirit is there, just like you can’t help knowing there is air in your lungs.
You can say along with Martin Luther, “Here I stand, I can do no other.” Your feet are planted on the rock, because you can’t deny that it is under your soles. You remember how it felt to flounder on sinking sand, and you know that Jesus is the Mighty One who put you on the solid ground. Let all Hell be unleashed against you, and though your feelings may sway, and your confidence may have seasons of weakness, your overall conviction will stand firm. Why? Because you’re so strong? No, because it is God who makes us stand firm in Christ (2 Co. 1:21 NIV). You certainly do feel your own shakiness, but you also feel His omnipotence. And so you stand.
And it shows. (I’m telling you this, brother or sister, because you probably aren’t aware of how much and how often you affect others for Christ. Because it’s Him working through you, you aren’t self-conscious about it.) Others see Him in you, which is far more valuable than if they could just see you. The good works which you do are different from those untouched by the Spirit. You impact lives with something they may not even be able to name.
Help them name it. Help them name Him.
How? To go back to our previous question, to what will you appeal?
But of course that’s the wrong question, isn’t it? God forbid that we should try to manipulate others, trying to do in our flesh what only the Spirit can do. We don’t appeal to a thing, we appeal to Him. We may use whatever tools God leads us to use in any given situation, whether apologetics, or reasoning, or whatever. But if salvation is a miraculous work of the Spirit (and it is!), then we must first and foremost pray for Him to speak through us, and share Him with our lives and our words. Tell them who He really is. Tell them what He’s done for you. Tell them of a salvation that’s for here and now, not just for the future. Ask them if they have any sins that they hate, and if they’ve longed to be free. Those who are still in love with their sin will mock, but you will not have failed because of it. You will have succeeded, because in obedience to Christ you will have sown a seed that another may water. (If you lead an unrepentant person in a “prayer of salvation,” then you will have failed, because there’s no salvation without repentance.)
Others will listen to your witness, because the divine Gardener has been tilling up the soil of their hearts. Because you are speaking the Way, the Truth, and the Life to them, your words will resonate with the work that the Spirit is doing in them. You may not be saying anything fancy or impressive, but in cultivated soil the truth will take root. The Spirit will make sure it does.
Do not fret over your “inability to witness.” A witness is one who speaks of what they’ve seen, what they’ve heard, what they know. If you truly know Him, you can be His witness. If you truly love Him, others will be drawn to Him as well. If you are truly led by Him, then those who are also feeling His pull will recognize the direction you’re heading.
Do not fear, child of God. Just walk and talk in simple faith and obedience. God will use your witness in ways you may not know until you stand with Him in glory.

If the Spirit of Jesus

is shining through you,

Others will trust

in the true Jesus, too.

Guest Blogger - A Conversation With Omnipotence

This is a guest entry written by my brother, Rex Lewis. He and I have shared some interesting parallels in our lives, experiencing difficulties which God used to draw us to seek God-centeredness from the midst of our brokenness. I hope you will be blessed as you read one man's experience of the Holy Spirit's touch.

A Conversation With Omnipotence

It was a gorgeous December day in Florida. The bright sun, low humidity and mild temperature made it a perfect day for a stroll down by the water during my afternoon break at work. As often happens, my mind went to prayer as I strolled. The past few years have included one long, fiery trial that has led to many occasions when I walked along that seawall crying out to God for help and hearing nothing but God’s silence echo back. But this day would be different. Image via Wikipedia

As I headed down the hill toward the waterfront, a tsunami washed over my soul; a tsunami of disappointment at the lack of progress in my spiritual life. In the froth of that wave I saw the fear of man that so often paralyzes me, the all-too-present flesh that constantly haunts me and the all-too-halfhearted battle that I wage against it so much of the time. I knew that God saw them too, but all I could do was pick up a few examples, hold them up for His view and ask why.

He responded.

My heart both leapt and sank. It leapt because He had responded.

He had responded.

He had responded.

He had responded!

I was so accustomed to His silence that I was startled but encouraged. But my heart also sank because, rather than answer the question, He only made matters worse. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t heard before; just a verse of Scripture. But it was so obvious to me that He had spoken it that the effect was chilling.

“Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:” (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV)

“Oh, Lord,” my soul cried, “You have placed within me a hunger for that holiness. But how does it come to be fleshed out? I live in the constant fear of lapsing back into self effort.”

He spoke a second time.

