Experiencing God purely through action
And the part of the brain that fear originates
Is something maybe only the mentally ill can understand
In the Old Testament God was so glorious
That you would die
If you looked directly at Him
And Christ during His ministry
Felt the base desires and drives
That is part of being human
And had to fight against this dominating Him
The mentally ill struggle
To hear the voice of God and reason
Within their minds and hearts
But maybe their fear is useful
In their relationship with God
We think of a relationship with God
Often as Christ is one of our drinking buddies
But this is the God of the universe
Who although kind and humble
Is also perfectly good and all powerful
We need to take God more seriously
Maybe the mentally ill get that to a degree
The fear of God is a fear that transcends
Is not the kind of fear that runs from Him
But one that runs to Him
The only safety we have is in God
He is our sanctuary and our protection
For someone that deals with issues like
Thinking they are God
Or that they need to
Give all their money away
It is comforting that God
Does not base reconciliation
On what we can understand
Or what we can communicate
In fact when praying
The Holy Spirit intervenes
When we do not know
What words to pray with
I think a mentally ill person
Can feel the effects of the Holy Spirit
In ways that people with normal minds
Struggle to just feel and embrace
The part of our brain that is driven by fear
Is also the part of the brain
That drives our hunger for God
All of us seek various material things
Because we are trying to fill a hole inside
That only God is big enough to fill
There are so many questions of ours
That will never be answered
Because we just can’t understand many things
Not just because we are limited intellectually
But some things you don’t really examine
At least most people don’t
Like when people create artwork
Or when they run a race
Or play a musical instrument
There is an empty space
Between God and us
That can only be bridged by faith
And the work of the Holy Spirit
And the sacrifices of Christ
But to see God in a direct way
We have to let God
Into our irrational mind
This is the only way the Wonderful Counselor
Can encourage us and support us
Emotionally and on a basic drive level
We think of this irrational part of our brain
As something to suppress
But I say we should embrace it
The strongest impulses should be a way
For us to know God more directly
Much of the church and throughout most of history
Have understood religion to be a process and a struggle
To overcome their addictions and fears
But this was never a one time thing
Or even something that could be reasoned with
This was religion in practice
Faith as a verb
Part of accepting God
Is accepting who we are
And how God made us
God made us with many aspects
One of those aspects
Can not only save our lives
But it can drive us
To do wonderful things
But to get to that power
We need to unlearn some things
That we learned in school
We need to stop trying to choose
The rational explanations for everything
So that we give space for God
And accept His role in the mystery of
His authority and creative acts
Praising and thanking God is very powerful
But why is it?
Is this because God has feelings?
Or is it something else about God
Some things we have had to accept in life
Like that nothing changes until everything changes
Can only be understood intuitively
With our irrational impulses
We can only see God’s place in creation
If we can fear Him a little
His power reaches everywhere
And His love is beyond anything
That we can explain
Why has God chosen to redeem us
Instead of just destroying us
And creating a better version of us?
Maybe God not only has feelings
But a drive to love us
That is not purely rational
It is true that God is smarter
Than we give Him credit for
But maybe He has the same parts of the brain
That we do as we are created in His image
We think of spiritual things
And the Holy Spirit in particular
As unexplainable rationally
And outside the realm of mere knowledge
We need not just the knowledge of the Lord
But His power as well
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is important
Because this offers a language in which
We can communicate to God
Things words can’t explain
We need to take God seriously
To do so we need to accept
That He not only gives but takes as well
I think of Job who tried to explain
Why He felt God both abandoned him and judged him
For reasons that were hard to accept emotionally
We in America have a cult
Of individuality and self reliance
But God wants us to be weak
So we will work with Him
With His strength we have the power
To do what God has planned for us
What does that motivation come from
To cry our heart out to God
And try to move heaven and earth
To reach one more person with the Gospel
Do not stop the work of the Holy Spirt
Within you
Be the hands and feet of God
The more we try to use our brains alone
To understand God
We can get every detail right about faith
But miss the whole point in the process
It is like someone putting huge effort
Into writing about their lives
But pursuing this to the point
That they never actually live
Think of God as your drill sergeant
Your job is to take action
You do not always need to think
Before you act
When carrying out God’s plan
Let God do the thinking
