"NDP 34%"
God? What did you mean by that last night? The thought sure came from you and not from me.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
existential distinction between the presence of different members of the Trinity
This may sound controversial, as a lot of things written in this blog, but I guess I'll just say it.
I think I'm growing in the discipline of practicing the presence of God up to the point where I think I can existentially distinguish the between the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in my consciousness! Of course I knew all the fundamental doctrines of the Trinity, all 3 members being God, all being distinct in personality, yet all having the divine traits in the one substance of God. But for a lot of my life, this theology was all abstract to me. And during this journey of the Game with Minutes, I'm actually learning to rectify the centuries-old mistake of protestants of separating theological understanding with personal spiritual experience. That's why I like a lot of the medieval Catholic writers, to a lot of them, like Madame Guyon and St. Teresa of Avlia, when they write, they don't separate theological doctrine from their personal experience on their spiritual journey. To use a modern analogy, they don't research decades on a prospective romantic partner's background while they spending very little time dating him/her. They "date" and learn about that partner at the same time. Not the best analogy, but that's how it is with a lot of these Catholic mystics.
Anyways, all that to say, I think within my consciousness, I am learning to practically distinguish between directly interacting with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Father. It's kind of cool too, rather than just vaguely knowing that all 3 of them are God and ambiguously communicating to "all 3 of them at the same time and somehow it works out".
Once again, this is extremely hard to describe as to what it actually feels like, so forgive me if I have to resort to using analogies. First of all, the presence of God has been becoming more and more real to me. Picture someone who has lived indoor all their lives and was born blind. Then picture this person constantly being told what the sun is like. The various characteristics of it, how it heats you up if you're in it's presence, how it's so bright it can make you go blind if you look at it directly for an extended period of time, how it helps your body produce vitamin D if you're exposed to it, how you can get a suntan if you're exposed to it for a long period of time. Then, picture this person finally walking out one day when he's 25 years old into the outdoor beach on a bright sunny day. He's still blind, he still can't see the sun. But something in his educated intuition feels like he's being exposed directly in the presence of it. He feels like he's being warmed up by it's heat. He feels like it's "brighter" even though he's blind and can't see properly. His friends tell him after he's been in the sun for a while that they can see a suntan on his skin. He KNOWS that he's directly in the presence of the sun even though he can't prove directly, or can't see it directly. But he knows it's there. That's how it's been with me and God's presence metaphorically.
And now, with the distinction of the different members of the Trinity in my consciousness. Picture a blind alien who has never been to planet earth before. Picture this blind alien who has never been exposed to H20 (aka water) before. But this blind alien has heard about it, all its properties, its effects, its possible states (liquid, solid [ice], gas). But one day, this blind alien gets transported to earth, and he begins to feel with his 4 senses the difference between water in liquid form, solid form, and gas form. Although he can't see the difference of these forms in his eyes, he nevertheless knows that it's all H20 and can sense the difference. That is a little like how it feels right now.
And it's pretty cool man, to be able to experience the subjective textures of first-person consciousness in interacting with different members of the Trinity. They really are distinct persons of a holy community that interact with each other, and are not clones of each other, or divine siamese triplets or something. Of course we might know this in our head. But experiencing it is a whole new universe.
I think I'm growing in the discipline of practicing the presence of God up to the point where I think I can existentially distinguish the between the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in my consciousness! Of course I knew all the fundamental doctrines of the Trinity, all 3 members being God, all being distinct in personality, yet all having the divine traits in the one substance of God. But for a lot of my life, this theology was all abstract to me. And during this journey of the Game with Minutes, I'm actually learning to rectify the centuries-old mistake of protestants of separating theological understanding with personal spiritual experience. That's why I like a lot of the medieval Catholic writers, to a lot of them, like Madame Guyon and St. Teresa of Avlia, when they write, they don't separate theological doctrine from their personal experience on their spiritual journey. To use a modern analogy, they don't research decades on a prospective romantic partner's background while they spending very little time dating him/her. They "date" and learn about that partner at the same time. Not the best analogy, but that's how it is with a lot of these Catholic mystics.
Anyways, all that to say, I think within my consciousness, I am learning to practically distinguish between directly interacting with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, and the Father. It's kind of cool too, rather than just vaguely knowing that all 3 of them are God and ambiguously communicating to "all 3 of them at the same time and somehow it works out".
Once again, this is extremely hard to describe as to what it actually feels like, so forgive me if I have to resort to using analogies. First of all, the presence of God has been becoming more and more real to me. Picture someone who has lived indoor all their lives and was born blind. Then picture this person constantly being told what the sun is like. The various characteristics of it, how it heats you up if you're in it's presence, how it's so bright it can make you go blind if you look at it directly for an extended period of time, how it helps your body produce vitamin D if you're exposed to it, how you can get a suntan if you're exposed to it for a long period of time. Then, picture this person finally walking out one day when he's 25 years old into the outdoor beach on a bright sunny day. He's still blind, he still can't see the sun. But something in his educated intuition feels like he's being exposed directly in the presence of it. He feels like he's being warmed up by it's heat. He feels like it's "brighter" even though he's blind and can't see properly. His friends tell him after he's been in the sun for a while that they can see a suntan on his skin. He KNOWS that he's directly in the presence of the sun even though he can't prove directly, or can't see it directly. But he knows it's there. That's how it's been with me and God's presence metaphorically.
And now, with the distinction of the different members of the Trinity in my consciousness. Picture a blind alien who has never been to planet earth before. Picture this blind alien who has never been exposed to H20 (aka water) before. But this blind alien has heard about it, all its properties, its effects, its possible states (liquid, solid [ice], gas). But one day, this blind alien gets transported to earth, and he begins to feel with his 4 senses the difference between water in liquid form, solid form, and gas form. Although he can't see the difference of these forms in his eyes, he nevertheless knows that it's all H20 and can sense the difference. That is a little like how it feels right now.
And it's pretty cool man, to be able to experience the subjective textures of first-person consciousness in interacting with different members of the Trinity. They really are distinct persons of a holy community that interact with each other, and are not clones of each other, or divine siamese triplets or something. Of course we might know this in our head. But experiencing it is a whole new universe.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Happy 2nd year anniversary!
I distinctly remember exactly two years ago, when I first read the document "The Game with Minutes" by Frank Laubach and was so caught up with the passion/inspiration/vision to dedicate my life towards playing it. Call it a whim, call it juvenile idealism, call it sudden fanatical zeal or whatever you want to call it, I decided to count the cost, persevere, and engage in the journey of attempting to practice God's presence every single minute of my life.
