Part 9 - Is this life boring?

Who called the Fun Police?

Before we go any further I have to kind of balance out what’s going on here. I asked a question in a group of friends not long ago – one of those “off the wall” questions that sometimes rolls around in my confused little mind! The question was “Were the apostles fun at parties?”

I mean, really, the bible talks about the apostles doing amazing works and really hearing from God, and I just did not get the impression that they were the type of people that got invited to parties. To put it bluntly, I started to think that people like Paul, Peter, John etc were nerds!

In fact, you could even be excused for thinking that the bible even backs up this type of thinking.

Acts 5:12-13 Now by the hands of the apostles (special messengers) numerous and startling signs and wonders were being performed among the people. And by common consent they all met together [at the temple] in the covered porch (walk) called Solomon's. And none of those who were not of their number dared to join and associate with them, but the people held them in high regard and praised and made much of them.

Let me put this verse in context – a couple called Ananias and Sapphira had just tried to pull a swifty on the church, and Peter called them on it – the upshot was Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead on the spot. Generally speaking, people don’t drop dead when I speak to them – bored to death maybe, but they don’t fall dead where they stand!

The apostles seemed to have reached a stage in their relationship with God where they became intimidating to those around them – they were respected, and people had a lot of time for them, but they authority of God that they exhibited scared people to death – literally and figuratively.

These people were not boring – they lived a life that was out on the edge – there was always something amazing, confronting and occasionally scary happening around them. You could always count on the extraordinary happening when an apostle was around.

But did they have a fun life?

In saying that the apostles experienced a pretty full-on lifestyle, I still have not answered my own question – did these people have a fun life? Or to put it another way, did they really enjoy life when there was so much going on, so many demands, and a demand to be “in the game” every single day?

Quite frankly, I don’t want to live a life that doesn’t have some fun in it – I want to enjoy my time with friends, listen to my music really, really loud (and yes, my iPod has a “LOUD” playlist), and take joy from life. So if I’m supposed to become this spiritual person, does this mean that the "Fun Police" are going to ensure that I don't enjoy life?

The bible is pretty clear on this front – the life we live is intended to be exciting, fulfilling and edgy. Jesus makes this clear when He says…

John 10:10 The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

But it really becomes a matter of perspective. Or to put it another way, what’s “fun”? There are many things that we might consider gratifying, exciting and fun right now. Will that be the case as we become spiritual people?

Then I read what Peter had to say (which at first glance I did not find all that encouraging):

1 Peter 4:1-4 So, since Christ suffered in the flesh for us, for you, arm yourselves with the same thought and purpose [patiently to suffer rather than fail to please God]. For whoever has suffered in the flesh [having the mind of Christ] is done with [intentional] sin [has stopped pleasing himself and the world, and pleases God], so that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires, but [he lives] for what God wills.
For the time that is past already suffices for doing what the Gentiles like to do--living [as you have done] in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, reveling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries. They are astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation, and they abuse [you].

What an incredibly uncomfortable scripture for us “fun people”!! The fact that Peter is suggesting that we’ve got to be ready to suffer doesn’t seem like much fun. Then Peter goes on to say that it was time to give up their old lifestyle, and he spells out what he’s talking about in no uncertain terms.

Now, I read this, and I didn’t think that I was living “in shameless, insolent wantonness, in lustful desires, drunkenness, revelling, drinking bouts and abominable, lawless idolatries”, and so Peter could not be giving me a lashing, could he? But then I started to think about the people that were living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, and what their lifestyle was and what was important to them.

Something's rotten in Cappadocia

I went back and had a look at what was happening in this region at the time Peter was writing. The first thing I learned was that Peter was writing in about 60 A.D. which is when the fire that burned Rome occurred - the Emperor Nero basically blamed the Christians for this and started down a path of persecuting them.

The next interesting thing I found out was that the Amazon women (think Xena the Warrior Princess!) were reputed to have come from Pontus, which is now part of Turkey and was quite a wild place. Bithynia was right next door, forming part of a dual province. Galatia sat between the two states (the Galatians being pretty big Zeus followers at the time). During Peter’s time, these places were part of the Roman Empire. Cappadocia was a state that had changed it allegiances regularly until Rome got it under control. This region is now in modern day Turkey.

This was a time in Roman history where the focus was on entertainment – games, sport, drinking and eating etc. The people of that time would have been exposed to and encouraged to participate in a fairly reckless and immoral lifestyle – in fact, there are considerable parallels between the activities then and the current Gen Y mentality we see today. There was great emphasis on fun.

On top of that , Nero (despite being as crazy as a cut snake) had opened up trade with many countries and there was increasing wealth. People were focussed on making money.
It was also a time when Nero saw that there was an increasing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”, and he took at least some steps to try and help the disenfranchised (although some might say it was only to buy votes). Again, there are some parallels with our own point in history.

So the things that were going on at the time that Peter wrote to these churches seem to parallel in many respects the things that are going on now – there is a focus on entertainment and money. There is an all-pervading self-centredness evident in society. Many people are being disenfranchised whilst the rest of society chases after self-gratification.

Put aside the words “drunkenness”, “wantonness” etc for a moment - Peter was encouraging the people in that region to shift from the social norm that existed. Maybe we don’t go out and get drunk every night, and maybe we haven’t been caught sacrificing to some golden idol at a pagan temple, but perhaps we might become a bit uncomfortable when we realise that we are conforming to many inappropriate social norms.

The insidious part of all of this is that, because social norms are socially acceptable, conforming to them is not seen as a bad thing – it’s just what we do in this society! And our frame of reference for what’s “fun” generally fits inside this social norm.

Peter has not called the Fun Police on us to break up our party – what he’s done is confront us with the challenge of non-conformity, and dared us to think about a life that redefines what is fun, gratifying and fulfilling.

Hummingbird Syndrome

You would be forgiven for thinking that God has called us to a life where there is no fun, despite the fact that we are given “life more abundantly” – there seems to be a disconnect between God’s promise of this full life, and the indication the bible gives us that there is going to be suffering in our lives. It appears that God wants us to enjoy life (and not simply “suffer through” it), but how can you be suffering and still have a full life?

The word “enjoy” is based on the word “joy” – this is significant. The dictionary defines joy as the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying, keen pleasure, or elation. Despite sounding like a pretty good thing to have, the concept of joy doesn’t get much attention as a sermon topic, except to say “You’re a Christian, so you should be happy” – which is kind of patronising, since there are a lot of things going on that are particularly “anti-joyful”. Life is not an easy ride, and if we are pushing for the spiritual life being discussed here, life can get even more complicated!

So how do I get this “emotion of great delight or happiness”?

Well, actually, you don’t!

Let me clarify that – what I mean to say is that “emotional” joy is a very fleeting thing – it is, as the definition says, caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Going back to some first principles, we talked about the fact that we consist of three separate parts – body, mind and spirit. Emotional joy is something that is experienced in our minds, and our minds are fickle little beasts that can switch from one emotion to another quicker than you can blink. The experience of emotional joy is very much dependant on our environment, most of which we cannot control, so we do one of two things:

• We find an environment where we can find some joy (even if just for a little while);


• We avoid environments where there is likely to be no joy, or what little we have will get sucked out of us

The fact is that people spend their entire lives doing one of these two things, and it’s a full time job. Think about it – what things do you do every day just to grab a moment of joy, and how many of those things are there? They might be weekly events that give you a major “joy kick”, or they might be smaller daily rituals that top up the joy factor. For me, my first cup of coffee in the morning precipitates an emotion of great delight or happiness!

