The Holy Spirit gave me a picture in the wee hours this morning. It was part catalyst, part confirmation of something I had been working on for at least a few weeks now. Sometimes it takes me awhile. That is why I try to never make snap decisions. I am going to try and describe something to you that works better as a picture, but since I do not know how to do pictures here, you may have to do some work to understand it.
I have been mulling a situation (I wish I could say "meditating" but I have really just been mulling, i.e., soul vs. spirit.) The situation has to do with a Christian relating to his superiors in the workplace. The perspective here is from the employee's side, but if you have employees, please do not stop reading.
Let me describe the picture I saw and hopefully you can see it too. Think of two people side by side (I think in stick figures because that's all I can draw.) one is head and shoulders above the other, but they are about the same height. Each figure is enclosed in an oval so it is like they are floating in the air, next to each other, one higher than the other, showing authority in the workplace. Now if you have the picture in your mind, keep reading.
In the workplace, for whatever time that entails, "the boss", as we will call him or her for convenience sake, floats a little higher. That is the way business works. That is the way it has to work. With greater responsibility comes greater authority. However, we are talking about employment-related, worldly, soulical situations here. ("Soulical" is the word Watchman Nee uses to describe the activites of the soul in distinction from those of the spirit.)
In the Kingdom of God, no one "floats" higher than anyone else. Do not confuse the Kingdom of God with The Church here. We usually use the term, "The Church" in these pages to indicate all believers, but in this instance we are making a further distinction and calling The Church the groups of people gathering together. The Church on earth has to operate like a business in this one respect--someone has to be responsible and that person has to be in charge. That person has been, hopefully, placed in that position of authority by God. But listen. That person still "floats" at the same level in the Kingdom of God as everyone else. This is the point Jesus was making when He said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet is shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to be great among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:25-26)
If you work for someone else, meaning you have a superior at your place of employment, you have only one responsibility. You are responsible to do what that person requires of you, to the best of your ability. It does not matter what it is you are asked to do. If it is legal and ethical, it is your duty to do it--to the best of your ability. Remember, we are not discussing the other person's responsibility here. That is between them and God. You are obliged to do your job as well as you can.
The point of what I am trying to describe here is outside, but corollary to, our employment relationships. It is greater because it is spiritual. None of us have had perfect bosses. There are none. Each of them can use some growth in one or more areas. That does not mean you are called to be the fertilizer. It does mean they are people we are inclined to spend quite a bit of time and energy with during the course of any given week. We must see that as a God-ordained situation. While we are obligated to take orders from them, we also have something to add to their lives. The words of Jesus come to mind here that we should be, "...wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16) Most people do not particularly enjoy being challenged with regard to their weaknesses. You boss is certainly not an exception.
There are two circumstances in which you may find limited duration to your employment when you challenge your boss to be better. First, your boss may not recognize your spiritual authority to do so. He or she may not realize that you have, "...come to the kingdom for such a time as this." (Esther 4:14) If you do not challenge him or her in a manner in which he or she can accept it as a challenge rather than as a bad attitude, you have lost before you started. Secondly, some people sincerely do not think they have anything that needs to be changed. In the recovery industry we call that "denial." Pray for them. And pray for me. I think I have probably gotten myself into enough trouble for one post. God bless.
Showing posts with label Watchman Nee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Watchman Nee. Show all posts
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Sometimes Things Do Change
We have muddled through the crises of the past couple weeks. The DSL has been repaired so I can publish again. The work related stress has been eliminated. Life is good. In fact, life is better than good. The reason for that is exciting things are happening at the mission. Telling you about current events in the lives of two of the program men there should amply demonstrate what I mean.
Tony is at the mission for a second go around. He only spent six months there the first time when the program was a full year for most men. He has come back to do six more months and has been promised a graduation certificate when he completes that time. What you need to know about Tony is that he originally came to the mission as a committed Catholic. Ok, maybe not very committed, but definitely Catholic. He also did not know anything about the Bible. He learned quite a bit the first time through, but it was mostly information and not much revelation to speak of.
Pastor Bill Winston, whom we have mentioned before in these posts, says that the fall of man was a fall from revelation to information. What he means by that is that, man, being in perfect fellowship with God before the fall, received his understanding about God via direct revelation from God. However, after the fall, man became dependent on gathering information about God and the world he lived in. Believe it or not, there are actually some theologians who believe it is not possible for us to receive direct revelation any longer. (I think that is because if they admit it is possible, they would have to explain why they do not receive any.)