“Sound familiar? ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.’” (Romans 7:18 NKJV)

Again, the effect was not from any newness of the words. Rather, it came from the reality that He was saying them at that moment – to me. Like Abraham shortly before the destruction of Sodom, I was moved to phrase myself carefully. This may be holy ground, but it is also perilous.

“‘Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak:’ (Genesis 18:30a NKJV) How does this desire get fulfilled?”

Again, He responded.

“… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;” (Philippians 2:12 NKJV)

Both the excitement and the fear were growing. This was a conversation, not just a comment. Yet how was I to apply that without self effort? I dared to ask and His answer, for the first time, included more than just Scripture quotation. It also elaborated

“‘For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.’ (Philippians 2:13 NKJV). I put the will in you. You take that will and work at bringing it to the outside. That’s pursuing holiness. Just realize that, whenever there is real success, it will be I who put the ‘doing’ in you as it has pleased Me.”

“Will you?”

“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:24)

As I said earlier. There was nothing really new in what was said. I have known all those verses for years. But this time they came in power. Power that alarmed me with its seriousness and calmed me with its gentle assurance. He is there. He is working. He will succeed. Praise His Holy Name!

Sober Reflections

One of Scripture's strangest biographies contains a warning for us as we start this new year.

Imagine with me for a moment. Imagine you're a pagan who suddenly encounters the Living God. Imagine that, over the course of a few remarkable days, you are repeatedly and powerfully filled with the Holy Spirit. Imagine having a face-to-face meeting with an angel and witnessing an undeniable miracle. Imagine your Spirit-controlled tongue speaking words of high praise and loyalty to God. Imagine being used by God to prophesy...to speak words so important and powerful and beautiful that they are actually included in the canon of Scripture. Imagine being so moved by the might and majesty of God that you were willing to face the wrath of a king in order to obey Him.

Would it be possible to do all of that and still be a lost, hell-bound soul?

Does a brief encounter with God mean that you're saved? Is it possible to look back in the past and point to a single, isolated experience upon which you can rest your eternal security?

The Bible answers a resounding "No" to that question. While the Bible certainly does teach eternal security, it can't be found in an isolated experience.

Faith in an isolated experience
is faith displaced from
its proper object,
which is God Himself.

Faith displaced from God Himself
is idolatry.

Consider the remarkable story of Balaam. You can find it beginning in Numbers chapter 22. Many of you are no doubt familiar with it.

Balaam experienced all of the miraculous, God-touched events that we imagined above. Filled with the Spirit, he refused the king's order to curse the nation of Israel, and instead powerfully blessed them several times over (Num. 23:8, Num. 23:20, Num. 23:23, Num. 24:10). He spoke magnificent words about the sovereignty and greatness of God (Num 23:19, Num. 24:4). His prophecies ranged so far that they even promised the coming Messiah (Num. 24:17-19).

Oh, how wonderful that experience must have been!

And yet...

Balaam was not changed. When the Spirit of God was finished with him, Balaam returned to his sorceries and conspired in a plot to bring the children of Israel to gross sin (Num. 31:16). He was eventually killed by the Israelites (Jos. 13:22), and ended up being mentioned three times in the New Testament as a warning example (2 Pet. 2:15, Jude 1:11, Rev. 2:14).

Now, the Scripture clearly teaches that when a person is truly saved, the Spirit comes and abides in him forever as a "seal" and a "guarantee." (see, for example, 2 Co. 1:22, Eph. 1:13-14). This indwelling of the Spirit is not a passive thing. He makes changes when He moves in. He produces holy living and fruit (Gal. 5:16-25) and He guides us (John 16:13). As the Seal of the New Covenant, He gives us a new heart and keeps us from departing from God (Jer. 32:38-40). He shows us God's love and gives us love for Him (Rom. 5:5, 1 Co. 12:3). He makes us entirely, utterly new (2 Co. 5:17).

But not every work of the Spirit is a saving, indwelling work. And Scripture tells us we must examine ourselves as to whether we're in the faith (2 Co. 13:5). Since New Year's Day is traditionally a day of reflection, I can't think of a more important thing to reflect on than this.

What has He done in you lately?

Legalism would ask, "What have YOU done for HIM lately," but that's not my question. We are not saved by our works, but by His work in us. So I ask again, "What has HE done in you lately?"

Do you feel the newness taking over? Is He changing your heart, your desires? Are your "good works" coming more easily and naturally through Him, or are they still forced by the flesh, by guilt, by religious expectation? Is love for God growing more fervent?

I'm not asking about perfection. (If I asked about perfection, and you answered "Yes," then we'd have real reason to worry!)