It’s kind of like being a hummingbird. For those of you who have never been a hummingbird, or have no immediate intention of becoming one, here are a few interesting hummingbird facts:

• They are known for their ability to hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings, 15–80 times per second (depending on the species). Capable of sustained hovering, the hummingbird has the ability to fly deliberately backwards (this is the only group of birds able to do so) or vertically, and to maintain position while drinking nectar;


• Their heart rate can reach as high as 1,260 beats per minute;


• Hummingbirds are specialised nectarivores – they feed primarily on nectar from various plants. The problem is that nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so they eat some insects and spiders, but nectar remains their primary food source.


• They typically consume more than their own weight in nectar each day, and to do so they must visit hundreds of flowers daily. At any given moment, they are only hours away from starving;


• They are capable of slowing down their metabolism at night, or any other time food is not readily available. They enter a hibernation-like state known as torpor. During torpor, the heart rate and rate of breathing are both slowed dramatically (the heart rate to roughly 50–180 beats per minute), reducing their need for food.

Why the ornithological detour? Well, the search for joy that the natural man is constantly engaged in is what I’ve termed “Hummingbird Syndrome” – and here’s why:

• Most people spend their entire lives having to strive to keep their heads above water – to maintain at least a moderate level of peace and enjoyment. They are like hummingbirds that beat their wings at a remarkable rate simply to remain in one spot long enough to get a feed;


• It takes a remarkable level of joyful situations and “things” to keep some feeling of enjoyment going in people’s lives – our consumer society is evidence of the need to consume our body weight in “stuff” to do this;


• If people can’t get the joy that they need just be “normal”, they exhibit a range of behaviours, many of which are anti-social.

You see, whilst it is God’s intention that we enjoy life, the joy that we experience is not “normal”. In fact, it’s so abnormal that 1 Peter 4 (see above) indicates that people will be “astonished and think it very queer that you do not now run hand in hand with them in the same excesses of dissipation”, to the point where they might even abuse us.

Abnormal joy

The joy we are talking about here comes from living in the spiritual realm, with a focus on what’s happening in the spiritual realm rather than what’s happening on the natural place. It’s kind of like a passenger jet that flies above the weather – whilst it’s close to the ground, it’s battered by the elements, and has to brave driving wind, rain and turbulence. Once the jet climbs up to 30,000 feet, there is less of this type of nonsense going on. You can see more of what's going on, and what's ahead. You are more "situationally aware".

This joy is an inevitable result of living as a spiritual being – a person that is controlled by the Holy Spirit, and has a constant perception of the issues we raised in the “faith” section. It is not unusual that faith, hope and love get mentioned together on many occasions – these things are inextricably linked. In particular, there is a strong link between “joy” and “hope”.

(MORE TO COME)

Part 8 - Safety Nets

I want to jump out here for a moment and talk about the concept of “safety nets”. What I mean is that we’re talking about some really radical stuff here – a way of living that really goes against the norm and is to a certain extent not part of any model that we see operating in the church. Effectively, we’re talking about taking some principles that were laid down a long time ago and getting them back on the road again, and so we’re having to “re-blaze” a trail that has become overgrown and infrequently travelled for some time.

There are risks associated with doing this, not the least of which is that we could get it wrong and end up following something that really isn’t scriptural – and that scares me to death.

Fortunately, and unsurprisingly, God looked ahead and knew that we might face this situation, which is why He established the principle of the safety net.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit; do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets [do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning]. But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.

We are not supposed to take things on face value. Testing what is being said and done is part of what we should be doing to make sure that it’s right.

The safety net involves being accountable and open to others that we trust to give us a nudge when we go off the track, but we also need to be highly self-critical.

Galatians 6:2-5 Bear (endure, carry) one another's burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ (the Messiah) and complete what is lacking [in your obedience to it]. For if any person thinks himself to be somebody [too important to condescend to shoulder another's load] when he is nobody [of superiority except in his own estimation], he deceives and deludes and cheats himself. But let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable [in itself alone] without [resorting to] boastful comparison with his neighbor. For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [little] load [of oppressive faults].

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?

Paraphrased, we’ve all got issues and we’re got to help ourselves and each other through this stuff - we have a responsibility to do this.

Accountability = transparency

Being transparent is a hard thing for most people. I personally don’t like admitting to everyone that I have faults, or that I have got it wrong, or that I have caused some problem and I need to “come clean”.

I don’t think the intention is that we have to tell everyone that we’ve made mistakes – that would simply not be helpful, and may in fact present a stumbling block to some.

I do think however that God is establishing an order in the church, and identifying people that are exhibiting God’s characteristics and attitudes, and it is these people that we can turn to for support and safety. I am not suggesting that we lean on these people instead of God – what I am saying is that God sets us people and works through them to provide a “covering” – they are people we can be accountable to and transparent with because they command (not demand) trust and confidence.

We’re trying to push the boundaries of spiritual experience here – we need to make sure we keep an eye on one another as we start swimming in deeper water.

Part 7 - Love

Which side of the playground?

There is one thing that you can say about God and that is that He is a great teacher – He understands that we need to learn how to be the people that He wants us to be, and He doesn’t simply make demands and expect us to muddle our way there on our own. That’s why so much of the bible has a certain logic about it – principles are laid out in a logical fashion, with one principle building on another.

I said in the previous section that there was only one pre-condition that God has for us to be ready to for Him to give us the gifts of the Spirit – we’ve got to have love. And at this point I draw a big line down the middle of the playground and ask everyone to take a side…

There are some people that are naturally “loving” – they have a disposition towards helping people, and have a caring nature. Loving people isn’t really that hard. All of you can go over to one side of the line.

Then there are those people that finding loving people difficult, maybe even impossible. People just aren’t lovely. Loving people involves a level of vulnerability that you’re just not about to buy into. Caring for people is a chore. All these people should shuffle over to the other side of the playground.

Now there is a group (probably the majority) that has a foot on both sides of the line, and this is probably where the majority are – capable of exhibiting love and care to some people, but definitely not everyone.

So does this mean that only people that have moved to the “loving” side of the playground will be capable of receiving the gifts? Everyone else goes into the “too hard basket”?

This is where we might have to throw away our concepts of love and start again from the beginning – find out what love really means, without all the hype and dogma and emotion that has been associated with love.

What love looks like

This is going to be a bit back to front – I want to start by talking about what love looks like, rather than what love is (I’m saving that up for a surprise!!)

The best starting point is over in 1 Peter 1, where God shows us what love looks like.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end.

What are we looking at here? Simply put, God’s given us a copy of the “spiritual licence test” and given us the answers to the test – He’s told us how love will be exhibited in our lives (if we’ve got it). This bit of scripture is what God tests us against before “signing off” that we are ready to receive the gifts. Isn’t that great? Or do I sense hesitation in some people! If you’re like me (you poor soul) then your answers might be something like “Actually, no that’s so way not great” or “Can I please have another test?” or maybe you’re thinking there’s a way to “cheat” on this test?

I mean, at first glance, the test is impossible! And you’re right – it is an impossible test, created by a God Who likes the impossible. And God is basically saying that He expects us to pass it? He sure is – and He wants us to pass with flying colours.

