Trading the Will for the Well

Perhaps the most common source of struggle and failure in a Christian’s life is a misunderstanding of the role of willpower in the transformation process.  The belief that spiritual maturity is chiefly dependent on exercising greater willpower to change into a better (more godly) person, is exactly the opposite of the truth.  If that statement is shocking to you, let me explain.  

            The reader may have heard the slogan “if it’s gonna be, it’s up to me.”  While there is an element of truth to the statement, it does not work spiritually speaking.  Clarifying the difference between, and contrasting the physical realm and the spiritual realm, helps to bring understanding.  The physical realm is identified by laws that govern how the natural world operates.  For example, our bodies are subject to the law of gravity.  Gravity keeps us from floating into outer space.  Gravity is also demonstrated if we step out of a window on the tenth floor of a building.  Our body will be injured in the fall, but this is to be expected.  Even flapping our arms will not cause us to fly.  Whether we believe in gravity or not, it is enforced on our physical body. 

The spiritual realm is equally real, and similarly governed by laws (moral principles).  God set in motion an orderly reality as revealed in the Bible.  His commandments identify a standard of righteousness to protect us and provide passage for our experiences to go well for us.  When we sin (disobey God), it can be painful because harmful consequences result when disrupting God’s order for the way things work.  As broken body parts show how misalignment with laws in the physical realm occur, brokenness in the spiritual realm separates us from God and mis-aligns us with his ways. 

The intersection of the physical and spiritual realms is called the soul of man.  This third realm of reality is called the psychological realm by author Ed Kurath in chapter two of his book, I Will Give You Rest (see http://divinelydesigned.com).  Kurath explains that it operates in accordance with our own powers and abilities.  Habit patterns, our intellect, and our own willpower are aspects of the psychological realm. Our willpower has been given to us as a tool to manage this psychological realm, and it only has authority there.   Kurath says,

“But we have made a huge mistake, because we have believed that our willpower also has authority in the spiritual realm. However, our willpower only has authority in the psychological realm. We cannot overcome or defy the physical laws or spiritual laws with our willpower.

Our willpower is impotent in defying the laws of the physical realm, and it was never given to us for this purpose. We cannot fly by flapping our arms. We cannot lift a 500 pound weight. We discover that no matter how much we want to lift it, we can't. We can will it, but we cannot perform it.

What is perhaps harder to understand is that our willpower is as impotent in the spiritual realm as it is in the physical realm. It was never given to us for the purpose of managing the spiritual realm. We discover this impotence when we try to do a spiritually impossible task, like obeying the laws of God. We discover that no matter how hard we want to do the good that we ought to, we cannot. We can "will" it, but we cannot perform it. O wretched man that I am (Romans 7:24). Our failure to do the good that we want to do is not due to a lack of willpower, it is due to our misunderstanding about reality. We are under the illusion that we ought to be able to "will" it and thus do it.”

Willpower can be used to our advantage for some things controlled by our intellect and reason.  If we have a bad habit, for example, of eating snacks instead of healthy food, we may be able to change the foods we eat with practice and repeating the good behavior.  But when a  bad behavior or habit is rooted in a spiritually poor condition (in the spiritual realm), spiritual laws take over. Trying to stop (or even interrupt) the operation of God’s spiritual laws is a bit like an ant in the middle of a highway telling a truck to stop as it is about to crush the ant. 

Many problems people face in life (eg. very destructive habits, addictions, generational transmissions, destructive relational conflicts, chronic mood swings, etc.) are perpetuated by a delusion that willpower alone will gain the victory.  Their failure is the result of "trying hard" to quit - making a decision with their intellect and relying on their willpower to bring it to pass.  They are doomed to failure because God's laws are his, not ours to uphold. This misunderstanding is a big problem, and it is widespread among Christ-followers.  The Bible makes very powerful statements regarding the illusion of our will.  It is a universal flaw in mankind to think we can manage our own life in our own strength.  It is so automatic, insidious, and covert that we don't even realize what we are doing.   (Note some of these spiritual laws like the laws of judgment are discussed in other articles; see The Unoffendable Heart http://authoredhersh.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-unoffendable-heart.html ).

            There is a power to super-cede willpower.  That power is well power.  Jesus is the well.  Jesus is the provision for obeying God’s commands.  Well power calls us to “be” like Jesus and not just “act” like Jesus.  Jesus invites us to drink from the well of living water.  A story recorded by the gospel of John about a woman drawing water at a well, says this, “Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;  but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). 

