When Trying Harder Doesn't Work
Two years ago on our annual Mexico mission trip I got a 15 passenger van stuck on a hillside. We were building in this very steep area next to railroad tracks. I got stuck at a super awkward angle. I tried to fix the problem by reversing and steering differently, but I was stuck. We literally had to build the road up with some rocks so that I could get enough traction at the right angle to back up off the hillside. I tried to solve our traction problem by steering differently, but the reality is that a traction problem requires a traction solution. This is similar to a reality I continue to grapple with.
Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions.
"Trying harder" doesn't work when it comes to fully living out the life of following Jesus. We merely spin our wheels and don't go anywhere. I guess it's the whole "apart from me you can do nothing" thing from John 15. And yet we try and try to live out Christianity on our own power. When in reality, it's a simple dependence on the Spirit that lives out this life.
(Side Note: I'm not implying that we should create false compartments of life that are "spiritual" and "non-spiritual." All of life is spiritual. Rather I'm talking here more about attempting to follow Jesus by the flesh vs. being led by the Spirit. See Romans 7)
Sensing spiritual attack? It requires a spiritual solution.
Trying to reconcile a relationship? It requires a spiritual solution.
Wrestling with sin? It requires a spiritual solution.
Feeling stuck in an area of life? Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions.
Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions.
"Trying harder" doesn't work when it comes to fully living out the life of following Jesus. We merely spin our wheels and don't go anywhere. I guess it's the whole "apart from me you can do nothing" thing from John 15. And yet we try and try to live out Christianity on our own power. When in reality, it's a simple dependence on the Spirit that lives out this life.
(Side Note: I'm not implying that we should create false compartments of life that are "spiritual" and "non-spiritual." All of life is spiritual. Rather I'm talking here more about attempting to follow Jesus by the flesh vs. being led by the Spirit. See Romans 7)
Sensing spiritual attack? It requires a spiritual solution.
Trying to reconcile a relationship? It requires a spiritual solution.
Wrestling with sin? It requires a spiritual solution.
Feeling stuck in an area of life? Spiritual problems require spiritual solutions.
Labels: spiritual growth
This entry was posted by Mike Lovato, on
Tuesday, August 26, 2008.
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11:43 AM
The "I" Must Die!
In as much as i can 'see',
That which is of the 'I' in me,
So it is i yearn, and to Our Father cry,
For deliverance from all that is of the 'I'.
The 'I', born of "imag"ination and selfish desire,
As lust, greed, and pride, stoked a consuming fire ;-(
A fire burning out of control, as 'I' leads the way,
It's smoke concealing the fleshly minded lies that lead one astray ;-(
Yet even in the smoke, searing heat, and blindness of 'sight',
Truth can pierce the blackness of darkness, revealing "The Light" ;-)
And nothing can hide from "The Light", so "Light" reveals the "I",
Allowing one to "see" clearly, and clearly the "I" must die!
But to live, yet die, seems an impossible task,
And so we need of "Our Father", the impossible to ask.
Help me to "deny myself(die to self)(die to 'I')" Father!
And as HE Helps, HE reveals more and more of "The Selfless One",
The One Who leads His Brethren on "The Way to The Truth of The Life".
He Who was, and is The Messiah, The Son of The Living Elohim!
And as The Messiah desired above all else, so also will His Brethren desire
above all else, "Father(Creator), not my will, But THY Will Be Done"!
The poem i have recorded above was begun in Creel, Chih, Mexico in '93.
Left Mexico in '93 and returned in '04. Then on 1/26/05 the poem was
completed, and 'completion' is near for each and every one. And for
"the poor and needy", thankfully so.......
Translated, "corruptible to incorruptible" indeed and Truth.......
Home at last!
Thanks Be To "Our Father"!
Forever free from The "I".
And while there is breath(spirit) there is hope many will "see",
"see" The "I" for what it is, and then desire to be set free!
"And that Spirit that was in The Messiah shall set you free", "free indeed"!
So, There Is Hope!
And Miracles do happen!
Hope is there would be those who experience The Miracle that is receiving
"a love of The Truth" for they will "see" Reality and "see" that Life is of The
Spirit( not seen with the natural eye), not of the flesh or fleshly mind("I")!
Peace, in spite of the dis-ease(religion) that is of this world....... francisco
(Returned to this place called the u.s. of a. in June of '05, yet to return to
the simplicity that is rural mexico is "MY" desire, yet i realize that in all
things it must be "Father(Great Spirit), not my will, But THY Will Be Done!)