How the Spirit Leads Us to the Written Word

After the Spirit of God has led us to a deeper experience of prayer, he leads us to his written word. He does this because he is the one in charge of our spiritual development. He develops us spiritually so that he can form the real Christ in us. After he leads us to a personal, profound understanding of his written word he leads us to an attentive and obedient listening to vigorous, urgent, life-changing preaching.

How the Spirit leads us to a personal, profound understanding of his written word is the topic of this article.

There are two ways the Spirit uses to lead us to his written word. The first is through our experience of ignorance. The second is through our experience of confusion.

The human mind is such that either it becomes ignorant or it becomes confused, unless it knows the real truth.

The Way of Ignorance

We are born with the innate tendency and ability to learn. As children we learned to talk and asked our parents, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends a multitude of things: the name of the animals around us, the parts of our body, why certain things behaved this way and not that way, etc.

Then in a few years we went to formal schooling. Some of us might have been bored with school life or our parents could not afford to make us continue in school and so we dropped. Or there might have been other factors that made us quit school, like an accident or a calamity in the area where we lived.

When we stopped schooling, we either learned on our own or we altogether stopped learning what we were supposed to learn in school. Most of us chose the second alternative: we just stopped learning. We dropped into ignorance. As we grew we came to be ignorant of more and more things that we were supposed to know.

But sooner or later we come to realize that we need to continue our learning. So, we either go back to school or learn things on our own. We want to get out of our ignorance. Sometime during this attempt to continue learning, we may come upon the written word of God. It may have been put purposely by the Gideons in the hotel, or we may be given a tract by a passerby, which tract contains a portion of God's written word. Unknown to us it was the Spirit who used our desire to know more because of our ignorance who led us into his written word, either in the hotel or by the passerby who gave out tracts.

The Way of Confusion

On the other hand we might have continued schooling and we graduated in college, knowing so much of so many things, so we thought. And we wanted to learn some more, perhaps now about the job we have been given. And we kept on learning. But as this process continued most of us were bound to get confused. Sometimes the conflict was between what we learned in school and what we learned in our actual job. In the school we were taught to be honest. In our actual job this may be difficult to follow, especially when we are surrounded by dishonest people. In the school we were taught not to take shortcuts but to follow the procedure religiously, as in planting grains. But in the actual field, we might find that people are not careful about the seeds of the grains they plant. So, we just plant of the seeds from the previous harvest season.

We can multiply examples of conflicts between learnings in school and learnings in actual life.

These experiences drive us to confusion. Which is which? What we learned in school or what we learned in actual life?

We seek to get out of the confusion. Some people escape confusion by simply choosing what is expedient. Everybody is doing it, so let us do it also - is the way out of the majority.

But there are a few, perhaps too few who really want to resolve the issue honestly. For this they need a norm or basis of learning that is dependable, that is not based on mere opinions of human beings. This is the time when the Spirit comes and reminds them of what they learned in church, in Sunday schools, in their catechism or religion classes. And they are driven to the written word as the pillar and mainstay of truth.

Then they study the written word now more personally and more profoundly. Where before they just memorized certain verses to win a contest or to pass an exam, now they study the written word of God because they have a personal problem to resolve. Where before they just had a passing acquaintance with the Bible, now they turn to
it as the sure way to guide them out of their confusion and ignorance.

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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How the Spirit Leads Us to a Deeper Experience of Prayer

The Spirit of God is the one in charge of our spiritual development. He does this to form the real Christ in us. He forms the real Christ in us by leading us to a deeper experience of prayer, to a personal, profound understanding of the written word of God, and to an attentive and obedient listening to vigorous, urgent, life-changing preaching.

How the Spirit leads us to a deeper experience of prayer is the topic of this blog.

Paradoxically the Spirit leads us to a deeper experience of prayer by allowing us to be ourselves and to do what we want. After a while we are no longer able to do what we want and we cry to God to help us do what we want. That is when we really pray.

Shallow Experiences of Prayer

You may ask me why do I write of a deeper experience of prayer. Is there a not so deep an experience of prayer? Is there a shallow experience of prayer? Unfortunately we go through lots of shallow experiences, and not so deep experiences, of prayer. This kind of prayer is not only useless but even harmful, deceiving. We think we are praying when we are not. We are just mumbling words or we are just reciting as we would recite a poem or another form of literature.