When you ask yourself about your assurance of salvation, do you consult a one-time experience? Or do you consult Him, whose work you are experiencing?

When you hear questions
about His work in you,
do you feel confused,
or do you know
what His work feels like?

Can you understand what I mean when I say, "When He's the one doing the work, you know it's Him, and you can't help giving Him the glory for it"? Or is His work something you've yet to experience?

The last thing I want to do is hurt the tender sheep, the true children of God with sensitive consciences who doubt their salvation whenever they see that they're still sinners. Salvation is a progressive work. We are saved once and for all from the penalty of sin, we are progressively being saved from the power of sin, and after death we will be saved from the presence of sin. How glorious is our God, and how wonderful are His ways!

To you, tender sheep, I give the words of our Savior:

Do not fear, little flock,
for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom.
(Luke 12:32)

But as bad as it would be to hurt the tender sheep, in some ways it would be even worse to lull the self-deceived goats back to sleep. So I leave you today with this challenge, based on James 2:19. It is my prayer that, after this challenge, the sheep will rejoice in their assurance, and the goats will come to Christ in truth so they can rejoice as well.

Think deeply about the following challenge question:

How does my faith differ from the faith of demons?
(James 2:19)

Seriously, make a list. Write it down. What do the demons believe? Keep in mind that the demons know God, they have known God all of their lives, they have always seen Him with their eyes, they have witnessed every work He's ever done. Everything you know, they know, and much more. They have knowledge and belief, but not saving faith.

What do you have that they don't have? What is your faith that theirs isn't? Write it down. Seriously. Do it.

If your answers give you assurance, ask yourself one more thing. Is that assurance based on what you've done, or on what He's done? If it's based on what He's done, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice in Him!

If your answer does not give you assurance, if your faith doesn't differ from the demons' faith, or if your assurance is based on something you've done, then drop all other priorities. Drop all other hopes, all other sources of confidence, all spiritual crutches. Come to God with the salvation you've made for yourself, and ask Him to replace it with the salvation He's made for you. Refuse to let go of Him until He blesses you (Gen. 32:26). Ask to be made new, to have not just a forgiven heart, but a new heart that grows in love for Him and hatred for sin. Ask not only to be His in Heaven someday, but ask to be His now. Refuse to put confidence in anything you can manufacture, any emotions you can generate, any words you can say. Put confidence in Him and only Him, even if you don't feel His answer right away.

Saving faith has no "Plan B." Come to Him, to Him, to Him alone.

And here's a word from the Savior to encourage your confidence in Him.

The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. (John 6:37)

Please leave a comment to let me (and other readers) know how we can pray for you or rejoice with you. You can leave your comment anonymously if that's easier, but please let us know.

Candle photo from stock.xchng by Alexkalina

Where the Spirit of the Lord is...

Now the Lord is the Spirit;
and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
(2Co 3:17)

The following quote is from George H. Morrison (1866-1928).
I hope it blesses you as it blesses me.

------------------------

Image by RogelSM via Flickr

"It is not freedom to do just as we please
in defiance of all the laws that girdle us.
[T]he paradox of Christianity is this,
that [freedom] comes through obedience to Christ.

Think of the schoolgirl practicing her music.
Is not that the weariest of bondage?
Is this the happy face we saw so lately,
flushed with the eager merriment of play?

But set down the musical genius at the instrument,
and get him to interpret some great master,
and the thoughts which he utters are the master's thoughts,
and yet he is magnificently free.

The child is in bondage, the genius is at liberty.
The child is unnatural; the genius is himself.
The child is slaving under an outward law.
The genius has the spirit of the master.

And 'if any man have not the spirit of Christ,'
then, says the Scripture, 'he is none of His.'"

Image via Wikipedia

Insulting God: A Non-Miraculous Salvation

(Part 2 of a Series)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

In Part 1 I made the following (perhaps unexpected) observation.

We insult God when we expect unregenerate people to live just like those who have been born again by God's Spirit.

The salvation of a human soul is the Creator's masterpiece. It is nothing less than the miraculous raising of the spiritually dead to a state of spiritual life. It gives sight to the spiritually blind, and it transforms a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. It is a miracle as awesome in scope as the creation of the universe itself. Only God can do such a mighty work. What's more, only God's miraculous transformation will please Him. Human self-effort does not impress Him in the slightest.

We seem to have lost sight of that fact, and it has impacted our evangelism.

