The Good Fight

All Sorts

The fight of faith is something I’ve been pondering.  What is it?  How does it work?  I have snippets of reflections spread all over pages of random days… I’ve tried in vain to push away distractions and get down to pasting them together into a coherent understanding but this project is eluding me.  Grandbabies are nearby—sleeping, wiggling, making little dream smiles…posing for pictures, wanting to see Grandmom’s pictures, ready to read a book…how is a Grandmom to concentrate, or even want to? 

And there are the ongoing conversations with skeptics that actually fuel my motivation to put faith in coherent words—these ones who are pawns in the battle without knowing it, who are defenseless against the evil one’s darts.  These conversations too have drawn me away from organizing my notes…So today I will submit to you the snippets I have gleaned, a mosaic of thoughts on the fight of faith.  And I welcome your gleanings on the subject.  How involved are we in this fight?  How can we be better warriors?  How do you fight the good fight of faith?

Here are some of the verses I’ve been pondering:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Eph.6:12)

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” (IICor.10:3-5)

“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (I Tim.6:12)
“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one:” (Eph.6:16)

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, (I Pet.5:8,9)

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. (Eph. 6:13)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (Ja.4:7)
——————–
So we’re in a battle, unseen though it be.  The objective?  To lay hold of LIFE–that eternal abundant sort of life of which we are heirs!  What’s going to deter us?  Fiery darts seeking to implant… Unbelief. Fear. Worry. Doubt.  They come like flaming suggestions to our minds at the worst of moments: “Oh no! What am I going to do?!” …Did God really say…?  Is He really good?  Can you trust Him for this situation? Where is He in this anyway?!  Don’t you think you’d better ‘do’ something! …and on and on.  What is one to do?

How to deflect them?

By lifting up the shield of faith.

How’s that?  Well, how about if I respond by taking captive my run-away thoughts and making them submit to this truth:  ‘I know whom I have believed and that He is able…to keep, to rescue, to provide, to heal, to do whatever is best in and through my life in this very moment.’  This is a declaration of faith.  I belie my unbelief when I am wracked with worry, fear or guilt.  As a favorite writer of mine puts it: “Every time fear freezes and worry writhes, every time I surrender to stress, aren’t I advertising the unreliability of God?  That I really don’t believe?” (Ann Voskamp)

Her recommendation is to start by giving thanks for every evidence of God in this moment.  That makes a great faith-starter.  Giving thanks too for a million moments of God’s faithfulness in the past increases my trust for the future.  [These thoughts are from her first book, hot off the press: One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are]

I was just reading a negative example of this in the adventure of the disciples at sea with Jesus when the big storm blew up. (Luke 8)  Their reaction: Panic!  “We’re gonna die!”  After all, Jesus was asleep and the storm was a doozer.  They knew boats and water but apparently not too much about their Master.  Jesus woke, calmed the seas and asked bluntly: “Where is your faith?” What would I have done?  Likely the same thing.  But what sort of response was Jesus looking for?  What would have been the indicators of a stalwart faith in the middle of a terrifying storm? Whether the temptation is to fear, to worry or to panic how do I combat it?  Yes, they were in real danger and yet, the Lord of all creation was with them in the boat!  Easy to think they were pretty silly and short-sighted but then again…that same Lord who possesses all authority in heaven and earth and sends me out to represent him to the world with the unending  promise of  “and behold, I am with you always, right to the end of the age”…that same Jesus is with me.  Unseen, maybe. But as I learn to look for the evidences of His presence, with thanksgiving, and declare His words to be true, my focus will change and faith will rise to ward off fear.

It’s all comfortably theoretical when I see it in someone else’s story. The ‘proof of the pudding’ will be in the storm.  Or maybe just in the day-to-day thought patterns that crisscross my mind?

One other thing I noticed in this story was the exchange of fears.  First the disciples feared the storm. Then when Jesus calmed it “they were afraid, and they marveled, saying…’Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?’”  Could it be that a rightful fear of God, an awe of His power, will help us in this fight of faith to which we’re called?  When the darts come there’s opportunity to let them stick and ignite all the wrong responses—or to turn my attention to the greatness of my God, and His presence with me in everything.  The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom and of knowing the Love of God that is without end.  Any other fear is nonsense in the light of who He is: 

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. (Rev.1:17,18)

We are blessed to know an unseen reality.  For the skeptic who denies God’s existence or even the theist that acknowledges an uninvolved irrelevant god, there is no shield of faith.  The only reality is what can be seen and measured, reasoned and calculated.  Beyond that is nothing.  So they stand confident where they should tremble.  Their enemy and ours is unseen and no friend of their souls.  But unaware of his wiles, blindfolded to his tactics, they whistle along in the dark, pawns on a battlefield without defense.