I hate tests!

You’re not a fan of tests? You think that tests are basically a teacher’s way of legally inflicting pain and anguish upon you, now that public floggings and institutionalised torture has more or less been outlawed? If someone mentions the word “test” you break out in hives and find yourself hyperventilating? Am I getting the impression that you think tests are not fun?

I teach post-graduate law at university, and as part of my role as a teacher I regularly put my students to the test. My teaching style is highly practical – I want students to walk out of my course with the capacity to apply the learning. The course is not simply an academic exercise – it is meant to be useful to them and to their prospective clients.

There are a few important principles that I apply when it comes to testing:

• Firstly, I am not testing my students because it’s fun for me to watch my students experience pain – I am testing them to make sure they “get it”. I can bang on in lectures for hours, but the test ensures that the student has heard and comprehended what I’ve said, and also understood how to apply that learning;
• Secondly, the test is absolutely about applying the principles under pressure – when they have to appear in court for real, with everyone watching and someone’s future livelihood at stake, they have to be able to work under the pressure of the court’s expectations, their client’s expectations, and society’s expectations;
• The test can never fully simulate what will happen in the real world – there are certain things that we can only contrive and “mock up”. We can’t have real plaintiffs with real injuries, real car accidents to create those injuries, real surgeons who have conducted real operations….it would just become too expensive for the university! But we can give the students enough reality to make it useful.
• There is no single right answer – there are many roads to the correct conclusion and result. The path that a student takes depends on their personal experiences, their personality types, and their understanding and perception of the challenge set before them. No two practice trials runs the same way, and two students may get identical marks by attacking a problem with high differentiated methods

I’m making an important (and potentially highly controversial) point here, and in doing that I’m thinking about what love looks like when we’ve got it. The testing that we are experiencing at the moment is not the real world – it’s like the practice courts that I run at university where students get to act as lawyers in made-up criminal and civil trials. Similarly, your “trials”, the experiences that you are having at work, at home, at church, etc., are just tests to make sure you “get it” – because the real stuff is yet to really take off.

The “love testing” God is giving us right now is just to get us to our “P” plates – we’re not quite ready for the full force of “reality” to hit just as yet. God is going to let us experience some of the things that are going to happen once we step outside, but it cannot ever fully simulate what will happen in the future.

Right now we are being tested so God can get us on the road – the testing that comes later is more geared towards “perfecting” us.

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.

So how do we pass the impossible test?

It would not make sense that God would set what appears to be an impossible task before us and not give us some direction on how we deal with the situation.
A summary of where we are at:

• We want to receive the gifts of the Spirit
• We won’t be able to handle the gifts of the Spirit if we don’t have love
• When we look at how love is exhibited, we realise that it's an impossible task
• God is intending to test our love to make sure we understand what love is and what is means to have it – He is not testing us to cause us pain, but to make sure we “get it”.
  BUT we have established that God wants us to live in a state of impossibility, where we aren’t bound or held back by what’s “possible” in the natural realm.
  

So let’s have a think about how we start to exhibit all those impossible characteristics that go along with love.

To that end, welcome to the Love Principles!!

Love Principle #1 – You’ve got to have love to exhibit love

Undoubtedly, this statement is a contender for the “Captain Obvious” Comment of the Year. But it makes sense – how can you show the characteristics of love if you don’t have love in you. Clearly it’s impossible.

Love Principle #2 – “Loveless” is the same as “Useless”

Let me flick this around – if you’re not displaying these characteristics of “what love looks like” then you don’t have love. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a Christian, and it doesn’t matter what church programs you’re involved in or the position you hold or the money you give – you don’t have love.

What’s the implications of not having love? Check out 1 Corinthians 13, which says that a person that is not exhibiting love is a “noisy gong” or a “clanging cymbal” – in other words, a grating, tuneless noise – useless in fact!

Love Principle #3 – Love is the end of the road

This is a big one! Let’s start with 2 Peter 1 where we read about the fruit of the Spirit, and how one fruit comes before another.

2 Peter 1:5 For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence), and in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), and in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.

The bible kind of lays out a logical build up from one fruit to another – for instance, you can’t effectively have steadfastness unless you’ve got the self-control that precedes it, and the knowledge that precedes that, etc.

Love comes at the end of the line, and there’s a really good reason for that. Love is actually the essence of God’s personality, and when we allow the Spirit to work through us, we are actually displaying elements of God’s personality.

It follows that when we truly display God’s personality in us, we are relocating from the natural to the spiritual.

(MORE TO COME ON ALL THIS)

Love Principle #4 – Love isn’t “thing” – it’s a “being”

It is for the reasons stated at the end of Principle #3 that I say that love is absolutely not natural – in fact, it is impossible to even think about displaying the characteristics of love unless we are becoming “spirit-first”, with the Holy Spirit working with us.

Love is not a thing – it’s not an emotion or even a characteristic – it’s a state of being. In fact, it might be said that we don’t exhibit love as much as “be” love.

This raises the issue of how we look at the spirit part of our lives – that part of our make-up that we want to become the most prevalent. I am proposing that we need to strive for our spirits to “BE LOVE”.

(MORE ON THIS)

Love Principle #5 –
Love Principle #6 –
Love Principle #7 –

Part 6 - Power Restrictions

Before getting into talking about the gifts of the Spirit, I need to talk about a huge realisation that hit me, and it came in the form of a “what if…”.

I began to think about what would happen if, right now, I was given one or more of the gifts of the Spirit. My first thought was how amazing it would be, and what a difference it would make to the way in which I dealt with situations and what God could do to make Himself real to people. How much more could I accomplish for God if I had discernment and wisdom, and people were healed and miracles were performed.

Then some reality hit – I still have a large chunk of self-interest tied in with what I do, and I really do lack a lot of humility. I know this because, when people rub me the wrong way or things happen that I don’t like, my attitude is really not what it should be. I get frustrated and angry with people, I avoid the people that I don’t like, and whilst I might not always verbalise what I’m thinking, there are those times when I have (in my “inner monologue”) given people a piece of my mind!

And yet in Queensland during 2001–2005, there were 962 casualties as a result of crashes involving young drivers of eight cylinder cars and utilities. Of those casualties, 23 people were killed and 307 people were hospitalised with 632 injured. Bottom line – the statistics indicate that high performance cars are dangerous in the hands of people that don’t have sufficient skill and maturity to handle them.

This is the reason that legislation has been introduced in Queensland limiting the circumstances in which P plate drivers can drive high powered cars, and there are generally large insurance premiums attached to such drivers – the intention is to either stop them driving high powered vehicles, or make sure that there are financial penalties for doing so.

I think that we can, with respect, carry the analogy over to our spiritual lives. The gifts of the Spirit are powerful – they are designed to be powerful, influential, attention-getting. These gifts have an effect that is far-reaching and significant. Yet there are huge risks of such gifts being given to people if they are not ready for them. It seems strange to say, but the gifts would be destructive, rather than constructive, in the hands of a person not ready for them.

I think that there is one thing (and only one thing) necessary to move from your spiritual “P” plates to an “open licence” – and why God is putting us through a “spiritual driving test” – and that one thing is LOVE. This is why I propose two principles…

WITHOUT LOVE, YOU WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT

WITHOUT LOVE, YOU WILL NEVER EXPERIENCE WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE A “SPIRIT-FIRST” LIFE

OK, before you start moaning about how “touchy feely” I’ve suddenly become, l think we’ve got to put aside our pre-existing connotations of love on hold for the moment and have a think about this - which is what we’ll do in the next section that talks about the fruit of the Spirit.