After two years, I have no regrets at all for doing so. Yes, times in the journey have been hard, but there have been insights, revelations, changes in character, experiencing deeper dimensions of reality, resonating with the experiences of the new testament writers on a whole new level just to name a few of the outcomes of this experiment.
There's highs and lows in every life. No doubt about it. Whether it's a non-Christian's life, a lukewarm"Christian"'s life, or a die-hard disciple's life, all lives will have highs and lows. What's the difference then? I would argue the difference would be the depth of the lives. I would have to say that playing this game with minutes for two years has allowed me to enter into a deeper dimension of reality, another "world" so to speak. Not to evade this one, but to live through another world to influence and make effects on this one. It is like the difference between a "2D story" that has highs and lows (a cartoon movies in the 50s, let's say) and an Imax 3D-surround sound story that has highs and lows. There are just deeper dimensions that make the story all the more rich. Just like how a cat cannot understand the "world" of arithmetic or poetry, I believe the person who does not have a grasp on how to practice the presence of God cannot grasp the spiritual dimension of the Kingdom of God in a really tangible manner.
Right now, the best analogy I can use to describe these "two worlds" or "two dimensions of reality" is the Matrix trilogy. I think in the New Testament (and also parts of the Old, like the stories of Elijah and Elisha to name a couple of examples) we see a consistent theme of the die-hard disciples of Jesus "standing in another world and while standing there, having extraordinary effects on this one" in the words of Dallas Willard. It is exactly like the Matrix. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and others who have "plugged" into the deeper reality of the Matrix by taking the red pill, have extraodinary effects on the "normal" world by being plugged in and operating in a deeper level of existence. For the Christian, this "deeper reality" that has effects on the "normal reality" is the Kingdom of God. With this framework, the Gospels and the book of Acts make a lot more sense and are seen in a whole different light!
"Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself" - Morpheus
When I took the "red pill" of playing the Game with Minutes, I began to experience the "matrix" of the Kingdom of God in deeper ways than ever before two years ago.
The cool thing is, this journey tends to evolve. Just like how the storyline of Matrix evolves into its sequel Matrix reloaded, after the first "chapter" of my journey into the Matrix of the Kingdom of God a year and a half ago, I feel like a journeyer journeying into the original movie's sequel right now.
The first chapter that spanned a year and a half (lasting roughly until October 2010), revolved around me stepping into this new world/reality. After initially stepping into it, I realized weird things like never before. How certain things seemed to "defy" laws, and wondered how they did that, and just like how Neo had to be trained through Morpheus how to "fight with Kung fu" in the realm of the matrix, I felt that I had training on how to "fight with Kung fu" in the realm of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God, that had extraordinary effects on my physical behaviour in the "normal world" (by the way, I think this is the kind of character change Jesus was talking about by seeing "fruit" of righteousness as a by-product rather than aiming for it directly in the "normal world" absent of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God). So I discovered "agents" in this realm, which I could not overcome before. Afterr some training (although I am still far from perfect), I have learned to fight back, sometimes victorious through grace, sometimes failing. But regardless, I have learned somewhat how to walk, run, jump, kick, punch, do flips in this Matrix of the Kingdom of God. End of chapter 1.
Enter chapter 2 aka Matrix Reloaded. It all started with Andrew introducing me to the charismatics at Lifesprings church. Growing up Baptist, I had no exposure to prophetic stuff. But these guys are so epic in the Spirit! In Matrix Reloaded, Neo and others were on an adventure in pursuing a journey through following people who resembled people who have prophetic giftings in the Holy Spirit. Neo first sees "the seraph", then "the oracle", then "the keymaker", then "the architect". They edify, provide direction, open pathways that could not be opened without them, ask neo deep questions, challenging his secret struggles in his heart, and provide the "next step" for Neo's journey in "saving the world in the realm of the Matrix". This is exactly the "new stuff" that has been happening with me in this journey through the Matrix of the Kingdom of God. These prophetic brothers and sisters have been edifying me, confirming things in my heart, challenging me with secret struggles in my heart, providing mystical guidance, and helping me with the "next step" in redeeming Toronto not through the physical realm, but through the realm of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God. It's been nothing short of an RPG game. I feel like I don't even have to be addicted to drama shows, or RPG video games anymore. I'm in one.
What will happen next? Who knows.
Either way, I have no regrets at all taking the red pill, and wouldn't give it up for 5 million bucks (if I had it). Who knew that the Matrix of the Kingdom of God wasn't only available to the New Testament church/first couple centuries after that, but that it would be equally available to die-hard disciples of Jesus 2 millenia later?
“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ” - John 3:3
"Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” - John 17:20-21
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" -Romans 14:17
The Kingdom of God is so like the Matrix as well as Matrix Reloaded.
After two years, I have no regrets at all for doing so. Yes, times in the journey have been hard, but there have been insights, revelations, changes in character, experiencing deeper dimensions of reality, resonating with the experiences of the new testament writers on a whole new level just to name a few of the outcomes of this experiment.
There's highs and lows in every life. No doubt about it. Whether it's a non-Christian's life, a lukewarm"Christian"'s life, or a die-hard disciple's life, all lives will have highs and lows. What's the difference then? I would argue the difference would be the depth of the lives. I would have to say that playing this game with minutes for two years has allowed me to enter into a deeper dimension of reality, another "world" so to speak. Not to evade this one, but to live through another world to influence and make effects on this one. It is like the difference between a "2D story" that has highs and lows (a cartoon movies in the 50s, let's say) and an Imax 3D-surround sound story that has highs and lows. There are just deeper dimensions that make the story all the more rich. Just like how a cat cannot understand the "world" of arithmetic or poetry, I believe the person who does not have a grasp on how to practice the presence of God cannot grasp the spiritual dimension of the Kingdom of God in a really tangible manner.
Right now, the best analogy I can use to describe these "two worlds" or "two dimensions of reality" is the Matrix trilogy. I think in the New Testament (and also parts of the Old, like the stories of Elijah and Elisha to name a couple of examples) we see a consistent theme of the die-hard disciples of Jesus "standing in another world and while standing there, having extraordinary effects on this one" in the words of Dallas Willard. It is exactly like the Matrix. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity and others who have "plugged" into the deeper reality of the Matrix by taking the red pill, have extraodinary effects on the "normal" world by being plugged in and operating in a deeper level of existence. For the Christian, this "deeper reality" that has effects on the "normal reality" is the Kingdom of God. With this framework, the Gospels and the book of Acts make a lot more sense and are seen in a whole different light!
"Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself" - Morpheus
When I took the "red pill" of playing the Game with Minutes, I began to experience the "matrix" of the Kingdom of God in deeper ways than ever before two years ago.
The cool thing is, this journey tends to evolve. Just like how the storyline of Matrix evolves into its sequel Matrix reloaded, after the first "chapter" of my journey into the Matrix of the Kingdom of God a year and a half ago, I feel like a journeyer journeying into the original movie's sequel right now.
The first chapter that spanned a year and a half (lasting roughly until October 2010), revolved around me stepping into this new world/reality. After initially stepping into it, I realized weird things like never before. How certain things seemed to "defy" laws, and wondered how they did that, and just like how Neo had to be trained through Morpheus how to "fight with Kung fu" in the realm of the matrix, I felt that I had training on how to "fight with Kung fu" in the realm of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God, that had extraordinary effects on my physical behaviour in the "normal world" (by the way, I think this is the kind of character change Jesus was talking about by seeing "fruit" of righteousness as a by-product rather than aiming for it directly in the "normal world" absent of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God). So I discovered "agents" in this realm, which I could not overcome before. Afterr some training (although I am still far from perfect), I have learned to fight back, sometimes victorious through grace, sometimes failing. But regardless, I have learned somewhat how to walk, run, jump, kick, punch, do flips in this Matrix of the Kingdom of God. End of chapter 1.
Enter chapter 2 aka Matrix Reloaded. It all started with Andrew introducing me to the charismatics at Lifesprings church. Growing up Baptist, I had no exposure to prophetic stuff. But these guys are so epic in the Spirit! In Matrix Reloaded, Neo and others were on an adventure in pursuing a journey through following people who resembled people who have prophetic giftings in the Holy Spirit. Neo first sees "the seraph", then "the oracle", then "the keymaker", then "the architect". They edify, provide direction, open pathways that could not be opened without them, ask neo deep questions, challenging his secret struggles in his heart, and provide the "next step" for Neo's journey in "saving the world in the realm of the Matrix". This is exactly the "new stuff" that has been happening with me in this journey through the Matrix of the Kingdom of God. These prophetic brothers and sisters have been edifying me, confirming things in my heart, challenging me with secret struggles in my heart, providing mystical guidance, and helping me with the "next step" in redeeming Toronto not through the physical realm, but through the realm of the Matrix of the Kingdom of God. It's been nothing short of an RPG game. I feel like I don't even have to be addicted to drama shows, or RPG video games anymore. I'm in one.
What will happen next? Who knows.
Either way, I have no regrets at all taking the red pill, and wouldn't give it up for 5 million bucks (if I had it). Who knew that the Matrix of the Kingdom of God wasn't only available to the New Testament church/first couple centuries after that, but that it would be equally available to die-hard disciples of Jesus 2 millenia later?
“Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. ” - John 3:3
"Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” - John 17:20-21
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" -Romans 14:17
The Kingdom of God is so like the Matrix as well as Matrix Reloaded.
Monday, December 13, 2010
extinguishing inappropriate laughter proving progress
Ever since I was young, I had a problem controlling my laughter when it was inappropriate to continue laughing hysterically. Not uncommonly, I'd be in a relatively formal meeting (e.g. committee meeting, emotional sharing, in a class) and something would trigger my laughter and I'd just die due to hysterical/uncontrollable laughter to the point of aching abs and teary eyes. It would be so embarrassing sometimes because I really wanted to stop, and all the others in the setting would look at me, some amused, some shocked, some frustrated, and hope that I would get my act together after a few seconds so that whatever serious social functions at hand could kindly continue their course. Their hope was for the most part disappointed as I would earnestly try to stop laughing, yet inevitably fail because I found something just so friggin funny. I would be successful for 2 seconds, then the laughter would just continue gorging itself out of my mouth and I would just frustratingly fail to suppress my laughter.
Yesterday, something interesting happened that incidentally was somewhat of an indicator that I have progressed deeper into the spiritual realm in Christ.
So what happened was that I was in Sunday School and I subjectively found something really funny (with the exception of a friend, no one else in the room found it funny). So, what typically happens in a situation like this with me is that I would just helplessly try my best to unsuccessfully suppress my laughter while the rest of the people beside me would just have to suck it up and bear this disease of mine. I started to laugh and try to control my external expressions of laughter to avoid disrupting the class. No use.
Then, all of a sudden a thought came into my head something along the lines of this:
"you have tried to "plug" this laughter at the relatively shallow surface of behaviour modification. Why don't you try to "plug" it at an even deeper level of your consciousness, the levels that you've reached through all these months of practising God's presence?"
Let me temporarily go off on a tangent and attempt to explain the background of that thought.
So after almost 21 months of trying to play the Game with Minutes, with the grace of the Holy Spirit combined with strenuous effort, I have, I feel, successfully learned and have been able to descend into deeper layers of my consciousness. I used to only be able to access my immediate thoughts/emotions before playing this game. Now, dare I say, I can access stuff that's deeper, such as my will (my volition, my faculty of decision making). This is the dimension of my humanity that Jesus was referring to when he was in the garden of Gethsemane and prayed to his father "not my will but let yours be done". This is a deeper layer of consciousness than Jesus' immediate thoughts and feelings.
This is extremely hard to explain to someone else on second hand terms. Basically because if someone's never experienced this dimension of their consciousness, they have absolutely nothing to relate to when an explanation is given to them to attempt to help them vicariously comprehend the nature of this unchartered territory of their consciousness. I mean, I only started to be able to consciously access this layer of my consciousness about 10 months after I played the Game with Minutes. Anyways, all I'm trying to say is that I am able to access a deeper level of consciousness that the average human being cannot (or isn't even aware of) and of which I could not access a year ago.
When I access this level of consciousness (or remember to, because a lot of the times I forget to), I existentially tell my will to submit to God's will. I have to say that this is different, although interconnected with act of disciplining my thoughts. And it is not just a one time thing. It is a dynamic, organic, ongoing thing that has to be done every minute (ideally that is. I am so far from this state, I figure it might take 9 more years for me to master it, maybe more).
So back to what happened yesterday during sunday school. After that thought came into my mind, I attempted to try to work on the level of "will" to change my will against "laughing hysterically when socially inappropriate to do so". Guess what? The hysterical laughter just extinguished. In a fraction of a second. Much like using a fire extinguisher on a fire. No gradual elimination, nor back-and-forth struggle. Just pure/permanent-like rapid extinction. I've never experienced something like that before in terms of controlling laughter when I wanted to.
I guess the incident showed me just how much direct/practical value in my daily life this Game with Minutes has in playing it.