Watchman Nee explains that when man fell, his soul came between his spirit and God so that revelation is inhibited because now we have to decide how we think and feel so we can decide how to act rather than simply acting on what God says to us. Both men are saying the same thing in a little different way, placing the emphasis on different aspects of what happened.
Tony returned to the mission with much more knowledge than the first time. Part of his return was precipitated by the death of his mother. Now his sister is trying to settle the estate and that sometimes causes a little stress in his life.
He was walking up the stairs earlier this week and he said, "Deuteronomy." That was it, just Deuteronomy. He did not even know it was a book in the Bible so he asked our chaplain who told him that much. He came to my office and asked me to explain what was going on. Like I would know right? We sat in my office and I began reading him the passage headings from the the NIV Bible and give a brief description of what each passage was about. He kept saying things like, "That is exactly what is happening right now. " We did that through about 26 chapters and he seemed to get something out of most of them. Then he asked me why he said Deuteronomy in the first place. I suggested he might have just given himself a word of knowledge or perhaps a prophecy. Granted it was only one word, but assuredly Tony was hearing from the Holy Spirit. That is huge.
Jon came into the program a little over six months ago. Under normal circumstances (whatever those are) he would have started his second phase last week--except that he was in jail for 37 days. It is not important why he was in jail except to say he was never arrested, only detained. The problem was being detained alerted the parole department and his parole agent placed a hold on him until everything could be sorted out.
You have to understand that Jon is a very intelligent man. There is nothing he could not have already accomplished in his life had he not been distracted by methamphetamine. So he went to jail for 37 days. It was an uneventful 37 days except that he prayed with five fellow inmates to receive Jesus as Lord while he was there. Hey, I would have to take off my shoes and borrow some other fingers and toes to count how many pastors have not lead five people to the Lord in the past 37 days. Of course I guess it helps to be around unsaved people if one is going to do the work of an evangelist. (2 Timothy 2:5) I am thankful it was Jon in jail doing that and not me.
Oh yes, make no mistake, things are going on at the mission. I only chose the most dramatic things, certainly not all the things that have happened recently. Oh, by the way, the mighty men count is up to five. One of them is really a rapscallion, but then such were some of us. Still, he chose to be a mighty man and, although haltingly at times, he is trying to walk worthy of his calling. (Ephesians 4:1) If he is going to follow, I am going to make sure he has the best example possible to follow. See you next time. God bless.
Tony is at the mission for a second go around. He only spent six months there the first time when the program was a full year for most men. He has come back to do six more months and has been promised a graduation certificate when he completes that time. What you need to know about Tony is that he originally came to the mission as a committed Catholic. Ok, maybe not very committed, but definitely Catholic. He also did not know anything about the Bible. He learned quite a bit the first time through, but it was mostly information and not much revelation to speak of.
Pastor Bill Winston, whom we have mentioned before in these posts, says that the fall of man was a fall from revelation to information. What he means by that is that, man, being in perfect fellowship with God before the fall, received his understanding about God via direct revelation from God. However, after the fall, man became dependent on gathering information about God and the world he lived in. Believe it or not, there are actually some theologians who believe it is not possible for us to receive direct revelation any longer. (I think that is because if they admit it is possible, they would have to explain why they do not receive any.)
Watchman Nee explains that when man fell, his soul came between his spirit and God so that revelation is inhibited because now we have to decide how we think and feel so we can decide how to act rather than simply acting on what God says to us. Both men are saying the same thing in a little different way, placing the emphasis on different aspects of what happened.
Tony returned to the mission with much more knowledge than the first time. Part of his return was precipitated by the death of his mother. Now his sister is trying to settle the estate and that sometimes causes a little stress in his life.
He was walking up the stairs earlier this week and he said, "Deuteronomy." That was it, just Deuteronomy. He did not even know it was a book in the Bible so he asked our chaplain who told him that much. He came to my office and asked me to explain what was going on. Like I would know right? We sat in my office and I began reading him the passage headings from the the NIV Bible and give a brief description of what each passage was about. He kept saying things like, "That is exactly what is happening right now. " We did that through about 26 chapters and he seemed to get something out of most of them. Then he asked me why he said Deuteronomy in the first place. I suggested he might have just given himself a word of knowledge or perhaps a prophecy. Granted it was only one word, but assuredly Tony was hearing from the Holy Spirit. That is huge.