Much of modern Christendom preaches that salvation is merely a decision that one can make, with no dependence upon a work of God at all. We seem to believe the flesh can replicate the work of the Spirit; as if wind and rain can create a sculpture of David. Ironically, we who would scoff at the idea of being saved through any Sacrament still manage to rely on what has been aptly called "Evangelical Sacramentalism."

• You assent to certain facts (or at least nod your head when they're presented to you)
• You feel the appeal or the pressure of a well-practiced pitch
  
• You repeat a certain prayer
• Congratulations, if you meant it, you're saved (based on what you just did)

Where's the Holy Spirit in all of that? Where's the miraculous work?

Shame on us. We insult the true Creator of spiritual life. We look at what man has done and esteem it as if it were the same as God's miracle of regeneration. We do not even do God the honor of noticing His absence or missing Him. Someone has said a prayer, and isn't that enough? Who needs more?

We all do. We need so much more.

Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. (Rom. 8:9)

Can we really presume to tell anyone that they are saved because they repeated a prayer? Perhaps God really did do a miraculous work of regeneration in that person. But I can't be the judge of that based on a religious act.

I know from personal experience that there is a world of difference between praying with a dead heart, and praying with one that He has touched to life.

"Then how can you give them the assurance of salvation?" you ask. I must reply that that is not my privilege, especially not on the "evidence" of a simple religious exercise. I can, however, point them to the only One who can give the assurance of salvation, and tell them the truth about what the Scriptures say.

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Rom 8:16)

Without His witness, my "assurance" is meaningless, and perhaps even deadly. For no one is in more danger on a sinking ship than the man who has been told his ship is fine.

Search the scriptures. Find the verses that talk about assurance of salvation. There are several. Now look for one that gives assurance by saying, "Did you pray a certain prayer? Then you're saved." You won't find one. Assurance of salvation is always linked to the reality of the Spirit's transforming work in a person's life, and to His witness with our own spirit. (Yes, even 1John 5:13 points back to the "witness" in 1John 5:10.)

Have you felt the Spirit's presence in yourself? Is His presence proving itself by the difference He makes?

By their fruits you shall know them. (Matt. 7:20)

We're uncomfortable with that fact. We feel queasy when we read 1 Co. 15:2 ,or 2 Co. 13:5 , or any similar verses. We fear that they hint at salvation by our good works. But our works cannot save us because they cannot erase our sins or please God.

What pleases God? His works in us.

LORD, You will establish peace for us, for You have also done all our works in us. (Isa 26:12)

We are never urged to search our own performance record to see how we're doing with our good works. The Bible condemns such Pharisaism. But we are urged to look at our lives and see if the Holy Spirit of God is in us, working repentant changes in our hearts, in our appetites, in our priorities, in our desires; changes which show themselves inevitably in the things we do.

Yes, I know I belong to Christ. But let me tell you why. It's because of what the Spirit did, and what He is still doing, not because of anything I did or do. I'm not talking about any signs like speaking in tongues or miraculous physical healing or other such things that Satan can counterfeit. I have experienced none of those things. I am talking about something far more miraculous.

What could be more miraculous than the changes which the Spirit has made, and continues to make, in my heart and life...His conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? What could be more assuring than His work of weaning my heart away from an idolatrous love for sin, and toward an ever-growing love for Christ? What could be more impossible for Satan to counterfeit?

I know what He has done, and what He is doing. And it's different from anything my flesh can do.

Is He at work in you? (Gal. 5:22-25)

Yes, our low view of what it means to be saved has impacted our evangelism. Has it impacted how you were evangelized? Are you resting your assurance on some act that you performed, or on something that the Spirit has performed, and is still performing, and on the Spirit bearing witness with your spirit?

To whom do you give the glory?

(Photo from Flickr by iamPatrick)

Conviction Gets Personal

Yesterday I promised to tell you about the day that changed everything. If you haven't read yesterday's entry, "Convicting of Judgment," please do that first, and then come back here.

I'd been a "Christian" for decades. I may have looked fairly good if people didn't look too closely, and I could truly say I wasn't guilty of any of the big outward sins (you know, I didn't smoke, didn't drink, didn't cheat on my husband, that sort of thing). Yet I had no real victory over the sins that I did indulge in, no love for God Himself, no joy or peace in tribulation, no signs of the Holy Spirit at work in my life.

In fact, I pretty much loved me, myself, and I, and any sin that served me. My sins may have not been on the "Comfortable 21st Century American Christians' Big Bad No-No List," but they reeked in God's nostrils.