If someone is traveling in the desert, thirsty, and encounters a well, would they first try to dig another well beside the one that exists?  The course of action would be to recognize the problem of needing water, believe in the ability of the well to pump the water, decide to work the pump, and act by working the pump.   Similar to this physical world example, the spiritual realm works like it.  The deepest need for every soul is to re-connect with God through Jesus.  The steps to meet the need are to first recognize the need, believe in Jesus as the provision for meeting the need, use willpower to decide to activate the provision, and act by praying and waiting on God for further direction and strength. 

Leaders seem to have an especially hard time surrendering their will for the well.  One reason is the overly high expectations of perfection on the part of followers.  Leaders are expected to make things happen and implore others to make things happen (assuming willpower as the chief motivator).  By definition leaders lead.   Leaders are typically high energy, high achieving, highly will-driven catalysts, who perceive dependence on outside motivational resources as a sign of weakness.   Drinking from the well (with God as the source), can too easily become an after thought.  Whether parenting, pastoring, functioning as CEO, or just being a good friend to a neighbor in need, leadership requires first being good leaders of self. 

Like Jesus, good leaders must first be good followers of their Master.  All through the book of John in the Bible, we are told how Jesus did everything according to the will of his Father in heaven.  For all followers of Jesus this means that Jesus is the only way to eat spiritual bread and drink spiritual water.  “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him” (John 6:55-56).  This statement from Jesus is part of an explanation after one of the first miracles he performed.  Read it in John 6.  Jesus had thousands of people sit down on the grass and Jesus took a boy’s lunch box with 5 bread cakes and 2 fish, blessed and multiplied it, and fed the crowd to satisfaction.  After their bellies were full, they acknowledged him as the great Prophet (John 6:14).  But, by the end of this teaching people were ready to stone him to death (John 7:1), and very few disciples remained in the crowd. (John 6:60-61,66-67). 

So what made this such a difficult teaching to accept?  Jesus performed a miracle which physically fed thousands of people to demonstrate a spiritual law (truth).  God is the well.  God is the provider of eternal life, and there is no way for people to work their way to God on their own willpower.   They cannot even sustain their life on earth without his provision.   Jesus was directly challenging their self-will and self-righteous behaviors when,  “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.  He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:53-54).  Jesus is the only source of spiritual food and water that transforms our soul.  No good deed performed by a person’s will carries any significance in saving a soul--neither in conversion nor ongoing sanctification. 

We do well to ask (as did Jesus listeners in the story above), “What is our part in all this?”   Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work .., that you believe in Him whom He has sent” (John 6:29).  In sum, our “work” is to surrender to the process of transformation.  It can take much effort to change entrenched harmful “beliefs”--including false assumptions gathered, erroneous conclusions drawn, condemning judgments cast,  bad subconscious decisions made  (see other blog articles for more on this).  Sometimes I find myself (even on a daily basis) in a similar dilemma as Jesus followers in the story above.  Do I really want to change (toward God’s direction)?  Do I want to let God in control of the change?  What beliefs (assumptions, conclusions, judgments) are in the way of God working his change in me?  What ways of thinking need to change?   Our “work” is to believe by surrendering to God’s work of bringing things to our awareness, remitting the shortcomings we confess, forgiving the sins for which we repent, and giving us a future and hope for God’s name to be famed through it all.

 by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Spiritaul Fitness

What images come to mind when we hear the word fitness?  We may think of a gym, exercise, body conditioning, eating healthy foods, thinking clear thoughts, or acting fittingly (appropriately) in emotionally taxing circumstances.  But fitness, as applied to our spiritual condition, has less to do with our human activity, and more to do with surrendering to the transformation (conditioning) God does in our heart.   

Physical fitness is developed by conditioning the body to make its parts stronger.  Spiritual fitness is just the opposite.  It allows God to become stronger within us.  It relinquishes the desire to be strong of our own doing, and allow the Holy Spirit to make us strong from the inside out.  Acknowledging we are powerless to save ourselves in our most wretched human condition is the beginning of spiritual fitness.  Receiving God’s ways of living (relinquishing our own ways), provides the strength to  override our weakness, and is how we become fit (see 2 Corinthians 12:9-10).  

We must not confuse our spiritual condition with spiritual disciplines.  Engaging in activity that attaches the word discipline to Bible reading, meditation, or prayer does not translate to fitness.  I don’t mean to minimize the importance of practicing self-discipline, but the enormity of our need for divine intervention requires discipleship (following after Christ), not discipline of self.  

A book that helps explore practicing inner transformation is Ruth H Barton’s Sacred Rhythms.   She says, “… this structured arrangement of spiritual practices is referred to as “a rule of life.” A rule of life is a way of ordering our life around the values, practices and relationships that keep us open and available to God for the work of spiritual transformation that only God can bring about. Simply put, a rule of life provides structure and space for our growing.”  We must learn and practice the disciplines for posturing our body, mind, and soul to receive spiritual nourishment from God (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23).  However, we cannot confuse spiritual formations with spiritual fitness (presence-based relationship with Father God).  

