Going Deeper with God, Lesson 4

We, as a people, often seek those things we prefer to live with, that make us feel secure and happy or that, at least, help us feel okay some of the time. We often fail to see the weakness found in this human-limited-spirituality with its facade of spiritual activities, which falsifies our true truth, the reality of our driving passion for self, self-promotion and self-protection. It may be our view of the Christian life as we think it should be, rather than what Christ offers–what we can fully have in a true God shaped, Christ enabled, Spirit driven spiritual life

Question 7: What could contribute to this (un)spiritual form of lethargy, this lack of energy and fulfillment?

Question 8: What is the need?

WE’RE TALKING ‘SPIRITUAL NEED’ STUFF

To walk closely with God by being in step with Him, in active realness, in joy, in peace, in communion with Him, means we will remain unsatisfied and become dissatisfied with a spiritual life that convinces us to be content with the status quo–for this is a limited spirit-life lived inside a safe, religious box consisting of secure walls, self-made boundaries, unrecognized insecurities, and the need for attention and significance. This isn’t what we want or how we should live out our faith.

There are a few submerged reasons that get in the way of accessing a centered-in-Christ spiritual life. There are reasons why we have settled so comfortably and ably as we ignore the weaknesses and lacks found in our spiritual lives.

Here is a partial list of some reasons for our lack of commitment to seeking a deeper walk with God.

• One problem is the failure to want more in our spiritual life, more than we already have (we’re comfortable and satisfied with the way it is).
• If that’s not the problem, another one is quick to appear: Even though we want more, we aren’t knowledgeable or aware of ways in which to access God. We don’t know how to find Him as this sort of (personal) God.
• Then there is this ugly little problem that trips us up and keeps us from sticking our neck out: we really aren’t so sure about God, Who He is, what His “real” plan for us will entail. Will we like it?
• And, lastly, the biggest worry of all: if we choose to really look deep inside ourselves and at God, at what He is doing and what He will require of us, we are afraid that we might be disappointed with what He gives us. We have doubts about God’s goodness.

Now that we know some of the problems in our faith, we find ourselves challenged to do something about it. Soon this will start making sense.d Hang in there til we get to the good stuff, where spiritual life takes on living life, becomes living water for our thirsty, become the bread of life to our souls, and becomes ever-lasting glory in our beings. It’s coming.

Next post: Relationship with God (Going Deeper with God, Lesson 5)

Going Deeper with God, Lesson 3

If we want God to do more, then we have to be more, that is, to become more “in Christ.” The real question is, do we want more? Do we really? As Christians, it is easy to slip into becoming complacent, comfortable, and not worried. We’re not in the fray, speaking life to people, and there may be a few problematic areas in our lives that need some attention. We are busy with other things and are not paying too close of attention to the eternal soul within our self. Basically, we may be inactive or lack depth in the spirit realm.

What’s missing is the life, power, and joy.

Question 5: Where is the power in our spiritual walk? Where is its life? Most importantly, why is it missing?

Answer the question before going on with the lesson.

Although we may be living with our stuff and our pain, we are, for the most part, fairly content with the way things are humming along. We are doing our best effort for the most part, and some of us may even be giving it our all. No matter, all of us need to ask ourselves the hard questions i.e. is there a root of bitterness in us? Is there anger towards others? Is there disappointment with God? Is there a lack of life and suffused energy?

These are very human conditions that we often experience as part of life, and they are to be expected. But what are we doing with them? Are we bringing them to the Father, or are we harboring them and vindicating ourselves. We should frequently check what’s going on inside of us. We may be stuck in a spiritual rut and not even realize it.

If we are honest with ourselves, sometimes we feel alone and live with a sense of feeling abandoned by God. We may be disillusioned and feel second-rate in our relationship with Him. What about that empty, going-through-the-motions feeling, that reeks of deadness and staleness? What about our own issues, the ones that we’re afraid to look at too closely? Something is going on, we know, when we see there is complacency in us or a conflicted awareness of separation, not unity, in the connection between our emotions and thinking.

These are practical reasons, of course, but there are spiritual reasons as well. Part of living as a human being is an embedded capacity for spiritual living—with its struggle with the world, the flesh, the devil, and spiritual warfare—which is in battle against those things that resist a meaningful closeness with God.

But that is only half other problem, there is an additional area of major deficit in our spiritual lives, separate from previously mentioned areas of difficulty (which are very real, indeed, I don’t discount them). What is missing in the full picture and within the weakness causing lack in our Christian lives is maximum engagement with God in the center of self, in what some of the old writings call the “Ministry of the Interior.”

Something has come up missing. We find this situation when the deep well within a person is dry (empty) or nearly dry (losing its energy), when it needs to be filled with more of God, God’s loving presence,  God’s blessed enabling, and God’s loving grace. When our spiritual well is depleted, the living water flows less freely and our Love-tank, full of God’s mercy, is accessed less and less.

Our Christian life begins to sour and it becomes robotic, life-less ( or its opposite, lazy and worldly), and sometimes it morphs into a form of spiritual make-believe, a facade that is self-righteous and rigid rather than life-giving and alive. The saddest part is this, the person’s soul has lost its love, hope, and power, and it has “settled” for far less than God, our Father, intended it to become.

Question 6: What do you think “doing” vs. “being” looks like?

Answer the question before going to the next post.

Next post: We Need to Walk Closely with Our Lord (Going Deeper with God, Part 4)