Monthly Archives: February 2017

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Spiritual Fidelity: Belief and Behavior Should Match

Belief and behavior should match.

When we desire God in fullness in our lives, there is an accompanying behavior piece. Expect this. The need to follow where God leads as He reveals the layers of who you are and the why and what in your life is significant. One must be graciously willing to move forward as God leads.

Purity of mind and purity of action go hand in hand.

Common today is a separation between belief and behavior. Many people do as they wish without regard for God’s ways. In your spiritual life it will not fly. Belief needs to lead behavior. Belief and behavior are synonymous as much as possible. They are not two compartments like I act one way at work and at play, and I act another way at church or during my devotional time. We either approach our spiritual life as a Christian Spiritual world view, or we approach our spiritual life with a secular world view, which adds on Christianity when it is convenient and feasible.

A heart that belongs to God will need to claim the whole person.

One cannot have feet in both camps or the spiritual will become isolated and blocked off from a person’s center reality, what motivates them to do what they do and live the way they live. A good question to ask is this. What motivates me? That is one that all of us should ask ourselves.

What motivates me?

That will tell you where your belief falls off and separates out from your purpose and actions. Material possessions, secular prestige, loving others, spiritual purposes and so forth will tell you where you heart is at and what matters the most to you. Picture God on the throne of your life and you will fan a flame to a spiritual motivation that makes a tremendous difference in how you choose to live your life.

I often find repentance as critical to the success of the spiritual outcome.

Repentance means there will be a change of view toward the misdeed or separation in the spiritual condition of the soul. The concept of walking in close relationship with God is founded on the principle that we are pursuing a spiritual relationship with God. Because of this aspect of the relationship, it is imperative that more is said about some negative factors that can impinge on or destroy the ability to have open communication with God.

It is not fun to talk about these parts of spiritual life.

As long as we are human they will encumber and complicate our spiritual progress. Becoming aware of them and then applying truth as much as you know how to do, is right, healing, and freeing and makes us soft, kind, wise and other-centered rather than self-centered and self-protective.

There are parts in my life where I am blind.

It takes the skill of God to reveal these to me. This is true for everyone. We all have parts in our lives that are not the best. They may not seem like a problem until we become aware that they are keeping us from being all that we should be in our relationship with God. A person can’t ignore this. What should we do? What steps should we take?

Here’s the truth. We cannot avoid. Period.

Every time we have a new realization about an attitude, action, way of thinking, or conflict with another person that is not right in some way, it then becomes our responsibility to look at the issue from a spiritual perspective. What does God have to say about that sort of attitude? Instead of ignoring it and giving it the deep six, we are given a choice.

Will we do it God’s way, or will we choose to not do it God’s way?

Will we let God help us address the trouble, or will we try to fix it in the way we want to? What you do with every little bit that you are aware of as a thread with a spiritual component to it, must be considered and then approached in a godly way. Harbored bitterness and resentment clog a person’s ability to access the spiritual flow of that which is spiritual in nature. God can help us figure out how to overcome these areas in our lives.

God will use scripture and godly friends to help us in this.

Dealing with it is always worth it, even when it takes you days or months of forgiving and letting go. Forgiveness, letting it go, and moving forward are all interrelated and crucial for a healthy soul. The truth is, it is difficult or maybe impossible to participate in meaningful relationship with God when there is a block between you and God, which means the things of the Spirit will not be honest or true and you may get a false or unclear understanding of them.

That is when your time of meditation and contemplation could unravel and become dangerous.

Spiritually speaking, there will be a false reading in that you will believe your own thoughts, or the enemy’s thoughts, but not God’s thoughts. It may take one or more sessions to sort through the back trail to where the problem originated, the time when you chose to do it your way or something along that vein.

Allow God to work in your life, be open and honest, and then you will do well.

Love the Lord.

Modified excerpt from Silent Sacred Space.

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You Must Separate Your Thoughts from Your Feelings

God loves you and wants to free you from the chains that entangle your soul. It may be that all you do is worship God and stand in amazement before Him, praising Him and singing your gratitude. That, alone, will enrich your soul big time.

But sometimes, it is not so easy to go deep with God

There are times when you may be feeling down and discouraged, unable to even utter a peep. You have not the energy. Maybe you are grieving a loss. You may not speak one word. You don’t have to say anything. You are not alone, you just feel alone. But you still will want to reach out to God and rest in His presence.

You sit there in the silence.

You are unable to remove the cloak of darkness you are wearing. The sad emotion hovers and fails to break free or dissipate. You remain sitting, but you absorb. God is there with you. His presence is comforting. The Holy Spirit ministers to you and there are whispers of refreshment. God ministers to you in your brokenness.