That incident acted somewhat like a "spiritual barometer" to use an immediate situation to measure my practical mystical progress in Christ. I can control my hysterical laughter when I'm called to now! Although of course sometimes it's okay to laugh hysterically haha
Yesterday, something interesting happened that incidentally was somewhat of an indicator that I have progressed deeper into the spiritual realm in Christ.
So what happened was that I was in Sunday School and I subjectively found something really funny (with the exception of a friend, no one else in the room found it funny). So, what typically happens in a situation like this with me is that I would just helplessly try my best to unsuccessfully suppress my laughter while the rest of the people beside me would just have to suck it up and bear this disease of mine. I started to laugh and try to control my external expressions of laughter to avoid disrupting the class. No use.
Then, all of a sudden a thought came into my head something along the lines of this:
"you have tried to "plug" this laughter at the relatively shallow surface of behaviour modification. Why don't you try to "plug" it at an even deeper level of your consciousness, the levels that you've reached through all these months of practising God's presence?"
Let me temporarily go off on a tangent and attempt to explain the background of that thought.
So after almost 21 months of trying to play the Game with Minutes, with the grace of the Holy Spirit combined with strenuous effort, I have, I feel, successfully learned and have been able to descend into deeper layers of my consciousness. I used to only be able to access my immediate thoughts/emotions before playing this game. Now, dare I say, I can access stuff that's deeper, such as my will (my volition, my faculty of decision making). This is the dimension of my humanity that Jesus was referring to when he was in the garden of Gethsemane and prayed to his father "not my will but let yours be done". This is a deeper layer of consciousness than Jesus' immediate thoughts and feelings.
This is extremely hard to explain to someone else on second hand terms. Basically because if someone's never experienced this dimension of their consciousness, they have absolutely nothing to relate to when an explanation is given to them to attempt to help them vicariously comprehend the nature of this unchartered territory of their consciousness. I mean, I only started to be able to consciously access this layer of my consciousness about 10 months after I played the Game with Minutes. Anyways, all I'm trying to say is that I am able to access a deeper level of consciousness that the average human being cannot (or isn't even aware of) and of which I could not access a year ago.
When I access this level of consciousness (or remember to, because a lot of the times I forget to), I existentially tell my will to submit to God's will. I have to say that this is different, although interconnected with act of disciplining my thoughts. And it is not just a one time thing. It is a dynamic, organic, ongoing thing that has to be done every minute (ideally that is. I am so far from this state, I figure it might take 9 more years for me to master it, maybe more).
So back to what happened yesterday during sunday school. After that thought came into my mind, I attempted to try to work on the level of "will" to change my will against "laughing hysterically when socially inappropriate to do so". Guess what? The hysterical laughter just extinguished. In a fraction of a second. Much like using a fire extinguisher on a fire. No gradual elimination, nor back-and-forth struggle. Just pure/permanent-like rapid extinction. I've never experienced something like that before in terms of controlling laughter when I wanted to.
I guess the incident showed me just how much direct/practical value in my daily life this Game with Minutes has in playing it.
That incident acted somewhat like a "spiritual barometer" to use an immediate situation to measure my practical mystical progress in Christ. I can control my hysterical laughter when I'm called to now! Although of course sometimes it's okay to laugh hysterically haha
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
a divine conspiracy is going on
For the past two months or so, I sense something of a "divine conspiracy" going on as a result of attempting to play this game with minutes.
It is weird. Yet not that weird, since we see a "divine conspiracy" going on in the book of Acts. That is, for the Jesus-follower (by that I mean someone who has practically made it their #1 goal in life to become an apprentice of Jesus) the miraculous should be normative.
Frank Laubach, when he played this game, he noticed that God was "melting away obstacles" and making the road before him ever so smooth.
I am experiencing something similar. It feels something analogous to Magneto from X-men walking on a metal path, having pieces of metal fly a few feet right in front of his feet to continually extend his path as he walks.
As I trace how God has specifically "engineered" this path of mine in the past two years, especially the past two months, I can't help but to feel that although the odds seem stacked against the soldiers of Christ, the deck of cards is rigged, so that when Christ the dealer deals the cards, it seems almost obvious that there is order and a design/plan in the midst of seeming chaos, just like a piece of jazz music which is a piece of harmonious chaos. It seems that someone has "monkeyed" with how things unfolded. Something, or Someone is behind the scenes invisibly manipulating things in front of the curtain.
I am reading a book called "Kingdom Triangle" by J.P. Moreland now. In it, his main thesis is that the early church miraculously expanded (against all odds) through 3 main reasons on the part of the responsibility of Christians. They follow as:
1) They had a thoughtful Christian mind that defended legitimate knowledge of God (and not just "blind faith") and they articulated this stuff (what we'd call "Christian worldview" nowadays) to non-Christians in a respectful yet persuasive manner.
2) They engaged in spiritual formation to Christlikeness to actually produce no-nonsense Christlikeness through die-hard discipleship.
3) They acted out of expectation for the miraculous supernatural acts of the Holy Spirit (stuff in line with the stuff we see in Acts).
J.P. Moreland says that all over the world right now, Christianity is growing at rapid/unprecedented rates. Unfortunately, North America seems to be an exception to this trend. He believes that the Church of Jesus needs to revive all 3 points of the "Kingdom Triangle" to bring out revival to the Church in North America. I find myself strongly agreeing with Moreland on this one (let alone a lot of other things. I really respect this guy).
One of the ways that I feel God has arranged things to help equip me to help bring out city-wide revival to Toronto is to be equipped in multiple facets of the Christian life and to be balanced in growth. Balanced growth in multiple dimensions of Christlikeness is a big thing for me now. I don't want to neglect any significant aspect of Christlikeness in my walk with God.
So, with respect to the Kingdom Triangle, I feel that in all my 5 years of undergrad in Toronto, I really focused on establishing a solid Christian worldview and was equipped in defending it against secularism/atheism. However, I wasn't really that hot on spiritual formation. Come these past two years on East Asia STINT. I REALLY grew a ton in spiritual formation. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that I have steady ground for my feet to advance on.
As for the 3rd point of the triangle, I feel that I am relatively weak with respect to Charismatic gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit. This is partially due to me being a Baptist where this stuff is hardly ever practiced. I don't fully blame the denomination. I mean there are some grounds to be cautious on the abuses of Charismatic gifts as well as distortions of weird theology on it. However, I think it is wrong for people like myself to think just because it has been misused and abused, that it can't bring out significant advances for the Kingdom if used properly. Afterall, if one just reads 1 Corinthians 14, one cannot deny that Paul was very "charismatic" without any apology. I hear things about how the charismatic/pentecostal denominations helped bring about some revivals in the 20th century. I can sort of see why. These guys have passion. They have fuel. They got zeal. The body of Christ needs its adrenaline (with balanced proportion).
