Feb
7
Written by:
Blake Shipp
2/7/2011 3:35 PM
This week the guys in my Life Transformation Group and I dug in and did some thinking about the Holy Spirit. You know, that dark horse of the Trinity, the one we talk about in hushed tones as we acknowledge His existence, but can’t really speak of the last time we saw Him move in our lives. Yeah. That’s the one. I am growing more and more convinced that one of the greatest issues in the Church today is a tragic neglect of the Spirit, God’s very presence in us. Here’s the deal. I don’t think we neglect the Spirit on purpose. Sure, we see abuses and have some difficulties in understanding how God Himself could actually take up residence in us. You know, people for two-thousand years have faced these same issues and it didn’t seem to bring about neglect in them. I think our neglect comes from a different place. The struggle is in figuring out just what that place is.
As we chatted about the Spirit and His role in our lives, our conversation turned to the reasons why we neglect Him. I think it was at this point that the conversation got the most interesting. Our starting points were comfort and noise and how these two work to drown out the Spirit in our lives. As I processed with these guys in real time, I came across a third one, probably the biggest one for me. Hurry. Hurry keeps me from hearing from, thinking about, or even turning to the Spirit. It isn’t just my problem. The more I have thought about it, the more I am wondering if it is perhaps endemic to all of us.
We live in a world that seems stuck in fast forward. We are consumed with the never-ending quest to make things faster, accomplish more things more quickly, to do more than we ever thought possible in half the time that we did it yesterday. We live in a world of fast food, microwave popcorn, and movies-on-demand. So as you read this post, check your email, watch a movie and play with your kids, all in an effort to get as much done as possible in the few short free minutes you have today, you might be wondering what the problem is. Well, think about it for a moment. Is what you are doing right now normal? Is how we are living really enabling us to accomplish more?
I can tell you what it is accomplishing for me. It is winding me up so tight that I can’t dial in with anyone or anything full on, including the Spirit. I am going so fast that I think a good bit of the time the Spirit would have to be in a full out sprint to catch up. He doesn’t seem to be all that interested in catching up. Just this past week, I was taking out the trash, when it hit me how far hurry has affected me. As I stepped outside I caught a glimpse of what was perhaps one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen in a long time. I wondered, when was the last time I actually took the time to watch a sunset? It has been a long time. Why? I don’t have the time. That seems to be the problem. So what is the solution? For me, the solution is simple. Slow down. Easier said than done. So, I have started experimenting. Today I started walking more slowly. Interestingly, simply walking slowly from my car to the office this morning had an effect on my frame of mind. I paused mid-day and turned everything off for a few minutes to pause. In fact, I set my digital watch to chime so that it forces me to pause at least once an hour. Sounds crazy but today, I have moved a lot more slowly. You know, I feel better, and honestly, I am hearing better too.
So the next time you see me walking down the hall I might be moving a little slower than normal. Don’t worry. Nothing is wrong. I am just trying to keep up with the Spirit.
A fellow traveler,
Blake
Spiritual Formation Pastor
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4 comment(s) so far...
Re: Keeping up with the Spirit
I love this and your suggestions for pausing to listen.
I'm motivated to listen simply because it excites me that the Spirit will speak if I'm listening. It is a marvel when I realize the Spirit has truly been speaking to me and I watch God use what the Spirit laid on my heart. It always awes and humbles me.
Trouble is, it also takes bravery. It is easy to wonder if I'm hearing correctly. Sometimes I don't want to hear what the Spirit is saying. Sometimes I don't really want to do what he tells me to do. I don't follow through and I quench the Spirit. Sometimes I just don't like what I hear and I come up with arguments so I can see things the way I want to see them and I quench the Spirit that way. Then I wonder why He isn't speaking anymore. Thankfully, God is a gracious, patient and loving teacher. If I get my heart right again I will once again start hearing the Spirit speak.
Sometimes He speaks about who God is. Sometimes He impresses God's love for me or others on my heart. Sometimes He lays people on my heart that I need to pray for or talk to. Sometimes we wrestle with the deeper issues of life. With me, I find he often speaks in questions... questions that it is important for me to answer and answer according to what I understand from scripture.
Happy listening!
By Sally Warner on
2/7/2011 8:27 PM
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Re: Keeping up with the Spirit
Sally,
I really resonate with your comment about speaking in questions. I think for me, I view it as tensions. The Spirit brings up or creates tensions and then asks me to live with them. Somehow in the tensions/questions, He brings growth.
And, yes, bravery is needed. Or, is it surrender? At least for me, it isn't that I don't have the courage to do what God has asked. I simply don't wish to deny myself in order to do it. Perhaps that does take much courage after all.
By Blake Shipp on
2/7/2011 9:38 PM
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Re: Keeping up with the Spirit
I too think one of our greatest needs is the Holy Spirit. I also agree that part of the problem is the confusion that surrounds His person/work. The Trinity being what it is we tend to worship/relate to God in distinction, worship the 3 persons separately. Pray to the father, seek to model our lives after the Son and pray for the power of the Spirit, etc. I'm sure this is all appropriate, but it does make worshipping and interacting with the Spirit the most difficult because of His lack of outline in the Scriptures. I wonder however if this kind of separation in worship is not part of our problem. I believe God the Spirit is activated in our lives as we grow in trust and surrender. I think every true experience we have with God is an experience with the Spirit but with all the attention on the spectacular we can make judgments about God and/or our experience with Him that are not accurate to truth of the Scriptures. I think the Spirit is mysterious in essence but not so much in practice. Of course the practice requires the yielding of our wills/lives to God which is far harder than a gift test or an unexpected mountain top experience with God.
By Rob Cattalani on
2/11/2011 4:50 PM
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Re: Keeping up with the Spirit
I refer to hearing/feeling/knowing God's Spirit when I feel deep truths about the essence of God. For example, when I listened to yesterday's teaching on John 3: 16-21. The Spirit swells in me and overflows. The power is uncontainable. That is the Spirit to me. Clearly I do make a distinction. This is very interesting!! I think most often on Jesus as He was a man; an identifiable, relational human. My thoughts of God the father are nebulous...a Creator full of adjectives but no iconic image. Hence, I default to Jesus. Coincidentally, Blake, the only incidences where I can say the three truly blend are when I SLOW down. There has to be either silence or intentional worship. I sit, I breathe, I pray, I sing and I listen. Then I am surrounded. I often think that is why I never want Sunday service to end. The question is how to carry it with me. I think moving throughout this world in a slower, more intentional way is a GREAT start!
By Jennifer Blatto-Vallee on
2/14/2011 4:25 PM
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