Tag: Daniel Westfall

Ep.341: God is . . . What?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Finish this statement with one word.  God is . . . what? What comes to mind for you? God is good?  God is holy? God is father? 

John tells us,
    Whoever does not love
                does not know God,
      because God is love (1 John 4:8). 

God is love, one of three remarkable “God is . . .” statements by John. 

The other two?

“God is spirit” and “God is light”.

The first statement “God is spirit” was delivered to the woman at the well, who had had five husbands, and was now in a sixth relationship. Jesus said to her, God is spirit. It is not where you worship that matters, but how. Worship in spirit and truth (Jn 4:24). 

I would have advised to Jesus to speak simply to the woman, tell her something she can understand, perhaps something appropriate to spiritual immaturity. Instead, Jesus gave her an advanced lesson in worship–worship God in spirit and truth. 

Did she have any inkling of what he meant? Do you know how to  worship in spirit and truth? The woman’s takeaway from her encounter with Jesus wasn’t, “At last. Now I have a credible theory of worship!” Her takeaway was, “Jesus is amazing. He knows all about me.”  

John also says “God is light” (1 Jn 1:5). Light is a metaphor for God. Maybe it points to holiness and purity, or maybe to transparency and vulnerability. Have you ever thought of God as transparent? He lets us see right through him?  

A more scary thought: I am transparent to God. His light shining through me exposes what I hide and what I highlight about myself, my truths and my falsehoods.

John’s third statement is, “God is love”. John says we should love others because God loved us first (1 Jn 4:16, 19. 21). 

These are remarkable standards for following God.
  God is spirit. Worship in spirit.
  God is light.  Walk in the light.
  God is love.   Love one another.

Let’s pray. 

Our father, as smoke from summer wildfires darkens my city, I worship you as God of light. Clear the smoke from my eyes. Help me walk in the light as you are in the light. 

We welcome your light as the spring sun that warms the soil and grows our gardens. We respect your light as a lighthouse that warns of disaster. We fear your light when it interrogates our sins. We endure your light when it comes as radiation to burn away our cancer.

O father, speak to us in love as well as light. May we be glad when you say, “Well done”. May we believe when you forgive our sins. May we receive from you the healing of memories and the transforming of relationships. 

O father, teach us to worship. Our culture worships the body. Free us from the cult of body-building and makeovers and sports and sex. 

Remind us that we are embodied spirits, and that you are pure spirit. Teach us to worship you in spirit and in truth. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.340: Us and Them.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

John divides the world into “us” and “them” saying,
  They are from the world.
      They speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
  We are from God.
      Whoever knows God listens to us (1 Jn 4:5-6).

Perhaps in John’s time it was obvious who “us” and “them” were. Those who served  Jesus were “us”. Those who didn’t were “them”. Plain and simple.

But today’s religious landscape far more convoluted. If John visited today, I’d ask, “So, what do you think? Look around and tell me who is ‘us’ and who is ‘them’.”

John isn’t likely to drop by, so I put the question to you. “Look at all the churches and groups using Jesus’ name. Tell me who’s in and who’s out of God’s circle?”

Would you include  evangelicals like Baptists and Alliance? Mainline liberals like United Methodists and Anglicans? Pentecostals? Seventh-Day Adventists? Jehovah’s Witnesses? Mormons? 

Perhaps when John says “we”, he means individuals, not groups or denominations. Are “we” people who share a common experience like “born again” or a common doctrine like the Apostles Creed? 

John says
      Whoever knows God listens to us.
      Whoever is not from God doesn’t listen to us.
      This is how we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood (1 Jn 4:6). 

Yes, there is a spirit of falsehood in the world, and a spirit of truth. Jesus said, “I am the truth” (Jn 14:6). He didn’t describe truth as orthodox doctrine or good behavior, but as a person–himself. Our path to truth? Get close to that person.   

What separates truth from falsehood is not always the facts, which can be interpreted and disputed. Nor is it simply the goodness or badness of those involved. It is often the spirit behind the words, the spirit of the stories, or the spirit of the allegations. Some spirits resonate with the spirit of Christ, others don’t sound like Jesus at all. And some people’s spirit just confuses me. 