Come the last few weeks. Within the last few weeks, I have started to attend this charismatic church called lifesprings. Their theology seems pretty sound, I haven't head any heresy or anything, and Andrew Tam recommended it, and I trust Andrew. I have really started to get exposed to this charismatic stuff.
I volunteered to participate in a "prophetic ministry" session a couple nights ago where 3 people experienced with the gift of prophecy prophecied on me together (they do this in groups of 3 ppl exercising the gift so that there's some sort of group accountability and that if two or more ppl feel consensus from the Holy Spirit, there's a higher chance of avoiding error).
I was very surprised. In a good way. I've never been prophecied on. These guys were telling me what the Holy Spirit was telling them in a supernatural way! I just met them 5 minutes beforehand without any previous conversation, just sat in silence in front of these 3, and they started saying stuff that's been deeply etched in my heart for the past while! This stuff I hardly tell anyone (not due to fear, but b/c no one asks). It's crazy! They were saying stuff like "I feel that X and Y is true about you." and they were right! It was also beyond any vague unfalsifiable descriptions. They kept on hitting dead on like they were on fire like Kobe or something. It was a little surreal at first. I had so many "HOW THE HECK DID YOU KNOW THAT ABOUT ME?" I even started laughing (out of my heart's disbelief of how prophetic they were). Hopefully they didn't find it rude, I mean I wasn't laughing at them, I was just laughing at the fact that they were just so dead on. I wasn't afraid of any dangerous heresy or anything, for everything they said was in accord with biblical principles (I felt). I also had some pretty astonishing/surprising prophecy about my future and stuff. Sort of intimidating and exciting if its going to come true.
All this to say, I feel like ever since I started to play this game, in general, I feel like I just entered an RPG where I'm aprt of a storyline that is already planned ahead of time, where events follow an intended pre-meditated plan by a storywriter, and I'm just in for the ride. This is exciting. The past few weeks have especially been the case as I reflect on the recent order of events that have fallen on my lap, with various serendipitous random "helpings" from friends who "just so happened" to help things unfold in a pattern (the pattern I experienced lately has been strengthening the second point of the triangle [spiritual formation] as well as being introduced to the third in a charismatic community [lifespring]).
The crazy part too is that when I went to the 1040 event featuring Jaeson Ma a few nights ago, all that city-wide revival for Toronto stuff I felt that God had independently put on my heart while I seemed all alone in East Asia. I mean, this was during the past two years before I was exposed to any of this Toronto city-wide revival stuff. And yet, I felt a growing passion to be a part of a movement that brings city-wide revival to Toronto, without anyone by my side to dream this God-given dream with. Then all of a sudden, the 1040 event comes. Wow.
This is like an RPG, but only better. For in RPG, one's experience is at most vicarious. But this is real life. It's realness is so real.
I don't even need to play RPGs anymore to get the effect. I just need to play the Game with Minutes. It as the added bonus of being intertwined with all my daily activities so I don't have to shirk any God-given responsibility. It's also free.
Game on!
It is weird. Yet not that weird, since we see a "divine conspiracy" going on in the book of Acts. That is, for the Jesus-follower (by that I mean someone who has practically made it their #1 goal in life to become an apprentice of Jesus) the miraculous should be normative.
Frank Laubach, when he played this game, he noticed that God was "melting away obstacles" and making the road before him ever so smooth.
I am experiencing something similar. It feels something analogous to Magneto from X-men walking on a metal path, having pieces of metal fly a few feet right in front of his feet to continually extend his path as he walks.
As I trace how God has specifically "engineered" this path of mine in the past two years, especially the past two months, I can't help but to feel that although the odds seem stacked against the soldiers of Christ, the deck of cards is rigged, so that when Christ the dealer deals the cards, it seems almost obvious that there is order and a design/plan in the midst of seeming chaos, just like a piece of jazz music which is a piece of harmonious chaos. It seems that someone has "monkeyed" with how things unfolded. Something, or Someone is behind the scenes invisibly manipulating things in front of the curtain.
I am reading a book called "Kingdom Triangle" by J.P. Moreland now. In it, his main thesis is that the early church miraculously expanded (against all odds) through 3 main reasons on the part of the responsibility of Christians. They follow as:
1) They had a thoughtful Christian mind that defended legitimate knowledge of God (and not just "blind faith") and they articulated this stuff (what we'd call "Christian worldview" nowadays) to non-Christians in a respectful yet persuasive manner.
2) They engaged in spiritual formation to Christlikeness to actually produce no-nonsense Christlikeness through die-hard discipleship.
3) They acted out of expectation for the miraculous supernatural acts of the Holy Spirit (stuff in line with the stuff we see in Acts).
J.P. Moreland says that all over the world right now, Christianity is growing at rapid/unprecedented rates. Unfortunately, North America seems to be an exception to this trend. He believes that the Church of Jesus needs to revive all 3 points of the "Kingdom Triangle" to bring out revival to the Church in North America. I find myself strongly agreeing with Moreland on this one (let alone a lot of other things. I really respect this guy).
One of the ways that I feel God has arranged things to help equip me to help bring out city-wide revival to Toronto is to be equipped in multiple facets of the Christian life and to be balanced in growth. Balanced growth in multiple dimensions of Christlikeness is a big thing for me now. I don't want to neglect any significant aspect of Christlikeness in my walk with God.
So, with respect to the Kingdom Triangle, I feel that in all my 5 years of undergrad in Toronto, I really focused on establishing a solid Christian worldview and was equipped in defending it against secularism/atheism. However, I wasn't really that hot on spiritual formation. Come these past two years on East Asia STINT. I REALLY grew a ton in spiritual formation. I still have a lot to learn, but I feel that I have steady ground for my feet to advance on.
As for the 3rd point of the triangle, I feel that I am relatively weak with respect to Charismatic gifts and powers of the Holy Spirit. This is partially due to me being a Baptist where this stuff is hardly ever practiced. I don't fully blame the denomination. I mean there are some grounds to be cautious on the abuses of Charismatic gifts as well as distortions of weird theology on it. However, I think it is wrong for people like myself to think just because it has been misused and abused, that it can't bring out significant advances for the Kingdom if used properly. Afterall, if one just reads 1 Corinthians 14, one cannot deny that Paul was very "charismatic" without any apology. I hear things about how the charismatic/pentecostal denominations helped bring about some revivals in the 20th century. I can sort of see why. These guys have passion. They have fuel. They got zeal. The body of Christ needs its adrenaline (with balanced proportion).
Come the last few weeks. Within the last few weeks, I have started to attend this charismatic church called lifesprings. Their theology seems pretty sound, I haven't head any heresy or anything, and Andrew Tam recommended it, and I trust Andrew. I have really started to get exposed to this charismatic stuff.
I volunteered to participate in a "prophetic ministry" session a couple nights ago where 3 people experienced with the gift of prophecy prophecied on me together (they do this in groups of 3 ppl exercising the gift so that there's some sort of group accountability and that if two or more ppl feel consensus from the Holy Spirit, there's a higher chance of avoiding error).
I was very surprised. In a good way. I've never been prophecied on. These guys were telling me what the Holy Spirit was telling them in a supernatural way! I just met them 5 minutes beforehand without any previous conversation, just sat in silence in front of these 3, and they started saying stuff that's been deeply etched in my heart for the past while! This stuff I hardly tell anyone (not due to fear, but b/c no one asks). It's crazy! They were saying stuff like "I feel that X and Y is true about you." and they were right! It was also beyond any vague unfalsifiable descriptions. They kept on hitting dead on like they were on fire like Kobe or something. It was a little surreal at first. I had so many "HOW THE HECK DID YOU KNOW THAT ABOUT ME?" I even started laughing (out of my heart's disbelief of how prophetic they were). Hopefully they didn't find it rude, I mean I wasn't laughing at them, I was just laughing at the fact that they were just so dead on. I wasn't afraid of any dangerous heresy or anything, for everything they said was in accord with biblical principles (I felt). I also had some pretty astonishing/surprising prophecy about my future and stuff. Sort of intimidating and exciting if its going to come true.
All this to say, I feel like ever since I started to play this game, in general, I feel like I just entered an RPG where I'm aprt of a storyline that is already planned ahead of time, where events follow an intended pre-meditated plan by a storywriter, and I'm just in for the ride. This is exciting. The past few weeks have especially been the case as I reflect on the recent order of events that have fallen on my lap, with various serendipitous random "helpings" from friends who "just so happened" to help things unfold in a pattern (the pattern I experienced lately has been strengthening the second point of the triangle [spiritual formation] as well as being introduced to the third in a charismatic community [lifespring]).
The crazy part too is that when I went to the 1040 event featuring Jaeson Ma a few nights ago, all that city-wide revival for Toronto stuff I felt that God had independently put on my heart while I seemed all alone in East Asia. I mean, this was during the past two years before I was exposed to any of this Toronto city-wide revival stuff. And yet, I felt a growing passion to be a part of a movement that brings city-wide revival to Toronto, without anyone by my side to dream this God-given dream with. Then all of a sudden, the 1040 event comes. Wow.
This is like an RPG, but only better. For in RPG, one's experience is at most vicarious. But this is real life. It's realness is so real.
I don't even need to play RPGs anymore to get the effect. I just need to play the Game with Minutes. It as the added bonus of being intertwined with all my daily activities so I don't have to shirk any God-given responsibility. It's also free.
Game on!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Christian spirit possession
Okay, this entry may seem kind of controversial, but whatever, I'll just write it.
I think I am learning more and more how to experience the opposite/flip side of "demon posession". That is, Christian spirit possession, namely allowing the Holy Spirit to possess our Spirit, or "consciousness" so that the "consciousness" of Jesus takes over our consciousness.
Here is the theological and philosophical basis first. I think that if someone can get demon possessed and have the conscious mind of an evil spirit take over/take control of him, then this just shows that the human spirit/consciousness can be totally taken over by another conscious/spiritual mind. The question is whether or not it is taken over by something evil, dark, and against God, or by something (or in the Christian sense someone) good, holy, and for God. Hence the Holy Spirit.
It is a little like a someone taking over the driving seat in a car, and making you, the original driver, strapped/buckled/locked down in the passenger seat where you are no longer in control of where the car goes. In demon possession, sometimes it is involuntary, the demon just hijacks the car, locks you down in the passenger seat, and drives away crazily like a maniac and you can't control him. Or sometimes it is voluntary when someone willingly invites in demonic spirits to take over. Either way, the driver is an evil, dark, demonic being.
In Christian spiritual possession however, Jesus, through means of the Holy Spirit in us, gently takes over the wheel and drives peacefully in his direction and guidance, and will. Since Jesus respects our freedom/free will, he will not forcefully take over the driver's seat and hijack the car unlike demons. He will only take over if we willingly and freely move over to the passenger seat, and remain there. To remain there is hard, because usually after a few seconds, we naturally just drift back in the driver's seat, and Jesus being the respectful and loving God that he is, will not force himself to take over our being.
The scriptural support of this is Colossians 1:27, as well as Galatians 2:20. I am highly influenced by Frank Laubach in his experiential interpretation/application of these scriptural truths. That means there should be mini-labels all over our bodies, including our hands, feet, eyes, neck, chest etc that say "Property of Jesus" and that they all belong to him. Furthermore, anything that we experience, Jesus experiences at the same time. More specifically, anything that we feel with our 5 senses, Jesus feels it at exactly the same time, moment, and capacity that we experience it in. So each time we walk in the perfume section of a department store and smell the cologne, Jesus smells exactly the same phenomena, each time we put on shoes, Jesus feels the exact same sensations on our feet, each time we shake someone else's hands, Jesus feels exactly the same physiological input on our hands that we do. The same goes with all the emotional, social, spiritual experiences that we have. He is always in the "same car" as us. The question is only whether he's driving it at the moment or not.
I think I am learning in this journey of practicing God's presence how to allow myself to be "spiritually possessed" by the conscious spirit of Jesus' mind. It is hard to explain, but in good moments where God infuses extra doses of grace in my life, it feels as if Jesus himself, the person who died on the cross for me, who made the heavens and the earth, who sustains every molecule/atom in the universe with his powerful word is occupying the "driver's seat of my consciousness". It's as if he's actually controlling my being, and I'm just sitting right beside him, joyfully consenting to him taking over. Of course this is the exception rather than the norm, for the two times that it has happened it took about 30 minutes in total quiet solitude for every inch and fiber of every level of my being to be surrendered to him and to move over in the passenger's seat. It is only then that Jesus takes over the driver's seat of my being just like how a demon takes over and possesses a poor human soul. The thing though, since Jesus is so kind to respect my free will and only take over if I completely and utterly surrender myself to him, usually when I come out of solitude and back to the "real world" I am just bombarded by too much stimuli and distractions that I just end up getting distracted and subconsciously but quickly gravitate towards the driver's seat again and put Jesus in the passenger seat. It takes about 30 minutes to put him fully back on, but only about 30 seconds to kick him off and go about things my own way again.