Well, I guess I can't say that there were no signs of the Holy Spirit at work. As I've said before, the Spirit was working on me. But the best way I can think to describe it is that He was working on me from the outside, not yet from the inside. And any time that I had the good sense to wonder if I really was saved, I would pray with an unspoken attitude that said, "I hope God will be reasonable, do right by me, and make sure I'm really going to Heaven." My head-knowledge would have known better than to say something like that, but my heart lived there.

That changed one night.

I lay in bed feeling the Spirit's conviction about my love for my sin. He seemed to be peeling off layers of denial and opening my eyes to the depth of my depravity. After a while my soul sank down with the knowledge...no, the certainty that God would be absolutely within His rights to condemn me eternally. He would be just if He did so. I truly deserved no better.

I didn't just think this in my head. I felt it in my heart.

How do I know it was the Spirit, and not just a self-generated guilt trip? Well, in addition to all of the previously discussed differences between conviction and guilt trips, there was also this:

For the first time, true faith dawned.

You see, when the Spirit showed me my own hopeless depravity, He also showed me Christ's mercy as my one and only hope. That was one of the most wonderful gifts the Spirit has ever given me. I felt, for the first time, the preciousness of God's grace and mercy. Whereas before I had intellectually assented to some facts about Christ, on this blessed night I threw my helpless soul completely onto His mercy, knowing that if He didn't catch me, I would fall into the inferno.

That leap in my heart was saving faith.

He caught me, and nothing has ever been the same.

I can't tell you how long ago that was, because I seem to have lost all ability to judge the passage of time. But it couldn't have been more than a few years ago.

And what about now?

I still have weaknesses for sins. Satan still has the ability to pull the wool over my eyes. And I know that I have a long, long way to grow. BUT...

My insides feel different. My priorities are changing. Old bitternesses are healing. Loyalty to God is growing. I feel a newly-budding desire to love others. Sin's grip on my affections is loosening.

God is at work. And when He decides to do something, He does it. Who is going to stop Him? So while I have a long way to go, and I know I won't "arrive" while I'm on this earth, I feel ever-increasing confidence in what He (not I) will do.

Not everyone will have the same salvation experience. If we did, then each of us should have had a blinding light strike us, like what happened to Paul (Acts 9:3). Of course that's not the case. But there are certain things that will be a part of every true Christian's life. And among those will be the Spirit's work of conviction about sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).

Christians, let's never shy away from speaking the truth in love, even unpopular truths about such things as sin or judgment. Remember God's warning to Ezekiel (Eze. 3:18-21). You might even want to memorize it. The Holy Spirit is the one who applies such truths to people's hearts, and He may even do it as a result of something you've shared. You will not lose your reward.

To those of you who may not be believers, my prayer is that God will grant you the precious gifts we've been discussing in this series, and will bring you to the point of receiving the very greatest that He has to offer...the gift of Himself.

(Photo from Stock.xchng by Scyza)

Convicting of Judgment

In Part 1 and Part 2 of this interrupted series based on John 16:8, we've talked about recognizing Image via Wikipedia the true ministry of the Holy Spirit versus counterfeits. We've talked about how He convicts the world of sin and of righteousness.

Today we continue this series with the fact that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of judgment.

I guess that means He wouldn't be welcome in most places, including in many churches.

That may also mean that this blog will be unwelcome on some computer screens, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Why? Read what God said to the prophet Ezekiel in Eze. 3:18-21.

When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul.

There are warnings to be given, and there are severe consequences for those who refuse to give out that warning when they should. But there can also be joy in this message, and it's infinitely precious.

The fact is, before we can appreciate the good news, we've got to come face-to-face with the bad news. (More on that subject here.) So here's some of the stuff that's hard to read, coming from the mouth of none other than our Lord Jesus.

"Whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matt. 5:22)

"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matt. 7:19)

"But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment." (Matt. 12:36)

"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 13:41-42)

To keep this entry from getting too long, I'll stop there. But if you want to read more, just hover your mouse over these verse addresses: Matt. 5:28-30, Matt. 7:21-23, Matt. 18:23-35. They're not a complete list, but they give the idea.

When Jesus spoke those words, crowds of people stood around and listened. And since those words were written down, countless millions have read them.

For some people, these words have led to disdain for Christianity. They have rejected it as harsh and unloving.

For some it has led to rejecting certain portions of Scripture, while continuing to accept the parts they like. (And they fail to realize that the parts they like become grossly distorted without their missing counterparts.)

