Out and About 3

[HKHaugan]

If you have been following the tack I have taken here, zeroing in on the spiritual dimension, you’ll recognize my emphasis on this dimension being the source of everything that motivates us.  Logically it follows that if everything has a spiritual source then if problems occur in the physical dimension they have a spiritual source and need spiritual correction.  That spiritual correction may lead to insight that enables physical adjustment.  For instance the whole field of medicine is the result of a spiritual inspiration to heal.  Science is a reaction to the incentive to discover the workings of the physical universe.  Both inspiration and incentive are invisible and arrive at the surface of our consciousness (unseen) when we need to adjust to issues arising in the physical. 

 

Of course you can question whether or not a scientist’s discovery was the result of faith in God.  Maybe, maybe not.  But the idea that correction is needed is dubbed as good.  It is good to heal; it is good to find out how the universe works in as much detail as possible.  Science is good, medicine is good and existence is good.  Just the idea that one needs to learn, to achieve, to ‘go where no man has gone before’ is good.  As soon as we put the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ tag on something it becomes a moral personal invisible choice and therefore becomes a spiritual concern.  The very idea of its spiritual nature gives it credence as a God-given curiosity implanted in the human fabric.  Again even atheism has its spiritual morality; it’s good not to believe in God and its bad to believe in Him.  The religion of atheism is practiced in self-contradiction, to believe in not believing. 

 

Let’s get back to spirituality.  There are so many currents in the spiritual dimension.  If we liken them to ocean currents we can see good and bad.  The Gulf Stream is a constantly flowing current that carries warm water from the southern seas across to Europe and makes what would have been a glacial Norway into a a semi-temperate inhabitable land.  Other currents of shorter distance can form eddies and whirlpools that can destroy shipping. 

 

I know analogies have their limits in description but liken the Gulf Stream to the Holy Spirit, the eddies and whirlpools to evil spirits.  You need a navigator with a map, the proper equipment to identify position and maintain course and a trained crew to assure passage.  Every moment for a ship captain and crew demand exacting awareness especially in the dark and in the midst of storms that threaten to throw you of course.  They have to be alert. 

 

Likewise in the spiritual realm our ship is the Body of Christ, its captain is Jesus, our map is Scripture and our guidance system is the Holy Spirit.  We know every day is different and there are destructive currents that make our daily trip a journey into the unknown, the unexpected and the unpredictable.  These spiritual currents are what constitute the principalities and powers moving subtly to draw us away from depending on God, distracting us from living by faith in Jesus and keeping us from being open to the Holy Spirit who can sustain us in the most trying of circumstances.  This is why we need to go into detail about the resources available to maneuver its vastness.  What motivates us seems to be blithely overlooked as we go from moment to moment in the average day’s activity.  Do we really take seriously the fact of the unseen, how vast it is and what it contains? 

 

First, we need to face our limitations.  We need help to understand.  It’s too broad a reality for us to grasp with our finite minds.  Obviously we can’t constantly be trying to peer into the unseen and what it contains. We would be playing right into the devil’s hands.  This would make us so self-absorbed we’d be immobilized.  Furthermore, we would be relying on our ability instead of God’s presence. That is why we have been given our relationship with Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Scripture.  They are our personal references in mind, heart and spirit at any given moment. 

 

Second, we need to be faithful.  It is our faith in Jesus that carries us from moment to moment.  Until we are willing to admit our minimal ability to function in the spiritual we are extremely vulnerable to inner and outer conflict that seems to have no logic or reason for happening.  With faith in Jesus we can be led to either avoid conflict or counter it positively since He provides His presence in the Holy Spirit.  Even in our most obstinate and rebellious moments we can be brought into the sense of guilt, be opened to repentance and find forgiveness, which heals our spirit through the power of His Holy Spirit.

 

Third, we need Scripture.  Scripture is the reservoir from which the Holy Spirit draws as we allow Him to retrain our mind, our heart and our spirit.  Scripture does three things. 

 

First, as the road map Jesus provides to know Him as God the Son, it identifies who God is, who we are, what the world is, who the enemies are, what their strategies are and the destiny not only of the universe but each of us as well. 

 

Second, it is the spiritual atlas detailing the structure and movement of what takes place in this massive spiritual dimension that surrounds us.  It describes Heaven, hell, the world, humanity, morality, relationship and the evil forces that occupy spiritual space. 

 

Third, it is empowered by God the Holy Spirit as a spiritual change agent in restoring fallen humanity.  It brings us the antidote to sin on every page and gives us the spiritual tools to effectively live every next moment under God’s cover in the both the seen and the unseen.  It gives us a logical framework to rebuild our minds, relational insight to restore our hearts to God and one another and an anthology of the Holy Spirit’s work to revive our spirits. Next, more detail.