Go Deeper

Hello Everyone!

I pray you have been able to experience the peace of Christ this week, no matter what curveballs life threw at you!

This week, my spirit has been overly burdened with the pains and burdens of many in my life and in the life of our church and community. So many are hurting or have gone through experiences that literally bring us to our knees - either from exhaustion, prayer, or both. As I gathered with some colleagues today to celebrate the retirement of one of them, the one who is retiring mentioned that they found out yesterday that her husband's cancer was back. My heart dropped. Here was a couple, excited about the experiences retirement held for them, only to be beaten down by the news that retirement was going to hold a whole other experience. One they are very familiar with and would rather keep at bay.

You may be in a place right now where it is all you can do to hold on. What does our faith have to say about these life burdens that we all experience?

I will draw my comments from an article written by Francis MacNutt titled Spiritual Dryness: A Call to Go Deeper as found at www.christianhealingmin.org. The article was given to me within the last few months and it has some good wisdom to share for the burdensome times and difficult challenges in our lives.

When we go through difficulties and trials, it can be easy for us to get discouraged and lose our focus. MacNutt proposes that during these times we need to understand what is really happening..."God is calling us to come deeper into His life. The problem is that just when we are about to move forward in faith, we feel like we are going backward, so we quit." He goes on to say, "He wants us to seek Him and love Him for Himself alone and not just what He can give us."

Often times, we seek God to deliver us from pain, tribulation, and difficulty. We seek God because of what God can give us, not because of who God is and the relationship that God wants to have in our lives. In times of trial, it is important to turn from our self-motivations and seek the fullness of God. The important thing for us to remember is that, "so long as we continue to hold on and continue to be obedient to those things God calls us to do, we are still on the right path." It's in these times that we have not lost God, or God hasn't lost us, but we are going into a deeper understanding of God and His purpose for our lives.

MacNutt offers some practical advice when going through trials:
1. Remember that most of our initial religious breakthroughs are accompanied by great joy - or at least comfort. If we know "that great joy alternates with times of desolation, we will be able to endure the process of purgation (God stripping us of our self) until we become more like Jesus."
2. In time this (the trial) usually fades
3. Be careful to not judge our relationship with God by our good feelings, because we could see our trials as backsliding instead of an opportunity to go deeper.
4. Resist the human tendency to slack off in your prayer life or to try and recapture the early honeymoon stage with God by wandering around to churches that feed your emotional needs and desire for control.
5. Look for what God is doing and what is really happening: "that God is letting us be stripped of self-seeking so that we may seek and find Him alone. We have been using God to achieve pleasurable feelings or selfish goals (even seeking healing can become a somewhat selfish quest) instead of seeking God for Himself.
6. Find a spiritual director that can reassure you and help you discern what God is trying to accomplish in your life.
7. Hold steady and move beyond your feelings and "what the world defines as success, that we will grow to full maturity in Christ."

In what ways is God calling you to go deeper with Him? Do you see your trials, difficulties, and burdens as opportunities to discover more about your Creator and Lord?

Gracious, steadfast, God. Thank you for Your faithfulness in the midst of my trials. Forgive me for my unfaithfulness and my desire to have You meet my every whim and desire. Strip me of all selfishness so that I can see the path You have laid out for me to walk. Strip me of an ego that feels I can do it on my own. Fill me with Your presence. Fill me with Your strength. Fill me with Your peace and patience as I journey into a deeper relationship with You. Open my eyes to the beauty of Your presence even in the midst of my own mess. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Take Care & God Bless,

Pastor Don