I can be a practical atheist, responding to what I see, oblivious to Kingdom interests in my every day matters.  George Herbert put it this way:

“The man that looks on glass,
On it may stay his eye;
Or, if he pleaseth, through it pass,
And then the heavens espy.”

That is to say I can get hung up on my circumstances and see the ‘flesh and blood’ around me as the trouble.  I can view the physical aches and pains and storms of life as obstacles to LIFE as intended or I can look through the physical woes, the people and circumstances and discover God at hand, permitting, controlling, fighting my battles as I submit by faith to His rule in my life. I’m convinced that learning to see rightly is a huge part of the battle of faith we are called to fight.

I’m reminded of the meat section of the grocery store where we shopped when I was a child. The glass separating the shopper from the work of the butchers is a mirror on the shoppers’ side.  All the shopper sees is the tidily packaged meat, the fellow shoppers, the groceries to buy.  But behind that mirror lies the source, the crucial activity that stocks the shelves, the blood and the guts.  Mind you, sometimes, if you were standing at just the right angle, you could dimly see through the mirror to this other world your parents said was there…

That’s how the eye of faith sees, believing in the world that lies behind our mirrored glass.

It sees the unseen—the reality of God with us, even when His presence can’t be felt.
 
It trusts that God is good and in control.when ‘bad’ things happen…

It holds fast the Word of God in an honest and good heart, patient for the fulfillment…(Luke 8:15)

Fenelon was a saint of the 17th century.  I just picked up a modern update of his letters titled:  Let Go.  I like his analysis of faith:

“There are two peculiar characteristics of pure faith.  It sees God behind all the blessings and imperfect works which tend to conceal Him, and it holds the soul in a state of continued suspense.  Faith seems to keep us constantly up in the air, never quite certain of what is going to happen in the future; never quite able to touch a foot to solid ground.  But faith is willing to let God act with the most perfect freedom, knowing that we belong to him and are to be concerned only about being faithful in that which he has given us to do for the moment.” –Fenelon, Let Go,27.

And for this moment, that’s the sum of my ponderings on the fight of faith.  I close with one last word from Fenelon:  “Above all things, be faithful to the present moment, doing one thing at a time, and you will receive all the grace you need.” (p.29 ) 

Must be off to capture the present moment, by faith.

–LS

Postponing the post…

BOOKS, LIVE IT!

For what are you waiting, hoping, daring to believe? An unexpected late snowfall has dumped a chill on the first signs of spring at our house. They say hope deferred makes the heart sick. (Prov.13:12) So what’s the antidote? I suppose it’s something like being patient, and establishing our hearts in the truth of what’s to come…I have been considering this week a related idea: the fight of faith. What’s that about? Unfortunately, these thoughts have not materialized into a post for two reasons:

One is that I was busy composing a book review of The End of Reason, an excellent resource for addressing the  underlying inconsistencies of the ‘new atheists’.  [Click the title to link to that review]

The other is that today, the day that these thoughts on the fight of faith were to have materialized in print, we woke to a phone call saying our grand-daughter is about to be born in a far-off city… and that’s where we are heading with hopes in hand tomorrow, so the post proposition was pre-empted till a later date…..

The fight of faith.  It remains an on-going battle, even today, for peace and trust, and coherence of thought minus the fears, minus the tumult of rushed plans.  For God has given us a spirit of love, power and a sound mind–all we need for today.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you’ll check out the book review and keep it in mind if you ever need to say a  timely word in defense of your faith to one who thinks it’s all magic and dangerous delusion.

—LS

What’s the Difference?!

All Sorts

I was challenged this week to consider what the difference is between me and ‘the Lady’, that is, between one who professes to ‘know’ Jesus and be indwelt by His Spirit—a ‘believer’, and one who has chosen to live a prudent and moral life as much as possible but denies the existence of any god.  She knows plenty of mainline ‘Christians’, lots of religious people but claims to see no difference between us— I quote:

“As I say often, what interests me greatly is why it is so important for some very intelligent people to so willingly accept these myths. There is no difference in the lives of people like you who believe and people like me who do not. Your life is not any richer or happier or free from strife and problems.”