Also, I have proposed that love is necessary for us to relocate from the natural realm to the spiritual realm, and we’ll cover that off a little later down the track.

Part 5 - Faith

The concept of faith

I’ve talked a lot about the relocation from the natural to the spiritual realm, and the need to start to perceive things the way that God perceives them (i.e. impossibility thinking).
What I have not mentioned to this point is faith – with good reason! The word “faith” has also become one of those throw-away words in the Christian vernacular that has been used so much that it has lost its true meaning.

There are a bunch of scriptures that comes to mind when we think of faith, and it is generally thought of a belief and confidence in God to do something. I don’t disagree with that definition per se; however, I think that this is an incredible over-simplification of what faith is.

Hebrews 11:1 1NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

This scripture gives us a good starting point, because it really makes it clear that faith is a big concept.

Firstly, faith is more than just belief in what God can do. I would suggest that faith is more about “enlightened perception” – seeing things the way that God sees them.
It goes a step beyond this though. I propose that faith actually brings together several important concepts:

1. The fact that God is actually capable of doing the impossible, and He is ready to do so;
2. The fact that God’s character is such that He only does the impossible;
3. The fact that our “situations” are not coincidental – that God’s purpose for our lives is so comprehensive that it can be defined on a minute by minute basis;
4. The fact that we have the capacity to understand God’s purpose on that “minute by minute” basis – we are not puppets, nor is it God’s intention that we live our lives in the dark.
5. The fact that God has a desire to be involved in our day-to-day situations – He has not only defined the purpose, but wants to be involved in bringing it to fruition – and furthermore that we have confidence in the fact that He will become involved;
   Just go back over that list a few times to “soak” in those principles for a couple of minutes, rather than simply agreeing with them (or disagreeing!). Part of the problem is that we tend to give mental assent to these things sometimes, rather than actually “leaning hard” on the truth of them.

I would think that few Christians would have any problem with these proposals – so why don’t we feel that God is responding to our faith in the same way that He did with the people we read about in the bible?

I’m inclined to apply the principle of “Archam’s Razor” – the simplest explanation tends to be the right one. In this case, maybe we should question whether we truly have faith! If that’s the case, it might be useful to attack these points and get things back on the rails.

Points 1 and 2 have been beaten to death in the previous parts of the manifesto, so I’ll leave them for the moment – only to say that it’s worth reminding ourselves that God is challenging us to recognise these parts of His character as we bang on with the other points.

The comprehensive purpose

If we were to be entirely honest, one of the issues that we experience from time to time is a sense of frustration with life, and what I mean by that is we sometimes sit back and ask ourselves questions like:

• “What am I making of my life?


• “What’s the point of me even being here?


• “Why aren’t I further ahead than I am?”


• “Why can’t I change this or that situation?”

Rather than being despondent at having these types of thoughts, I’d say that we should really get excited every time we do! It indicates a sense of dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs…the question is whether we can and will do something about it.

I said two things above - that our situations are not coincidental, and that God has a comprehensive minute by minute purpose for our lives. And for this reason, I propose another principle – that faith and purpose are inextricably linked.


How can I say this? Check out Hebrews 11, where Paul talks about all the different heroes and heroines in the Old Testament, and how their faith made them commit to the purpose that God had communicated to them.

We do have a choice in this though – it’s not like God just says “Here’s the purpose for you and that’s what’s going to happen regardless of your attitude”.

2 Timothy 2:20-21 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also [utensils] of wood and earthenware, and some for honourable and noble [use] and some for menial and ignoble [use]. So whoever cleanses himself [from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating and corrupting influences] will [then himself] be a vessel set apart and useful for honourable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.

Sometimes the exposure of our desires, and what we want from this whole deal, is going to be a bit confronting.

Hebrews 4:12 For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart

Later on in this document I talk about the fact that we sometimes view God as being in charge of the “Fun Police” – a perception that we are called to a life of misery, arduous work and poverty. In other words, we think that God doesn’t want us to have fun! You’d be happy to know that nothing is further from the truth!

What I address in that section (just in case you don’t want to go jumping to it now) is the fact that there is a level of incredible joy associated with finding our place in God and stepping forward in the purpose He has for us. But before God can take us down that path, He sometimes has to do a bit of “exploratory surgery” to expose to and confront us with what we’re really thinking and desiring.

Sure, we can talk the talk, and put on the right persona for the occasion, but it’s the desires and attitudes that are prowling in our hearts that determine whether or not we are “faithful” – that is, whether we are prepared to see things the way that God sees them rather than the way we see them because (a) that’s the only way we can or (b) that’s how we want to see them.

(MORE TO COME)

God’s desire to “buy in”

We tend to think of God as a “macro” level Manager – like a CEO of a large corporation that watches the balance sheet and keeps an eye on the big picture – without any real awareness or care for the people tucked away in their office cubicles.

We attribute a level of disinterestedness to God – and nothing could be further from the truth.
Luke 12:24 Observe and consider the ravens; for they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn; and [yet] God feeds them. Of how much more worth are you than the birds!

Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.

Proverbs 5:21 NKJV) For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths

Three blind mice

We don’t like to think of ourselves as being blind. We like to think that we can see what’s going on around us and respond accordingly, if one for the sake of self-preservation.
In reality, without the Holy Spirit guiding us, our body/mind/spirit ensemble is a variation on the children’s rhyme about the three blind mice – blind in spirit, blind in mind and blind in body (in this specific order).

• We lack spiritual sight because we are not allowing God to show us, by His Spirit, what’s going on around us and what He intends to do.
• We are mentally blind because we allow our emotions to be guided by our own natural beliefs, and the biggest indicator of mental blindness stemming from spiritual blindness is fear.
• Our physical blindness is not so much about the need for a guide dog and a white cane – it’s more about relying on what we can see with our own eyes. If we can see it, then it’s real – yet we cannot begin to see all that needs to be seen just using our natural eyes – we can perceive so little with our natural eyes that we might as well be totally blind.

Matthew 6:22-23 Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. But when your eyes are bad, everything is dark. If the light inside you is dark, you surely are in the dark.

“Starting Faith”

I said earlier that our spirit is switched on 24x7, but “active” does not mean “perceptive”.
I mentioned above that being faithful is a three-part exercise in seeing things the way that God sees them, understanding the purpose that God has in the situation, and having a level of confidence in God’s intention to get involved (as we give Him space to do so).
The encouraging thing is that there is at least some faith in all of us – if we totally lacked the ability to see things the way that God sees them, then we would never have turned to God in the first place.

The bible talks about having faith the size of a mustard seed – a tiny seed about 1mm across and virtually weightless – so small in fact that it’s hard to pick up with your fingers. Mustard is an annual plant that grows so fast that it is the type of seed that most farmers would not deliberately sow in their fields - a single mustard plant may grow to about 4 meters (15 feet) high in just weeks & sprout many leafy branches that overshadow other slower growing plants.

I refer to this small amount of faith as “starting faith” – the faith that we all have. The amazing thing is that even this small amount of faith can really make a difference. The disciples were talking to Jesus one day, and wanted to have bigger, more effective faith. Look at what Jesus says.