Spiritual fitness is motivated by our deepest longings for God.  Desiring to intimately know, and be known by, God, produces far more valuable treasure than anything this world has to offer.   A shapely body, big bank account, or powerful position is worthless in comparison to close connection with the God who created us and gives us our identity.  

We are transformed like the caterpillar to butterfly.  The caterpillar is connected to earth by gravity.  It’s perspective is very limited.  The butterfly on the other hand, though held to earth by gravity, is freed by overriding  laws of aerodynamics to explore greater perspectives.  In order for metamorphosis to take place, the caterpillar must cease to exist (as a caterpillar).  It dies as it weaves a cocoon to prepare for transformation.  So too our old assumptions held, conclusions drawn, opinions formed, judgments made, and beliefs obtained, must die and be surrendered to a higher law.  The contents of the cocoon looks like a state of nothingness to the human eye.  But from the hidden place the butterfly emerges.  Without the cocoon, there is no butterfly.

This reminds me of a verse of Scripture the Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossians.   Paul is describing the process of putting off an old way of life, and taking on a brand new existence when we choose to follow Christ.  He says, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ, in God” (Colossians 3:2-3).    

God is the one who performs the miracle of transformation.  Our “work” is to cooperate with the process.  As we surrender the old, he creates the new.  This morphing is to  happen on a continual basis.  The creepy crawler, caterpillar, worldly views, get transformed into heavenly, Christ-like, glorious views.   Glory be to God.  In the transformational, cocoon-like conditions of human life, the surface appearance may not be beautiful (and downright ugly sometimes), but the outcomes are worth the struggle.  

As a follower of Christ, asking myself regularly questions like the following will keep on the path to spiritual fitness.  What excess weight (behaviors not aligned with Gods ways as taught in Scripture) do I need to shed?  What false assumptions may I be holding on to, that block my view of God, myself, and other people?  What earth-bound views do I hold that need to be surrendered to God?  What heavenly views does God want me to grab a hold of, and focus on, to upgrade my future?  If I’m having trouble answering these questions, what am I going to do, or who am I going to seek help from, to get answers?  

Blessings, and stay fit!   

 
by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Healing Prayer Basics

When life hurts, where do we turn?  To whom do we look to for healing?  Healing prayer is turning our attention to God, and through communication with him, changing our perspective on the past, and gaining new hope for the journey ahead.

            I describe here, a few important considerations.

First, to receive healing from God, cognitive insight is not enough.  Although the part of the human being we can see (physical) is most obvious, the unseen part (non-physical or inner being) is more dominent, thus very real.  The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk explains in simple language how our emotional brain limits our rational brain.  Exploring our deepest feelings, desires, and core beliefs about our world must be part of the healing process.  

Next, our heart is broken because our world is broken.  Since the first human sinned, the Bible explains how we each fall short of the original design God has for our lives.  As we grow from childhood into adulthood, our hurts and wounds magnify our pain.  The broken things in our past create more brokenness and sometimes the real source of pain becomes hard to uncover.  

Also, we must acknowledge there are no exceptions.  We all need healing to become a whole person.  In the physical world, every child gets, at the very least, banged knees, splinters, or broken skin that is vulnerable to infection and disease.   If time passes before the wound is discovered by a caretaker, it may have to be reopened and cleaned out for it to heal properly.  Though emotional hurts and wounds may not be visible, they are real, and the passing of time makes them worse.  Insensitivities, neglects, mistreatments, rejection, losses, and shame (self inflicted or by others) does not go away on its own.  It requires a process to dislodge, and remain free of set-backs.   

For some, pain may be caused by trauma, violence, gross injustice, abuse, or severe neglect.  But common to us all are hurts caused by things like illnesses, injuries, broken relationships, family breakups, bullying, slandering, lying, stealing. immorality, and accidents.  If a painful experience hasn’t come to your mind in reading so far, try this little exercise.  Pretend that your life is over, and by  God’s grace, you are enjoying your new life in eternal glory.  Jesus comes to you, and asks you to volunteer to go back to earth in your former body, family, economic status, and the same earthly circumstances as your life was before, with one exception.  You are allowed to make one change.  What would that change be?  Whatever you wish could be changed about your life circumstances likely carries some disappointment, frustration, annoyance, discomfort, unrest, or dissatisfaction.  These symptoms create a tremendous amount of toxic stress (infection of the soul) smf negatively impact your work, relationships, self-concept, and life’s meaning and destiny.    

