So, I got a phone call a couple days ago. I didn't recognize the number at all but being the nice person I am, I cheerfully answered, 'hello.' What I heard in response, though, wasn't what I expected. Instead of a responsive, 'Hello to you,' I heard someone speaking Spanish on the other line. I stood there kind of stunned and finally said, 'I don't speak Spanish' in clear English, and apologizing, I hung up the phone. I knew it was stupid to speak in English to someone who doesn't speak English...but what else could I do? I don't speak Spanish.
Now, I took French in High School for a couple years. And with all of the cassette tapes we listened to and the VHS tapes we watched of funny little French teens speaking in their berets, I still only know just enough French to make me sound like an idiot. I can understand some words in French and speak some sentences but they're usually ones that have no benefit to real life - sentences such as "J'aime ma pomme de terre" which translated means 'I love my potato.' Yeah. Not exactly fluent.
In Christianity, we speak a different language. Obviously, unbelievers have no idea what we're talking about when we say things like salvation, redemption, and sanctification. They respond to us like I did to the Spanish speaking man on the phone..."I have no idea what you're saying." But I also find that it's not just non-Christians who don't know 'the terms'...but, we as BELIEVERS are not fluent in own language. We are just like me in French class - we hear the words, we can even repeat the words, but we really cannot define the words. Maybe we know just enough Christianese to say, "J'aime Jesus" or to lift our hands and sing about the anointing...but we're too afraid to lift our hands and ask the teacher, 'What does this actually mean?"
In my Sunday School class, I am giving my students the opportunity to define the terms. We recently took time to define 'the anointing' AND we are going to be talking about what it feels like (which is another thing most Pentecostals and Charismatics cannot define well...but that's for another blog!). We've have defined the anointing as, 'God giving us His power and ability to accomplish His will and His work.' The point of yesterday's class was talking about how we should increase in the anointing. We talked about 3 things that are key to increasing in the anointing...but they are 3 things that can easily get neglected in translation: faith, grace, and glory. I really wanted to do my best to cut through all of the theological descriptions of these words and make it practical and understandable, because if we don't...can we really encounter them? Can we really grow in them if we don't understand them? So, here's my practical, down to earth, brief definitions of faith, grace, and glory in light of growing in God's anointing:
1) Faith - best defined as pure trust in God. This is something God desires for us to grow in. Now, most people know that to grow in faith you must read your bible and pray in the Spirit. I have heard these 2 things taught over and over. Now, these 2 things are necessary to grow in faith...but here's the problem I've found - we turn them into a to-do list..."if I do these things, I will grow in faith.' I'm not saying I disagree with that at all. So, where does the problem lie? It lies in the fact that FAITH is about a relationship...not about a duty list. We're missing the most fundamental aspect of growing in faith if we just say 'read your bible and pray.' Abraham was the Father of faith because he simply trusted God - he trusted God was God and trusted God to be God. All of our reading of the word, all of our praying in the Spirit must first flow from the simple fact that we trust God. This can be summarized as resting in who He is and what He has promised. I grow in this trust each time I say 'no' to doubt and 'yes' to peace. I grow in faith each time I see my painful circumstances, but still lift my eyes to the Maker of Heaven and earth. Simply put, I want to trust God not because it's the right thing to do....but because I know Him.
2) Grace - best defined as God's presence being poured out on you to do what YOU do not have the strength to do. Does that make sense? When compared with our definition of 'the anointing,' you can see why they are closely related. How can I grow in Grace? Here's a practical example:
3) Glory - glory can best be defined by reading Exodus 33:17 -34:7:
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the kid in Christianese 101 who has no idea what other people are talking about. So let's not be afraid to raise our hands and ask the Great Teacher to explain the terms to us. 1 John 2:27 says, "But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things...". I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit is the source and the translator of the language of the heart. He gives me the courage to straighten my beret and dare to be fluent in all these terms I otherwise wouldn't really understand. Now...if He can only help me with Spanish...