A week ago that happened to me.

I sat alone in a small, knotty-pine and cinder block, monastery chapel. My heart was heavy with concern and emotion. For one whole hour I prayed and contemplated and wrote but was unable to commune with God as much as I wished. My mind felt blank. I chose to speak words of praise and then I sat quietly in the stillness. Comfort gathered me in her embrace and I felt the peace of God wrap around me like a soft, flannel blanket. I went away glad that I had been there.

Despair remained and would not lift.

One day later I tried again to lift the veil and receive from God. I spent over an hour in my church’s sanctuary, praying and meditating for the same concern and praying for people in my local church assembly.

This time the words flowed.

My words of praise lifted to God. Every moment had a sense of God being fully present with me. My prayers were alive and totally focused.

What was the difference this time?

I don’t know except that I was pushing it through until I received relief and knew God’s presence in a real and comforting way.

I was seeking God’s truth until I could access it.

I cannot leave myself in limbo when it comes to spiritual matters, too much is at stake. Even though I have been at this many years, there are still times when I stumble and get it all wrong. We are emotional creatures. None of this surprises God. He holds our hand and guides us through the difficulty.

Our reactions can be all over the place.

When it comes to personal, interpersonal, and spiritual concerns, our emotional side and our intellectual side do not always see the situation the same. We want to latch onto the emotions, when we really should think through the situation by asking ourselves what is true, and what is the best possible solution. Separating our thoughts  from our feelings must be carefully managed. Each needs to be put in its proper place. What we know to be true is not always what we feel is true. Does this make sense?

Feelings must not drive the conversation.

Feelings are not wrong. We should never discount someone’s feelings, not even our own. However, sometimes feelings lie to us or distort the truth. When we take time to sort through our thoughts and look at them objectively, it will help us find a proper solution. I often ask God to show me what is true, because I can’t always discern what is true in a specific situation.

This is a mental exercise a person must equip themselves to do.

There are problems to work through that always benefit from an ability to sort and place the issues into the appropriate categories, thought and feeling. Feelings can hijack the appropriate action and cause us to react, which drives an emotionally heightened action.

Most of us have experienced this at one time or another.

Maybe we’ve written something we shouldn’t have, or spoken something we wish we could take back i.e. I wish I could eat my words! By thinking what is true in the situation, there will be greater clarity even in spiritually related topics and situations.

Much in life is a thinking game.

By thinking what is true in the situation, there will be clarity even in spiritually related topics and situations. For example, when we think it through and separate thought out from our feelings, we can then identify when a slight from someone else was not a rejection of us but was motivated by the other person’s own self-issues flaring up. We may feel betrayed when they meant nothing of the sort. The other person may have been defensive, argumentative, and aggressive or they may have been expressing the view from their own perspective and we took offense to it. This is why it is helpful to figure it out.

Feelings say it is all about you.

Truth tells you what is or what is not the true. You have to sort the truth out. Is it about opinion or is it more about them, or your differences of opinion? What am I really looking at? What is this?

What do I need to know?

I knew all that at the time, but it wasn’t helping much because the situation was complicated and involved. As I thought it through, with God’s help, I could see where I needed to change my attitude in particular areas. My feelings were dictating my reactions, consequently, they were imploding my sense of spiritual well-being. Even though I had tried, I could not completely let the thing go.

I went to God because He knows what I don’t know.

God knows what is best. He knows how to help us see what we need to see. I did not like the distance the problem had created in my spiritual life and with those who trust me as a spiritual leader and friend. I didn’t know what to do, and I , in honesty, told this to God. It is always best to be honest with God even when it makes you look bad. I’m convinced of that.

Yet God is helping me with this process.

I was leaning into Him. When something is wrong, you can’t just ignore it and pretend that it doesn’t exist. You must deal with yourself first, and then worry about others. (Parents, heed this) God directs our thoughts in a way that we can process spiritually and internally.

God’s Word speaks, and we draw upon it.

He uses godly people to speak truth to us.  God’s meeting me in the sanctuary is perfect proof that He is part of the solution. My time in the chapel cleared the way, opened the door. The communing with God came the next day in the church’s sanctuary.

What joy this brings to me.

Having a time of meditation is not a slam dunk. There are always deep-seated aspects to pause and consider. In the quietness I am able to slow down. I seek God and He meets me there. I praise Him and thank Him.

Get your praise on!

Seek God’s face. Know God’s love. Embrace God’s grace.