- May 2, 2011
- 6 Comments
Spiritual Formation Axiom #1 – God is Always Present and at Work
Thought it might be good to put out some assumptions I make about spiritual formation in the local church. These are – as all things kicked around on The Submissional Life – in process. Would love to have dialogue.
Spiritual Formation Axiom #1: God is always present and at work.
This has two corollaries:
1. He doesn’t “show up”…he’s always showing up. Rather, he’s up. Period. It may be better to say we wake up to his activity as more and more of his kingdom comes in our life by faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “I am with you always to the end of the age” and comes to us as one who stands at the door and knocks – he is always coming in love to invite us into love. (Ps 139; Matt 28.20; Jn 5.17, 19; Acts 17.27-28; Rev 3.20) God is present.
2. He is at work especially in our messes, storms, and crises…at those places where life seems unmanageable, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. When all hell seems to break loose in our lives, this is ground zero for all heaven to break loose in our lives. It is a severe mercy – a difficult grace – to be led to the place of deep surrender at the end of ourselves. Welcome the struggle – invite God into your messes. (2 Cor 4.8-12; 6.4-10; 11.23-30; 12.9-10) God is at work.
So, if this is true for spiritual formation in Christlikeness – If God is always present and at work – I have a question I’d love to dialogue about:
How do we talk about and understand spiritual warfare (i.e. the work of The Enemy) if we believe God is always present and at work? I understand that Gen 50.20 and Rom 8.28 are often thrown out there to describe how God super-intends…but…a pastoral question: How do we know when to pray against the Evil One and when to embrace the struggle and meet God in the midst? Or – is the question an unnecessary dualism?
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re your question on Spiritual Warfare, my opinion:
I agree, it’s an unnecessary dualism. IMO, by definition God’s presence displaces evil. Praying for more connection to God *is* all we need against the Evil One, and no direct energy should be focused on it.
At the risk of sounding like I just finished reading C.S.Lewis, I submit that Satan would love it if we spent our time focused on praying against him. For two reasons:
1) it keeps our attention where we may be more likely to hear his deceptive whispers – we’re watching his show instead of God’s, and
2) it keeps our attention not on God and His grace.
Satan probably loves it when we rail against him. It is a way of tricking us into energizing our negative sides. We do Satan/evil the most disservice when we ignore him (!!as distinct from failing to remain mindful that he exists!!) and remain fully focused on our gratitude to God for His grace in our world and lives.
I’m prone to agree with you, Gary…but I still want to know if I’m missing something here…
What about “embracing the struggle and meeting God in the midst BY praying against the Evil One?”
Ben – I like that. But too often “praying against the Evil One” is synonymous with NOT meeting God in the midst but blaming/finding a scapegoat/ seeking a way out rather than pressing deeper in. Am I clear enough on that concern? I’m thinking about Paul in 2 Cor 4.8-12 and numerous other places (Col 1.24, etc) where Paul sees death, destruction, suffering, hardships as badges of honor, crowns of glory, filling up what is lacking in the suffering of Christ. I could quote 1 Peter here too – not much praying against the Evil One – (Eph 6 would seem to be the exception).
How do you make sense of all that?
I am particularly fond of Luther’s method: fart at the devil.
Seriously, though, in my past relationships with people whose worship consisted mostly of doing spiritual warfare and casting out demons, it seems to me now that FEAR and SHAME were the driving factors in that kind of ministry. If anyone came to the prayer warriors with any kind of problem, be it an illness, marriage stress, whatever, it could be named and they could be delivered from it. There was rarely, if ever, an acknowledgement of how God was working in the midst of the struggle. It was assumed that the only one at work was the Enemy (and his demons), and so therefore we must entreat God to counter the enemy’s activity, waiting for him to show up and begin working. It was also assumed that God’s will for us is never to suffer, so we must be delivered (or escape) from any and all adversity in order to be faithful. Spiritual warfare administered to and individual by a group of prayer warriors was the means of such deliverance. It looked like a practice of magic, and functionally it was.
I do not deny the reality of spiritual battles, both internally between flesh and spirit and externally (or extra-ternally) between angels and demons. However, the term “spiritual warfare” appears to be a rather new one (30-40 years old), embraced fervently by extremist Pentecostals and Nationalists, and implies (and exhibits in practice) violence in the mind of God. I am leery of terms such as these that evoke an image of a militant God. But again, I do not deny the reality of such spiritual wrestling. I see it, though, as a weak enemy, whom we have no reason to fear, who is scratching and clawing with all of his violent might to tear us down, but a God who laughs at such wimpy tactics, who has already conquered in love not with the sword, but by submission and humility. Instead of crushing his enemies (i.e., you and me and every evil force), he was crushed for us. He invites us to participate in his sufferings. Perhaps this is how he wants us to conquer the enemy.
Maybe sometimes it’s more of a multi-step issue. It’s important to call out what is evil and where it is coming from, but then even more imperative to call on the Lord to teach us through it and to end it in his time. If I don’t recognize where the pain comes from, I get confused and end up picturing a God who is out to get me, rather than one who allows the pain from evil to teach me to go to Him.