I began writing this section of the manifesto as a response to a number of conversations that I have been having with friends, discussing the various ideas and principles raised as I’ve studied this whole impossible living concept. I learned that God likes to chat…and indeed He always has. Genesis 3:8-9 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" At this time, Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit that they weren’t supposed to, and had raced off the sew fig leaves together to cover themselves. Why? Because God would come down to the garden to walk, interact and communicate with Adam and Eve, and I think it would be fair to say that this was such a regular thing. It must have been - Adam and Eve were pretty keen to get their wardrobe together because God was going to be “dropping in” at any moment. God calls out to them “Where are you?” With great respect I would suggest that God was keen to chat! How was the garden going? Had they tried the fruit that was growing on the eastern side? Had Adam come up with a name for that big grey thing with a long trunk? My encouragement to you is absolutely to bring your needs to God, but don’t let that constitute the majority of your interaction with Him. Be inclusive, even in the smallest things. Freeze... OK, so you’re going to scream if one more person tells you that you need to read your bible. Well, you’ll be happy to know that I am not one of those people…I’m an “entirely different sort of people” that says you need to constantly think about the bible, and it’s hard to think about if you haven’t read something to start with. Which is kind of a roundabout way of saying it’s important to get into the bible…I’m pretty sneaky! Since you might be inclined to skip this section, let me use the following analogy to press the point. I like cooking, but I’ve got to have the time to do it. Week days normally consist of a mad rush to work in the morning, followed by a day of racing around, finally culminating in a crash on to the sofa when I get home. I don’t generally feel like getting all “Jamie Oliver” when I walk in the door of a night…in fact, I’m generally thinking “Colonel Sanders”. In a valiant attempt to avoid an early death and lower my cholesterol, the large wok kindly given to by my mother is loaded to the top with vegetables, meat, spices and various other items from my cupboard and I cook enough to last an entire week. The culinary surprise is lovingly ladled into Tupperware and frozen, ready to be whipped out on the ensuing nights. What the heck does my apparent lack of domestication and poor time management have to do with the bible? I’m glad you asked! The bible contains a lot of principles and laws that we should give attention to, but it’s far more than that. It is actually the result of God putting on paper the things that are in His heart – it outlines His intentions and attitudes. And it’s comprehensive – God has prepared the bible the way that He has to ensure that we can, in any given situation, understand how He thinks. So, why read the bible? And not just read the bible – why think about what you’ve read? A couple of reasons, the first being that we are talking about living a life where our attitudes line up with God’s way of thinking. A pretty significant shift from our natural tendency…but then again we are talking about becoming spiritual beings! Secondly, we are not only wanting to know how God thinks, but also to know what God would have us do in a situation. We want to get on board with God’s purpose, acting in a way in which our lives have a significant and positive effect on the people around us. We’ve talked about communication, and the need to “walk” and “chat” - now it’s time to “freeze”. What I mean by this is that reading the bible is not always about getting some “bolt from the blue” when you read it, which is kind of what many people expect. This will happen (regularly) but many times there is a need for us to “cook and freeze” the bible – spend the time to read it, think about it, link it together with other scriptures, study particular areas of it, etc so that it’s stored away ready to be “defrosted” when we need it. Unlike my cooking, the things that you've "frozen" will retain their "freshness", ready for any situation. I quickly add though that, just like frozen food, the "freshness" of the principles I'vehave stored away isn't guaranteed indefinitely. I can't read the bible say in January 2008, then expect that it's going to remain "ready for use" in my heart unless there is a constant intake of study and attention to the Word. The analogy starts to break down here (as analogies often do) - bottom line is that find I need to sustain myself with both the Word frozen/defrosted in my heart AND the new stuff that I read and study each day. Jump... Anyone that knows me will tell you what a huge fan I am of physical exercise. OK, that’s not true…in fact, I would drive to the bathroom if my pesky car was narrow enough to fit down the hallway of my house. It’s not that I’m totally lazy – it’s just that rapid movement seems like such a waste of the limited number of heartbeats God has kindly provided to me! So here’s where things might start to get uncomfortable. It goes without saying that we’re talking about a different way of living (even though I keep saying it) and that this new way of living is in many ways unfamiliar territory. Because of that, I’ve suggested we need to be thinking the things that I’ve mentioned above. In the middle of all this, God is giving us wisdom (which is comprehensive insight into His ways and purposes). God provides this wisdom as we develop a relationship with Him, spend time talking with Him and getting the principles of the Word under our belts.
