Prayer, Relationship, Power...

 

‘Jacob’s Ladder’ is a weekly Sunday post; its blog history is at dreliatjacobsladder.blogpost.com

This is a Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. It is not a church construct; it asks neither mission, fund raising, nor religious community presence. God desires our participation in all of life, and not via the false gospel of corporate and culture formed selectiveness. Jacob’s Ladder pursues Christian growth as human growth. It completes social holiness as personal, not private, holiness. And as God wills community for all of us, Jacob’s Ladder will keep on growing!

This week - Prayer, relationship, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Dearly beloved,

Let’s begin with a recap of last week. Where prayer is concerned, faith and belief are indeed pillars; but the 3^rd is the most fundamental and load bearing! God, in His great love for us, has made the effectiveness (not the “success”) of our Christian life dependent on our practice of God’s love in our lives! Prayer has been inaccurately depicted and often described as a private affair, and IT IS NOT! It’s not a ‘Well, I don’t agree with you but I’ll talk to God about it” thingy! Yes, indeed, we all have our little notions of God, whom we entreat as best we can, into providing that which we desire most. Our lives too often lack the loving kindness, the grace, that the Lord willingly bestows. We would like to have our grace and eat it too, I guess. Another instance of trying to swallow the Holy Spirit, feathers and all, as Martin Luther once said about someone. (I think it was Thomas Muntzer!) A little spiritual, a little worldly. Just nice, no? No. You will never discover the fullness of the abundant life of the Kingdom, which exists in power in this world amongst us. This is why so many, despite their ‘faith’ and ‘trappings’, die sadly. But as we are reminded, we cannot serve God and mammon. We must choose.  

It is that vs in the 23^rd Psalm that always gets to me – He leads me in paths of righteousness (or right paths) for His Name’s sake – i.e. I take care of those who follow – I make sure they are going down the correct path, that they are moving along with and in my will, for then all things will be good i.e. godly. And everyone can see this witness, which demonstrates itself, and does not need to be shouted about!

And then we come to the power of the Holy Spirit that moves amongst us. Always there. We are never alone. When we walk in God’s will there is always encouragement, support, and inspiration. Why? So we are led into continually greater and stronger experiences in this life. Why? So that our witness is never compromised, but simply grows in its ability to say, just as I do, ‘hey, I’m just a pointer. Like that neat retriever. Quite happy as I am. But go that way and find out for yourself! Get the duck!’ Then you will learn true freedom, true strength, true integrity.

So be careful of the ‘truths’ that exist about prayer that swirl all around you. We know them. Pray harder. Pray more often. With more sincerity. With more volume, even. (who knows, God will surely hear such a cry!) With more faith! With more voices raised together! But the Father is not capricious. It is too sad that most religious traditions have come up with a lifestyle they promote as a way of advancing their claims to Godliness i.e. if you believe and do thus and such, then God will hear and answer. Yeah!! The mind has such ability that we can just about convince ourselves of anything we want to!  

God does not get involved in extending this life when we simply live it as it is. Unless there is a greater purpose ongoing that God intends for you, best settle down to reality and be ready to leave when you get to the point that your body no longer functions as it should. It isn’t about how long you live, but how well you live! But perhaps for many of us this life is all there is. Beyond this life – well, what lies out there? Can we know by faith or belief? Belief and faith often struggle at the point of death. This is why beginnings are found in faith and belief, not endings. They are meant to function as kick off starting points. The abundant life is an amazing possibility, found in relationship and experience. You do not get to ‘know’ a thing by faith or by belief. Of course, we may choose to believe that. But we get to know it by experience. And that experience comes when the relationship that enables it is real. When I was a young priest, I walked by faith as best as I could. That was the teaching, that was the training. Time and experience and a persistent seeking after the real-time Kingdom of God in the here and now showed me otherwise. No one is holier. No one, by potential, is less holy. It all comes down to what we place first in value on this earth. Hence the old Seek Ye First…. song. We are all the same, with the same God given opportunities. 

This is why the privatization of faith so easily leads into disagreement! We’re each holding on to our opinions, vetting them by saying we believe by faith that God is leading us and so end up with my faith, your faith, all of our self-identified, diversified faith claims of who is right, wrong, or headed for hell and high water.

Enough. Easy to find out! Measure it. The good you do demonstrates the measure of the true faith that you have. Reverse that if you will. And this quietly separates the goats from the sheep! Why did we ever think that God might be fooled? Sure, we’re sincere. Who isn’t when it comes to life and death health issues? But look at the outcomes of your everyday actions. The work you do. The community effort you help out with. The kindness you show to everyone, folk you know and folk you don’t know. And if they don’t want it, it’s cool. Never cast pearls before swine.  Remember that one? It all comes together. The love you share is equivalent to the love you get. Folk who don’t give don’t ever get. This is why without godly relationship, ritual falls flat. The right relationship brings the right experience. The wrong one will happily load you into the waiting arms of the devil, no matter how dressed up you might be, and you will prey on children, even.

But get the lines set up clearly from the start. Not physical, mental, spiritual; but spirit – mind – body. Then go test out where you are within God’s will. What is the thing that needs to be done that God wants you to do, and how will it come to pass? We have lots of specialists in our world these days, but the ‘professionals’ do not know everything by a long shot. Along with medicine that can help, use your spirit, use your mind, work on your body. See how far you can go. Notice how prescriptions seem to become ineffective over time and need to be increased in dosage? There’s your clue about limits! And we owe it to ourselves! At home, at work, in community.

The experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives has a strange secretive element to it that will lead you to avoid the commercialization of this world. In true form, you get to see the power of the creative Word kick in.  And you see the difference made. The peace that is given stays within you. Not some token symbol. But the real work and the real power of the Kingdom of God starting here and taking you beyond. We have much to deal with on these things. And we will, in time.  Beyond is a lot closer than we might think. Again, your witness is not in talk, but in action. You’re not out to convince anybody. They have to find out for themselves. Start slow, start small, but start.

The abundant life is health, happiness, energy, peace, love, joy. Stuff the world can neither give nor take away. Work on building these up in your life. God will help. If you’re short of one of these, find the flaw – the blockage, the obstruction – and fix it. Don’t go with the more is good and bigger is better fallacy. That one only does more of the same. Discover the dimensionality of space within space. Be a Super Mario plumber for a bit in your own life.

But it’s a strange entity, this Kingdom of God. How does it work? I have no idea. I just have this sense that many of our so-called rules and/or cultural assumptions about what it means to be human are made to be broken or adjusted and replaced with better ones and so I address them as I grow. Perhaps I’ll end up being the most annoying old guy around! But perhaps it’s because God has a better way and if we work at it we can figure it out as we go.  Sure, we’ll all change, but change in and of itself is never bad. It’s only when we define ourselves by ‘used to’ and  ‘can’t anymore’ that we begin to defeat ourselves. I don’t have ‘musicians’ hands or fingers that are long, slim, delicate etc. Mine are kind of short and stubby. Farmer’s hands. Shouldn’t be able to play well in the first place, even! But that hasn’t stopped me. Forget the assumptions. As Jesus says, the Sabbath was made for us and not the other way around. We have the freedom to grow, even as we age!

Lent is not about hanging your head in repentance. Sometimes I think that almost amounts to self-deception! Maybe it’s been that way. But it’s about choosing and choosing well. So, review your choices! And remember that we are free to choose. In the corporate world, big fish eat small fish, they say. Be an unpalatable one when you need to be. Be supportive when you can and it’s for a good cause. Be wise. Every blessing on you all in Jesus as Lent draws us towards Palm Sunday once again. Love, G.