Jon came into the program a little over six months ago. Under normal circumstances (whatever those are) he would have started his second phase last week--except that he was in jail for 37 days. It is not important why he was in jail except to say he was never arrested, only detained. The problem was being detained alerted the parole department and his parole agent placed a hold on him until everything could be sorted out.
You have to understand that Jon is a very intelligent man. There is nothing he could not have already accomplished in his life had he not been distracted by methamphetamine. So he went to jail for 37 days. It was an uneventful 37 days except that he prayed with five fellow inmates to receive Jesus as Lord while he was there. Hey, I would have to take off my shoes and borrow some other fingers and toes to count how many pastors have not lead five people to the Lord in the past 37 days. Of course I guess it helps to be around unsaved people if one is going to do the work of an evangelist. (2 Timothy 2:5) I am thankful it was Jon in jail doing that and not me.
Oh yes, make no mistake, things are going on at the mission. I only chose the most dramatic things, certainly not all the things that have happened recently. Oh, by the way, the mighty men count is up to five. One of them is really a rapscallion, but then such were some of us. Still, he chose to be a mighty man and, although haltingly at times, he is trying to walk worthy of his calling. (Ephesians 4:1) If he is going to follow, I am going to make sure he has the best example possible to follow. See you next time. God bless.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Weapons of Our Warfare, Part 6
We are not entirely sure how blogger works, and it really does not matter all that much. The way we hope and pray this blog works is that we hear what the Holy Spirit is saying, write it down, and it becomes some kind of semi-permanent record on the internet. We mention that only to say, this post, we think, is going to show it was published on a Saturday. In reality it is barely Saturday by the clock. We are morning people, but this can hardly be considered morning at all.
Watchman Nee, who is one of our heroes in the faith, said every day was a spiritual battle while he was writing his classic The Spiritual Man. I was talking about that with my neighbor across the fence just yesterday. When we look back at the dates of these posts, we note we were publishing much more frequently when we started. Then something happened. The warfare became a little more intense. Trust me when I tell you this whole, past week was one distraction after another.
For most of the past twenty years, as we have alluded to previously, we have been unsure of what we were called to Santa Maria to do. We are embarassed to say most of that time we spent in ignorance can be directly related to spiritual deception. Not only were we unable to see what we were supposed to be doing, we thought we were doing what we should be. We know, that sounds sort of cryptic, but that is how spiritual deception works. One wrong turn, one false piece of information, one lie that we believe can send us down the path toward deception.
At this time, however, we can tell you, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. In the past three months, more or less, we have moved out of that period of ignorance and deception, into a period of apathy, where we did not really care what happened, to peace. We now understand, with more than head knowledge, God is at work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) Looking back over our lives, we see sometimes very clearly, sometimes less how God was bringing us to this time and place.
In the beginning, this blog was as effortless as anything ever has been in my life. Of course, most of the early posts were simply personal history so the most difficult part of writing them was remembering that far back with a brain that may have passed it's prime. It has become more difficult recently. We are aware of Satan's schemes. We also understand a little something about how God works in our spirits.
This is a real time update. I just learned what I am about to share, and I do mean "just" as in moments ago. It is also one of those "duh" moments as in, how have I been missing that? Let me explain what "just" happened. The Holy Spirit dropped a word into my spirit. The word is "schemes". I knew it was in the Bible, but I get a little fuzzy on addresses sometimes. I almost always blog with another tab open to http://www.crosswalk.com/. What a blessing that site is to The Church. Anyway, as we said very early on, we always quote from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted. So we search in that translation. Nothing came up. Maybe it was in the Authorized Version, a.k.a The King James Version. Not there either. Sometimes we do use the New International Version. Might as well try that. There it is, two times. The word "schemes" appears in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and Ephesians 6:11. Both times the scheme of Satan being talked about is division amongst God's people. For your information, the other two versions mentioned use the word "devices" instead of schemes.
We neglected to mention earlier the Lord has been working overtime dealing with us about our love walk. In fact, our pastor sent an email just yesterday reminding us that loving one another is one of the life principles of our church. That also came up in the conversation with the neighbor yesterday. He is a Christian man. We briefly noted that some people are just easier to love than others.
