William
Gaultiere, Ph.D.
Executive Director of New Hope, Crystal Cathedral
New Hope CE, November 2004
Psalm 23 is a journey
imbedded in a story. And it's not just any story: It's
my story and your story. It's our story as Christ-followers.
Most of all it's God's Story that he's been telling since the
beginning of time. We desperately need to live our lives
as part of the adventure of the great story of the advancing
Kingdom of God. God has been telling his story since the
beginning of time and Psalm 23 describes our role in God's story
for us in the language of the Shepherd and his sheep.
So we're going to
walk with our Good Shepherd on the path of life through the
12 steps of spiritual growth which are imbedded in Psalm 23.
It's a year long journey. (And you thought you were only
going to be here for three-and-a-half hours!) Psalm 23
takes us through the four seasons of the soul. These are
seasons that we cycle through again and again in our lifetimes:
- Winter is the
season of Blessing.
- Spring is the
season of Beginning Anew.
- Summer is the
season of Growing through Struggles.
- Autumn is the
season of Giving to Others.
I've spent so much
time meditating on this psalm that I feel like I'm living it.
You know we cycle through the seasons of the soul again and
again. So it seems that I can always find myself somewhere
in this journey. At any given point in my life Psalm 23
helps me understand what I'm going through and what my next
step to take is. My prayer is that after today it'll be
the same for you.
WE NEED TO THINK,
FEEL, AND DO
To help you step
onto the path of life in Psalm 23 I want you to imagine that
you're Dorothy in the movie, "The Wizard of Oz," and you're
walking along the yellow brick road with your doggie Toto.
Then we're going to meet three friends - Scarecrow, Tinman,
and Lion - who help you overcome your enemies and reach the
Emerald City where you meet the Wizard of Oz and receive the
affirmation you need to get back home to Kansas.
The Scarecrow, Tinman,
and Lion represent three parts of ourselves: our mind, heart,
and behavior. Let me draw this out for you in what I call
the "Triangle of the Soul": Mind-Heart-Behavior, Think-Feel-Do,
Believe-Desire-Live.
The Scarecrow represents
thinking. He didn't think he had a brain, but he was always
the one coming up with a good plan! The Tinman represents
feeling. He thought his chest was empty, that he didn't
have a heart, but he was the one moved to tears of compassion
time and again. The lion represents doing. He thought
he was a "scardey cat" with no courage, but he was the one to
protect the group and fight their enemies. In the end
of the movie they're each affirmed and become more confident
in contributing their gifts.
To live well and
to grow spiritually we need the same three-pronged approach.
So in this seminar I'll stimulate your mind through teaching,
I'll inspire your heart with stories and songs, and I'll encourage
you to act by journaling, sharing with a friend, praying, and
meditating.
Our goal today is
to be being with Jesus as Mary was. While Martha was busy
serving Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, adoring him, listening
to him, being loved by him so that we become like him and share
God's love with others. (Luke 10:38-42 Lectio Divinia
with Mary and Martha)
WINTER: BLESSINGS
OF RESTING IN GOD
Now we're ready to
step into the scenery and story of Psalm 23! You'll be
amazed to discover all the imagery and wisdom and drama of this
psalm. My wife and soul mate and partner in ministry,
Kristi, is going to help me by drawing on the whiteboard the
12 Steps of Spiritual Transformation that arise out of Psalm
23.
The Psalm begins
in the quiet and dormant season of winter at Good Shepherd's
ranch. This is our home. And this is where our journey
begins. The season is winter and for our souls winter
is a blessing. It may not seem like it for those who live
in the cold and snow, but for the soul winter is a time of resting
in God's care.
The Lord is my
Shepherd I shall not want
This is how Psalm
23 begins. What does it mean? In his beautiful book,
"I Shall Not Want," Robert Ketchum tells of a Sunday School
teacher who asked her group of children if anyone could quote
the entire 23rd Psalm. A golden-haired, four-and-a-half-year-old
girl was among those who raised their hands. A bit skeptical,
the teacher asked if she could really quote the entire psalm.
The little girl came to the front of the room, faced the class,
made a perky little bow, and said,
"The Lord is my shepherd,
that's all I want."
That may be the greatest
interpretation of the 23rd Psalm ever given!
In Psalm 23, spiritual
growth, true life, begins with worship: we humble ourselves
before Jesus as our Shepherd. We depend on him.