Luke 17:5-6 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He (Jesus) replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

Interestingly, Jesus talks about this again after the disciples could not drive a demon from a boy. Jesus explains to the disciples why they had failed…

Matthew 17:20 He said to them, Because of the littleness of your faith [that is, your lack of firmly relying trust]. For truly I say to you, if you have faith [that is living] like a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to yonder place, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.

Jesus then goes to say that the demon that He cast out could only be dealt with through prayer and fasting – time spent with God, and time spent focussed on “relocating”. Starting faith is great, but we’ve go to take some action to “plant” that seed firmly. And that’s where the Spirit comes to our assistance…

Faith and the Spirit

This scripture is going to make a regular appearance, but I’m going to keep reprinting it anyway:

2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, adding your diligence [to the divine promises], employ every effort in exercising your faith to develop virtue (excellence, resolution, Christian energy), and in [exercising] virtue [develop] knowledge (intelligence),
And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety), and in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love. For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

It’s verse 9 that follows the “fruits” verses that I want to highlight:

For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [spiritually] shortsighted, seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.

So, winding this passage of scripture back a bit, we are blind if we don’t have faith – we will lack God’s perception of situations, we will fail to understand God’s purposes, and we will lack confidence that God actually intends to get engaged in the situation.

And because faith is a quality or fruit of the Spirit, we will be “blind mice” if we don’t allow the Spirit to truly be with us and working through us on a consistent basis.

Taking it just one step further – if we choose not to relocate into the spiritual realm that we’ve been talking about, we are making a positive choice to be blind…or to put it the way the bible puts it, we are being “wilfully blind” (Eph. 4:18).

(MORE TO COME)

Part 4 - The Holy Spirit

I want to look at something that seems a bit basic, and that is to understand who God actually is. If we are going to have some sort of meaningful relationship with God, then it kind of makes sense to know this.

There are a lot of theological studies on God, but I’m not that bright! What I am looking for here is not something “academic” but rather a practical view of God.

I considered opening up a discussion here about the Trinity. Christians give mental assent to the concept that God is a Being consisting of three separate “Entities” – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; however this is a pretty wild concept in itself. For the moment though I’ll want to look more closely at the Holy Spirit. The reason for this is pretty simple – God has sent His Spirit to be with us so that we can have this practical relationship that I’m trying to get to grips with.

This section of the “manifesto” is not complete as yet, so look for regular updates!

The Spirit has been here for a while

Spirit has been recognised and operating in the world and in human beings well before the time of Acts. The Spirit gained real “profile” in New Testament times when the disciples were filled with Holy Spirit at Pentacost. However, we see that the Spirit of God was an active Participant in everything right from the beginning:

Genesis 1:2 (Amplified Bible) - The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:26-27 God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the [tame] beasts, and over all of the earth, and over everything that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them.

So here we see that the Spirit of God was involved right at the very creation of the world, and He was part of the creative and creation processes.

As to the Spirit of God operating in individuals, we also His regular involvement from early history:

Genesis 41:38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find this man's equal, a man in whom is the spirit of God? (speaking of Joseph)

Exodus 31:1-3 And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and ability, in understanding and intelligence, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship…

So the Spirit working in men way back before Pentacost and the whole “upper room” event, but having God Spirit’s working through you seems to have been a very discreet and unusual event in Old Testament times – it was a particularly special thing for someone to have the Spirit of God with them, and it was usually accompanied by amazing acts and skills. Usually, this spiritual experience was for prophets and leaders – people that God worked through to help keep the rest of the nation on track, or to carry out some particular task.

Things changed at Pentacost – the Spirit worked through a whole bunch of people, most of whom I guess were not considered prophets, apostles and leaders. They were for the most part ordinary people that were waiting for God to take them on to the next phase of their relationship with Him. These people knew that the Spirit was coming (because Jesus had told them so) but I don’t know if they really knew how this would happen.

Throughout the New Testament we see that the Spirit of God wanted to be with the average Christian, and that will be something that will become an important concept as we continue on.

The purpose of the Spirit

It is important to look at the purpose God has behind sending the Spirit to us – and there are many incredible reasons. The following is just a summary list without going into specific detail.

• Comforter (John 14:26)
• Speaking to God (1 Corinthians 14:2)
• Self-edification (1 Corinthians 14:4)
• Sanctifier / Separator (Exodus 30:30-33)
• Creator (Matthew 1:18)
• Speech Writer (Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11)
• Instructor and Commander (Acts 1:2, Acts 1:8)
• Revealer of Truth (Acts 13:9-10)
• Love (Romans 5:5)
• Helping us meet God’s expectations (Romans 8:4)
• Controls our desires (Romans 8:5-6, Romans 8:9, Romans 8:23)
• Putting aside selfishness (Romans 8:13)
• Intercessor (Romans 8:26, Romans 8:27, Jude 1:20)
• Renewal & rebirth (Titus 3:4-7)
• Seal/Guarantee of God (Ephesians 1:13-14)
• Making us acceptable (Romans 15:15-17)

We can see, just from the scriptures above, that the work of the Spirit is “multidimensional”.
What is our relationship with the Spirit?

I think this is a really important area of discussion because of what Jesus said before He left earth after His resurrection:

John 14:26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.

Jesus left earth, but He left the Spirit of God to be with us – and the relationship between us and God changed at that point. Unlike Old Testament times, where the Spirit would come upon only a few ultra-special individuals, God had basically kicked the doors in on things that stopped us having a really close relationship with Him, and sent the Spirit not only to teach us how to relate to God, but give us the capacity to relate to Him.

The relationship that we are talking about here is contrary to anything that we would do just in our own strength and wisdom.

Depersonalisation of the Spirit

There is a really dangerous tendency in today’s church to depersonalise the Spirit, and treat Him as an object, or simply as some kind of “power socket” that we plug into to get power to do things.

The Holy Spirit is first and foremost a person – not simply a power. He is the part of God that God has undertaken the role of interaction with our spirit 24x7. The Spirit is in a unique position – He understands both what God thinks, feels and intends (because He is part of God) but He also understands what’s in our hearts (so you can’t hide anything from Him), what is in the hearts of the people around us (so they can’t hide anything either). The Spirit works between the natural and spiritual realms, and understands the difficulties that we mere humans have in trying to operate in both.

The Holy Spirit has a multidimensional role in our lives (as is evident from the non-exhaustive list that I prepared above), and we’ll be covering some of those points in some detail. At the moment though, let me just say that one of His roles is to help us with the tight squeeze – without Him, we don’t have any hope of relocating. If we take the caving analogy one step further, trying to move into spiritual things without the Spirit is like delving into a cave without a guide, without a light, without a safety harness and without any plan. Dangerous, deadly, and doomed.

It’s a jungle out there

This may seem to be an alarmist comment, but I would suggest that it is indeed true that we are operating in a jungle environment. The spiritual realm has, since the beginning of time, been the ultimate power play. Satan is a spirit, he knows both the natural and spiritual realm inside out, and he is comfortable operating in both environments. His preference is the spiritual realm – there is so much more room for him to operate, and so much more to be gained!

There are lots of people that go about on spiritual caving expeditions, trying to move into spiritual realms without the Spirit. The more extreme example might be Satanists, but a more “mundane” example would be someone that gets their fortune read, or plays with tarot cards. These are caving expeditions, and the spiritual realm is definitely not for the unprepared or unguarded – there are forces at work that have the capacity to kill.

