2.17.09
Long time, no post (:
So yesterday, I couldn't sleep[due to my parents chattin' it up with my relatives who flew into town...] and I got to thinking of spritual dryness... LOL shalom, it was 'cause of your note.
So christians ofte use the metaphoric comparison of faith to a fire. & through my random and erattic train of thought, I came up with this.
Setting: scary woods [the world, it's where we don't belong]
solution: Light a fire to make the woods less scary, and it enables us to stand firm [faith]
So we're starting out right, we're so dry, we're scared, we're vulnerable. We start a fire, we go to a retreat, we come back, our fire is blazing, it's so hot, it pushes back all the darkness. But the wood, it starts to burn out, and the darkness creeps in, so now, it's time to get wood to feed the fire [bible, evangelism, prayer, other disciplines of grace, a book I still haven't finished...]. But we often get lazy, and fall away, so our fire dies down. Next retreat, we arm out selves, our fire, it gets HUGE, and I mean HUGE. But now, we need more wood, but we're prepared. We keep getting wood, but the more we get, the faster it goes out, we're scrambling and scrambling, the larger the fire gets, the harder it is to maintain, and the more we need to do. Maybe I'm being to literal about this translation... But it applies for me. As I grow in Christ, the things that used to effect me in such a massive way just don't do it for me anymore. Sometime's smaller things can make me feel so much closer to God, and other times, not at all... I feel like all the time I'm scrambling, I'm fighting an uphill battle... But God is on my side, I usually just forget it.
Yesterday, I was looking for my iPod wall charger, and I couldn't find it, so I just PRAYED and I found it :D Yayayayayay. I like to think it was God's help, I would have never looked under the bed... (:
I was really touched by what someone wrote to me yesterday about praying for me. It was great. & Joe, I prayed for you, but it was pretty blahh, so if you fell in a whole, it was probably the lack of prayer. :D
EDIT:
Well, I couldn't really find a word to describe the fire comparison. It's not faith, because what I said was implying faith by works, which isn't correct. Maybe it was our relationship with God, I'm not sure. Something like that :P
So yesterday, I couldn't sleep[due to my parents chattin' it up with my relatives who flew into town...] and I got to thinking of spritual dryness... LOL shalom, it was 'cause of your note.
So christians ofte use the metaphoric comparison of faith to a fire. & through my random and erattic train of thought, I came up with this.
Setting: scary woods [the world, it's where we don't belong]
solution: Light a fire to make the woods less scary, and it enables us to stand firm [faith]
So we're starting out right, we're so dry, we're scared, we're vulnerable. We start a fire, we go to a retreat, we come back, our fire is blazing, it's so hot, it pushes back all the darkness. But the wood, it starts to burn out, and the darkness creeps in, so now, it's time to get wood to feed the fire [bible, evangelism, prayer, other disciplines of grace, a book I still haven't finished...]. But we often get lazy, and fall away, so our fire dies down. Next retreat, we arm out selves, our fire, it gets HUGE, and I mean HUGE. But now, we need more wood, but we're prepared. We keep getting wood, but the more we get, the faster it goes out, we're scrambling and scrambling, the larger the fire gets, the harder it is to maintain, and the more we need to do. Maybe I'm being to literal about this translation... But it applies for me. As I grow in Christ, the things that used to effect me in such a massive way just don't do it for me anymore. Sometime's smaller things can make me feel so much closer to God, and other times, not at all... I feel like all the time I'm scrambling, I'm fighting an uphill battle... But God is on my side, I usually just forget it.