Now, I took French in High School for a couple years. And with all of the cassette tapes we listened to and the VHS tapes we watched of funny little French teens speaking in their berets, I still only know just enough French to make me sound like an idiot. I can understand some words in French and speak some sentences but they're usually ones that have no benefit to real life - sentences such as "J'aime ma pomme de terre" which translated means 'I love my potato.' Yeah. Not exactly fluent.
In Christianity, we speak a different language. Obviously, unbelievers have no idea what we're talking about when we say things like salvation, redemption, and sanctification. They respond to us like I did to the Spanish speaking man on the phone..."I have no idea what you're saying." But I also find that it's not just non-Christians who don't know 'the terms'...but, we as BELIEVERS are not fluent in own language. We are just like me in French class - we hear the words, we can even repeat the words, but we really cannot define the words. Maybe we know just enough Christianese to say, "J'aime Jesus" or to lift our hands and sing about the anointing...but we're too afraid to lift our hands and ask the teacher, 'What does this actually mean?"
In my Sunday School class, I am giving my students the opportunity to define the terms. We recently took time to define 'the anointing' AND we are going to be talking about what it feels like (which is another thing most Pentecostals and Charismatics cannot define well...but that's for another blog!). We've have defined the anointing as, 'God giving us His power and ability to accomplish His will and His work.' The point of yesterday's class was talking about how we should increase in the anointing. We talked about 3 things that are key to increasing in the anointing...but they are 3 things that can easily get neglected in translation: faith, grace, and glory. I really wanted to do my best to cut through all of the theological descriptions of these words and make it practical and understandable, because if we don't...can we really encounter them? Can we really grow in them if we don't understand them? So, here's my practical, down to earth, brief definitions of faith, grace, and glory in light of growing in God's anointing:
1) Faith - best defined as pure trust in God. This is something God desires for us to grow in. Now, most people know that to grow in faith you must read your bible and pray in the Spirit. I have heard these 2 things taught over and over. Now, these 2 things are necessary to grow in faith...but here's the problem I've found - we turn them into a to-do list..."if I do these things, I will grow in faith.' I'm not saying I disagree with that at all. So, where does the problem lie? It lies in the fact that FAITH is about a relationship...not about a duty list. We're missing the most fundamental aspect of growing in faith if we just say 'read your bible and pray.' Abraham was the Father of faith because he simply trusted God - he trusted God was God and trusted God to be God. All of our reading of the word, all of our praying in the Spirit must first flow from the simple fact that we trust God. This can be summarized as resting in who He is and what He has promised. I grow in this trust each time I say 'no' to doubt and 'yes' to peace. I grow in faith each time I see my painful circumstances, but still lift my eyes to the Maker of Heaven and earth. Simply put, I want to trust God not because it's the right thing to do....but because I know Him.
2) Grace - best defined as God's presence being poured out on you to do what YOU do not have the strength to do. Does that make sense? When compared with our definition of 'the anointing,' you can see why they are closely related. How can I grow in Grace? Here's a practical example:
- I ask for grace to forgive the person who has deeply hurt me
- I wait for grace and receive it by spending time at Jesus' feet, communing with Him, talking with Him about my need and His great supply
- I then find the courage and strength to release that person
- This in turn, trains me in my inner man….in that I am learning how to yield to God’s will and work in me….
- Therefore, forgiving others becomes more ‘natural’ for me...so this grace will be increasing in my life. See how it works?
3) Glory - glory can best be defined by reading Exodus 33:17 -34:7:
- 17 So the Lord said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." 18 And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." 19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion… Ex 34:5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the kid in Christianese 101 who has no idea what other people are talking about. So let's not be afraid to raise our hands and ask the Great Teacher to explain the terms to us. 1 John 2:27 says, "But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things...". I am so grateful that the Holy Spirit is the source and the translator of the language of the heart. He gives me the courage to straighten my beret and dare to be fluent in all these terms I otherwise wouldn't really understand. Now...if He can only help me with Spanish...
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