For some it has led to fearful legalism, the desire to protect themselves from God's judgment by jumping through religious hoops of some kind.

For some it has led to a healthy fear of the Lord, repentance, forgiveness, faith, and love.

What makes the difference?

It's the Holy Spirit. He convicts the world of judgment. And the key word there is "convicts." It's a heart-work, not the mere delivery of a message. The heart change required to respond properly to God is a precious gift, to be received with thanksgiving.

I speak from very personal experience. I grew up in the Word, enjoyed memorizing it from an early age, and often shared my Biblical insights with others. Yet I had the uncomfortable awareness, down in dark corners of my heart, that no supernatural transformation had ever taken place in me. Sometimes, when I would be expounding truth to others, my heart would tug at me. That hasn't been your experience.

When I read Biblical warnings of judgment, I usually reacted in a purely academic fashion. Nothing emotional. After all, I "believed," so none of that applied to me. If I did respond emotionally, it would either be with avoidance, resentment of this 'judgmental God," or the uneasy feeling that I needed to do better so I could feel reassured.

Then, finally, came the day that everything changed. I'll tell you about that next time.

In the meantime, what are your thoughts, or what is your story? Please leave a comment by clicking on the underlined "comments" link below.

(By the way, it has come to my attention that some people were unable to post comments earlier in the week. I had recently made a change in how Blogger handled comments, and evidently it wasn't working. I have changed back to a different setting now, and hopefully that has fixed the problem. If you tried to leave any comments and weren't able to do so, please feel free to try again.)

Convicting of Righteousness

(This is the third in the series which began with, "How Does The Holy Spirit Really Help Us?"

Image via Wikipedia

And when He [the Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of...righteousness... (John 16:8)

The kingdom of God is...righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17)

How many times does the Bible talk about righteousness? Just a quick check with my electronic Bible's search function pulls up 565 verses.

In how many passages does God's Word talk about people speaking in tongues? I may have missed a few, but I was only able to find seven such passages.

Which do you suppose is more important to God?

Would He rather see a dozen righteous people who do not speak in tongues, or a dozen people who speak in tongues but are not righteous?

It's not my intention to address the topic of tongues, or any of the other showy, popular (and often counterfeited) works of the Spirit. What I really want to do is plead for priorities that match our Lord's.

How badly do we want the miraculous work of the Spirit that's called "righteousness?" How often do we pray for it, yearn for it, study it, apply ourselves to it? Or do we consider the flashier gifts more important?

"But wait," you may protest. "We are made righteous in Christ. It's a done deal, so I don't have to worry about it any more."

Well... yes... and no.

It is true that we are given Christ's righteousness when (and if) we are truly saved. It's a process called, "Imputation," and it means we're given credit for the perfect righteousness that we won't actually experience until Heaven. God lives in the eternal "Now," so He doesn't lie when he declares us righteous. He simply takes the reality of eternity and credits it to our present time.

We do this sort of thing ourselves. For example, when someone is diagnosed with incurable, terminal cancer, we might say of that person, "He's a dead man." He's still alive, but his fate is sealed, and there's nothing that's going to change it.

In the same way, when and if we are truly saved, God declares us righteous. Though we still have sin in us, righteousness is our sealed fate (2 Co. 1:21-22), and nothing will change it. Praise God!

But how do we know if this genuine work of the Spirit has happened in us? We look at ourselves, and we see that sin is still present within us. How can we know if Christ's righteousness has truly been imputed to us?

After all, anyone can claim to have achieved a right standing with God. Millions have claimed it on the basis of having washed their bodies in the Ganges river. Other millions have done so on the basis of the recitation of certain prayers, or floating candles on paper boats, or any of countless other rituals.

God's word tells us that there will even be many "Christians" who believe themselves righteous, but who will be in for a horrible shock on Judgment Day.

"Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" (Jesus, in Matt 7:22-23).

How can we know?

Praise God, He does not force us to wallow in doubt. When there has been a genuine work of the Spirit (which includes imputation of righteousness), there will be undeniable, impossible-to-counterfeit evidence. And two of those evidences are:

1. Growth in righteousness

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1Pe 2:24)

For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (Heb 5:13-14)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2Ti 3:16-17)

Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (2 Tim. 2:22)

that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. (Eph 4:22-24)


2. A love of righteousness (Why? Because the Spirit makes us more like Christ, who loves righteousness! Ps. 11:7)

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions. (Heb. 1:9)

For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (Gal 5:5)

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. (Matt. 5:6)

You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness (Isa. 64:5)


This love of righteousness will be a humble love, not a prideful one (Luke 18:9-14).