One of the questions that keeps cropping up is, “How do you start?”
And the less than satisfactory answer is that it’s different for everyone. Just as we have different relationships with our most trusted friends, so too God’s relationship with each of us has its nuances and particular characteristics. We are individuals. God is an individual. It stands to reason that, whilst God loves us all equally, the subtleties of our individual relationships with God will vary.
I think that there are several simply principles that apply regardless of how we progress along the path of spiritual maturity.
I’ve headed this section “getting traction” because, personally, I have found getting the principles of impossible living to “stick” and being able to continually practice them has been no small task. You get busy at work, and hours later you realise that you have not thought about God even once. You find yourself in a stressful situation, and it’s not until you’ve stepped away and had time to breathe that you think maybe God might have had some answers…if only you’d got Him involved! You look back and see that there was a missed opportunity because you weren’t aware at the time of what God intended. I know because I suffer from these same problems.
So let me ask a pointed question - do you find that your relationship with God seems to swing from “intimate” to “transactional”? You might have those times when you are consistently aware of God being with you – you don’t even necessarily have to talk – just be aware of Him being there. That’s intimate. Then there are those other times where God only gets acknowledged when the situation demands His intervention – a cry for help if you like - this is the “transactional” relationship.
I think that we’d agree that the “intimate” relationship with God is preferable - a situation where we are constantly aware of God with us and working through us. This is a pretty powerful way to live!
So how to start in turning our “cry for help” relationship with God into something more meaningful. Here are my “Top 6” ideas on the matter, entitled (rather ineloquently) the “Flick, Walk, Chat, Freeze, and Jump Approach to Getting Traction”. Email me with alternate titles. Preferably shorter ones. 
Flick...
Unless you’re reading this in deep well, there’s probably some noise around you. We seem to be surrounded by noise. People talking to us, phones ringing, television ads that seem to be louder than the program you were watching. All while you try and listen to the radio, the kids, and your partner simultaneously. The dog joins in for good measure.
Noisy little world we're living in!
Here’s an activity for you – walk down the street and count the number of people with ear phones in their ears. Kids going to school. Business people rushing to a meeting. Everyone has their iPod plugged in, and it’s not simply to enjoy the music. How do I know this? Because I’m one of those people, and the reason that I have my iPod almost surgically implanted is because, in a noisy world, I want to choose the noise! I don’t think I’m alone.
One of the problems that arises is that this constant assault of noise, and our attempts to control it, has the undesirable effect of making us bad listeners. Like many things in the modern world, communication has become a consumer item – tell me what I need to know, then go away! Better still, send me a text message.
I think you’d agree that trying to develop a relationship with someone with this approach would be somewhat difficult. Here’s another experiment. Next time you want to talk touch down with a friend or partner, and find out what’s been happening and discuss things of some importance, make sure that you turn a television up really loud then talk to someone else on your mobile phone at the same time….really loudly…you know, like people do on trains. Top it off with an iPod and you’ve got an incredibly appropriate forum for developing a relationship with your friend – they are going to feel really important, and you will have effectively communicated your interest in them. Am I being sarcastic? You better believe it!
Do we truly think that God is any different? We are trying to develop a relationship with Him, but we don’t always take steps to dial down the noise and give Him our attention.
This doesn’t sound like a particularly deep principle, but I think it’s an important one. What I am talking about is creating an environment where the noise doesn’t distract us from God - dialling down the noise that assaults our physical ears and, just as importantly, the “noise” in our minds.
King David was a very busy guy – he had a big kingdom to run – but he still understood the importance of dialling down the noise.
Psalm 131:1-2 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
David had “great matters” to attend to, and he was also aware that God wanted to do “amazing things”, but he regularly made time to dial the noise down.
Flick off the radio in the car. Flick off the TV. There are things that you must do each day, and demands that must be met, but flick off those demands for a moment. They’ll still be there, but you need to actively dial down this noise.
Why do you need to do this? Read on!