We worship him for how glorious and wonderful he is.
You can't read Psalm
23 without visualizing a shepherd and his sheep because that's
what it's all about. Actually, as you'll see today, the
Bible is full of "sheep talk;" it's everywhere. For instance,
Jesus is presented as the "Great Shepherd of the Sheep" in Hebrews
13:20 (NIV) and the "Shepherd. of our Souls" in 1 Peter 2:25
(NIV). And in John's gospel Jesus himself boldly announced,
"I am the Good Shepherd" (John 10:11 & 14, NIV) and then
explained how he lays his life down at the mouth of the cave
or sheep pen to put himself between any enemies and his precious
sheep:
"I am the gate; whoever
enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go
out, and find pasture" (John 10:9, NIV).
Jesus is God in human
flesh and he offers us the way to salvation for our souls.
He makes me to
lie down in green pastures
Trust is the second
step of growth. In our Psalm 23 journey we must learn
to rest in the green pastures of God's grace. This is
what we're singing about in Psalm 100:3 (NIV): "Know that the
LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we
are his people, the sheep of his pasture."
It doesn't take long
in our efforts to grow spiritually before we realize that we
can't do it! We can go to church, study the Bible, pray
and pray, try and try, but it all amounts to frustration and
exhaustion if it's just our own religious efforts. We
need to learn to rest in God's care. This is why David
says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures."
The Lord does this. All we do is trust him and receive
his blessings.
He leads me beside
the still waters
Acceptance is the
next growth step in Psalm 23. Good Shepherd leads us to
the still waters of God's accepting love. We're thirsty
for this living water, but before we can drink we see our reflection
in the still waters. I find this to be a rather frightening
experience, looking in the mirror first thing in the morning!
When Jesus gave a
miraculous catch of fish to Peter it overwhelmed Peter.
His nets were breaking with God's astounding generosity and
he knew he didn't deserve it. He felt so unworthy that
he asked the Lord to go away. But Jesus reassured Peter
that he loved him in spite of his sin and that he was going
to do even greater things through Peter (Luke 5:1-11).
It's the same with
us. I don't think I've ever met anyone of depth and sincerity
who didn't struggle with self-criticism. I'm serious.
Raise your hand if you sometimes think critical thoughts of
yourself. I do. See what I mean? We know God
loves us and we love him and others. We're good people.
But still we give ourselves a hard time - often, even though
we didn't do anything wrong! Only God's acceptance can
overcome our self-condemnations.
This is what happens
at the still waters. It's like this:
"The LORD their God
will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep.
They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.
How wonderful and beautiful they will be!" (Zechariah 9:16b-17a,
NLT).
Resting in
God in the Soul's Winter Season
Isaiah gives us a
wonderful picture of what it's like for us to be sheep resting
in our Good Shepherd's care:
"[The Lord] tends
his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those
that have young" (Isaiah 40:11, NIV).
To help us to be
held in our Shepherd's arms and to rest close to his heart I
have an exercise for you. I learned about it in Richard
Foster's book, "Prayer." It's called the "Grateful Center."
This spiritual discipline does two very important things for
us:
First, it's a way
of bringing your inner child to Jesus. If you want to
go deeper with God then you need to invite him deeper into your
heart. This is where most Christians seeking spiritual
growth miss out. They don't bring their needy, hurting,
vulnerable parts of themselves to God because they don't like
their inner child.
Secondly, it helps
us to be thankful to God about a time in our history and a place
in our hearts where we may feel hurt, angry, anxious, or just
empty. Nothing ushers us into God's presence faster than
thankfulness. As the wonderful praise song from Psalm
100 reminds us, "I will enter his gates with thanksgiving in
my heart."
Once you have a "Grateful
Center" then we need to see this as a time that you sensed God's
love for you and invite Jesus into your "Grateful Center" and
all your memories.
SPRING: BEGINNING
ANEW
At this point the
psalm shifts from the language of resting in God's blessings
to that of being restored and going in a new direction.
This is the soul season of spring. All winter long, along
with the rest of God's creation, we've been building energy
and now in spring we release it in a flourish of buds and blossoms
and songs and adventures!