If the Lord is working in your heart to create growth in godly righteousness, and a humble love of righteousness, you can be sure that this is the result of the Holy Spirit in you. Even though you won't be perfect in this life, you can reassure your heart when you see His Spirit changing who you are and making you more like Christ.

If this kind of growth, and this love, are absent in you, I can only beg of you along with the apostle Paul,

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. (2Co 13:5)

Please add to the richness of this post by commenting below!

The previous (second) post in this series was: "A Genuine Work of the Spirit?"

A Genuine Work of the Spirit?

Does the Holy Spirit sign His name to His work?

In an earlier article I asked, "What spiritual activity can you see in your own life that you know is not a counterfeit, and on what do you base that confidence?" Of course that's a question for myself, too.

Jesus said that, when the Holy Spirit comes, one of the things He does is convicts the world of sin (John 16:8). In other words, conviction of sin is one of the signature marks of the Spirit.

How's that going for you? For me? It's an important question, because any spirit that tolerates sin is not the Holy Spirit of God.

Maybe it would help if we asked ourselves a few questions. Do we really want conviction? How do we know if we really want it? And what's the difference between godly conviction and a religious "guilt trip?"


Is conviction of sin something we truly desire?

Why should we desire it?

Imagine if you had cancer cells lurking in your body, growing, multiplying, spreading. They can do so for a long time without you even noticing. In fact, they can reach a lethal state before you even know they're there. Image via Wikipedia

Do you want the diagnosis? I suppose that might depend on whether or not there was hope for a cure. Ignorance might be bliss if the situation were hopeless, but what if finding out could have changed everything?

Sin is spiritual cancer. It eats away, destroys, kills.

Conviction is the diagnosis, and if we're alive and able to feel the Spirit's convicting work, then it's not too late. There is hope.

That's why King David wrote, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." (Ps. 139:23-24) He wanted God to show him his sin so that he could repent of it and walk in the paths of life.

How do we know if we really want conviction?

Do we really want conviction, or are we secretly hoping to find a way to soothe our consciences without actually dealing with sin? John Owen, in his 17th-Century work, "On The Mortification of Sin in Christians", clearly describes a heart that doesn't really want conviction. Condensed and paraphrased in modern English (by me...blame me for any errors), he says,

If the heart searches for ways to excuse itself, and to keep its peace despite unconquered sin, and despite not even vigorously fighting against sin, then it's in a deadly condition. There are different ways that this can happen.

1. Whenever the man feels troubled by his sin, instead of applying himself to destroying it, he searches his heart for evidence of the good that is in him. When he finds something good about himself, he convinces himself that all will be well with him. This is the desperate plan of a heart in love with sin. Such a man clearly shows that he is content to be as far from God as he can be without suffering eternal separation. What can be expected from such a heart?

2. By applying grace and mercy to a sin that is cherished and coddled, the man can continue to deceive himself. This is using God's grace as a license to sin. (End of Owen paraphrase)

If there is a genuine work of God's Spirit, then an awareness of our sin will bring conviction and repentance.

Are we experiencing true, godly conviction rather than a religious "guilt trip?"

What's the difference? It's vital to differentiate them, because no one ever found true repentance as the result of a guilt trip.

A guilt trip manipulates how we feel about our own sin.
Conviction touches our hearts with how God feels about our sin, and teaches us to see it the same way He does.

A guilt trip focuses on what we've done and how to change our behavior in the future. It causes sorrow about specific incidents, and if it broadens its view, it only does so in a way that makes us feel hopeless and discouraged about ourselves.
Conviction focuses on who we are and our need for a changed heart. It causes sorrow about the godlessness underlying all those sinful incidents. In other words, while we do sorrow over the incidents themselves, and seek to make things right with those whom we've offended, we don't stop there if we've experienced true conviction. We see root causes, with the Spirit's help, and we also see the hope that He provides for real heart change.

A guilt trip focuses on self-reform.
Conviction focuses on coming to God to be changed by Him.

A guilt trip is laid on us by someone else for selfish purposes.
Conviction is laid on us by God with a desire to save our souls.

A guilt trip is "cured" by modern psychologists who convince us we're just fine the way we are, and who prescribe the numbing drug of self-esteem. This is what God condemned in Israel's false prophets. "They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' when there is no peace." (Jer 6:14)
Conviction does not get healed, nor does it need to be. It causes healing when it brings about repentance. And the repentance it causes will not be on a surface level only. It will ultimately lead an individual to repent of self-centeredness and self-rule, in order to accept God-centeredness and God's rule.