In Christian homes when we were children we were taught to pray, so they said. We were led to pronounce the text of the Our Father and memorize it. And then we used the text to pray. This is a very shallow experience of prayer. We were actually not praying. We recited a formula of prayer, not prayed.

In Sunday schools or catechism classes and in Bible study sessions we were led to make spontaneous prayer. And so we did pray spontaneously, so they said. We prayed for our needs, for our wants, for guidance, etc. This is prayer of some sort, if we really were serious. This is deep prayer, but not deeper experience of prayer. But if we did it because we were told to lead the prayer, or because it was expected of us to say something which began with “God” and ended with “in the name of Jesus”, then it was not praying. It was speaking in public about what we wanted to pray, but we did not really pray.

Deeper Experience of Prayer

Deeper experience of prayer is prayer from the heart, from the depths of our being. That is why it is called deeper, because it comes from our depths, not just from our lips, our tongue or our minds. It comes from where things matter most in our lives, from our inner selves.

How the Spirit Leads Us to Deeper Prayer

And the way the Spirit leads us to this kind of prayer is by allowing us to be ourselves and to do things our own way, until we are lost and get to the dead end. Then and only then do we turn up to him and ask for guidance to get us out of where we cannot get out by our own effort.

You see, all of us human beings are born with certain capacities: the capacity to move, to think, to speak, to write, to invent, to plan, etc. But all these capacities have limitations. We cannot move anywhere we want at the same time. We cannot think of all the ideas in the world at the same time. Most of the time we are not aware of these limitations. We are only aware of our capabilities.

And when we grow we undertake to actualize these capabilities. We move to school, we think of our lessons in class, we speak a distinct language, etc.

Then comes the big thing. We want to make something big in our life. Some of us want to be engineers, others want to be lawyers, still others want to be actors and actresses. Some of us succeed, others do not. In fact, most fail. Then they try and try again.

It is when we fail that some of us are led to prayer. It may be failure in the home, our parents separate and we are left alone as children. It may be failure in business when we file bankruptcy. It may be failure in love when we are rejected by the one who we thought loved us.

Not all failures lead us to prayer. Some failures lead us to try and try again. Some failures lead to suicide. The failure which the Spirit uses to lead us to prayer is the failure in which we see no more exit, no more way out of this failure, a dead end, no more alternative. There is only one way to go, the way up and within, the way of prayer. Where some people choose suicide as the way out, the Spirit gives prayer as the way in.

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Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How the Spirit Forms the Real Christ in Us

If we want to give the real Christ and not what we think is the Christ to others, especially to our young people, we need to be (not just have the) real Christ for them. To be real Christ for others cannot be done by our own effort. This is done by the action of the Spirit of God. We discuss now how the Spirit of God forms the real Christ in us. In this way we can grow in our knowledge of spiritual development, how the spirit develops in us so that we, as real Christ, can give him to others.

Knowing how the Spirit works in us is like knowing how the wind operates. Knowing how the wind operates or functions gave the Wright Brothers the principles and techniques with which to fly the first man-made, power driven, and continuous heavier than air flight on December 17, 1903. Knowing how the Spirit works in us will enable us to understand how he forms Christ in us, and we will be able to use this knowledge so that indeed the real Christ can be quickly and effectively formed in us so that he (Christ) can give himself to others.

There have been many periods in our history when it was clearly seen that the Spirit of God worked in an extraordinary manner. From these periods we can learn how he still works in us.

We can name some of these periods: the Pentecost experience of the disciples of Jesus after he left this earth, the Protestant reformation in the 16th century, the Great Awakening in America during the 17th century and the Religious Revivals in England during the 18th century. During these periods the real Christ was known by the people and passed on to others. This in turn changed individual lives and entire societies. Equality of races was established, abuses by church leaders were controlled, slavery was abolished, and the workers were given the enjoyment of their rights.