Yesterday, I was looking for my iPod wall charger, and I couldn't find it, so I just PRAYED and I found it :D Yayayayayay. I like to think it was God's help, I would have never looked under the bed... (:
I was really touched by what someone wrote to me yesterday about praying for me. It was great. & Joe, I prayed for you, but it was pretty blahh, so if you fell in a whole, it was probably the lack of prayer. :D
EDIT:
Well, I couldn't really find a word to describe the fire comparison. It's not faith, because what I said was implying faith by works, which isn't correct. Maybe it was our relationship with God, I'm not sure. Something like that :P
posted by Andy Cho at
12:40 PM
3 Comments:
hehe read this slowly... its confusing
That's an interesting analogy Andy. Let me try and comment through it. I think you made some great points. You're exactly right. The retreats can be illustrated as a fire that you build that lights up the forest. After retreat, everything looks clear right? Everything is warm, and you feel stronger, and you feel hot.
and yes... eventually the darkness settles in. And not only that, but it gets harder to maintain.
why?
That is because no matter how big your fire is, YOU"RE STILL IN THE FOREST. Does that make sense?
That is why i keep telling you guys that retreat is not a big deal. Yes the retreat makes things clear, helps you to become passionate, helps to warm your heart, it may even point you in the right direction. But in the end, you're still in the forest. When the fire dies down, which it DEFINITELY will, then the forest (the world) becomes more and more scary. It becomes harder to be different, it becomes harder to maintain that passion, that drive, that love for God. You don't feel like praying, or reading your Bible, or doing anything. (dryness)
What would you do in that situation? Of course you would pick up some wood, light a torch, and start making your way out right? Now what is the torch is. It is the daily walk with God in the Holy Spirit that leads you to sanctification (the work of the Holy Spirit that makes you more and more like Christ.)
Here's the important issue tho. Many people make this mistake and end up dying in the forest. They feel the warmth of the fire and never want to leave it. When they look at the forest, they lose hope. If they chose to take that torch and walk through the forest, then they would fall, they would become cold, they might get lost for a bit, they would get scratched, hurt, and maybe even seriosly hurt. Why would they want to go through that? The fire is so warm...
Let me just interpret it in a plain way. The fire is retreats, the forest is the world, and the torch is the Holy Spirit.
Yes, retreats are good. They have their purpose in giving us a boost in our lives, BUT RETREATS AREN'T MEANT TO BE AN END IN THEMSELVES. that includes the emotion, the 'passion', the 'devotion', and whatever else you feel at the retreat. (I put the words in quotes because these things are made up more from your emotions than true passion and devotion most of the time.) Some people think that they need this kind of fire ALL the time. Thats why you get bummed out that you don't feel the same way you did at retreat right? Thats why you get bummed out that you're struggling, and you feel so dry.
Its like i told Shalom. You're looking for the wrong thing. We can't just keep desiring the fire! We have to desire to GET OUT!
Lets look at the torch. What i mean by using the torch is to WALK BY THE SPIRIT. That means living depending on God alone, through the instruction of His word and the Spirit of God. But let me tell you now, walking by the Spirit is not easy. It would be stupid to think that you feel the same as when you were in the fire right? There is not as much emotion, there are times when you fail, there is dryness, there is brokenness, there is sin. But then why even go this way in the first place? Whats keeping me going if its not the warmth of the bonfire?
It is the destination!
Its the knowledge that if you continue on walking, using this torch as your guide, you WILL eventually get out. And here's the thing. As you continue to walk, and be scratched, and get lost, eventually you start seeing the edge of the forest. Its not the forest that becomes clear, but the outside. Yeah you can make a couple more fires along the way, to rest and revive your strength, but its the WALKING, not the fire itself that brings you to your destination.
God PROMISES that He will give you the strength to persevere, and that the Holy Spirit WILL bring about holiness in your life as you continue to hate sin, and strive to love God more.
Does that make sense?
Now think. Am I walking with the torch (by the Spirit?) Or am I going to sit by this comfortable table until I die?
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. - Galatians 5
ps going to post on your prayers...
LOL. i love you guys. :D.
As I grow in Christ, the things that used to effect me in such a massive way just don't do it for me anymore. Sometime's smaller things can make me feel so much closer to God, and other times, not at all... I feel like all the time I'm scrambling, I'm fighting an uphill battle...
dosdkfjasldijf. stop stealing my "spiritual blahblah" >_<
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