Hold On, Hold Fast, Breathe, Keep Stepping

Never think that this literature, below, is navel-gazing stuff. There is a whirlwind for one and a torrent for another. Whether we are buffeted into oblivion by the whirlwind or swept away with the torrent matters little — the same consequence is borne.

It comes to most at least once in their lives... great pressure and strain, with pain unrivalled in previous experience. We feel worse than death, for in death at least the pain is over.

***

Something never leaves you,
As you boldly face the dark,
Uncertainties may be stark,
But God holds you ever true.

Silent faith it faithfully stands,
Humbly meek yet ever so strong,
The pain may well be long,
But our lives are in God’s hands.

And what of this noxious pain,
Just how will we contend?
Let’s certainly not pretend,
So as to let this evil reign!

Loneliness there it’s borne,
In the depths of this wry grief,
No sure direction to relief,
Left groaning and forlorn.

Now we may also see,
How the tumult of dire being,
Is the precursor of a state that’s freeing,
Ironically it’s the place to be!

Hold on in that hope,
For all this, too, shall pass,
God will turn around this farce,
If only in between we can cope.

Don’t give up in the trial,
Don’t despair when all at sea,
Afloat He will ensure you’ll be,
His covenant He’ll not defile.

Let’s surrender all our baggage,
So God can bring around our ship,
Stiffen the bottom lip,
And don’t allow Satan to disparage!

As one day makes for night,
And we rest there humbly content,
Life is much more than lament,
When we believe in the Saviour’s light.

***

Faith will do with the impossible what is only possible with God.

And, whilst we necessarily fall in love with this sort of hope-fuelled literature, there is a purpose in it, at least for the present season — be it a day, a month, a year, a life.

There is no estimating what God will do for the person who has suffered for his Name’s sake. Don’t we think that bearing our weaknesses patiently will get us a reward? Surely it will. One hundred fold will be the reward for the losses incurred in this life, with rewards gained here, but with persecutions, said Jesus (Mark 10:29-30).

Jesus never promises us a trouble-free life; indeed, he promises trouble! But he was also overcome the world! (John 16:33)

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

What Self-Fulfilling Prophesy Are You Curating?

Much thinking is good, but, with much thought inevitably comes a fall into the pit of despair. The capacities of the mind’s heart are not so easily overwhelmed, but when they are, great is that collapse!

The shimmering beauty of the mind rendered obedient to the development of virtue.

The dark disgust of a mind given over to the realm of evil; the production of hate.

The horrible waste of a mind sacrificed to the gods of games and recreation in the name of relaxation — to the ends of nothing.

And the splendiferous majesty in a mind of the one who hears God’s call for their life and thinks with purpose to strive for that destiny.

What do we consume ourselves with in our thought lives?

What is it we spend most of our time thinking about? Is it the share price, or the temperature tomorrow, or of delusions of grandeur, or the sensibilities of space? Is it the glory of God’s creation, how you’ll get through the week without money, or why life has come to be the way it has? Maybe it’s the fact of your busyness and tiredness? It could be your unbridled joy — thankfulness for such a season. Perhaps it’s envying and striving and cursing that has your cognitive attention. You may just be tired of thinking. Or it could be that you’ve striven to overcome the propensity to analyse everything, and you’ve found some strategies that work? Have I nailed it, or is there something else? You’re obsessed about a relationship issue; something that’s not quite right, irredeemable, scary, or unjust... perhaps.

The point I’m trying to illustrate is, if we are to pounce upon the capacity of our thinking to help us in the way we are going, we need to become aware of the thoughts we are preoccupied by.

What we think about most will influence us incredibly.

If we are virtuous in a feministic way, where we defend the rights of women, if we haven’t handled our own brokenness we may well be tarred with the wrong brush. We see this being done and it reinforces our worldview: “Men are pigs.” But if we are a man, beaten down by a life where “everything goes to the woman,” we are bound to attract a reputation as angry and obtuse.

What he and she are broken by, and are still resistant to be healed of, becomes their worldview, and they come across as damaged goods. And every time they come to be “judged” they find themselves further and further pigeonholed. They hate what they have become deep down, but they are equally unable to claw their way out.

It is best to make our thoughts captive to Christ; to debunk our baggage; to seek his healing touch.

When our thoughts become healthy, we begin to nurture a productive self-fulfilling prophesy for our lives.

