Near and Far Faith

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I have a friend named Karen. She is someone that knew me as a teenager and lead a big part of my life towards Jesus. Karen has the greatest patience and biggest heart to see students return to Christ. But she can’t sing a lick. I can remember being in church with her after spending the week at camp with the youth group and hearing her sing. “Holy cow!” , I thought. It defined “tone deaf” for me.

If you’re out of the church and not familiar with it, worship conjures up movie scenes of bowing down. It’s actually not far off. If you’ve been in the church long enough though we think of worship as music. I do—I have a worship team. I go to worship practice. Worship isn’t really music at all. Which is great news for you Karens out there. We’ve even been conditioned to think that those who are better at music are somehow better at worship. But reality is this: it’s not about how you sing, but when you could. Think of “singing” more like “expressing” . Could you sing or express worship after losing $200? How about when you’re late, and you get a speeding ticket? Or when your days plans get completely wrecked?

The movie idea of bowing down is simply a symbol of acknowledgement—knowing that there’s something bigger than us. In our case, a God who is coming after us in all love and truth, knowing us for our true identity already.

Take a look at Acts 16:16-40

Put yourself in the modern day equivalent of Paul and Silas. What would be your emotions and reactions to your circumstances?

How many people were effected by their worship?

I like historical movies—ones set back hundreds of years ago. They used to do this thing called a seal. When any kind of correspondence was sent from one to another, to ensure the privacy of it, wax was melted onto the flaps of the letter and a stamp pressed into it. If the seal was broken you’d know the letter had been compromised. The various elaborate stamps serve as a return address—noting whether it was from a king, or a check-yes-or-no-whether-you-like-me note. Paul uses this this as an analogy for what the Holy Spirit does for us in Ephesians 1.

Study Ephesians 1. Really study it—don’t just read it. Look up some background info online. Ask God some questions about things. Put the chapter into your own words and sum it up in a sentence.

The Holy spirit serves as many things for those who call Jesus king of their lives—it gives guidance, convicts of sin, reveals truth. But it also seals. This is the primary passage for the proof of eternal security—meaning once sealed, always sealed.

While your identity can be stolen over and over—this is the battle we fight against—but as a Christ-follower you can never truly be lost. This confuses us. It’s unlike anything else in our world. The best description I can come up with is this: God the Father sent his son Jesus to offer the gift of being called his son or daughter. Only his sons and daughters can enjoy fellowship with Him.  Once you have been called a son of daughter of God, the Holy Spirit marks you and God will never not you his again. Spend some time thanking God for your seal.

Ever been held under water a bit too long? It happens to us all at least once. The fun comfort of the blurry sights under the water suddenly, and I mean suddenly, turn extremely fearful and scary.              There’s a small scene in G.I. Jane where as part of the training Navy Seals undergo, they are strapped on their backs with their hands behind them to a board while water is poured heavily on their faces. This act has become a popular phrase in the last few months—water boarding. But the Seals don’t use it for torture, rather to recondition reflexes.

The reflex that we have when held under water can be reconditioned to be more relaxed. In the same way we can recondition our reflexes to God. Over time we have learned to react to God in a certain way—ways that we have learned in one way or another. For instance, when we feel uncomfortable we remove the discomfort or remove ourselves from the situation. This is an act of the stolen identity.

When was the last time you were in a church worship service and heard a song you didn’t like? Think about your emotions then. When you were hurt by someone recently, what was your reaction?

The enemy would like us to think that we cannot change. I am who I am. That’s just the way I am made. That’s great. God did make you. The problem is… he didn’t make you with sin. You were made perfectly. Think about that… Flawless at your core. Your true identity is perfect to God. But sin has been conditioned in.

Read Proverbs 1

Verse 7 says that the fear of God is the foundation of all things. Some translations read “wisdom” or “knowledge”. What would it look like in your life if the only fear you had was God himself in all his love, mercy, and grace?

Where has wisdom been calling out to you to change some foundational parts of your identity to become more like Christ?