He restores my
soul
I didn't know until
I read "A Shepherd looks at Psalm 23" by Philip Keller that
when a sheep falls down on it's back it can't get back up on
it's feet again! It'd be quite the comical sight if it
weren't so dangerous. Imagine a sheep with it's round
body laying on it back and helplessly flailing it's stubby arms
and legs!
When I was a boy
I used to play with little people toys called "Weebles."
Their slogan was "Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!"
When I was a teenager I had a friend who nicknamed me "Wibble"
(a combination of William and Bill). If you had watched
me run with a football and elude tackles by spinning and driving
my legs you might have said, "Wibble wobbles, but he doesn't
fall down!"
If only that were
true in my life! As I prepared for this seminar I thought
about the first time I ever prepared a seminar. It was
eighteen years ago here at the Crystal Cathedral. It was
titled, "Will the Real God Please Stand Up?" and it was designed
to help people heal from damaging images of God. I put
a great deal of work into it, as did Kristi since she was teaching
it with me. We thought it was going to be a good seminar
and was very excited about giving it. And guess what?
One person showed up. Yes, one! I was devastated.
It took me a long time and lot of care and prayer to get back
up on my feet after that fall. But here I am today with
all of you.
None of us sheep
are like Weebles. We all wobble and fall down at times
and when we do we can't get back up without help. We need
to cry out to Good Shepherd and to one another by confessing
our sins and struggles.
Restoring fallen
sheep back to their feet is so important to God that he said
again and again, "I was sent to the lost sheep. I myself will
search for my sheep and look after them" (Matthew 15:24a &
Ezekiel 34:11b, NIV). This is the point of one Jesus'
most loved stories, "The Parable of the Lost Sheep" (Luke 15:4-6,
NIV):
"Suppose one of you
has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave
the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep
until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts
it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends
and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found
my lost sheep.'"
He guides me in
paths of righteousness for his name's sake
Good Shepherd is
calling us to join him on the narrow path. We need to
listen for his voice in our hearts. We need to resist
the broad path of impulsive sins and the too narrow path of
religious legalisms.
Responding to God's
guidance is an important step in our spiritual formation.
To follow Good Shepherd we need to listen for his voice.
According to Jesus, listening to his voice is a defining mark
of being his sheep: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them,
and they follow me" (John 10:27, NIV). "[Jesus] calls
his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has
brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep
follow him because they know his voice" (John 10:3b-4, NIV).
Obviously, if you
want to hear what God is saying to you today then you should
start by paying attention to what he's already said in the Bible.
And you should talk with people in the Body of Christ who may
know Good Shepherd and his ways very well. You probably
know to do these things, but you may not know to do something
else that's also important. This is something that you
don't hear about much in the church today and when you do it's
usually spoken of as being a bad thing: Listen to your heart.
Beginning Anew
in the Soul's Spring Season
The book of Acts
records the amazing story of how Saul, a zealous Pharisee who
persecuted and murdered Christians, encountered the risen Christ
in a blinding light and became the great Apostle Paul.
In this encounter he asked, "Who are you Lord?" Meeting
God in Jesus enabled Paul to answer another important question
that was implied, "Who am I?" And it helped him to answer
the question, "What shall I do?" (Acts 9:1-31, 22:6-16,
and 26:12-18).
Paul's three questions
tie into what I call the "Life Purpose Triangle" of Worship-Grow-Serve.
I find it helpful to use these questions to help me listen to
what God is saying to me when I meditate upon Scripture.
I also use them in the Spiritual Direction that I receive and
give to others.
SUMMER: GROWTH
THROUGH STRUGGLE
Summer is the season
of growing through struggles. Plants and trees grow in
the summer, but not without difficulty. They wither in
the summer sun. They go brown if they don't get enough
water. They have to compete with weeds and each other
for nutrients. They get trimmed by their gardener.
That's the way it is for our souls too.
Yea, though I
walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no
evil; for you are with me
The Valley is the
first and most famous challenge we encounter in our Psalm 23
journey. It's hard for us to accept that Good Shepherd
leads us through the Valley with all it's problems and dangers.
The challenge here is for us to persevere through this scary
time. The only way is to "take courage" from our Good
Shepherd who is with us.
It's in painful valleys
and dark struggles that we are most likely to feel abandoned
by God. That's why it's in this verse of Psalm 23 that
David, for the first time, talks to God using the personal pronoun
"you" rather than the more distant pronoun "he" which David
used four times at the beginning of the psalm.