In a heart which has been so utterly won over to God, sin cannot reign. It may cause stumbling, but it cannot ultimately conquer.

Time for your input. What personal experiences or Biblical insights can you share? Please post a comment.

Next entry in this series: "Convicting of Righteousness."

How Does The Holy Spirit Really Help Us?

Image via WikipediaA big name in Christendom falls away, embraces a sinful lifestyle, and in some "Christian" circles is applauded.

How can this be?

We've been discussing the excuses people rely on when they decide to embrace sin, such as "I was born this way" and "I feel so much closer to God now that I don't hate myself." We also got some invaluable insights on the struggle with sin from Puritan John Owen. But now we need to take some time to look at the most important factor in our growth.

The Holy Spirit. The third Person of the Trinity.

How does He help us?

To many, the mention of the Holy Spirit brings to mind such things as speaking in tongues, prophesying about the future, and other dramatic manifestations.

May I suggest to you that all of those things can be (and often are) counterfeited? I'm not saying they always are. But charlatans have known for years how to create temporary, showy effects on stage. Many pagan religions regularly practice "ecstatic speech." Prophesying (especially when it's vague, or when the "prophet" isn't held accountable for his accuracy) is practiced by everyone from psychics to sun-worshipers. None of these things are proof of the presence or influence of the Holy Spirit. Those things which cannot be faked by humans can be easily counterfeited by unholy spirits.

But not all of them.

How does the Holy Spirit really help us?

I have a friend, a dear sister in Christ, who was recently saved out of a heavily occultic lifestyle and demonic possession. The presence and work of the Holy Spirit in her life is a delight to see.

He's putting her through the fire.

She made a complete break with her occult past when she came to Christ. (I have seen a photo of her baptismal service, in which she burned the last of her Tarot cards. Remind you of anyone? See Acts 19:19.) She had supported her family through a very successful career as a psychic, and by teaching others to achieve the demonic counterfeits mentioned above, but that's not an option for her anymore. And without that income, life has become very, very hard. God has brought other trials into her life at the same time, the sorts of things that can drive a person to the breaking point.

Everything would be so much easier if she would return to her occult practices, use the "Law of Attraction" to bring the money in like she used to, and in every other way feed her flesh through Satan's power as she once did.

She is struggling. She longs to have nice things (don't we all?) But she said to me today, with joy in her voice, "Being a Christian is so freeing! I don't miss [the occult] at all. Not the least little bit."

That, my friends, is the help of the Holy Spirit. He hasn't made everything easy. He hasn't created a bed of roses. He hasn't instantly taken away all of her desires for the pleasures this world can afford.

He has made Jesus (the true Jesus of the Bible, not a New Age caricature of Him) a greater joy to her than what she has lost. He has given her a hunger for God's Word that keeps her reading it. He has given her a heart to obey.

Satan can't counterfeit that.

She doesn't see her growth as clearly as I do. That's often true. As someone else recently said to me, "Sometimes seeing the growth can hinder the growth." My friend will probably be amazed to know that she blessed me so much in our recent talk. But it was a blessing to me.

Do you remember when Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, and Mary came to visit her? The Holy Spirit caused Elizabeth's soul (and her baby) to leap for joy in recognition of the work that He was doing in Mary. That's how I felt, talking to my friend today. My soul leaped for joy at seeing His work in her.

I was also moved to repent of my own sinful, fleshly attitudes I'd been indulging today. Such repentance, too, is a gift of God, something He grants to us (2 Tim. 2:25), and it's a work of His Spirit in us. (See all entries on repentance)

At the beginning of this entry I asked how someone in Christian circles could fall away and be applauded by others who consider themselves Christians. I'm sure there are a multitude of reasons, but I would like to present one for very sober consideration.

Could it be that both the ones who fall, and the ones who applaud them, are deceived by a misunderstanding of the Spirit's work? Could they be basing their spiritual confidence on the presence of signs and wonders which Satan regularly counterfeits in their lives, while being completely unaware that they lack the Spirit's true working? I will never say that God can't or doesn't produce supernatural manifestations today. Of course He can, and of course He does. But so does Satan. And how do we know which is which?

I've already hinted at this, and I'll address it further in future entries, but now it's time for your comments. What spiritual activity can you see in your own life that you know is not a counterfeit, and on what do you base that confidence?

(Next post in this series: "A Genuine Work of the Spirit?")