There is no way to over-emphasize the importance of loving one another. The Bible is God's love story to mankind. From Genesis 1:1 where God began His work of creation to provide a perfect place for man to live to Revelation 22:20 where He wishes us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible is the expression of a Father's love for his children. Jesus prayed, "...that they may all be one...that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:22-23) We truly will show God to the world by loving one another as He has loved us.
I started writing this over an hour ago because I felt led to write. At that time I did not know what weapon I would be writing about. By now it should be obvious. The weapon is unity and it works by love. It seems I remember some historical figure saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." or was that just a song lyric performed by Sonny and Cher? (We do hope you recognize our sardonic comments that appear in this space from time to time.)
Now I had better get back to bed. Our grandson is here for the weekend and we would hate to miss any time with him. He is, after all, the cutest little boy in the world.
Work on your love walk and we will be "perfect in one".
Watchman Nee, who is one of our heroes in the faith, said every day was a spiritual battle while he was writing his classic The Spiritual Man. I was talking about that with my neighbor across the fence just yesterday. When we look back at the dates of these posts, we note we were publishing much more frequently when we started. Then something happened. The warfare became a little more intense. Trust me when I tell you this whole, past week was one distraction after another.
For most of the past twenty years, as we have alluded to previously, we have been unsure of what we were called to Santa Maria to do. We are embarassed to say most of that time we spent in ignorance can be directly related to spiritual deception. Not only were we unable to see what we were supposed to be doing, we thought we were doing what we should be. We know, that sounds sort of cryptic, but that is how spiritual deception works. One wrong turn, one false piece of information, one lie that we believe can send us down the path toward deception.
At this time, however, we can tell you, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. In the past three months, more or less, we have moved out of that period of ignorance and deception, into a period of apathy, where we did not really care what happened, to peace. We now understand, with more than head knowledge, God is at work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) Looking back over our lives, we see sometimes very clearly, sometimes less how God was bringing us to this time and place.
In the beginning, this blog was as effortless as anything ever has been in my life. Of course, most of the early posts were simply personal history so the most difficult part of writing them was remembering that far back with a brain that may have passed it's prime. It has become more difficult recently. We are aware of Satan's schemes. We also understand a little something about how God works in our spirits.
This is a real time update. I just learned what I am about to share, and I do mean "just" as in moments ago. It is also one of those "duh" moments as in, how have I been missing that? Let me explain what "just" happened. The Holy Spirit dropped a word into my spirit. The word is "schemes". I knew it was in the Bible, but I get a little fuzzy on addresses sometimes. I almost always blog with another tab open to http://www.crosswalk.com/. What a blessing that site is to The Church. Anyway, as we said very early on, we always quote from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted. So we search in that translation. Nothing came up. Maybe it was in the Authorized Version, a.k.a The King James Version. Not there either. Sometimes we do use the New International Version. Might as well try that. There it is, two times. The word "schemes" appears in 2 Corinthians 2:11 and Ephesians 6:11. Both times the scheme of Satan being talked about is division amongst God's people. For your information, the other two versions mentioned use the word "devices" instead of schemes.
We neglected to mention earlier the Lord has been working overtime dealing with us about our love walk. In fact, our pastor sent an email just yesterday reminding us that loving one another is one of the life principles of our church. That also came up in the conversation with the neighbor yesterday. He is a Christian man. We briefly noted that some people are just easier to love than others.
There is no way to over-emphasize the importance of loving one another. The Bible is God's love story to mankind. From Genesis 1:1 where God began His work of creation to provide a perfect place for man to live to Revelation 22:20 where He wishes us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible is the expression of a Father's love for his children. Jesus prayed, "...that they may all be one...that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." (John 17:22-23) We truly will show God to the world by loving one another as He has loved us.
I started writing this over an hour ago because I felt led to write. At that time I did not know what weapon I would be writing about. By now it should be obvious. The weapon is unity and it works by love. It seems I remember some historical figure saying, "United we stand, divided we fall." or was that just a song lyric performed by Sonny and Cher? (We do hope you recognize our sardonic comments that appear in this space from time to time.)
Now I had better get back to bed. Our grandson is here for the weekend and we would hate to miss any time with him. He is, after all, the cutest little boy in the world.
Work on your love walk and we will be "perfect in one".
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