What we ponder most becomes us. Ponder God. Become God’s you.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

The Spirit Who Is With Us In Truth

Reflecting on a conversation with one I consider the epitome of men, I felt hurried in my responses to his questions as to “how things are.” As a result I offered a mishmash of answers, part truths, due to good intent, were the best of it.

Some questions — particularly the answers of which may most betray our truth, and hence our cause, because they are not thought over — require more deliberate consideration.

Whenever we cannot fundamentally represent the truth — because we are hurried and feel there isn’t the time, or if we feel guilty or ashamed for some reason, or we are tired, etc. — the Spirit’s Presence might as well have departed.

The Holy Spirit will only abide in us to the extent of truth. The Spirit of Truth gives us cues and motives to speak our truth, but we must trust his Presence and act out the divine nudge we have borne.

***

We know it is God’s Spirit leading us when we obey with conviction and poise. We should only ask a question in public if we genuinely seek the answer. Sometimes I’ve been tempted to ask a question to show off some way. But the lack of authenticity shown has meant there was a lack of conviction and poise in my delivery of what I said. I was acting not as an agent of my own carefully nurtured truth. Such contriving faith is the sin of attention; the seeking of approval.

But, the Holy Spirit will make it certain what a believer is to do.

If we do what the Spirit tells us, we abide to the truth in us, but if we do not do it, we betray our very own truth. In effect, we, of our subconscious and our own integrity with ourselves, judge ourselves.

This is not to say that there are not times when the Spirit might nudge us for someone else.

The context of this article, though, is the communication of the Spirit in and through a believer, for that believer’s own obedience — for Truth has spoken.

To enjoy the Holy Spirit’s empowering we must first honour our truth. The truth that is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.

God’s Presence is manifest powerfully when we are at accord with his revealed truth in us.

QUESTIONS in REVIEW:

1.     When do you find it hardest to obey God’s call to speak or act out the truth he’s spoken to you? When is it easiest?

2.     Ideally, we are to wait until the Spirit calls us to speak. How easy or hard is it for you to restrain yourself? Have you experienced this calling nudge, and, if so, how?

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

Grief Like a Thousand Tiny, Very Diverse Knives

Grief comes in so many different nuances — each ordered for the uniqueness of the day, and experience is hardly something gathered confidently. Indeed, we may well lose every semblance of confidence because of the very unpredictability of the chasm we’re lost into.

We will only grow through our grief as a product of reflecting, later, when all of the pain’s dealt with. Sure, growth occurs through the process of grief, but we can’t possibly see the fruit until we have passed all the way through hell.

Yet, one day we are rendered distraught, and despatched to the abyss. The next day might have a tinge of hope with it. The next betwixt and between with anger and anxiety. The next doing anything to make of the future what we can. And then there are the days when we are just simply too depressed to get out of bed.

Charting each one of those knives of pain is important as each one pierces the skin, bringing a fresh wound to bear on the soul seeking rest and resolution. Another knife is the restitution we wish for in another’s life. Another again relates to the betrayal that severs our sanity.

How many different nuances of this agony must be endured?

The answer is possibly infinite, at most, and the number we’ve actually experienced, at least.

The experience of the former day, the new information we have on board, the possibility of a mounting despair, or an impatience for God’s justice; all this, and more, makes for the extrapolation of the grief experience at play.

It is so common to scream to God, “How long, O Lord?” (Psalm 13)

How long, and in how many different ways, will this anguish continue to strike at the flesh of our souls? This is such a reasonable question, for grief always lasts longer than we wish it to. We always feel we should be over it ‘by now’.

But the point is, we are not.

God must still have for us to learn some things. No matter how angry it makes us feel our anger won’t coerce God’s engineering of our circumstances.

***

We are forgiven for wanting life back to normal — whatever that now is. But there is more to learn, and that’s way the grief experience is so unpredictably messy and lengthy.

God does a work in and through us when we continue journeying by faith in our grief. It’s the response of humility God’s after; for that we receive his compassion.

God’s best works in the human soul are his severing of our dependence on ourselves and others. Through grief, perhaps for the first time, we are depending on our Lord.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

Living Intentionally For Eternity (L.I.F.E.)

Living intentionally for eternity is about viewing everything, certainly every life experience, from the context of eternity—as in, how each and every event will be reviewed—in what light—when we grace the courts of heaven? More and more, consequentially, the way we live life is influenced by this perspective.