Walk...
I know who my close friends are – for three reasons. Firstly, they are the ones who I can communicate with without either of us actually saying anything. The smallest facial movement says more than words. Secondly, my close friends are the ones that I know so well that I know how they would react in any given situation, or I can at least have a pretty good guess at how they would react. Thirdly, my closest friends only have to say “hello” and I can tell exactly where they are at – angry, sad, happy, whatever. It could just be the inflection in their voice, and the words they use – you can just feel what’s behind a single word.
The reason that this level of communication exists is because I’ve spent time with these people, sometimes over a period of many years. I’ve played music with them. I’ve gone out to dinner and concerts with them. I’ve finished work at some ridiculous hour of the night, and gone around to their house and sat on their balcony and drunk their coffee until they’ve thrown me out - which they can do because they’re my close friends!
God is the same – and it’s why I’m encouraging you not to pray. That right….stop praying! OK, maybe I’ll clarify that a little before you send the boys around to “counsel” me for such sacrilege.
Often when we spend time with God, we do a lot of talking…in fact, we’re usually doing one of two things – complaining or asking for something. These two things usually constitute “praying”. Now, convert that into the natural world for a minute – how much time do you want to spend with those “friends” that either complain to you about something or are asking you for something? I’d speculate that you’re desire to be with these people, and your level of relationship with these people, is “limited”.
And it's for this reason that I’d encourage you to simply “walk” with God, and I’m not talking about some sort of super-spiritual thing here. It is valuable to spend time with God, and recognise that He is “around”, without actually needing to say anything. Just like I enjoy being with my friends without the need to be in constant conversation with them, I enjoy the same experience with God. It’s nice to just be in the same room as my close friends – even if we are not doing something together. Again, it’s the same with God – just recognising that He is in the “same room” is a great way of developing an awareness of Him. You can get closer to God just by positively recognising that He is with you.
Don’t think you’ve got to say something or do something. Just be in the “same room”. Communicating with God consists of more than asking for something - in fact, it's more "walk" than "talk".
Chat...
I said before that you should stop praying, with some clarification around the comment…so I’ll take the clarification a step further. We should ask God for assistance, and we should bring our issues to Him, and He’s happy about that. It’s just that our communication with God has to be more than the “complain/ask” stuff.
What I have been finding beneficial is the habit of chatting with God – talking to Him about what I am doing, how things are going, etc.
What’s the benefit in chatting? My aim is to two-fold:
Secondly, by way of further insight into my personality, I am not a risk taker. Don’t get me wrong, I will take risks, but the risk is calculated to ensure that I can afford to lose. You won’t find me bungee jumping or mountain climbing. More power to those of you that do those things. I’ll take risks in business, put myself in uncomfortable situations, speak to large groups, kick off big projects, etc but I’ve weighed the risk eight ways to Wednesday before doing it.
It’s what happens next that might challenge you. Wisdom is not given to us simply so we can be wise – this life is not an academic exercise in gaining knowledge. God intends for us to “jump” – take the wisdom and direction that He has given us and take some action. Wisdom is referred to as “comprehensive” because it presupposes that we are going to need the fine detail to do what needs to be done. And we need to jump when God says so - not to do so would result in a missed opportunity.
There is a significant element of risk here, at which point I get nervous. I don’t want to look stupid, and I don’t like making mistakes, but God wants us to become risk takers. He gives us direction and insight for a reason – so we can take action – but all that is useless if we are afraid of failure.
My proposal is to take a chance when you feel that God is taking you down a certain path. I’m not talking about big stuff here – it’s part of the chatting with God piece. God gives us direction in the smallest of things – as small as where to get lunch! So it is not inappropriate to get direction from God on even the smallest, seemingly insignificant areas of our lives, and begin to act on what God impresses on us at that time. This builds our confidence in our ability to hear from God.
I quickly add that you should read again the section on “safety nets” – I have found this to be invaluable as I have started to do some risky things i.e. things that I would not normally do because they’re uncomfortable or I might look stupid. I have people around me that I talk to about things – people I can trust that I know hear from God (and that are taking risks themselves). We keep an eye on each other, and we have given an overarching permission to one another to talk honestly and frankly if there seems to be a problem.
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