Ephesians 6:12 For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

This world is owned by Satan – he has laid to claim to it and he calls the shots at the moment. That situation won’t last, but for moment we need to understand that we are playing in Satan’s backyard. Or more appropriately, we are in Satan’s feeding ground.

1 Peter 5:8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [ in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour.

Why am I bothering to discuss this? Primarily because Christians don’t for the most part realise the high risk environment we are in. We are warm and comfortable in our churches, surrounding ourselves with people that think and talk like us. We see the spiritual realm as a happy place where God lives, so everything there must be warm, fuzzy and comfortable. In fact, it is a realm that is characterised by conflict – it’s a battlefield, not a holiday resort. An enlightened peek through the doors of our “gated community” would reveal a blood bath – people are being torn apart and devoured (including many Christians).

Understanding Who God is also requires that we understand where God lives – that’s the reason for raising this issue at this time.

The challenge for us is to push open the door and step outside where the carnage is going on. Out where Satan is actually killing people. Out where Satan sometimes possesses people because they ventured into the spiritual realm and never quite came back. There are significant risks because Satan takes a dim view of people intruding upon his feeding frenzy. In the words of Guns ‘n’ Roses, “welcome to the jungle”!

Part 3 - "Spirit First"

In the first section we have been talking about the new environment that God wants us to live in. In this section, I want to start by talk about what we are – body, mind and spirit – and how that make-up fits in to our relationship with God. The focus at the end of the day is on what God wants us to become – but understanding what we are now is a useful starting point.

We are “spirit first”

One of the more radical concepts that I would propose is that we are primarily spiritual beings. We have three parts to our makeup – body, soul and spirit. This in itself may not appear particularly radical – we as Christians are pretty much on board with the fact that this is our make-up.

Where things do start to get radical is with the concept that the spirit part of us should be the most dominant and all-encompassing part. And it is this recognition that is key to relocating from the natural realm to the spirit.

This recognition will only start to take place when we begin to perceive and understand that we live in a spiritual world, and the physical world is just a temporary and moderately small part of our real world.

Defining our parts

Whilst we understand the “body” part, the definitions surrounding our mind and spirit tend to blur.

Broadly speaking, our mind includes our intellect, our emotions and our personality. It also encompasses our will – our ability to choose.

The bible seems to make clear that a human being can’t live without a spirit, whereas as spirit can exist without a body - which means that our spirit seems to be the most important part of our being.

Genesis 25:8 - Then Abraham's spirit was released, and he died at a good (ample, full) old age, an old man, satisfied and satiated, and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 25:17 - And Ishmael lived 137 years; then his spirit left him, and he died and was gathered to his kindred

Matthew 27:50 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.

Whilst we give at least some credence to the fact that we have a spiritual side, if we were to be entirely honest we would probably admit that we don’t think about ourselves as being “spiritual” beings. We can see the physical being, and we interact primarily as physical beings, and we have plenty of exposure to intellect and emotions, but the spirit part of us doesn’t get much attention.

It’s not something to be ignored – in fact (and I’ll come to this) I propose that our spirits don’t simply inhabit our bodies, buried somewhere in our chest like a little shiny object that will be released when our body dies. Instead, it’s God’s intention that our bodies and minds are just resources that He has provided to our spirits whilst we “straddle” the natural and spiritual environments. Put another way, our body and mind is “plugged into” our spirit, rather than the other way around.

Perhaps a little extreme, but what I am trying to communicate is the fact that the bigger part of us is our spirit – it needs to be the dominant, active, influential part of our make-up.

The problem is that the body and mind parts of us have a lot of influence when we place little attention on our spirits – for instance, we get “tired and emotional”. This body that we get to live in and the intellect that drives it along creates issues – the demand for food, sleep, comfort, entertainment, affection, etc. The spirit part of us doesn’t have these issues – the needs that I have mentioned are not important to our spirit.

Our spirit is “switched on” and active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no “down time”. This would imply that we as spirits are constantly aware of what is happening around us – it is not a dormant and disinterested part of our make-up. The spirit part of us is highly responsive to the spiritual realm – the problem generally is that we permit our bodies and minds to suppress our spiritual being by placing more attention on physical and emotional feedback.

So, if we are primarily spiritual beings (with 24x7x365 awareness) and God is the same, there appears to be no reason why we cannot be in constant relationship and communication with God, and living in a spiritual environment, 24 hours a day. If we aren’t experiencing this, the only logical conclusion is that we are allowing our bodies and minds to “call the shots”.

Mark 14:38 Keep awake and watch and pray [constantly], that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

When Jesus told the disciples in the garden to “keep awake” He wasn’t talking about physically staying awake – what He was saying was to become spiritual beings. The flesh (the body and mind) is weak – it gives into the natural realm in a flash, and of course it does because that’s where it belongs! It requires a decision on our part to go down a path of “awakening”.

Mexican Stand-Off

Are you getting the impression that there seems to be a big gap between the natural (body/mind) part of us and the spirit part of us? Absolutely! Whilst the diagram above seems to indicate that our body and mind co-exist with our spirit, it appears to be an uneasy alliance – in fact, it’s seems like it’s a “Mexican Stand-Off” where there is a strategic deadlock or impasse between our natural and spiritual parts, in which no part can act in a way that ensures victory over the other. There is a conflict here – an incompatibility between our natural and spiritual parts that can never be resolved.

Paul understood the conflict that exists, and talked about it in Romans 7:14-25 where he said that even he, as a very mature and powerful Christian, battled the conflicting demands of his mind, body and spirit. Paul says in verse 23 that he had two sets of “laws” raging in his being – the law of God that his spirit wanted to follow, but the conflicting law of his natural being.

Galatians 6:5 For every person will have to bear (be equal to understanding and calmly receive) his own [ little] load [of oppressive faults].

So is it a stand-off? I don’t think it’s intended to be, because that would suggest a stalemate in which neither our spirit or our body/mind wins out. I think the intention is that our body and mind lose the high ground they currently occupy – that is, our body/mind backs down from the fight and submits to our spirit’s desires.

Not only is this not a stand-off, but our spirit needs to start some “gun play” – aggressively and purposefully driving our body and mind from their position of strength to a position of submission. I am quick to add that we cannot do this on our own- we need God’s help – and this is one of the reasons why the Holy Spirit is so important to us. We will always have a load of faults that we will carry with us – it’s really a matter of which part of our being has the upper hand.

I am quick to add that your spirit needs some “ammunition” – and this is why soaking yourself in the bible is absolutely crucial. God can bring back to your heart the things that you’ve read (even if you can’t recall exactly the words used) so that you’ve got God’s position on a situation. You can’t know what God thinks about a situation if you haven’t taken the time to investigate it. Don’t take any short-cuts here – devotionals are great, sermons are useful, but you’ve got to “load up” yourself with the bible.

What I’ve found useful is a four-part “attack plan”:

1. When an inappropriate attitude (and you can use any attitude you happen to have in your cupboard) starts to roll around in my mind, I immediately “label” it – I recognise that I’m thinking something that’s not right, and label it “WRONG!”


2. I then mentally “grab” the thought and come clean with God – basically, I acknowledge to God that I’m thinking something that isn’t right, and that I know that I’m doing it.