The freedom we crave—the one that leads to the seeking of adventure—is something that was built into us from the very beginning of time. It’s portrayed in movies like Braveheart (you’re not complete until you’ve seen this one) as something that we must fight for, and rightly so. See, there’s a reason that movies like Braveheart, The Matrix, and the Star Wars series go so well and reap so much financially. They show a fight between good and evil—oppression and freedom.

It’s a fight that was built into us as well. We all feel this struggle for freedom deep inside. What we must recognize is that the enemy would like you to believe that this struggle is against God. The truth that God purposefully built into you is that there is a war for your freedom for the enemy. Freedom from your stolen identity. Freedom to your true identity.

The journey towards this freedom has been called “maturity”, but in that word it takes on this idea that there is an end. One can become mature. But like we’ve said already, this journey never ends. Hopefully you’ve begun to see, find, discover, and unleash your true identity. The path towards freedom will be very similar to a war—battle after battle, death of parts of us that really hurt, but great victories after long hard fighting.

In this final leg of this part of the journey, prepare your heart for battle. Whether you realize it or not, you’re already in the war. The enemy is trying with all his might to simply convince you that you are not, and that he doesn’t exist. He is not as powerful as he’d like you to believe, but he is cunning. Don’t believe the lie. Fight the war. Win the battle.

Practice 7: The Word

This is the most vital and should be the most regular of all of these practices. Hebrews 4:12 says that “the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

20% of people who claim to be Christians never read their Bibles and 22% don’t do it daily. This is not complicated, but it is THE most attacked practice by the enemy. Your identity is found in The Word of God—his revealing to you who He is and thus, who you are. The enemy will sound like this: You deserve a break. Turn the alarm off. You can do it later. 15 minutes is the same as 30—it doesn’t matter. Do it tonight instead. You’ll never understand it anyway—it’s too much for you. The last thing you need is one more thing on your schedule. It was written for adults. You won’t get it.

And once you actually do get to it, distractions will come at you from the weirdest places. Anger. Your mind wandering. A feeling or pressing to accomplish other tasks first. The enemy knows it’s power. Look at a few verses from Psalm 119: vs. 25—I lie in the dust; revive me by your word. Vs. 28—I weep with sorrow ;encourage me by your word. Vs. 37—Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

Take a few minutes in silence to center yourself on hearing from God.

Now ask God this question: where do you want me to study in your word daily that will reveal who you are to me?

Now sit and wait for an answer.

Don’t be discouraged or tempted to feel foolish. This practice takes… practice. You must begin and press on though. If you should decide now that it’s not as important as I’ve described, then stop reading and don’t resume the rest until God’s broken through and rescued you from that lie.

Practice 6: Intentional Adventure

Ok so some just put the booklet down at the sound of adventure for fear of anything that’s not structured, while others just finally got interested. The idea is this: God would never have created a world like ours—full of cliffs and ice cream and sunsets and animals—and said “Now just do what I tell you and you’ll be safe!” But we’ve boxed God into a picture of a life preserver.

Just take a second to look around. Look outside. Think back to the most exciting, fun thing that has ever happened to you. God designed you with an identity that longs for intentional adventure. Look at the picture of Paul’s life in Acts 16. It reads like the itinerary of someone who can never stay still.

Don’t get me wrong, if God built you with a know-where-I’m-going kind of personality, he’s not defining your identity to be the opposite. But in all of us is a desire—for some great and for some small—to feel alive. To know that I can live through it. The enemy, though, has reached into our past and drug out all the hurtful times to try to convince us that we cannot make it. We often dismiss it as wisdom when in actuality the God of order finds order in adventure.

By it’s very nature, adventure is free-falling from one step to the next. The question is really in the identity of God—do you trust that he is who he says and can do what he says he can? The only way to know is to make a decision to follow. Say no and avoid the safe path. Start a Bible study. Have that conversation with the person you don’t know. Risk.

God risked his son for us—took the chance that the payment that was made would be accepted by humanity. Why not follow the same path? Why no offer the same sacrifice and say “Not my will (to be comfortable in my own kingdom), but yours be done”?

What would be the riskiest decision for you right now? Now analyze your motives. What is selfish and from you, and what is spurring you to adventure? God did not design a boring life.