It is about living for truth, upholding justice, and investing in love.

It is seeing life from a post-physical-death viewpoint; doing what we do now with the very end in mind.

Importantly, it is not viewing life fearfully for judgment.

This is one of the barriers we need to overcome; worry for judgment. We know we do bad things. How will God view them? At this point we must be reminded, if we are saved, that we have already been forgiven. Grace covers all our sin; past, present, and future. Therefore, we do not tread with fear when approaching heaven. We should not fear judgment. But in the same way we should live for truth.

As we operate from this perspective we are employing wisdom, for we take counsel from God with the aim of living for him. The more we can shift our motives in viewing life from this perspective the less psychological indifference we will suffer.

Living intentionally for eternity has impact on how we handle:

Truth and Lies – we have additional reasons, and maybe the ultimate reason, to side with truth. Truth and lies play themselves out in our relationships. There is no benefit in siding with non-truth. And if there is no benefit in siding with non-truth in this life, we can taste even a little of the gravity of siding with non-truth for eternity. Whilst we shouldn’t fear judgment, we will face only truth in eternity—the inflow of God’s perfect justice.

Justice and Injustice – flowing on from truth, because truth informs equity and fairness, justice is another chief test. We learn a lot about God’s thoughts on justice and injustice through reading Proverbs. God loves justice and hates injustice, and we are to be the same, advocating social justice issues and fighting the good fight of faith upon areas of injustice.

Love and Fear – we, as normal human beings, experience both in copious quantities. Rare it is that people would experience no love, but sadly it still happens all too often. A human being not loved is a horrible travesty in a world God created. Yet we are vessels for love, and we contain the material and the motive to love. Still again, we are bitten by fear and our own sense for rejection. At many levels fear spurns love; it spoils our experience of life. Yet some fear is good—it warns us of danger. If we are heading to eternity, and there’s nothing more certain, our fear should convert into an awed respect for God and life.

***

Life is a one-day-at-a-time adventure, mystery and challenge. We can be sure that life leads to death and, therefore, eternity. Living intentionally for eternity is about planning for that eventuality and living life accordingly.

© 2012, 2015 S. J. Wickham.

A Threefold Theology of Modern Idol Worship

What are the common sources for worship — other than God — in our contemporary culture?

Try these: sport, savings, and sex. Sport includes not simply playing, but spectating, and gambling. Savings includes the covetousness of building our own kingdom, but it also refers to our modern day worship for spending. Look at so many economies around the world; so many countries are in the fiscal mess they’re in because of undisciplined and unconscionable economic wisdom of the day. Sex is probably the most hidden of all the sins. But how close are the temptations of the flesh toward making sex a dangerously pervasive god?

What underlies all these categories of sin?

It must certainly strike us disciples as odd that we can control our own lives, and regulate our desires.

“First John denies the commonplace assumption that human beings create themselves or are competent to assume final responsibility for their individual and collective well-being,” C.C. Black says in his commentary on 1 John.

What the human nature craves for, what the eyes crave for, pride over one’s possessions; these are commonplace encumbrances of sin that tell us we cannot assume final responsibility for our individual and collective well-being. So why do we negate God and do it on our own?

Sport, savings, and sex are notorious sectors of taking life as we see it and assuming the final responsibility for our well-being.

When we prefer to focus a lot of time and energy on those things that are not inherently of God, we need to ask whether we have put some distance between us and our Lord. Whenever we begin to think selfishly we will naturally put more distance between us and God. Indeed, it may be argued that to think selfishly is to have put a massive gulf between us and our Lord in the most fundamental way.

It’s not just things purely of typical worship that are in focus. Whenever we give ourselves for the things of our relationships we are worshipping God. If we spend time investing in our learning, or making money to adequately support our families, or make the effort to genuinely rest up from fatigue, we are carrying out God’s wishes.

***

If there are three key expressions of idol worship today, they are sport, savings, and sex. Our challenge is to enjoy sport in moderation, to be good stewards with our money and possessions, and to embrace sex within our marriages.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English (2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr Richard Moore, a NT Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.

Acknowledgement: to Paul Forman for the Spirit’s revelation behind this article. He calls it the Doctrine of the Three S’s.