He is just better at it
And the part of the brain that fear originates
Is something maybe only the mentally ill can understand
In the Old Testament God was so glorious
That you would die
If you looked directly at Him
And Christ during His ministry
Felt the base desires and drives
That is part of being human
And had to fight against this dominating Him
The mentally ill struggle
To hear the voice of God and reason
Within their minds and hearts
But maybe their fear is useful
In their relationship with God
We think of a relationship with God
Often as Christ is one of our drinking buddies
But this is the God of the universe
Who although kind and humble
Is also perfectly good and all powerful
We need to take God more seriously
Maybe the mentally ill get that to a degree
The fear of God is a fear that transcends
Is not the kind of fear that runs from Him
But one that runs to Him
The only safety we have is in God
He is our sanctuary and our protection
For someone that deals with issues like
Thinking they are God
Or that they need to
Give all their money away
It is comforting that God
Does not base reconciliation
On what we can understand
Or what we can communicate
In fact when praying
The Holy Spirit intervenes
When we do not know
What words to pray with
I think a mentally ill person
Can feel the effects of the Holy Spirit
In ways that people with normal minds
Struggle to just feel and embrace
The part of our brain that is driven by fear
Is also the part of the brain
That drives our hunger for God
All of us seek various material things
Because we are trying to fill a hole inside
That only God is big enough to fill
There are so many questions of ours
That will never be answered
Because we just can’t understand many things
Not just because we are limited intellectually
But some things you don’t really examine
At least most people don’t
Like when people create artwork
Or when they run a race
Or play a musical instrument
There is an empty space
Between God and us
That can only be bridged by faith
And the work of the Holy Spirit
And the sacrifices of Christ
But to see God in a direct way
We have to let God
Into our irrational mind
This is the only way the Wonderful Counselor
Can encourage us and support us
Emotionally and on a basic drive level
We think of this irrational part of our brain
As something to suppress
But I say we should embrace it
The strongest impulses should be a way
For us to know God more directly
Much of the church and throughout most of history
Have understood religion to be a process and a struggle
To overcome their addictions and fears
But this was never a one time thing
Or even something that could be reasoned with
This was religion in practice
Faith as a verb
Part of accepting God
Is accepting who we are
And how God made us
God made us with many aspects
One of those aspects
Can not only save our lives
But it can drive us
To do wonderful things
But to get to that power
We need to unlearn some things
That we learned in school
We need to stop trying to choose
The rational explanations for everything
So that we give space for God
And accept His role in the mystery of
His authority and creative acts
Praising and thanking God is very powerful
But why is it?
Is this because God has feelings?
Or is it something else about God
Some things we have had to accept in life
Like that nothing changes until everything changes
Can only be understood intuitively
With our irrational impulses
We can only see God’s place in creation
If we can fear Him a little
His power reaches everywhere
And His love is beyond anything
That we can explain
Why has God chosen to redeem us
Instead of just destroying us
And creating a better version of us?
Maybe God not only has feelings
But a drive to love us
That is not purely rational
It is true that God is smarter
Than we give Him credit for
But maybe He has the same parts of the brain
That we do as we are created in His image
We think of spiritual things
And the Holy Spirit in particular
As unexplainable rationally
And outside the realm of mere knowledge
We need not just the knowledge of the Lord
But His power as well
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is important
Because this offers a language in which
We can communicate to God
Things words can’t explain
We need to take God seriously
To do so we need to accept
That He not only gives but takes as well
I think of Job who tried to explain
Why He felt God both abandoned him and judged him
For reasons that were hard to accept emotionally
We in America have a cult
Of individuality and self reliance
But God wants us to be weak
So we will work with Him
With His strength we have the power
To do what God has planned for us
What does that motivation come from
To cry our heart out to God
And try to move heaven and earth
To reach one more person with the Gospel
Do not stop the work of the Holy Spirt
Within you
Be the hands and feet of God
The more we try to use our brains alone
To understand God
We can get every detail right about faith
But miss the whole point in the process
It is like someone putting huge effort
Into writing about their lives
But pursuing this to the point
That they never actually live
Think of God as your drill sergeant
Your job is to take action
You do not always need to think
Before you act
When carrying out God’s plan
Let God do the thinking
He is just better at it