But during the moments it does last, however, there is a sense of indescribable joy and peace that takes over the atmosphere of my soul. It is different, not only in quantity, but in kind, than earthly joy and peace. I wish that I could maintain this state forever, however, I am too sinful! I need more and more of God's grace to do so! Hopefully by his grace I improve more and more each day! Why do I not willingly give myself to this type of communion with God more frequently if it is the most blissful, satisfying, meaningful state my human self can experience? The answer is a mystery. The answer is sin. Sin is a mystery. In this case, only a mysterious cure can cure this mysterious disease. Oh Jesus, save me from this body of death!
I think I am learning more and more how to experience the opposite/flip side of "demon posession". That is, Christian spirit possession, namely allowing the Holy Spirit to possess our Spirit, or "consciousness" so that the "consciousness" of Jesus takes over our consciousness.
Here is the theological and philosophical basis first. I think that if someone can get demon possessed and have the conscious mind of an evil spirit take over/take control of him, then this just shows that the human spirit/consciousness can be totally taken over by another conscious/spiritual mind. The question is whether or not it is taken over by something evil, dark, and against God, or by something (or in the Christian sense someone) good, holy, and for God. Hence the Holy Spirit.
It is a little like a someone taking over the driving seat in a car, and making you, the original driver, strapped/buckled/locked down in the passenger seat where you are no longer in control of where the car goes. In demon possession, sometimes it is involuntary, the demon just hijacks the car, locks you down in the passenger seat, and drives away crazily like a maniac and you can't control him. Or sometimes it is voluntary when someone willingly invites in demonic spirits to take over. Either way, the driver is an evil, dark, demonic being.
In Christian spiritual possession however, Jesus, through means of the Holy Spirit in us, gently takes over the wheel and drives peacefully in his direction and guidance, and will. Since Jesus respects our freedom/free will, he will not forcefully take over the driver's seat and hijack the car unlike demons. He will only take over if we willingly and freely move over to the passenger seat, and remain there. To remain there is hard, because usually after a few seconds, we naturally just drift back in the driver's seat, and Jesus being the respectful and loving God that he is, will not force himself to take over our being.
The scriptural support of this is Colossians 1:27, as well as Galatians 2:20. I am highly influenced by Frank Laubach in his experiential interpretation/application of these scriptural truths. That means there should be mini-labels all over our bodies, including our hands, feet, eyes, neck, chest etc that say "Property of Jesus" and that they all belong to him. Furthermore, anything that we experience, Jesus experiences at the same time. More specifically, anything that we feel with our 5 senses, Jesus feels it at exactly the same time, moment, and capacity that we experience it in. So each time we walk in the perfume section of a department store and smell the cologne, Jesus smells exactly the same phenomena, each time we put on shoes, Jesus feels the exact same sensations on our feet, each time we shake someone else's hands, Jesus feels exactly the same physiological input on our hands that we do. The same goes with all the emotional, social, spiritual experiences that we have. He is always in the "same car" as us. The question is only whether he's driving it at the moment or not.
I think I am learning in this journey of practicing God's presence how to allow myself to be "spiritually possessed" by the conscious spirit of Jesus' mind. It is hard to explain, but in good moments where God infuses extra doses of grace in my life, it feels as if Jesus himself, the person who died on the cross for me, who made the heavens and the earth, who sustains every molecule/atom in the universe with his powerful word is occupying the "driver's seat of my consciousness". It's as if he's actually controlling my being, and I'm just sitting right beside him, joyfully consenting to him taking over. Of course this is the exception rather than the norm, for the two times that it has happened it took about 30 minutes in total quiet solitude for every inch and fiber of every level of my being to be surrendered to him and to move over in the passenger's seat. It is only then that Jesus takes over the driver's seat of my being just like how a demon takes over and possesses a poor human soul. The thing though, since Jesus is so kind to respect my free will and only take over if I completely and utterly surrender myself to him, usually when I come out of solitude and back to the "real world" I am just bombarded by too much stimuli and distractions that I just end up getting distracted and subconsciously but quickly gravitate towards the driver's seat again and put Jesus in the passenger seat. It takes about 30 minutes to put him fully back on, but only about 30 seconds to kick him off and go about things my own way again.
But during the moments it does last, however, there is a sense of indescribable joy and peace that takes over the atmosphere of my soul. It is different, not only in quantity, but in kind, than earthly joy and peace. I wish that I could maintain this state forever, however, I am too sinful! I need more and more of God's grace to do so! Hopefully by his grace I improve more and more each day! Why do I not willingly give myself to this type of communion with God more frequently if it is the most blissful, satisfying, meaningful state my human self can experience? The answer is a mystery. The answer is sin. Sin is a mystery. In this case, only a mysterious cure can cure this mysterious disease. Oh Jesus, save me from this body of death!
Sunday, October 3, 2010
found a way to win every minute while listening to a sermon!
As I attended Grace Toronto Church's evening service tonight, I wanted to try to keep God on my mind in second person at least every minute. Especially listening to the Pastor preach his sermon.
I didn't want to do it "mechanically" or "legalistically" without any life in the process of attempting it though, so I sought the Holy Spirit to lead me in a certain way to do it, according to His specific "flow" or "rhythm" of the moment (which I am coming more and more to believe that differs every moment for each individual Christian).
As the pastor just started to preach, I went about at attempting this vigorous yet "strenuously satisfying" pursuit.
As the first minute passed, some ideas were coming into my head. Whether or not they were DIRECTLY from the Holy Spirit or indirect suggestions mingled with my archives of Game with Minutes strategies I am not sure. Regardless, the suggestion was this:
"since I am commanded by God:
1) to be thankful in all situations, continually thanking God for everything (Philippians 4:6, Ephesians 5:20, Colossians 3:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18)
as well as
2)to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) aka keep in constant communion with Him
why not try to combine these two commandments which God wants us to do continually?
So here I am, with the first minute into the sermon, trying this wacky idea of trying to practically apply these two commandments simultaneously while the preacher is expounding his points from Ephesians 1:1-6. In my mind, a more specific idea of concretely applying these two commandments throughout the whole sermon popped in my head. Try to thank God for everything the Pastor mentions. Every few seconds try it. No matter what the pastor mentions, just try to keep thanking God in second-person communication for anything my mind can think of that the pastor says.