3. I then remind myself of Galatians 6 – I’ve still got a lot of “natural me” floating around, and so at the moment it’s inevitable that I’m going to think things that aren’t right.


4. Having grabbed the thought, I push it to one side and remind myself what God thinks of the situation. I know that thought is still there, and I realise I still have some “attitude”, but I also practice letting the “bigger” part of me have the upper hand – the part of me that want to know what God thinks, and wants to see things the way that God sees them.

Why can’t we just forget about the natural realm?

When I talk about this whole relocation concept, I don’t mean that we forget about the world around us and become some sort of exclusive group that hides away behind closed doors, having nothing to do with our environment or the people in it. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth – we need to be out in our communities because that’s where we undertake and complete the purpose that God intends for us.

Philippians 1:21-26 For me to live is Christ [His life in me], and to die is gain [the gain of the glory of eternity]. If, however, it is to be life in the flesh and I am to live on here, that means fruitful service for me; so I can say nothing as to my personal preference [I cannot choose], but I am hard pressed between the two. My yearning desire is to depart (to be free of this world, to set forth) and be with Christ, for that is far, far better; but to remain in my body is more needful and essential for your sake. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and stay by you all, to promote your progress and joy in believing, so that in me you may have abundant cause for exultation and glorying in Christ Jesus, through my coming to you again.

Paul was hanging out to get to heaven and be with God, but at the same time he understood that there were things for him to do here – and he wanted to finish what he had started.

Is this a hard transition?

The relocation thing seems hard at the outset, and it would be completely dishonest of me to say that I have been finding the transition (or even the concept of relocation) in any way easy. This transition from the natural to spiritual thinking seems to be more an issue of determination and commitment. Paul the apostle didn’t just become a spiritual man and then it was all down hill – in 1 Corinthians 15:31 Paul said that he died daily – that he died to self every day of his life. It was a constant process for Paul because, whilst he was alive and had a body and a mind which would always be tied to the natural realm, he needed to be disciplined to keep those natural elements of his being in check. Paul was bright guy – highly trained, very intellectual, self-confident, upwardly mobile, and not the least bit stupid – so I’m sure this would have been a hard process for him.

Can we just decide to change and expect to make it happen?

Unfortunately we can’t, mainly because our body and mind seem to have an incredible amount of influence over us. Our own personal determination and will just won’t cut it. There is only one way that we can change, and that’s by giving God some space in our lives – and there is only so much space. And God knows that – which is why in this manifesto I’ll be discussing the ongoing role that the Holy Spirit undertakes in helping us with the “tight squeeze” I mentioned as one of the early changes. The role of the Spirit is ongoing because, like Paul, whilst we are tied to a body and mind, we will always be hooked into and dealing with the natural realm.

Part 2 - Where to start

In contemplating these issues, probably the most difficult thing to define is where to start. We are being challenged to completely change the way in which we live – and radically so. Potentially the best way to start is by coming to grips with some of the early changes that will need to take place.

Early Change #1 – A reason to relocate

First and foremost, I guess there has to be some reason to even think about this stuff. In the introduction to this Part, I proposed that there were a number of challenges facing us at this time, and more specifically a growing realisation that God wants to mentor us into our intended ministries to meet these challenges.

The reason that drives me to relocate is an increasing frustration with “possible living” – being constrained to do what I find possible when I can see that there are things I need to do and become that are impossible. Unless I can break free of the constraints, I will never do or become what God wants me to do and become. I will never really see God working in the way that He can (and wants to). I might gain some level of maturity and I might do some good, and I might even see flashes of God’s involvement in my life, but in the grand scheme of things I will have “prodigalised” my life[1] - squandering the opportunities and living below the spiritual poverty line.

One of the big things that I struggled with at the outset was my perception that this whole spiritual realm stuff was simply not that interesting or attractive (I’m being honest here!) There were simply not enough reasons to relocate.

I mean, in the natural realm, you generally move house when (and only when) there is a really, really good reason for doing so. Moving is a painful process, and we will usually avoid it at all costs. Even if you’ve got so much stuff that you can barely turn around, or moving would mean 30 minutes less travel in the day, you’ll avoid moving! I looked at the natural realm and saw that there were interesting things going on all around me, and it was comfortable. I had my environment set up and going the way that I wanted it. I looked at what I perceived as the spiritual realm, and there just wasn’t enough there to capture my attention and interest. God’s spiritual realm just wasn’t interesting enough – in fact, to be entirely and brutally honest, God Himself wasn’t interesting enough!

Because God is such a great listener, and has an inherent ability to say just the right thing at just the right time, He challenged me on this point. In fact, God basically stood right in the middle of the path and said, “Hang on a minute, I AM interesting – the fact of the matter is that you just don’t know Me well enough to realise it!” And (strangely enough) God was right – I had this concept of God, and it was a very flat, bland, colourless concept.

Early Change #2 - Sifting

The whole business of relocating from the world of the “possible” to the world of the “impossible” is costly. It’s costly because the relocation from the natural to the supernatural realm makes no allowance for taking our old lives with us, so if we’re going to move we are going to have to leave a whole bunch of things behind.

Genesis 12:1-3 Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others]. And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

Abraham went through a relocation, and for him that was an incredibly costly process. He was set up – wealth, property, family, reputation. The natural side of his life was progressing well. But God wanted to move him from that natural life into a bigger, more significant spiritual life, and for Abraham that meant leaving all that security, stability and comfort behind. He was “sifted” - a lot of the stuff that he depended on could not be carried forward into the new life.

In Judges 7, God intended to have Gideon defeat the Midianites, and Gideon found that he had significant resources at his disposal (see chart). He was a trained soldier, who knew how to conduct a battle. However, from God’s perspective, this was not simply a battle – His intention was to shift Gideon personally from his reliance on his own significant resources, and in the process change Gideon’s perspective on what was possible.

Put simply, if we want to expand beyond the physical world and start to think and act as spiritual men, and experience the perception and power that accompanies that, we need to come to grips with the fact that we are going to be sifted. God is going to place us in situations where our skills and experience and resources are not sufficient. God may allow you to experience varying degrees of frustration, anger, pain, etc to bring highlight the insufficiency.

Early Change #3 – Forgetting the outcome

In a world that is defined by outcomes, this is a difficult step. We think in terms of creating an outcome in all areas of our lives – we use our time and resources to “make” something. Whether you consider yourself a relaxed or driven person, we all focus on the outcomes, results, benefits, etc of our efforts in life.

It would be an over-simplification to suggest that God is not focussed on outcomes. Clearly, God has plans and He applies effort and resource to achieving those plans – Genesis 1 is a prime example of that. However, we need to understand that God is the one Person that can never be restrained by an outcome that He wants to achieve. We unfortunately can be so restrained, and for that reason I believe that God wants us to turn away from our incessant “outcomes focus”.

To position you on this, it is a fact that God is not bound by time or resources. He has the capacity to provide (and create from nothing) the resource that might be required in any given situation. Also, God is not bound by time – it is merely a convenience that He has created to tie together the physical world in which we currently find ourselves. If God wants to do something, He controls the resource and He controls time, so He is never daunted at the immensity of any outcome He wants to undertake and achieve.

On the other hand, when we want to achieve a result, usually the first things that we think about are time and resources. How do I fit this activity in amongst all my other activities and responsibilities? How can I afford to undertake that activity when I have other financial responsibilities? In this reality, we have exceptionally limited control over our resources and time.