Intense Praying Expecting God to Do Something New

The first phenomenon in these periods was that the Spirit led individuals and groups to prayer. He convinced these individuals and groups of the necessity of praying. Now praying during these times was not just a matter of asking God for something. It was a matter of waiting upon God, listening to him, with an eager expectation that he was going to give these individuals and groups instruction what to do. There was an attitude of receptivity of what God would do with them. The people were like a lump of clay eagerly waiting to be formed into a pot.

Loving and Reverential Study of God’s Word

Secondly, during these periods of great revivals there was a return to the written word of God. Individuals and groups pondered on the written word of God. There was this movement to return to the written word of God amidst the incursions of a multiplicity of traditions and man-made regulations.

Urgent, Vigorous Preaching of God’s Word

Thirdly, as a result of the first two factors above, during these periods of extraordinary manifestation of the Spirit’s work, there was vigorous preaching of the word of God. People were convicted of their sinfulness during this preaching. It was not a preaching to make their lives better. It was a preaching to completely change their lives.

These three, 1) prayer with a sense of fellowship with God and eager expectancy for his instructions, 2) serious, loving study on the written word of God, 3) and preaching with a sense of urgency and deep conviction to change radically, are simple things and yet they are the means that the Spirit of God uses to form the real Christ in us.

To sum up then our discussion, the Spirit of God forms the real Christ in us by leading us to a deeper experience of prayer, to a personal, profound understanding of the written word of God, and to listen to vigorous, urgent, life-changing preaching. These three factors are essential to a genuine spiritual development.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How To Give the Real Christ To Young People

Very many leaders of churches think that by baptizing persons, preaching to them, giving them the sacraments, whether two or seven, having them attend church services, whether preaching or worship services, or Mass, and giving them social services such as food, clothing, shelter, education and health, very many of these church leaders think that by doing so they are giving Christ to these persons. They think that by these activities they are contributing to the spiritual development of these persons.

Not Only For Young People

What we are saying here applies especially to young people because they are idealistic, are in the prime of their health and vigor and are easily challenged. But we do not exclude older people. After all, there are almost the same number or more of older people to whom the real Christ has not been given. It is possible that there are more older people who are not spiritually developed as the young people.

Rituals Have Not Given the Real Christ

If the activities we cited above gave the real Christ to these people, we would not have so many baptized convicted criminals crowding our prison cells, especially in developing countries, like the Philippines. The fact of the matter is that our church leaders and we church followers are not giving the real Christ to others. Instead we are giving them what we think is the Christ. The people whom we baptized have not really been given genuine spiritual development.

The Real Christ May Be Different From the Christ We Think

There is a world of difference between the real Christ and the Christ that we think he is. It is like the difference between the real genuine bill of exchange, let’s say a dollar, and what we think is real money but is fake and useless as a means of exchange. The first we can make use of, the other can deceive us.

So, let us go back to the meaning of our title: How do we give the real Christ to young people?

Only the Real Christ Can Give the Real Christ

In the first place we are faced with a serious difficultly, in fact an impossibility. This is because no one can give the real Christ except Christ himself. No other person can. A comparison may help to make this clear.

Giving Christ is not like giving something to people. It is not like giving candies to children. Christ is not a thing but a person and none can give the person except the person himself.

When I gave my self to my wife it was I who gave my self to her. This is because my self is a person. I did not just give her a ring or any other token of my love. Some one else can give her a ring or another token, but nobody can give her myself except myself.

If what was given to my wife was only an idea about me, others can do that. My parents, brothers and sisters, my relatives and friends can give ideas about me to my wife, but they can never give my person. Only I can give that, my self, my person.

In the same way, pastors, priests, Bible women, catechists, all other kinds of church ministers and church leaders can give all sorts of ideas about Christ to our young people, but they can never give them the person of Christ. That is for Christ himself to give and none other.

Now you may object: How can Christ do this since he lived a long time ago and has already left our planet earth? Yes, he has left physically but he has sent his Spirit to live and work among us and this Spirit is forming Christ again in the lives of people.

Christ Has Given Us Himself Already

The truth is that Christ has already given himself to us through his death and resurrection. And after he left us physically he sent his Spirit to give his Spirit to us.

So the first step for us if we are going to give the real Christ to young people is to allow the Sprit of Christ to give Christ to these young people. Only the spirit of Christ can do this because Christ is a person.