Your rod
and your staff, they comfort me
The rod is the symbol
of discipline. We need to learn to appreciate that our
Shepherd is both tender and tough with us.
He comes to us lovingly, saying, "As for you my dear flock."
and at the same time he confronts the issues in our lives, "I'm
stepping in and judging between one sheep and another..."
He doesn't like it when sheep trample down the green pastures
and others can't feed there. It angers him when sheep
muddy up the clear streams when others are trying to drink.
So he says, "I myself am stepping in and making things right
between the plump sheep and the skinny sheep" (Ezekiel 34:17-20,
MSG).
So the Lord's rod
brings comfort to us if we submit to it. Yes, it hurts
for awhile to be disciplined, but it helps us in the long run
because it teaches us to walk in God's ways, to live right and
well.
Your rod and your
staff, they comfort me
The staff is about
accountability.
"I will judge you,
declares the Sovereign LORD. I will take note of you as you
pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the
covenant" (Ezekiel 20:36b-37, NIV).
To think of God judging
you might scare you, but it's good for us sheep to pass under
Good Shepherd's staff for examination every night before we
go to bed. Then our shepherd can clean us up, trim our
wool, treat our injuries, or just say, "I love you!"
He prepares a
table before me in the presence of my enemies
The path through
the valley leads us up the Mountain of God to the High Places.
The High Places are literally the "cool" place to be for the
hot summer. It's beautiful and Good Shepherd prepares
the pasture for his sheep as if he's setting the table.
But there's struggle here too: Enemies! We're surrounded
by enemies ranging from poisons weeds to wild animals.
The step of spiritual
transformation we need to take here is forgiveness and the blessing
that results is peace. What does this look like?
Forgiveness is a process:
1.
Healing from hurts
2. Entrusting anger to God
3. Asking God to be the judge
(instead of ourselves)
4. Offering prayers and blessings
(not necessarily reconciliation)
The only way to do
this is to "Forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Colossians 3:13b,
NIV). In other words, we receive God's mercy and grace
and share with others. That's the way to peace.
Growing through
the Struggles of Summer
We all want to avoid
the trials of this hot summer season, but the Bible tells us
again and again to rejoice in these times. Good Shepherd
takes us into this Valley of difficulties because it's how we
grow.
This is what Jesus
teaches us in the Beatitudes, though they're not often seen
in this light (Matthew 5:3-10 and Luke 6:20-23). Each
Be-attitude (attitude for being!) begins with "Blessed are those
who." Jesus makes it clear that God wants to bless
us! But he also makes it clear that the life of being
blessed by God is not what you think.
For instance, Jesus
says that God's blessing comes to those who are poor, grieving,
shy, unfulfilled, and enduring mistreatment. Huh?
What's good about these struggles? Nothing. Each
beatitude ends with ". for yours is the kingdom of Heaven."
That's the blessing. We want wealth, happiness, popularity,
success, and rewards for doing good, and of course we do, it's
natural to want things to go well in our lives, but these are
not the deep soul blessings that God most wants to give us.
God wants to give us himself - his kind governance of
our lives, his abundant and eternal life in our souls, his holy
and loving presence with us - and he is so wonderful to us that
we can be happy in him no matter what our circumstances.
To understand what
it means to live by Jesus' beatitudes - to live joyfully in
God's providence no matter what difficulties we're facing -
we need to write a set of beatitudes that fit our individual
life situations. This is what Dallas Willard says in "The
Kingdom of God Teaching Series." This has become a spiritual
discipline that is helping me to "Rejoice in the Lord always"
(Philippians 4:4, NIV) - even in the Valley.
To write your own
beatitudes start by making a list of your problems that you
wish you didn't have: money shortage, stress at work, health
crisis, emotional struggle, family problem, unfulfilled dream,
whatever. These might be things you've been praying about
for God to help you with. Make a list of them.
Then turn each one
into a beatitude by writing, "Blessed are you (your name)
with (your problem) for yours is the kingdom of heaven."
Then pray this through. Now that's faith! That attitude
will help you to grow spiritually through a hot, challenging
summer season.
Let me show you how
this works. Here's some beatitudes I wrote for myself:
"Blessed are you Bill when your teenager doesn't listen to you.
with Irritable Syndrome. with heel spur in your feet. with two
mentally ill brothers. struggling with anxiety. not being
a best-selling author or recognized keynote speaker. without
a customized home. for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven."