Bearing Up Under Spiritual Attack

Enemies are foes because they work strategically and tactically and operationally — at all levels of threat engagement — to bring a land, a people, a kingdom, an entity, even a person, to their knees. It can seem there are enemies littered through life, but truly most of the time the litany of threats perceived are not from a physical entity, but from a spiritual nemesis.

Satan is in view, here; with his legions of agents and angelic aggressors.

His agents are those who speak and act — whether knowing so or not — in his name. His angelic aggressors have simple, focused roles; to bring us down in a little way; to destroy us through discouragement or fear. And their very best weapon is to make us self-conscious — to the point it plays on us.

Spiritual attack comes in myriad form, and one obvious sign is the felt experience of a destruction of functional self-confidence. Note, I don’t just say “self-confidence,” because Satan often wills us on from there through pride. There is no need of attack when we are already his agent. When we are in pride, we speak and act in his name, not Jesus’. Functional self-confidence, on the other hand, is what gives us the belief and creativity to act for the Kingdom, when we might otherwise shun the idea of being a servant.

Satan hates — with a perditious passion — anything done for Christ’s Kindgom.

***

So, if we are agents for God and we are given to serve the Kingdom, we will be subject to attack, whether we perceive it or not. Perhaps better are we when we serendipitously go about our work without any awareness of the evil that lurks! But, no, that is not really so.

It is better to wrestle with the idea of competing spirits — the battle that rages silently and invisibly. It is better to wrestle with our fears; to bring them into subjugation to Christ. It is better by far to wrestle with the knowledge that, there in eternity, a war has raged since almost the very beginning.

The battle continues today.

We may, in our own little lives, feel almost invisible ourselves. But each of us is equally fought for in the realms of eternity — even as we live and breathe. Nothing is insignificant. Everything is part of our Lord’s (his) story.

So, the battle continues today. It’s nothing to be fearful of, just to be aware of. It’s nothing to stop us, just knowledge to keep us going. It’s everything to assure us that everything we think, say, and do is powerfully significant.

***

When the enemy of God,

Tries to knock you off your course,

Know that the Spirit who defends us,

Doesn’t need us to react with force.

Simple awareness is the end of the matter,

As we turn within and say,

“I know what you’re up to, Satan,

And you won’t be having your way!”

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

And What of Anguish? Can It Be Healed?

Existing is one part an acquisition and retention of bliss — as a core objective; another part — an opposite paradigm — is the bearing of anguish. Merely being here refers us to both, and often-times both straddle the consciousness of life, which brokers a complex life. Life has always been like this. This is no new phenomenon.

Anguish is about the condition of being human.

When a person looks at their life — and life in their own general context — there are some astounding things to consider, to absorb, and to reconcile. Truth persuades a reading of life that wishes to honour God. A person cannot negate themselves unless they wish to hold off their life — and that’s a perilous thing! (Perilous, because life will very soon sweep us off our feet if we are ill-prepared to honour our incoming truth, for truth happens to all of us!)

Reading ourselves in the midst of our lives is the first crucial step of realising and reconciling our essential anguish. (Anguish that is “essential” lines up with the incoming truths that we find implicitly distressing. And it can be anything.)

We could imagine both general and special anguish.

General anguish is that which is existential — the condition of being human.

Special anguish is related to a causative event, a social situation, or a relational dynamic that impinges us. It blindsides us. We don’t expect its timing. We resent its intent. We are weakened by its ferocity. We begin to doubt our identity. We come to feel so vulnerable that life itself — its existential experience — stops. We become distracted from other cognitions. Our feelings are hijacked. And when all this happens, no wonder we want to give up. The predilection toward despair is palpable.

So, where might the subject of healing for both general and special anguish apply?

***

Honouring the essential characteristics of truth in our reality seems the datum point for healing. Truth starts us off. To approach the truth — albeit, painfully felt, which we are tempted to avoid — is to approach the gateway for healing.

God cannot get in and give us a healing if we are not open to our truth.

The Spirit of the Lord is available, availing, and all-powerful to heal us of our anguish. Simply knowing this is the second step.

Honouring our truth is faith. Knowing God is healer is strength. Stepping into pain is courage. Persisting with spiritual discomfort is endurance. Endurance is maturity. Choosing joy is hope.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

9 Ways To Make the Pain In Grief of Lasting Value

Spiritual pain is nothing to be afraid of, yet I suspect you may remain unconvinced, and you even doubt my credibility. God has revealed something precious in my pain. It’s his will that I share it; that the Lord might speak through me to you. Bear with me patiently. It may seem that I’m saying bizarre things. Or perhaps you might already know much more mystical things regarding how God’s Spirit heals on the hop.