This seemed such an audacious claim that I of course set about contesting it. In part my response was:

“It is true that we are all made of the same genetic ‘stuff’. We may even share certain interests (chatting about books for instance) but your ‘phone’ is dead (referring to a prior conversation on the subject of prayer). Until that connection is made live you will never know the dimension of life you are missing, and the quality of life comparison becomes mere wishful thinking…from my observation there is nothing compelling about denying the reality of God in this world. Even if my belief were mistaken I would rather have lived with the joy, purpose and hope that come of knowing there is a God who holds my life in His hands, calls me by name and keeps count of the hairs on my head–who indeed loves me without conditions, than to trade these in for denial, which offers a transient show of ‘freedom’ but ends in lonely bondage to the tyranny of myself as my only god.  That’s the way I see it.”

Well, that led to a barrage of responses from the defenders of the god-less viewpoint which sobered me to realize something more… but first some excerpts—

What an atheist (with regards to the Christian God) does get is intellectual honesty and freedom to wonder if “God” may take some other form than the unimaginative and limiting deity conceived by religion. I don’t think denial applies to an atheist. –George

Joy, purpose and hope can be achieved without an outside force.
If a belief in God gives comfort to those who have none, or love to those who have none, then yes, a belief in God may have some merit. But, that merit is only an imaginary coping system. As an individual, I take full responsibility for my circumstances. It does not give me comfort, or hope to blame my circumstances on a God, or to expect a God to change them. The thought that a God holds my life in his hands is a bit scary actually. It takes all control away, it takes all choices away. I am responsible for how I choose to live my life and the actions I choose to make.–Suzie

If I select five atheistic friends and compare them to my five siblings, I see no difference in the morality of their lives, their human frailties and weaknesses, their kindnesses and generosities. The only difference is the lack of Church and God in their conversations and of course attendance at religious services. Also the atheistic are more accepting of the religious beliefs or lack thereof of others in their lives. –the Lady

Skepticism is a virtue, but faith is not. I’ve seen too many good people duped into believing false things over and over and over again, and being seriously financially or physically harmed.—Mr.Brain

There is no difference between the lives of those who believe and those who do not. When Katrina hit New Orleans it did not separate believers from non-believers to impact.
I do recognize that there are some differences between us because I assume you spend much time either in church, saying prayers or thinking of God and Jesus and asking for guidance from them which you then implement in your life and the lives of those for whom you are responsible. I would imagine the biggest difference is that you attribute the decisions you make for running your life to God/Jesus and I accept the responsibility for myself.
I don’t know that joy and (can’t remember your quote exactly) are exactly quantifiable in this way. So many other factors enter into such evaluations. No matter how deep your faith, don’t think you would be so joyful in the presence of a dying family member or if you are prone to depression or ill yourself etc.—the Lady

And all these heart-felt missives led me to do some thinking too.  How different are we as Christians because we believe there is a God we can know?  Does it really just amount to church attendance and time spent praying?  Is this what people perceive? 

I read a research report suggesting that the ‘new atheism’ is in part a protest against organized religion.  It is people observing ineffective religion and opting out altogether. Could it be they have never seen authentic Christianity lived out?  In Acts I see a very different story.  The first followers of Christ turned the world upside down. Their faith and boldness to speak in Jesus’ name were unstoppable! Onlookers were converted in droves.  These believers  knew their God and really believed.  They were living evidence of His unlimited power.  What’s happened to us?  What witness does the average person see to the power of the Gospel to transform lives?

One idea that I proposed to this group of staunch un-believers was that in denying a God, they in effect make themselves to be god.  Have we as believers done the same thing? Have we forgotten our God and put ourselves in His place? For whose pleasure do I live?  Whose interests do I promote?  How different am I from someone who claims there is no god and lives by their own intuitions?  Are the ‘christians’ these folks see virtual atheists in the way they live?  Am I?  How deep is  my joy anyway?  I don’t mean to sound overly introspective here but I’ve been rolling these questions around in my mind even as I pray the Lord will plant authentic believers in these ones’ lives and help the rest of us to be that sort of believer to those around us.