FALL: GIVING
TO OTHERS
The thorns in life
scratch and cut and make us cry. But just like the sheep
who had his wool scraped off by the thorns and saw his wool
used by a bird to make a soft nest for her babies so also our
wounds are used by God for good purposes. We hurt, but
with God's comfort we heal. We go through strife, but
then we come to God's peace.
He anoints
my head with oil; my cup runs over
This speaks to us
about ministry to others.
Good Shepherd carries
a flask of oil to soothe the sheep's injuries. And when
he heals our wounds a beautiful thing happens: He's anointing
us for ministry to others. We become "wounded healers,"
compassionate and helpful for others who are hurting.
Our shepherd also
carries his canteen close at his side. When the sheep
are chilled by a cold storm he warms them up with a cuddle and
a drink by the fire. And he always gives abundantly, filling
the cup of our soul to overflowing so we can share with others.
Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
At this point in
our Psalm 23 journey we're in the lead and Good Shepherd, who
is goodness and mercy, follows right behind us. We've
matured to be more like Christ. We're spiritual adults.
We can lead other people to God; we can leave a legacy of faith
behind us. What joy is ours when we can look behind us
to see that our ministry to others has born the fruits of God's
goodness and mercy in their lives: God has used us to bless
people who, in turn, are blessing others - that's a legacy of
goodness and mercy that goes on and on!
"Then we your people,
the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation
to generation we will recount your praise" (Psalm 79:13, NIV).
And I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever
What does it mean
to dwell in the house of the Lord forever? Our bodies
are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
As Brother Lawrence showed us, we can practice the presence
of God wherever we are! Jesus opened the door for us to
participate in the intimacies and glories community of the Trinity,
to be one with Father, Son, and Spirit. You don't believe
me? This is what Jesus said.
"I am the good
shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the
Father knows me and I know the Father." (John 10:14, NIV).
Jesus is describing
oneness with God, walking in the Spirit moment-by-moment.
That's our 12th step of Spiritual Formation in our
Psalm 23 Journey.
Shepherding Others
as the Lord has Shepherded Us
One of the things
I love about Psalm 23 is how it helps us to "get into the flow"
of God's presence. We drink from the stream of living
water at the still waters of the home ranch. We follow
the stream as we walk along the path of righteousness.
Then we climb the Mountain of God to the "High Places" where
the source of the stream is. There we learn to overflow
with God's living water and to bring it with us down the mountain
to those who are thirsty.
One of my favorite
spiritual disciplines to get into the flow of the Spirit is
called the "Examen." I learned about this from David Benner
in his book on Spiritual Direction called "Sacred Companions."
I use this in my ministry of Spiritual Direction by asking people
about their experiences with God. When you do an examen
you journal about the times that you sensed God's presence yesterday.
Describe the times that you felt close to him. Also reflect
on those times when you didn't sense his presence at the time,
but now looking back you can see that he was with you in important
ways.
As you learn to enjoy
God's presence then you can help others in this way; you can
"let it flow" by asking others about their experience of God
or by opening up your soul and sharing what God is doing in
your life.
WHAT SOUL SHEPHERDING
LOOKS LIKE
Todd was meeting
with me for spiritual direction. At the time he was an
associate pastor and seminary student and wanted to deepen his
walk with the Lord. At the beginning of his session he
made an incidental comment about how earlier in the day when
he was preparing his teaching material for the church's midweek
service he got frustrated with all the noise coming from the
kids playing in Vacation Bible School. He went on to talk
with me about the class he was teaching and his personal times
of meditations.
"Tell me more," I
interjected, "about your frustration with the noisy kids interrupting
your work."
"Oh, that.
There's not much to say. I was trying to put together
my talk on the second chapter of Galatians and it was hard to
concentrate. The kids were singing loud songs and then
they were laughing and calling out to each other. It's
just irritating that they have to make so much noise right outside
my office. I've talked to the VBS Director about it, but
she has 150 kids and the playground can't be moved! Oh
well, I guess I just have to put up it for the rest of the week.
Anyway, in my meditation times I've been."
"Let's go back to
the noisy playground for awhile Todd," I interrupted.
"I sense that God may want to speak to you about that.
Let's take a few moments and be quiet before the Lord.
Imagine Jesus were in your situation, preparing for a Bible
class he's going to teach and he can't even hear himself think
because of the sound of all the kids playing. What would
he do? Ask him to show you."
After a few minutes
of quiet reflection and listening prayer Todd said, "What came
to my mind was the time that Jesus was ministering to people
and some parents tried to bring their children to him for a
blessing and the disciples told them that Jesus was too busy.
But Jesus said, 'Bring the little children to me.' And
he took time to put the children on his lap and bless them.
Maybe he even played with them. Then he told the disciples,
'The kingdom of God belongs to the children and if you want
to enter God's kingdom then you need to become like them!'
I guess I'm responding like Jesus' irritated disciples did.
I'm trying to do God's work and I'm seeing these noisy children
as a bother."
"Yes, that story
from Jesus' life certainly does speak powerfully to your situation.
What do you suppose Satan is trying to do to with the noise
of the kids? What do you think he might be saying to you?"
Todd hesitated for
a moment, apparently caught of guard by implication that he
was in a spiritual battle. "Ah. well, I guess he's saying
something like: 'Those rowdy kids are causing you real problems.
You can't focus. And you've got to hurry to finish your
preparations before your meetings this afternoon. Oh,
aren't you irritated with them! Jody just has no control
over her program. This is infuriating! Just yell
out the door for them to quiet down.'"
"What about Jesus?
What do you sense he might be saying to you at this point?"
"Todd, this is not
something to get angry about. The kids are just being
kids. They're having fun at VBS and that's a good thing.
Your class tonight doesn't have to be perfect. Why don't
you take a break and step outside and watch the children play
for a few minutes?"
"Yeah," I commented.
"I think that's the conflict you're in. How would you
like to respond to this situation tomorrow morning?"
"Well, first I just
want to tell the Lord that I'm sorry! I'm sorry for getting
so caught up in my stress. I guess I made God's work my
work. And I saw the kids as a bother instead of a blessing.
God is showing me that I take things too seriously. I
need to lighten up. Maybe I should go out and play with
the children for a little while tomorrow. I certainly
don't want to give into the temptation to become irritated and
resentful."
"Todd, I think that's
a great idea: You plan to take a break sometime during the morning
and go out where the children are to check out what's going
on and to see if there's something you can be a part of with
them for a little while. Maybe God would use this to bring
out more of the playful, silly child in you. I bet that
hanging out and laughing with the kids might help you to break
through into the deeper connection with God that you're looking
for in your meditations. It also might help you to give
a more impactful message in your midweek service!"
What did I do to
shepherd Todd's soul? Or, better to put it this way, what
did I do to facilitate Todd being shepherded by God?
I listened attentively,
empathizing with Todd's frustration with the noisy kids.
But also I listened to what the Spirit was saying, sensing that
the Spirit was sad about what occurred and wanted to talk to
Todd about it. So I directed Todd's attention to reflect
on an issue that he thought was incidental.
Then I tried to facilitate
Todd's relationship with God. I didn't want to comfort
or advise him directly on his problem, as much as I wanted him
to go to God for the care and guidance that he needed.
So Todd went to prayer. He entrusted his frustration and
his message preparation needs to God and he listened to God.
Notice the way we
tended to Todd's soul. We spent time on each of the soul's
three corners: thought, feeling, and action; his beliefs about
Jesus, his experience in this spiritual battle, and then working
out what God had worked inside him. This is how change
occurs.
- Think/Believe.
First we see things through the lens of Jesus; we mentally
understand reality from God's perspective. The Lord
brought to Todd's mind a familiar passage from the gospel
and shined the light of Jesus on his situation.
- Feel/Desire.
Then we share our struggle with him and we desire more of
God's presence; we put our trust in him and seek to experience
his words and ways inside our hearts. In Todd's case,
he brought his frustration, his temptation, and his conflict
to God and he heard Jesus speak to it.
- Do/Live.
Finally, we carry out God's will; we live out in specific
situations in our lives the reality of what God is doing inside
of us. Todd had the chance the next day to respond to
the same situation in the light of what Jesus revealed and
according to the desires stirred up by the Spirit: he played
with the children and not only did he bless them, but also
he made contact with the little child inside him that longs
for his Abba Father.
|
