4 replies to this topic

[Candice]

I am so grateful that there is a forum for this deeper life discussion.

I don't like to think of the deeper life in terms of "method" or "program". However, I am desiring to get some "hows" answered. That being said. . . . .

Does anyone have suggestions on how to actually be still before GOD? This seems to be the very challenge at the core for me. I'm so easily distracted. I'm a "thinker" type and tend to need relaxation. Are relaxation techniques not a good idea?

I know Tozer got down with his bible open and I've done that, but it doesn't solve the relaxation/distraction problem for me.
Any counsel on this is greatly appreciated!

[Travis Richey]

I can appreciate the "thinker" label you describe...it fits me as well. Having said that, I'd like to share a little of my own experience and thoughts on this subject of methodolgy. I think it is very much a part of human nature to seek a method to a goal. And it is especially more so for those of us who do a lot of thinking, are engineer or process minded, and are shaped by our society around us. All we need to do is look around at the self-help books, the religion books, the magazines at the grocery check-out line and we see "10 steps to a better ____________", "5 ways to improve your ___________", "3 sure fire methods to achieve ___________", etc, etc. We do love our easy to follow recipes and always seek a method to our ends.

However, I have discovered that when it comes to our walk with our Lord that methodology doesn't always work. I know we see the lists in the Bible of things such as the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit and the way of righteousness and how to become saved. Those scriptures are very important, but when they become yard sticks by which we measure ourselves and others, then it can easily lead into a church filled with legalism and judgementalism. It can also stifle our individual and corporate spiritual growth as we stop seeking God and start checking our lists. We also go to the Word and see the solution someone else found, and we attempt to replicate it. We read an account of how someone got from point A to point B, and we follow it exactly, expecting ahead of time the same outcome. In doing all of this, we are actually limiting God...we are trying to put Him into a box or mold of our own making.

God told Moses to introduce Him as "I AM THAT I AM". God is God. God is sovereign in all of everything. There is no higher power than God, there is no other authority above Him. He Is and we can't even begin to understand all that entails. As He spoke thru Isaiah, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." We don't want to do anything in our walk that causes us to limit God. I believe that trying to place God into a recipe or method does exactly that. Now it really doesn't limit God, but it does limit what we think of Him and what we expect of Him...and in that way, in our life, it does place a limit.

So, as we go to God in prayer, in asking, seeking and knocking...we need to do so with empty expectations, in total surrender of ourself. We don't need to go believing that if we do this that He will automatically do that, or that we can force Him into a particular action just because we supposedly "did the right thing", "followed the right method" or "said the right prayer". Our desire is to be for His Will to be done...and that means in His timing, and His Way.

So I say all of that to say that I've been down that road into methodology and list following, and I know where it can lead...and it is not a pleasant place to be, and it sure doesn't do any of us any good. Yes, we should seek ways to become better Christians, better disciples, better children of God. But those ways should not be the ends to our means.

In Christ,
Travis

[ADVRider]

Hate to bring this subject up, but I think one aspect of the deeper life is brokenness. The times in my life where God (not me) has brought the most noticable and tangible growth was either through an experience of brokenness or pain that led to a deeper surrender or commitment. It also brought with it a deeper understanding of God's ways and will for me personally, and often a distinct new direction. You could call these mountain top experiences, but there was some serious death in the valley. And alas, I certainly wasn't seeking God for this! As Travis said so well, His ways are not our ways. In another post, I alluded to the idea that the deeper life, growth, etc. is primarily God's work, not ours. We certainly have a part, which I think mainly consists of trust and obedience, but it is really not our doing ultimately. If we truly seek God to know what He is doing and what He desires, we are on the right path. But to be transformed takes time, and time involves waiting, and waiting involves trust. Occasionally, a death needs to occur during this interval, and that can be a slow proceess.

So if there is a method, I'd call it trust and obedience while Christ is formed in us, oftentimes through the cross. I am not saying it's the only aspect of the deeper life, but the more I look back over how my Christian walk has gone, the more I realize I had little to do with it. Instead, I see the hands of the weaver making a tapestry that is yet to be finished. And sometimes I have been pricked by the needle.

Phil Keaggy's song, Disappointment describes this process well.

Disappointment - His appointment,
Change one letter, then I see
That the thwarting of my purpose
Is God's better choice for me.

His appointment must be blessing
Though it may come in disguise
For the end from the beginning,
Open to His wisdom lies.

Disappointment - His appointment
Whose? The Lord's who loves best.
Understands and knows me fully,
Who my faith and love would test.

For like loving, earthy parent
He rejoices when He knows
That His child accepts unquestioned
All that from His wisdom flows.

Disappointment - His appointment
No good thing will he withhold
From denials oft we gather
Treasures from His love untold.

Well, He knows each broken purpose
Leads to fuller deeper trust
And the end of all His dealings
Proves our God is wise and just.

Disappointment - His appointment
Lord I take it then as such,
Like the clay in hands of potter
Yielding wholly to Thy touch

All my life's plan is Thy molding
Not one single choice be mine
Let me answer unrepining,
Father not my will but Thine.

[Candice]

Thank you Travis and John! You both provide great insight and good words of encouragement. Thanks for the fellowship.
Candice

[Charles Miles]

I will agree with John that being "broken" allows one the ability to open the heart and allow God to visit with His thoughts. In business and competition of today, one needs a "thinking mind", but to allow God`s will to enter, one needs to clear out as much "stuff" as possible. I don`t know about anyone else but when I stray from my relationship with the Father, He has a way of jolting me back to the understanding that without Him I can`t function. Maybe it is like some of the horses I ride, the experienced ones already pretty much know what I want and all it takes is a gentle hand on the neck and they readily go where I want, but some of the others(I already know who they are) require a long shanked bit or hackamore with a firm hand just to keep them going in a staight line. I have already had the hackamore(and possible the cattle prod) and I didn`t like it at all, but it was probably needed at that time. Now I pray for my spirit , as Travis says, "to be will to be willing" to take the time, sit still, and realize that God is awsome and in control. You know, I have one hores that I can ride all day and only use a hay string for bridle and bit! I guess in my walk with the Lord I want to get to the point that He can use very little, if any, "bit" to guide me. I am not to that point yet, but I try daily to get closer to it and to the "rest" that is found in the Lord.