Spiritual Ponderings

And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, " Receive the Holy Spirit." (John 20:22) This verse has been rolling around in my head for a few days for some reason. I suppose it might be because of some of the teachings I have been listening to that have both enlightened and fascinated me but at the same time has disturbed my spirit a bit much. They are not disturbing me so much because of conviction of error in my thinking. What disturbs me is the similarity of the spirit I sense in these teachers to the rigid ways in which I was raised in religion that nearly suffocated all hope, joy and life out of me for many years. At the same time I do not want to make the mistake of following a knee-jerk reaction by going to another equally dangerous extreme as it is so easy to do. Most of my life I have tried to discover the real truth instead of just following what people around me insisted was correct or popular or comfortable. That has gotten me crosswise t...

Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. (Isaiah 30:20-21) I have pondered the meaning of this text for many years and have listened to other people's opinions about it as well. What is meant here in reference to turning to the right or the left? And what kind of voice is it that talks to me? Is it an audible voice? I struggled for many years to try to understand many of the analogies in the Bible. How does one 'fall on the rock', be 'washed in the blood' or 'have Jesus in your heart'? These and many more concepts seem so out of touch with reality to many people. Religious people use a whole raft of terms that seem strange and even bizarre to the uninitiated and many times I think the religious mainstream only...

When Satan tempted Jesus with the doubts about being the Son of God in the wilderness, he was not only referring to Jesus' condition as a human and trying to question that aspect of Him; he was also coming from the stance in which he, as previously Lucifer, had originally taken in heaven when he questioned the truth about Christ being God just as authentically as the Father. The whole great controversy between Christ and Satan was initiated in heaven when Lucifer began to entertain doubts about the divinity of Jesus. It seems that he found it difficult to believe that Jesus was not a created being like himself. Christ apparently appeared so similar to Lucifer that Lucifer made the mistake of thinking that he was equal with Christ and thus should have all the same privileges as Christ. So when God treated Christ with greater honor than Lucifer by including Him in the secret counsels of the Godhead while excluding Lucifer, it was at that point that Lucifer's jealousy began bree...

I affirm, brethren, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily . (1 Corinthians 15:31) I have been crucified with Christ ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20) I got to thinking about this again a few days ago. I have pondered these texts for many years and have puzzled over just what they really mean; not only the idea of dying without actually physically dying, but especially the part about being crucified with Christ. Just how is that supposed to take place? And particularly, who is it that does the crucifying? There are many texts in the New Testament that talk about our need to die to self. Jesus makes it very plain that unless we are willing to give up our right to life and be willing to die that we cannot enter into the converted state of mind and heart needed to participate in the kingdom ...

The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship; it establishes a mutual regard for the fact that the basis of life is tragic . Always beware of an estimate of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin. Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical, never suspicious , because He trusted absolutely in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman, not the innocent , is the safeguarded man or woman. You are never safe with an innocent man or woman. Men and women have no business to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child; it is a blameworthy thing for a man or woman not to be reconciled to the fact of sin. ( My Utmost for His Highest, June 24) I find this reading for today to be very instructing, helpful, insightful and convicting. It is helpful in that it gives me some clues as to why I so often feel cynical and suspicious. It is insightful because it alerts me...

The reading from My Utmost for today is one of those very convicting wakeup calls that jolts me into realization of some of my greatest defects. It puts the finger directly on areas of my life that have caused me the greatest problems and that are generational in nature. Here is the reading. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. ( Matthew 7:2) This statement is not a haphazard guess, it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give, it is measured to you again. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus says that the basis of life is retribution—“with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the defects in others, remember that will be exactly the measure given to you. Life serves back in the coin you pay . This law works from God’s throne downwards (cf. Psalm 18:25-26). Romans 2 applies it in a still more definite w...

What does my anxiety reveal about the beliefs deep in my heart? What do I really think about God and His plans for me and His treatment of me? How do I interpret past painful experiences to define how God treats me and feels about me? What do I believe is the core issue involving the great struggle between good and evil? Is it about me, my sinful condition, my salvation, my perfection, my deliverance, getting me into Paradise? Or is there something vastly more important at stake? These may sound like just so many philosophical questions. But in truth many of them lie at the foundation of everything that forms each person's perception of reality. And more importantly they give strong indication of the direction in which a person is moving as far as what they believe are the goals they need to strive for, the issues they seek to resolve, the problems that need to be overcome. I am struggling to perceive reality each day a little more accurately than I have in the past. That m...