This has been a very interesting on-line community to be involved with. [Incidentally, though I have changed the user names above to protect the privacy of these real persons,  they do represent a virtual community who rally together to defend their rights to think outside the box and I do appreciate their willingness to interact with me and put up with my objections and clarifications.]  Having said that, I’ve had to correct some of my assumptions about ‘atheism’.  I assumed that atheists would all be a gloomy lot since the logical end to their beliefs leaves no option but despair.  But classic atheism is apparently a rather rare commodity nowadays.

The genuine atheist who seriously lives out the implications of his non-beliefs will always end up with despair.  Nietzsche is a notable example.  He came to the conclusion that “a universal madness would break out when the truth of what mankind had done in killing God (i.e. denying his existence, saying ‘God is dead’) dawned on us.” (Zacharias, The End of Reason, p.27)  Incidentally Nietzsche spent the last thirteen years of his own life in insanity being watched over by his godly mother.

Other notorious atheists have come to their senses and escaped this snare.   Jean Paul Sartre, to the embarrassment of the intellectual elite atheist, recanted on his deathbed, acknowledging himself to be the product of a Creator God. And more recently Anthony Flew authored his own story: There is a God: how the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind (2007)

When pursued to its legitimate ends an atheistic worldview is un-liveable, and yet here is this community of  people, living quite contentedly it would seem.  The ‘new atheist’ wants his morality, in fact exalts it above God’s moral standards– (after all, look at the suffering God allows!).  He toots his own self-righteous horn all the while denying the Source of moral absolutes.   He’s inconsistent—talking one way, living another—not really living up to the label he has chosen.  How does that work?  But should this discovery have come as a surprise?  Am I not also human and often inconsistent?  In fact this scenario of not living up to one’s labels sounds all too familiar.  How did Paul put it?  “…having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” (II Tim.3:5)


Where else might this apply?

It dawned on me one day this week that we who believe there is an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving, personal God who is intimately acquainted with all our ways and promises to work in every detail for our best good…we above all people, should be filled chock-full and overflowing with contagious JOY, not to mentions unfathomable peace and boundless hope.  The atheist has every excuse for despair.  We have none whatsoever.  We believe in what we do not see.  We hope in situations beyond hope.  We live and are renewed when death is imminent.  We are confident of a destiny that reaches beyond our physical lives.  To the atheist, ‘destiny’ is “no more than a popular name for girls.” They have no expectation beyond the grave.  To us it is the hope that lights our present lives, the lighthouse we can see through the storms, the sight on which we fix our eyes.  And as we live with a sense of our destiny we will be brilliant lights for people stuck in uncertain aimless lives.
 
On the other hand, if my joy is not evident… if my kids don’t see it leaking out on my face…  If my peace is riddled through with the worries of this life, how is what I believe different than ‘the Lady’?  I don’t wish to be a practical atheist.  I want to fulfill the calling to which I have been called, to live what I say I believe, to walk by faith in a power beyond my own.
 
I was challenged by an excellent commentary called “Stretch out in the Spirit” by T.Moore from the Colson Center. (http://www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/viewpoint/16248-stretch-out-in-the-spirit ) He says,

 â€œâ€ŚBut if the Spirit of God lives in us, and if He is, indeed, able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, should we not expect more of ourselves than merely what we’ve ever known or endeavored in the past? Shall we be limited by our experience when an exceeding abundant power is at work within us?”  

So, for perhaps the first time I am looking at ‘holes’ that need to be filled and wondering if God could possibly prepare me to be able to fill them… I don’t see the details yet but I’m daring to pray that He will make a way for His Kingdom to be advanced in these spots by my ‘living sacrifice’.  It’s a start in making a difference… He’s invited us to ask and He will give the nations as our inheritance (Ps.2)… to ask and He will do through us greater works than He Himself did while on the earth (Jn.14:12-14)…To dare to ask, is a starting place. 

And yes, there will be a noticeable difference, not because of who we are, but because of WHOSE we are.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.  AMEN!”


“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called…”

(Eph.3:20-4:1)

MISSIONS FEST–Vancouver

All Sorts

This past weekend, we went into the big city to check out Missions Fest for the first time.  Was it worth the time, expense and energy?  Without a doubt!  Rather than rehearse all the details I put together these impressions.  I was struck by the incredible privilege of being part of the family of God, standing en masse (1500+) to worship God together as one, and in contrast I thought of how very different is the atmosphere when people gather to pursue their own pleasure irrespective of God’s Kingdom.  There’s no comparison.