Let Christ’s Spirit Form the Real Christ in Us

And we allow Christ’s Spirit to give the real Christ to these young people if we give ourselves to this Spirit to be formed into Christ. To the extent that Christ is formed in us, to that degree do we give Christ to the young people. We cannot give what we do not have and we cannot give Christ to the young if we do not have Christ in our person, not just in our thoughts, words and actions but in our very own person, in the core and totality of our being. We cannot give the real Christ to others if we ourselves, as it were, have not become real Christ ourselves through the transforming power of Christ’s Spirit.

Only in this way can we develop spiritually from a Christian perspective and help others, especially the young, in their spiritual development.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.

How Our Churches Do Not Give Christ to the Young People

The ultimate reason why our young people do not remain in our churches, why they leave these churches, to as high a rate as 70%, is because their needs are not met. And the deepest and most enduring of these needs is their need for Christ. The churches are not giving Christ to these young people, and to the old as well. Their need for genuine spiritual development is not met.

This article describes the ways in which our churches do not give Christ to our young people.

Through Our Preaching

The first way is through the preaching of the churches. Our preaching generally, either in Catholic or non-Catholic churches, do not give Christ to our young people. According to A. W. Tozer we do not have to do research to prove that this is so. You just enter any church today during a Sunday or Saturday and listen to the sermons by the priest or pastor. And you can easily notice that what the priest or pastor is preaching is not Christ, but what he or she thinks of Christ or of a Bible passage and how this applies to one’s life. This kind of preaching does not satisfy the need of the listeners to spiritual development but it satisfies the need of the priest or preacher to say something to the people so that the church organization can go on with its activities.

Through Our Teaching

The second way is through the teaching of the churches. In Catholic churches we have catechism classes and bible study classes for this. In Protestant churches we have the Sunday or Sabbath school and the bible study groups. What is the emphasis in these classes? It is memorization of certain formulas or bible verses and understanding these formulas or verses. Nowhere is Christ given to the young people. The teachers of course boast that they convey the teaching of Christ in their classes. But our young people are not so much interested in teachings, even those of Christ, whether these are in formulas or in scripture verses or famous quotations of great men and women of God. They are interested in meeting the person of Christ, in having a genuine, growing, loving relationship with him. And the churches do not give this kind of real Christ to them. So their spiritual development is not progressing as it should.

Through Our Fellowships

The third way that the churches do not give Christ to the young people, as well as to the old, is through the relationship of the members among themselves. Christ is not the motive of their relationship among themselves. They may be led to have games and to have fellowship around games, whether indoor or outdoors. Camps are conducted almost yearly, but you can easily notice that during camps there are small groups milling around certain issues. This group is good in mission to the prisoners. Another group congregates around the issue of mission to the elementary pupils. Christ is the not the issue that unites all the activities. He is mentioned in prayer last, “we pray in the name of Christ”, perhaps because he is last in our thoughts and desires. In many instances he is the savior of last recourse, after we have done everything at our disposal and failed. Then we turn to him.

What We Plant Is What We Harvest

We now use logic to make our point clear. If Christ, the real Christ and not our idea about Christ, were the one given to our young people and our old people, they would have been real Christians by now and we would not be in such a mess, combatants of two world wars and preparing for a third one. What you sow is what you harvest. If you plant rice, you will harvest rice, never corn or barley. If we plant Christ, the real Christ, in the hearts of our young people and old people, we would harvest Christ, the real Christ: the one who is genuinely interested in our spiritual development.

Click Here!

Here are my other blogs which may be of help to you:

http://bit.ly/spiritworld for knowing more about spirituality or spiritual realities

http://bit.ly/alterhealthcare for your health

http://bit.ly/novotrends for learning about the new trends around us

http://bit.ly/bepaidonline for earning some income from the Internet

Here are your links to download the e-books for FREE. To download a copy of A NEW CHRIST by Wallace D. Wattles click this website http://bit.ly/anewchrist. To download a free copy of A NEW EARTH by Eckhart Tolle click this website http://bit.ly/ebookanewearth. I hope that you enjoy reading these free e-books and profit much from them, as I have also profited greatly from them.