I’m cautious with John’s statement that whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever doesn’t know God doesn’t. Many people don’t listen to me, but I don’t immediately write them off as “them”, not “us”. Distrust can be created by something in my spirit. Or something in the spirit. Or something in both of us. 

How do we recognize the spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood? In his gospel, John says “When the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, beyond the boundaries of the explored world, an old map says, “Here be dragons”. 

That’s how I feel when I reach the limits of my doctrinal and rational knowledge, when I face the unknown ocean where we must discern the spirits. Where truth is not a rational argument, but the person of Christ. Where the way to truth is not more and better study, but the leading of the spirit of truth. 

O father, forgive our sins of the spirit. Cleanse and reorganize our inner lives, that we may know your spirit, and love his truth, and follow his leading into all that is holy and righteous and good.    

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube 

Ep.339: Test the Spirits.

Ep339: Test the Spirits.  

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

John tells us to test the spirits. He says,
    Don’t believe every spirit.
    Test the spirits to see if they are from God,
      because false prophets are everywhere (1 Jn 4:1). 

Yes, false prophets are everywhere. Right wing and left wing politicians, cultural warriors in church and society, media that promote inclusiveness or traditional values. Who to believe? 

One approach to John’s statement is to adopt a narrow focus. Perhaps he is speaking only about religious prophets who claim to represent God.

I prefer a broader approach. Eight billion of us are alive because God breathed into our bodies of clay. Not all of us are prophets in the narrow sense. But we are all prophets in a wider way, in that our spirits express something of God who sustains us and something of the evil that plagues us. 

John provides a test of spirits when he says,
      This is how you recognize the Spirit of God: 
          Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh 
                           is from God:
          Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
                          isn’t from God, but is the spirit of antichrist (1 Jn 4:2-3).  

In John’s black and white view, there are only two qualities of spirit: the Spirit of God, and the spirit of antichrist. As I try to discern the spirit of people I encounter, I find it helpful to ask, Where is God at work in this spirit? Where evil is at work? 

Paul speaks about the spirit of preachers. He says some try to stir up trouble by preaching Christ out of envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition (Phil 1:15, 17). Others preach Christ with good will and love. 

Paul’s advice? Not to test the spirit of preachers or try judging their motives. He asks, “What does it matter? Here’s what is important–that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is being preached” (Phil 1:18). 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, as we walk in your world, we see weeds and wheat growing together in churches, societies, and lives (Mat 13:24-30). Jesus said, Don’t try to pull all the weeds, or you’ll wreck the wheat with your work.

Like the wheat fields, our personal spirits are full of weeds and wheat. As are those who preach the gospel, engage in politics, or blog on the internet. 

Give us grace to see the facts and discern the spirits, to recognize and distrust the spirit of antichrist wherever it grows. To recognize and work with your spirit, wherever he is at work. 

May the wheat in our lives grow, and the weeds be weeded out. Bring quickly the time when you will reveal all the spirits, when you will gather the wheat into your barn, and throw the weeds into the fire. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube 

Ep.338: How do we Know Jesus Lives in Us?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

1 John 3 says,
    We know Jesus lives in us
            by the Spirit he gave us (v. 24). 

Is that how you know Jesus lives in you? Because you recognize his presence in your inner life?

A wise lady once said to me, “Do you believe that Jesus lives in you?”  “Yes,” I replied, “I do.” “Then shouldn’t you begin an inward journey to find and meet with him there?” she asked. That kind of blew my mind. I’d never thought of it that way.

In the town where I grew up, a retired U.S. army man umpired softball. Short, broad, and loud, he looked fierce in face mask, chest protector, and shin pads. He sometimes led singing in the church I attended. His favorite hymns? Onward Christian Soldiers, of course. And Sound the Battle Cry. The army was in his blood, and his Christian life was filled with metaphors of war.

In those years, I kept my troubles to myself. But if I had wanted to confide in someone, I wouldn’t have chosen Army Man. Partly because his spirit, his inner life, was so different from mine. And I think his Christian spirit was mixed with his warrior spirit in a way that frightened me. 