A gathering from hither and yon’ of saints-the church-His Body
Worship
Purpose
Music
Passion
Singing
Eagerness to hear
Testimony
Praise
Goose-bumps
Tears welling
Awe of God ——Attentiveness to hear His instructions


“What does the Lord require of me?”

Acquaintances made
Earnest Discussion
Kingdom strategizing
Bold Words
Heartfelt messages
Challenge
Seeking to put God’s Kingdom first
Excellence
Zeal

God IS alive!——God is MOVING!——-GOD IS AWESOME in this place and all over the world!

Renewed faith
Hope
 Encouragement
Opened Eyes
Fresh Vision
Expectancy to see God at work in our sphere of influence and join in!
To confirm His calling

in our lives
in our times.

This was the celebration rightly called MISSIONS FEST!

It could hardly have been in greater contrast to the atmosphere of the ‘fertile plain’ we’d just glimpsed, the strip of imitation ‘life’ we caught a glimpse of on our recent trip to Las Vegas.

Crowds flock there too.  Conventions gather.
But there is no glory, only transient glamour.
No music of heaven, only noise—the incessant drone of casino din (ding,ding,ding,ding,ding,ding…)

The smoky haze of worship misdirected yields no purpose that energizes
Only drained countenance, weary of life,
Bored to death with pushing buttons,
playing chips,
tossing dice
watching outcomes in vain.

Hope dulled by disappointment
Despair settling on shoulders, dismal

Passion is here traded for lust—
No kingdom to live for, die for, celebrate
But my own.
Greed, lust, appetite for more, 
Turns to gluttonous disillusionment.
Stuffed but not satisfied.
Spent but nothing gained.
Entertained, titillated, and wowed senseless.
Deadened
Empty.
This is the ‘life’ of the fertile plain.
Abraham chose differently.  Moses too.
Both willing to deny the pleasures of sin for a season in order to stake their lot in future glory.
The world will pass away and the lusts thereof
But he who does the will of God will live forever.(IJn.2:17)

In His right hand are pleasures forevermore.(Ps.16:11)

An inheritance that neither spoils nor fades, kept in heaven for you who……..through faith and patience inherit the promises…(I Pet.1:5)(Heb.6:12)

Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.(Mt.6:33)
And I consider, “What does the Lord require of me?”
To do justly
To love mercy
To walk humbly with my God(Micah 6:8)

All              the           days           of               my             life
And then to dwell in His House forever
In unending awe 
At what He has done.
God, you are amazing!
—LS

“Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and He is to be held in awe above all gods!” (I Chron.16:24,25)

What Would You Say?

All Sorts

‘You know how children often have an imaginary friend? That is how I look upon your “relationship” with Jesus. I would define a relationship as well, even what you and I have; or more desirably with someone you actually have seen and heard speak. Anything else is just a daydream or wishful thinking. Kind of like when a teenage girl gets a crush on a movie star or such.’

What would you say?  How do I explain this unseen relationship upon which I have built my life to a skeptic?  This was a snatch of actual ‘conversation’ (online) I had with ‘the Lady’ as I will refer to her.  She is in her 70’s now and appears quite smug and self-satisfied having abandoned the faith of her upbringing.  By way of introduction here is her story in her own words:

“You are right about upbringing as I was raised in a church [Episcopal] and my siblings (five of them) either are still in that church or have converted to Catholicism (because of marriage in two cases) I am the only atheist of the six of us, but of our 18 children, only 4 or 5 are active church members. My child had no religious upbringing, nor did her two. We are all happy, moral people who feel no lack (or even consideration on the part of my daughter and her two) of the absence of such “a pursuit of the knowledge of God” In fact to me it would be akin to chasing a will o’ the wisp.

Don’t you think it is interesting that what you consider a central and significant part of your life has no part in the lives of many and yet we all think of ourselves as having very full and complete lives?” 

So what is there to say?  The ‘imaginary friend’ allegation is not original. It comes straight out of popular atheistic works.  It of course feels insulting but there’s little value in reacting.  I had in another post attempted to differentiate between religion and relationship to which ‘the Lady’ responded:

“The statement you make about having a “relationship with Jesus” confuses me. In fact as soon as I read it I called my sister (whom I had wanted to speak to anyway) and asked her if she, as a Catholic, had a “relationship with Jesus” and she said she had not and so I asked her if she knew what it meant and she did not.”

I was encouraged by this indication of her curiosity and by the fact that she discussed the concept with her sister, who is incidentally involved in a Bible Study at her church.  This too fuels my hope that God can yet reveal Himself to these ladies.  Eventually she asked me to spell out what I mean by ‘relationship’.  She addressed these questions to me and the other Christian active at this site:

“What exactly is a personal relationship with Jesus? Since that is the essence of Christianity, please explain it.

Do you speak to Jesus and does he answer? Do you pray and enter a trance state? Do you meditate and reach a different level of consciousness and call that a personal relationship? What exactly does personal relationship mean? Does each individual who claims to have one, define it differently?

Is it pointless for you to describe, since the unbelievers could not grasp the deeply mystical significance of such a relationship? If so, isn’t it your responsibility to convince us?

In claiming this, unlike for instance, saying you believe in Jesus and in God, you are elevating yourselves to a grander standing than most of those who merely “think” they are Christians. So what exactly does a personal relationship mean and how many people do you think have one?”

What would you say?


Explaining who Jesus is to you in a context of hard-core skeptics, many of whom doubt the very historical reality of Jesus Christ, is a little like casting pearls before swine.  I had a sense that ‘the Lady’ was not so much asking out of personal interest as she was looking to mock my naivety.  But we are to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in us so I thought and prayed and came up with this answer:

“Lady, …Your question is a fair one, and assuming it is an honest one, deserves a well-thought out answer. This is going to be tricky without referring to the Bible, (which seems to ‘push your buttons’, so bear with me here ( : I will try to speak for myself, as I suppose, as in any relationship, different people will have different experiences and ways of explaining what they appreciate about their relationship, not to mention the different phases a relationship goes through as two people grow together. All these things are true of a relationship with Jesus. Except that in this unique case, problems in relationship are always the fault of the human factor. 

I could run through and answer your questions: Yes, yes, yes and no, no, and probably yes. But I’m afraid you still won’t get what I’m saying, not because it’s ‘deeply mystical’ but because this is a spiritual relationship. Obviously, Jesus is not here on the earth in bodily form. But He is alive and His Spirit lives in every genuine believer. This is in fact what distinguishes a Christian from one who merely follows the ‘Christian’ religion. How can I explain this to you though if we are only material beings in your line of reasoning? And no, it is not my responsibility to convince anyone of anything, only to share the good news I have found. No one has to believe it. The convincing job is where God’s Spirit comes in. (We call him the Holy Spirit) All right, I’m already sensing that I’ve lost you… The one basic obstacle we have here is that spiritual concepts (and you’re not going to like the sound of this) are only discernible to spiritual persons. And I don’t mean ‘spiritual’ in some vague way, but in the sense just mentioned—persons who have the very spirit of God residing in them. That may sound pious and other-worldly but it can be your experience too, same as any other believer. It’s not some unattainable state.

There is in fact a rather famous conversation between a teacher of the Law and Jesus that explains this. This man didn’t ‘get it’ either but saw clearly that Jesus was no ordinary man. He arranged a private interview, and Jesus came right out and told him that unless he was born ‘from above’ he could not comprehend God’s kingdom. When the man asked how this could possibly happen, being ‘born again’ (an overused term but this incident is its origin) , Jesus said it was a spirit thing. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”. He then compared the Spirit to wind which we cannot see but we surely can see and know its effects! Without his spirit all the talk about having a relationship with Jesus will sound like foolishness. 

So when I say yes, I talk to Jesus, and yes, He talks back, if you’re thinking in merely physical terms you’ll think ‘ah, she’s looney’. But though I may or may not speak to Him in voiced words, his response is one that communicates with my spirit. It is a strong ‘sense’ of knowing something, an impression that goes beyond mental conjuring. It is communicated to my spirit. Here lies another obstacle to this making sense. The spirit of man. It is a dead entity until God gives it life. And because God is spirit, its being alive is necessary for one who wishes to hear from God. The Bible teaches that at the moment of entering this relationship, the believer’s spirit is made alive. It is then the place of communicating with God who is Spirit. This goes on 24/7. He’s fully present to me and I to Him. We can be silent together, or talk. To know I am fully known and loved at all times by the all-powerful God who created me is enough to face anything that may arise in my life. That’s the long and short of what I mean by relationship. Don’t know if it really answers your query. And I don’t doubt that it sounds strange, esp. if you’ve not considered the reality of a realm other than the physical one. Also, it is far more complicated to describe one’s own relationship with a spiritual being than it is to give information on how to enter this relationship (which I believe would be considered proselytizing on this thread). I guess to state it simply is to say that it’s a relationship in another dimension than the physical. It’s an ongoing, growing thing which doesn’t come naturally to any of us. An excellent book on the subject that I’ve read lately is called Hearing God. It is a sound, non-sensational explanation of what it means to develop a conversational relationship with God. It is, of course, written by a Christian ( Dallas Willard, who happens to be a long-time professor of philosophy at the U. of California) and for Christians, but you might glean some insight here.

And as for this notion of ours being a ‘grander standing’ than those who merely believe in Jesus and in God. First off, there are plenty of people who believe in ‘God’ in a vague sort of way, but want nothing to do with Jesus. That gets too personal for some reason; it demands I talk about sin and needing ‘salvation’ for instance. The Bible makes clear that it isn’t enough to merely believe God exists. Jesus said, even the demons do that. [ Yes, if there’s a good spiritual world, there’s a bad one—God’s enemies, the Devil and his demons (fallen angels)] |”You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder”.James 2:19 So no, this isn’t an exclusive club, just one that most choose not to join. 

As for numbers, it’s difficult to speculate but there is much reference to sheep vs. goats in the Bible and this way of relationship is called a narrow road that few find (as contrasted to the wide road leading to destruction)– Pilgrim’s Progress depicts this excellently in allegorical terms– So the numbers are limited, fewer than polls suggest I would expect. This is not to say the way is not clearly offered to all. There are just few willing to pay the cost of following it. To me the benefits far outweigh the costs, but to the skeptical onlooker this does not seem so.

For further reading since I’ve eliminated quotes a.m.a.p. I would commend to you these chapters in the Bible: 

John 3 (the famous conversation)

Ephesians 1 & 2 (the ‘scoop’ on being dead vs. alive in spirit)

John 10 (Jesus likened to a good shepherd. His sheep hear His voice)

I Corinthians 2 (the spiritual man described)

Hebrews 1 & 2 (the big picture. God communicating down through time, and now in Jesus)”

So that is how I answered.  What would you have said?


Her reply was brief, nothing unexpected:

“Well, … I do thank you very much for your explanation of your personal relationship with Jesus and I do understand what you are saying. I don’t doubt at all that you experience what you say you experience. I don’t understand it, except that I would probably say it is some form of self hypnosis, or wish fulfillment or such. I really am not enough of either a psychologist, psychiatrist or person like Joseph Campbell who may have some explanation for people like you. When I say “people like you” I do not mean that in a pejorative sense.”

She has no good explanation for ‘people like me’… but at least now she has ‘met’ one.  And I pray for her sister to come to the knowledge of the truth and be able to report back to her that ‘Yes! She does now know what a relationship with Jesus is!’  Until then, I guess I’m just a teeny light shining into a bunch of dismal darkened intellects.


Shortly after that conversation I came upon this poem and was encouraged. It is quoted in C.S. Lewis’ Letters to Malcolm in answer to the taunting of a skeptic that prayer is nothing more that talking to oneself…

“They tell me, Lord, that when I seem
To be in speech with you,
Since but one voice is heard, it’s all a dream,
One talker aping two.

Sometimes it is, yet not as they
Conceive it.  Rather, I
Seek in myself the things I hoped to say,
But lo! My wells are dry.

Then, seeing me empty, you forsake
The listener’s role and through
My dumb lips breathe and into utterance wake
The thoughts I never knew.

And thus you neither need reply
Nor can; thus, while we seem
Two talkers, thou art One forever, and I
No dreamer, but thy dream.”

When all is said and done, we are His children and it is God who initiates and sustains this relationship we claim to have.   Who can really explain it?!  And yet, it is more real than life itself.  And that gives me something to shine about!

“But you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’” Rom.8:15

—LS