The results were astonishing! I think by God's grace I was on a roll! When the pastor mentioned stuff like "Paul's letters", I'd say in my mind to God "thanks that you gave us Paul's letters". When he mentioned "Peter" (the apostle), I'd say to God right away "thanks for Peter". When he mentioned "growing up in a democratic culture", I'd immediately thank God for democracy right after. When he mentioned american football, I'd quickly thank God for sports the second after. When he mentioned an analogy about winning the lottery, I thanked God for money afterwards. When he mentioned the "educated class in developed countries", I thanked God for post-secondary education. And of course whenever he mentioned Jesus and/or what Jesus did on the cross for our sins, I'd express to God my grattitude for my salvation. Since Dan McDonald is a Cross-centered preacher, I found myself thanking God for salvation several times throughout the sermon. And when the pastor was silent for a few seconds, I tried to thank God for whatever came to my mind, which included thanking God that the pastor had fingers, that he had glasses, that he had hair, that he had a wife and has a marriage. Haha. It helped!
Here's the cool part. By God's grace, it worked!!! The strategy flew! I was able to simultaneously digest over 90% of the content of the sermon (except for one part when he talked about a story of a football star, I got lost on some parts while trying to thank God every few seconds) while thanking God silently in my mind for whatever I thought of during the whole 30 minutes of the sermon! I think I can truly say to myself that I won the Game with Minutes EVERY minute of the sermon! The cool thing is, I not only communed with God at least once every minute, I think it was once every few seconds too! I think the most that I stopped was for 5 seconds! With this strategy and the grace of God's empowerment over months and months of training, I kept God on my mind every 3-4 seconds during this sermon! Praise God for both the open/creative idea, the grace to carry it out, as well as the exhilaration that accompanied the experience!
Nearing the end of the sermon though, I started to feel that this strategy was starting to become a ritual, and that after the sermon, if I still continued, it might have started to get ritualistic. So I persevered until the sermon was over, thanked God (one last time haha), and was willing to "close" this mini-chapter/leading of the Spirit which had a certain rhythm of gratitude for these sacred 30 minutes.
I know it's probably not God's will for me to use the exact same means for every single moment, for he is a God of variety, spontaneity, and freshness that is ever creative, adventurous, novel, and keeps us surprised every turn around the corner. I don't want any method of keeping in communion with him every minute to become mechanized/ritualized. But I want every one to be natural, receiving the fresh signals from the Holy Spirit, fresher than the news on the morning paper. If every "method" that the Spirit has given me can be metaphorically represented as a key on a piano, I want to put each of these keys on the piano scale of my mind, and play each one appropriately when the time is called for while paying attention to the composition of holy spiritual music of the Father's will.
HALLELUJIAH!
I didn't want to do it "mechanically" or "legalistically" without any life in the process of attempting it though, so I sought the Holy Spirit to lead me in a certain way to do it, according to His specific "flow" or "rhythm" of the moment (which I am coming more and more to believe that differs every moment for each individual Christian).
As the pastor just started to preach, I went about at attempting this vigorous yet "strenuously satisfying" pursuit.
As the first minute passed, some ideas were coming into my head. Whether or not they were DIRECTLY from the Holy Spirit or indirect suggestions mingled with my archives of Game with Minutes strategies I am not sure. Regardless, the suggestion was this:
"since I am commanded by God:
1) to be thankful in all situations, continually thanking God for everything (Philippians 4:6, Ephesians 5:20, Colossians 3:17, 1 Thessalonians 5:18)
as well as
2)to "pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17) aka keep in constant communion with Him
why not try to combine these two commandments which God wants us to do continually?
So here I am, with the first minute into the sermon, trying this wacky idea of trying to practically apply these two commandments simultaneously while the preacher is expounding his points from Ephesians 1:1-6. In my mind, a more specific idea of concretely applying these two commandments throughout the whole sermon popped in my head. Try to thank God for everything the Pastor mentions. Every few seconds try it. No matter what the pastor mentions, just try to keep thanking God in second-person communication for anything my mind can think of that the pastor says.
The results were astonishing! I think by God's grace I was on a roll! When the pastor mentioned stuff like "Paul's letters", I'd say in my mind to God "thanks that you gave us Paul's letters". When he mentioned "Peter" (the apostle), I'd say to God right away "thanks for Peter". When he mentioned "growing up in a democratic culture", I'd immediately thank God for democracy right after. When he mentioned american football, I'd quickly thank God for sports the second after. When he mentioned an analogy about winning the lottery, I thanked God for money afterwards. When he mentioned the "educated class in developed countries", I thanked God for post-secondary education. And of course whenever he mentioned Jesus and/or what Jesus did on the cross for our sins, I'd express to God my grattitude for my salvation. Since Dan McDonald is a Cross-centered preacher, I found myself thanking God for salvation several times throughout the sermon. And when the pastor was silent for a few seconds, I tried to thank God for whatever came to my mind, which included thanking God that the pastor had fingers, that he had glasses, that he had hair, that he had a wife and has a marriage. Haha. It helped!
Here's the cool part. By God's grace, it worked!!! The strategy flew! I was able to simultaneously digest over 90% of the content of the sermon (except for one part when he talked about a story of a football star, I got lost on some parts while trying to thank God every few seconds) while thanking God silently in my mind for whatever I thought of during the whole 30 minutes of the sermon! I think I can truly say to myself that I won the Game with Minutes EVERY minute of the sermon! The cool thing is, I not only communed with God at least once every minute, I think it was once every few seconds too! I think the most that I stopped was for 5 seconds! With this strategy and the grace of God's empowerment over months and months of training, I kept God on my mind every 3-4 seconds during this sermon! Praise God for both the open/creative idea, the grace to carry it out, as well as the exhilaration that accompanied the experience!
Nearing the end of the sermon though, I started to feel that this strategy was starting to become a ritual, and that after the sermon, if I still continued, it might have started to get ritualistic. So I persevered until the sermon was over, thanked God (one last time haha), and was willing to "close" this mini-chapter/leading of the Spirit which had a certain rhythm of gratitude for these sacred 30 minutes.
I know it's probably not God's will for me to use the exact same means for every single moment, for he is a God of variety, spontaneity, and freshness that is ever creative, adventurous, novel, and keeps us surprised every turn around the corner. I don't want any method of keeping in communion with him every minute to become mechanized/ritualized. But I want every one to be natural, receiving the fresh signals from the Holy Spirit, fresher than the news on the morning paper. If every "method" that the Spirit has given me can be metaphorically represented as a key on a piano, I want to put each of these keys on the piano scale of my mind, and play each one appropriately when the time is called for while paying attention to the composition of holy spiritual music of the Father's will.
HALLELUJIAH!
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