Like Army Man, we all have a mixed spirit. Paul tells us to cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit (2 Cor 7:1). In the battle against evil, we need to start by cleaning up our own spirit. 

Paul tells us to be made new in the spirit of our mind (Eph 4:23). It’s not just incorrect thinking we need to cure, but the deeper attitudes and assumptions that influence our thinking. We need a change in the spirit of our mind. 

Early in my Christian life, I thought the main problem was behavior. I just needed to get my actions right. I soon discovered that behavior management was rather difficult. Perhaps even impossible. 

So I read some Christian books that said behavior comes from the way I think. More and better Bible study, and a better program for meditating should fix my thinking. But it didn’t.

Now Paul tells me I need to clean up my spirit. What tools might help with this project? 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, once I thought the gospel was the good news of behavior management. But my behavior is still unmanaged. 

I thought I could transform my mind by meditating on your word, but my mind is still unreformed. 

And now I discover I need a new spirit. Teach me to know my spirit and your Spirit. Cleanse me from all filthiness of body and spirit. Renew me in my spirit and in the spirit of my mind.

Teach me to know that you live in me by the Spirit you have given me (1 John 3:24). 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube 

Ep.337: Life, Death, and a Scrupulous Conscience.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

In 1 John 3, the author gives two examples of death. 

The first is when Adam and Eve’s son Cain murdered his brother Abel. John explains that Abel’s good deeds exposed Cain’s badness, motivating him to hate his brother and kill him. John says if we obey Christ’s command to love each other, the world take a lesson from Cain and will hate us. Prepare to be hated.

John warns: Don’t respond to hate by hating. If you hate someone, you’re a murderer. Stop your thoughts of murder while they are still in your heart, before you begin to act on them. 

John’s second example of death is Christ. Instead of murdering his brother, Christ died for his brothers and sisters. John says we too should be ready to die for others. 

Die for someone? Really? I am stunned by John’s black-and-white take on life. He says you’re either a death-dealer like Cain or a love-giver and a life-giver like Christ. Not for John the shades of emotional gray that confuse my life, or the misty flood plains on which I live.  

But John doesn’t call us to introspect about our emotional lives, our loves and hates. He says, Don’t just sit there, do something. If you see someone in need, help them. Christ calls us to move beyond words and sentiments to actions and truth. 

John asks,
  How do we know we belong to the truth?
      How can we set our hearts at rest in God’s presence,
        especially if our hearts condemn us? (1 John 3:19) 

His answer:
  We know God is greater than our condemning hearts.
      He knows everything (vv. 19-20).

Early in my Christian life, this verse left me in an agony of despair. I took John to mean:  If my muddled heart knows enough of my sin to condemn me, then God, who knows everything, must have more and better reasons to condemn me.  

Part of my problem was a scrupulous conscience, a conscience oversensitive to the slightest hint of sin, a conscience constantly judging my thoughts and actions. My Christian tradition complicated my confusion by teaching that conscience was God’s gift to be obeyed, not a problem to be solved. 

I finally took my confusion to the New Testament to see what it says about conscience. Surprise! It taught that conscience is an unreliable judge of good and evil.  

The King James Bible talks about a weak conscience, a defiled conscience, a conscience seared with a hot iron, and a conscience loaded with dead works. Hebrews says we require training to know the difference between good and evil (5:14). Watch out! An untrained conscience is a deadly trap. It’s an unruly puppy, chewing slippers and making messes. An untrained conscience needs obedience lessons!

This gives John’s words a different quality. Yes, God is greater than my heart and knows everything. God knows how flawed and self-centered my conscience is, how faulty its judgements about right and wrong. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, if our hearts condemn us, you are greater than our hearts. You know everything. You know more than enough to condemn us, but you choose to give mercy and healing. 

Teach us not to trust the condemning judgments of our muddled conscience. Teach us to discern good and evil.

Teach us not to hate like Cain but to love like Christ. 

Teach us not to overthink and overvalue our emotions, whether they are dominated by  love and compassion or repugnance and hate. Teach us to respect our emotions and hear what they tell us. And teach us to act in love. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube