Spiritual-ness.

We are both physical and spiritual beings, thus everything we do is spiritual. I do believe this. Everything we do isn't solely the physical-ness of our decisions/ideas/actions/etc ... they have just as real, if not even more real, spiritual consequences and responses. I've been really allowing this to sink into my heart the last few weeks and reading Nouwen's book, "Here and Now" has really just affirmed so much in me. Not only that, but Nouwen has furthered the thought by adding a much more wider, yet deeper perspective on what our spiritual-ness actually is.

It's so profound to actually comprehend the fact that for every situation there is a spiritual situation surrounding it. I'm not just talking in terms of this great spiritual battle between Good and Evil. ( God you are victorious! ) In this post I'm focusing on the profound, yet soft and gentle ways the Holy Spirit generates and cultivates His plans for His people. His ways are so flawless yet at times seem so ... haphazard. I wonder why this seemingly great relationship didn't work out or how this person could so easily walk away from their faith ...etc. . . It's in times as those I wonder ..." Where is the spiritual side to all this?" - more specifically "where is the Holy Spirit in that certain situation? Is He going to show up later down the road? Is He taking a break from this wretched situation?"

While in a fallen world, sin is inevitable and it inevitably spreads leaving behind remnants of it's manifestation. Wretched situations are going to happen. The spiritual side to that is the fact that God does not waste- through the Holy Spirit, any wretched situation calls someone to transformation - and the complete union with God that our humanness is dying for.

" Jesus does not give a political interpretation of the event but a spiritual one: What happened invites you to conversion! This is the deepest meaning of history: a constant invitation calling us to turn our hearts to God and so discover the full meaning of our lives. " - Nouwen

Everything the Holy Spirit does inevitably draws us closer to that place of union with Him, as He first intended before the fall of Adam. This brings hope.

I also loved this in Nouwen's book ::

"When I marched with thousands of black and white Americans from Selma to Montgomery in the summer of 1965, to support the blacks in their struggle for equal rights, Martin Luther King already said that the deeper spiritual meaning of the civil rights movement was that the blacks were calling the whites to conversion...the poor have a mission to the rich, the blacks have a mission to the whites, the handicapped have a mission to the "normal", the gay people have a mission to the straight, the dying have a mission to the living. Those whom the world has made into victims, God has chosen to be bearers of good news. "

I never thought of the Civil Rights Movement this way - and now that I think about it I can also apply this to the women's movements that have taken place over the past century. When looking at the spiritual side of these circumstances, according to Nouwen, they are quite reversed. Without taking this to an unhealthy extreme I can say that the spiritual side to the womens movements werent so much about women becoming independent and fighting the men for equal rights - but rather it was an invitation for men to relinquish entitlements and further see the value in a coexisting union between God, husband and wife. Interesting.

Complete Awe.

After looking at the vivid ways in which God came to His created earth through Jesus, whose actions and character fulfilled prophetic words, whose very nature actively opposed streamline culture, and whose redemptive ways were beyond everyone's box of expectations - I cannot deny that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the anointed life-giver, who through His sacrifice on the cross, can bring restoration to His creation and be in union with humanity.

My head is spinning tonight. I've never been so in awe of the Bible - it's message, it's backbone motive, it's character, and it's significance beyond love,peace,and the story of Jesus. Having a greater grasp of the grander scale of things inevitably puts things in perspective. Everything beginning with God's creation being in right relationship with Him and with each other, only to rebel against His rule, in turn allowing decay and utter separation between us and God. Yet God longs to redeem what sin corrupted. The story of Jesus is God's pursuit of just that. In all of God's ways, He is counter cultural, unequivocal and revolutionary.

While looking at this narrative as a whole, it would be foolish to say that the Bible is made up and fabricated. People simply have never and will never make these kind of stories up. They are stories that are unheard of during their times; stories that are offensive, and embarrassing to the culture that they were professed in. The narrative of God's Word, is nothing that anyone could have simply brainstormed or created because it is entirely showcasing anti- formality to it's timely culture and it was neither anticipated nor expected.

Chew on this verse :

1 Corinthians 1:24-25 " Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

Greeks :: " ...sought to know God by argument and rational principles - they wanted a god who made sense. "

Jews :: " ... in the day of Jesus, incorrectly believed that if God were to visit this world, He would come in power and glory, crushing Rome. But the cross spoke of weakness, not power; defeat, not victory; humiliation, not conquest. "

".. that God should take alienation away from man by inserting alienation into the very heart of God; that He should conquer evil by allowing it supreme, unthinkable triumph. That He should destroy the power of evil by allowing it to destroy Him. The idea that a crucified God would save humankind has always been absurd to many. It is culturally offensive... "

" ...the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom. God's wisdom looked like folly, but it was not. His power looked like weakness but it was not. The world around us thrives on selfishness, but God functions with sacrifice. He proved Himself mighty by taking on weakness. In His weakest state, when the world did it's worst, He was victorious. He conquered suffering by suffering, He conquered death by dying and brought us life by rising from the dead. "

These quotes are from Mike Erre in his book, Why the Bible Matters.

Word.

" And God intends that the whole story be the framework that guides His people as they live, relate and work in the world. The people of God have been called out of the patterns and narratives of this world and into something far truer, richer, and deeper- the story of God and His work in the world. Beyond a rule book, a systematic theology textbook, or a collection of inspiring sayings, the Bible presents itself to us as a story that describes the way things really are. It offers the truest story of the whole world - all of life, history, experience, culture and civilization are encompassed in it's pages. It is a record of God's pursuit of His people. He has not remained distant from our world - far from it! He has entered into human history to work, rescue and restore. "

- Mike Erre Why the Bible Matters

His Flawless Teaching.

:: The Truth that God has laid out before us in His Word - is in itself healing, when you put it into action.

There are many things that I bring to the Lord. Things that I desire, situations that need healing, change, restoration, and dreams that I hope for in my future. While all of this is great, and God does indeed hear what we bring before Him, I sense God specifically asking me to respond differently now. I'm being asked to go beyond the simplicity of bringing these things before Him in prayer.

While all of these prayers of mine are indeed valid to God, He cultivates and ignites the remedy to all my prayers when I get off my bum and live how He has called me to live.

That's how profound and flawless God's calling is on His people's lives.

When you dive into the calling itself, it provokes restoration and healing.

I always had the two things separated in my head until now. I've often thought that God would do an awesome work of healing my heart, restoring me to a pure and righteous woman while in an entirely different situation would continue His calling in my life as His disciple. I'm seeing that they hold hands.

That's astounding to me. The Truth that God has laid out before us in His Word

- is in itself healing, when you put it into action.

:: When you are obedient in your heart towards the teaching of Jesus

- restoration is inevitable.

I like that.

Step. It. Up. ( Men )

I had a great talk with my amazing house mate tonight.

We touched on subjects that we've discussed before but we dove a bit deeper.

Our entire conversation left me wondering why it is such a rarity to find a solid man of God in the church. A man whose walk is evident in the fruit his life produces. A greater portion of the men in our church who truly inspire us as women -are all married. What is up with that ?!?! I don't understand why our generation consists of an abundance of lukewarm men. Since when did most men lose sight of what God is indeed calling them to as disciples? It is an honor to be a man of God and that, is what we as God fearing women want - show us Jesus in your life because God indeed transforms your mind, habits, lifestyle and all the above.

This is beyond frustrating because I know so many guys who are kind, funny, handsome, talented, smart and down my alley ... yet they lack when it comes to a deepened, cultivated and matured relationship with the Lord- and ultimately, that is the deal breaker.

A few weeks ago one of our close girlfriends brought up that the group of us ladies are all legit woman who are truly disciples of Jesus - and we are all single. We are all beautiful women, who are talented up the ying yang and have fallen head over heels for this one called Jesus. One of us started a non profit organization called Remnant Uganda that is bringing freedom to once spiritually jailed and broken prostitutes in Africa. Another girlfriend places her art at benefit events whose profits in turn feed starving children through various foundations. While this same girl writes a curriculum for Children's ministry that is used throughout all of the country, another girl is committed to our church's children's ministry whole heartedly.

Our relationships with God have inevitably transformed us spiritually and in the tangible ways as well. The abundance of men in the church need to catch up - by stepping into the truth that exclaims God's desire to raise up men who purely long to know Him in the deepest and most genuine ways. God longs to cultivate His transformation and renewal in His people through the reading of His Word, the perpetual communication with Him through prayer, music, art, etc... and the utmost confidence one can find in the value God has placed on a man who emulates humility, honesty, love, awareness, dignity, and truth flowing from the wisdom that comes from God alone.