Here are nine ways to make the pain in your loss and grief of real lasting value:

1.     Firstly, I desperately want to add the word “now” in the above sentence... “of real lasting value now.” It’s possible. I’m not saying that if you find it impossible there’s something wrong with you. I could never say that. But it is possible that God might show you how your pain might be of real lasting value now.

2.     Believe with all you have in you, through your faith in a compassionate God, that somehow the experience of this horrendous pain will be the making of you. Believe and it will ultimately be so.

3.     See all pain as a learning opportunity. The school of hard knocks is one of the best colleges we could ever enrol in, though none of us would even look at the prospectus let alone dare go to Orientation Day.

4.     Don’t try and anesthetise the pain; alcohol, other drugs, food, retail therapy, and every other thing apart from feeling our pain is a distraction and a delaying of our healing.

5.     Enjoy fleeting moments of hilarity. Invest in your sense of humour. It will get you through your darkest days. But never laugh at the expense of someone else. Laugh in good nature. Laugh at the senselessness of the anguish you experience if you can. Even better to keep your laughter private, alone or with a friend.

6.     Know that whatever is endured in this life is a source of strengthening; that what is endured in this life is a treasure invested in heaven.

7.     Because pain is so challenging to endure — and because of its rollercoaster nature — be aware that you may also embrace other change with more capacity. Pain is like an amplifier; it makes us more diversely capable if we are determined to hope for a future beyond it.

8.     The person we miss so terribly is missed so terribly because we loved them so very much. We can take comfort that we cannot do any better than be faithful to their memory in grieving our loss.

9.     Devour the Word of God and enter prayerfully into communion with God. Ask the Holy Spirit to bring you into contact with people, situations, and Words of encouragement. We can deal with a truck load of despair if we have even a vapour of hope.

***

All of what I’ve discussed above I’ve experienced personally, which is why I can write about it with credibility. Not that any of it is to my credit. It’s just worth explaining every now and then so perceptions of doubt don’t become a barrier to God working in others’ lives.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.

When Revelation Turns Revilement Into Restoration

Abysmally alone, crying shuddering tears, withdrawing to any little corner vacuous of agony, desperate for relief, but perhaps too embittered to go there...

Revilement is that sense that life is too painful to live anymore. And that was Jesus: reviled.

Pain has a way of reviling us. It makes our lives so untenable as to be a berating witness when what we clamber for is the remotest hope. Anything would do!

A person’s pain will break them or it will bring them through. And fortunate are those who are broken before they are brought through.

The value of an experienced brokenness prior to delivery from those despicable weapons of distress is it is all revelation: the very spiritual equipment for maturation.

There with pain goes all our life before us, rendered to mud. Nothing means anything any longer. And yet it’s all so very necessary to go the fuller journey – for we shall see why.

***

Sharpness in the pain,
Stinging beyond belief,
Crying out to God: “I’m slain!
“Lord, hasten to my relief...”

Jesus’ joyous wonder,
Dealing with humankind’s dross,
Every sin slain asunder,
Jealous devil curses the cross.

And here we stand a crying,
How pain’s suddenly redeemed,
Incredibly healed of our dying,
Restored out of what despair it seemed.

Understanding surfaces in revelation,
Pain’s enjoined to the bliss,
Doubled is the Spirit’s communication,
The abundant life we are not to miss.

***

Having been doubled over in pain, and having been angry long enough – or having denied, bargained, or been depressed – we looked to God, for nothing had worked!

Nothing of our contribution of strength meant any avail.

Standing at the precipice, we sensed God was there with us, making no judgment, just encouraging us to take the next step... and that next step was to simply trust.

All of our useless resistance is rendered meaningful only when we have no use of it anymore; when we surrender those chains to our Lord.

Pain is reviling in many quarters, yet it’s so much easier to talk about it than live it.

“How could God ‘cause’ us such spiritual iniquity and curse us to the hell of death?” we ask. In a moment’s revelation such calamity is exposed in the silent second’s revelation. God has made a way through!

Pain is made meaningful in this: it enjoins us to the cross where victory is revelation: enduring the worst anguish imaginable is how evil is overcome.

© 2015 S. J. Wickham.