My husband and I have been in a course called “Forming” that
is truly life changing. It’s not the
course that is changing our lives, but the way we are learning to connect with
God’s power to change. He is the one who
changes us, but most of us feel obligated to help Him to a greater or lesser
degree. God never meant for us to work
hard at being alive in Christ, but many of us are never taught the alternative.
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| (sorry-used before -- taken from Staten Island Ferry) |
The simple analogy for Forming’s approach to Christian transformation is the comparison of rowing and sailing. The rowing method of life change is descriptive of the work we do to live up to the commands of scripture. We study the Bible to understand the principles God lays out and to copy the methods of others whose story exhibits how this works, or whose encouragement cheers us on with promises and instruction. We see examples of the life God wants for us and we try to get there. We even pray to get there. And we even make progress because God is so good.
The sailing method of life change is about entering into
such a close and honest relationship with God that we are able to hear what He
is revealing to us uniquely about where we are and where He is taking us in
our walk with Him. The effort we make is
to commune with God and then what we hear and see from Him transforms us from
the heart outward. Change becomes joyful
and feels so natural as our sails catch the wind of the Holy Spirit and we are
carried forward. We stand amazed and
enthralled with the ride we are on with God.
I spent a lot of time rowing before I came into a closer
relationship with the Holy Spirit, but my husband readily confesses that he was
not a rower – or a sailor. He says he
was a drifter. He was in a boat (had received
salvation and saw God’s grace in his life) but he was just drifting along -- wherever. After a few weeks of Forming class he was
hearing that God had MUCH more for him if he would purposely and regularly engage with Him. In other words, if he would put up the sail in
his boat and operate the tiller, he would catch the wind! Now Dan is enjoying morning quiet times with
God and enthralled with being on his own journey.
One thing we talked about in class is spiritual
disciplines. Take that quiet time for
instance. A person can row through his
quiet time by doing it as a requirement (as law). And there may be benefit to this. Quiet times are good. But if it is a time of aligning your sails
for the day, it can radically change your life.
Aligning your sail can look like this:
You find a scripture (or you are in a circumstance) that is speaking to
you; arousing something in your heart.
It could be something very pleasant like awareness of a wonderful
promise or hope or just God’s care for you.
It could something negative like worry that you don’t measure up to this
scripture, or anger at someone that is getting in the way of your peace. Maybe you are
challenged by the scripture, maybe you are blessed and encouraged. Either way, it is an invitation to come to
God honestly and engage in a conversation with Him about it.
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| God keeps us safe on this journey (Hatteras lighthouse) |
If you have issues with the idea or the practice of hearing
from God then the book, the class, and the exercises will help. I, personally, discovered awhile ago and to my delight, that
God does speak to me during prayer and journaling. I have been to retreats and conferences and Bible
Studies and several Christian counselors through the years and each one helped me
in the way I needed it at the time. I am
so grateful for each one! But when I met
my Wonderful Counselor and began “seeing him” all the time, I was never the
same. Things that held me back were
forever healed in my soul. That was
before “Forming” but I am now learning more about how and why this relationship is
God’s plan for every single child. I
just thought I was lucky!
Truly, the idea of having this blog and sharing what I have
learned about life in Christ came out of the wonder and joy of relating to God under
grace. Grace became my way of growing
up in faith and that is why I see so much beyond the narrow gate of
salvation by faith in the Cross. We do
not enter into a life of trying to measure up to a higher standard (with
promised higher rewards at the end). We
enter into a fantastic relationship with our Father, our Brother and our
Helper.
Forming is the work of David Takle and I hope you will look
into it if you think you might be tired of rowing. Blessings to you in the wonderful name of
Jesus!