The early change that needs to take place is a focus on the “journey” rather than the “outcome”. We will cover this in greater detail further on, sufficed to say that God will start to challenge us to be obedient and do what He sets in front of us to do without necessarily telling us what the outcome is to be, or even showing us the outcome when it happens. Are you getting uncomfortable yet?

There will always be an outcome (because God has a purpose in everything) but in the early part of our relocation we may not be privy to the outcome, either before or after the outcome happens. Why not? Because knowledge of the outcome (again, either before or after the outcome occurs) can really mess us up! If God were to tell us everything that He intended to do, the natural part of us would be looking for ways to make it happen, or we might even think that the outcome was impossible so “I mustn’t be hearing correctly from God”. Worse still, we might look at the outcome and take some personal pride and glory in it. So what God does is outline a path for us – He establishes some markers along a path that we can follow, and asks us to travel the path one step at a time. As we mature, God reveals more of the path at any given time, until eventually we get to a level of maturity where God can reveal outcomes to us without the risk of tripping us up.

Bottom line – forget the outcome and ask God to show you the journey. Don’t measure your spiritual maturity and relationship with God in terms of outcomes.

Now, some might say this proposal is unscriptural – that you should have fruit attached to what you do, and that a man is measured by that fruit. I agree wholeheartedly with the principle that we should be fruitful, but we often get it back to front. A farmer knows the fruit that he wants to produce when he plants a tree, and sometimes the farmer will graft branches onto a tree to make it produce different fruit. The farmer introduces different chemicals to the soil and the leaves to improve the health of the tree, and prunes the tree at particular times for the same reason. What say does the tree have in this process? Well, the tree had an inherent potential to produce something, but without the farmer’s intervention there are significant risks of the tree producing no fruit at all, or without the grafting it might produce unnecessary fruit, or it might just die. The tree cannot help but produce fruit (because that’s what trees do) but it’s energy is on maturing and making the most of the opportunity to grow – the fruit is a guaranteed outcome. Yes, that’s right, fruit is an outcome – you know, that thing that I have suggested we don’t focus on!

We will be recognised by our fruits[2] - I totally agree with that concept. But we don’t have the capacity to turn our potential into fruitfulness unless we focus on the journey. And that’s what this whole manifesto is about – becoming fruitful and useful.

Early Change #4 – Timing isn’t everything

Because time is merely a convenient concept for us to keep life on track (and one that God doesn’t need) we should understand that in the relocation from the natural to the spiritual environment our “normal” way of thinking about time will change.
Our lives are very short – there doesn’t appear to be nearly enough time to achieve everything that we are talking about here:

James 4:14 Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].

The encouraging thing is that the amount of time that we have available to us is not a constraint for God – take for instance the fact that the bible only contains “highlights” of the things that Jesus did in a space of three years:

John 21:25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

My point is that we should not see time as a barrier. Many of us have responsibilities and demands upon our time, and God is very aware of these things. It remains however that God is still wanting us to relocate, and because He “owns” time, He is ready to respond to our timing issues as we move down this path.

This leads to a second point – the fact that God is highly efficient. He has a tendency to tell us what we need to know when we need to know it – He doesn’t waste His time (or ours) telling us stuff that isn’t important yet. Oh sure, we might think it’s important to know tht whole plan and purpose up front, but God has a different view. Take the example of Abraham (Gen.12:3) where God says to him 'Leave your country and your people, and go to the land I will show you’.

Basically, God challenges us to apply our limited capacity (and obedience) totally to a task. Task completed, God can then take us the next step we can totally commit to. God gets some time efficiency through attacking issues this way – there is no time wasted with us racing off down various paths or trying to jump ahead (and having to backtrack).

Early Change #5 – Different Strokes

Another point to raise here is that each of us moves down this relocation path at a different rate and in a different way. Because of that, looking at where others are at in their spiritual journey and making inappropriate comparisons is unhelpful.

The encouraging thing is that God will mark the path for you as fast as you can travel it and handle it. If someone else has spiritually developed faster than you, this should not be reason for you to become jealous of them, nor should the more developed person be conceited.

It is the case, however, that we develop together with no one racing ahead and leaving a trail of dust in their wake! God doesn’t want to build a “lop-sided” church, with the spiritually mature and powerful on one side, and the weaker, less developed people on the other.

Ephesians 2:21 In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, consecrated, and sacred to the presence of the Lord].

Even whilst a lot of things here require us to focus inwardly and look to our own journey, we still have an equal responsibility to look out for one another and develop and a group. Racing ahead without fulfilling the responsibility we have to help one another develop will result in factions and “fault lines” in the church – these are points of failure along which the church will crack when pressure and stress are applied by the enemy.

Early Change #6 – Understanding God

God is looking to have a meaningful relationship with us, but the problem is that we will never understand where God is coming from, or appreciate Him, or appreciate how He looks at things or feels about things, if we don’t relocate from natural thinking to spiritual thinking.

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

One of the early changes that we will experience is an understanding of how God feels about things, and His intentions and purposes in all kinds of situations. This will occur as we spend time reading the bible (which is an incredibly effective way of God starting to share how He thinks) and simply acknowledging God in the things we do and really sincerely inviting Him to become involved and be active in our lives. A constant acknowledgment and awareness of God’s presence is crucial – it doesn’t involve “feeling” God’s presence, but simply acknowledging confidently that He is with you. Feelings are notoriously unreliable.

God wants to be involved – we don’t have to plead with Him to get involved because He is ready and waiting. But God is desperate for us to make space for Him to get involved.

Early Change #7 – The Tight Squeeze

If you thought that this was going to be an easy ride, you’re going to be bitterly disappointed! One of the things that you will realise very early in the piece is that there not so no barrier that separates natural ‘possible” living from supernatural, spiritual, “impossible” thinking – but what does exist is a narrow channel between the two realms.

This is part of the reason that the sifting process is so important. It’s like being a cave explorer that wants to find their way through into the deeper, undiscovered parts of an amazing underground cave. The “cavers” as they are called can’t negotiate their way from ground level in through the tight passages and various obstacles if they are carrying excessive amounts of unnecessary equipment – they travel light with only those things that are necessary to get them through.

Similarly, to move into the spiritual realm, we need to shed the stuff that is unnecessary, because we wont see, let alone be capable of negotiating, the channels and passages that God will take us down to get there.

Following on from this, check out the parable that Jesus told in…

Luke 5:36 No one puts a patch from a new garment on an old garment; if he does, he will both tear the new one, and the patch from the new one will not match the old garment. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the fresh wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be ruined (destroyed).

We can’t “patch together” our old life with our new life – they don’t match, and trying to do so will result in everything coming undone…like some sort of spiritual “wardrobe malfunction”. This new way of living is too big and amazing to try and contain within our old attitudes and desires.

The fact of the matter is that not everyone is going to make the decision to find this new life – whilst many will become Christians (which is the first part of the “squeeze”) the path gets narrower.

Matthew 7:14 But the gate is narrow (contracted by pressure) and the way is straitened and compressed that leads away to life, and few are those who find it.

I don’t think this scripture is simply talking about people becoming Christians – the “way to life” extends beyond simply the first step of salvation.

[1] Luke 15 – parable of the prodigal son
[2] Matthew 7