To become completely free of the unwanted stresses, let us consider a few more basic principles of healing prayer.   In order to discover the root cause of hurt, we must allow ourselves to “feel” the hurt long enough to identify specific feelings and emotions associated.  These feelings and emotions are always driven by specific beliefs developed and reinforced by circumstances over time.  Perceptions are created, conclusions are drawn, opinions are formed, and critical judgments are made about how life works, and should work.  The older we become the more our present core beliefs are so buried in our subconscious that we can’t even remember how and where they came to be.  Another factor on our ability to remember is the intensity to which the hurt or wound was inflicted.    Greater degrees of abuse, for example, tend to carry greater degrees of denial or dissociation,  Denial is a useful self-protection coping strategy for a time, but becomes a huge burden as time goes on.   So, naming our present feelings and naming our accompanying beliefs, are first steps in the process.  

Beliefs are powerful.  Every behavior and action we take has a belief behind it.  If we believe we are competent and capable, we will step out in confidence and display self-assurance in our work, play, and relationships.  If we believe the opposite about ourselves, we will be trapped by self-doubt, self-condemnation, and self-rejection.   An example that demonstrates this principle involves the circus elephant.  In former days, the training of  an elephant began early in the elephant’s life.   The only environment the small elephant knew was a chain that kept him in the location the trainer chose for him.  The elephant grew into adulthood believing he was limited by the confines of the chain.  When the chain is removed for circus tricks he remains with the trainer because he knows nothing else.  Freedom (escape)  does not even occur to him.  In general, animals are trained through repetition, and the natural inclinations of humans are the same.  We gravitate to the familiar, even if the familiar is harmful or not in our best interest.  A victimized person will subconsciously seek to be victimized because their beliefs confirm to them a lack of worthfulness and value.  Even depression and anxiety can be reinforced by believing life only offers despondent or scary circumstances.  

Not only do our beliefs trap us, but they are guaranteed to be telling us lies.  Our default tendency (from conception onward) is to perceive and interpret unpleasant surroundings in a negative way.  This sets us up to believe things that are not true about God, ourselves, and other people.  As children we are especially vulnerable to lies taking root in our thinking.   For example, a five year old girl who overhears her daddy say to his friend about her, “We wished she would have been a boy,” can set her up for huge ramifications.   I’ve heard numerous cases where seemingly harmless words or actions by a caretaker result in wounding.   Generally speaking, children often tend to blame themselves for bad things that happen.   The little girl’s inner voice may hear her daddy’s words as, “I should have been a boy,” or “I’m really not loved because I’m not a boy, “I need to try to become a boy to be loved,” or “I’m not lovable,” or “I am a mistake,” or all sorts of other lies.  Parents’ divorces usually result in children blaming themselves for the breakup.  Injury or illness to siblings can create false guilt and self-condemnation.  False beliefs tend to create more false beliefs so circumstances in adulthood are merely replays of childhood woundings.  This negative bent in our personhood is part of the broken condition of humanity since sin and shame entered our world.  Shame is at the root of all false beliefs.  To explore more details on how and why shame is at the root of our core identity, read Dr. Curt Thompson’s book The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe about ourselves.

The solution for false beliefs is true beliefs.  As noted above, our physical brain and mind is not the only part of us to be convinced of the truth.  Our heart (inner being) must come to an understanding of truth that secures, preserves, and advances our whole being.  

Jesus said of himself that HE is the way, the truth, and the life (see John 14:6).  Jesus is the Healer.  We cannot know Father God except through Jesus His Son (see John 14:6-7).  God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together to provide healing for our innate broken condition.  Healing prayer is an avenue by which we can allow the Holy Spirit to reveal hidden things in the broken parts of our subconscious, so they can be brought into light and take away  the opportunity for shame to continue to condemn us.  We exchange lies for truth.  We exchange condemning judgments for empathy.  We exchange despair for hope.  Disappointment and dissatisfaction can turn to contentment and fulfillment.  

Healing prayer can be hard work.  Not that prayer should be difficult, but being honest with ourselves and with God long enough to receive the truth God has for us, is the “work” that makes for, the sometimes difficult, steps in our journey.  Facing the pain in our experiences, confessing the error in our reactions, repenting, and surrendering to God’s solution, is viewed by most as too hard or scary to try.  But I encourage all who read this to decide to be one of the few.  I’m here to say the rewards are worth it.   God is our Refuge and strength (Psalm 46).   Holding on to old hurts and wounds becomes far more painful than receiving healing from Refuge.    

My next article will discuss more specifics of how to practice healing prayer.  

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry