Where do you belong? - 4

NORSK
Today I will take a trip to the “hobbling country" (1). To hobble has synonyms like to limp, shuffle, falter or even to proceed irregularly.

In a spiritual perspective, I know many who live in the land of hobbling people, and they even acknowledge that they live there. I think that they choose to confess their hobbling in fear of being labelled as believers. In my eyes many of them are true believers who have postponed their confession.

For me, faith is primarily a matter of choice. I choose to believe, and to act on what I believe with a presumption that it is actually true. This is also how I experience that my faith is confirmed.

Of course I feel that I lose my footing when I act this way. The reason is that I step on only one foot, on God’s. It is God who has the control and not me. Again I quote Søren Kierkegaard's statement: 

“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”

Elijah challenged the people in this way:

“How long will you hobble back and forth between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow God. If Baal is God, follow Baal.” The people gave no answer.
1 Kings 18:21

Faith is about choosing which foot I will stand on.

'Manna' for today:

The Christmas mystery is that God became man to give us his foot to stand on.

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(1) The most important Christmas song

It is about a fruit that is also a gift

NORSK
May be it would have been sensible to move on to another theme after yesterday having finished Paul’s list of qualities of the fruit of the Spirit (1), but I continue. That is because there are more qualities of the fruit which deserve a focus. This verse is an example:

From the mouth of the righteous comes the fruit of wisdom
Proverbs 10:31

An experienced Bible-reader is likely to immediately see that wisdom is also a gift of the Spirit. There will also be some who straight away see the connection between God’s Spirit and God’s wisdom, which are more or less used as synonyms in the Old Testament. And – in principle there is next to nothing that separates righteousness from holiness.

I do not think that it is important to make a distinction between wisdom as fruit and wisdom as a gift of the Spirit, but if I should dare a very simple explanation, it will be as follows:
All fruit, including the fruit of wisdom, come as a natural consequence of the intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit, whilst one who ‘is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom’ (2) receives the gift as a kind of revelation in a given situation.

Either way, wisdom is one of the qualities that God cherishes (3), and that which he cherishes, is also my uttermost desire.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about the fruit of God’s wisdom

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(1) Gal 5:22-23
(2) 1 Cor 12:8
(3) Here are a couple of examples:

• When God said to Solomon: “Ask whatever you want me to give you” – Solomon prayed for wisdom, and the prayer pleased God. The passage is found in 1 Kings 3:5-15
• See also: ‘God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit’ in 1 Cor 2:6-16

It is about a gentle whisper

NORSK
After the powerful wind, fire and earthquake, which in themselves are not a sign of God’s presence, but even so, are elements he chooses to use from time to time, there seems to be a turningpoint in story recorded from the meeting Eliah had with God on Mount Horeb: 

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
1 Kings19:11-12

One of the strong moments of the Holy Spirit’s presence, which I always will remember, happened during a 24/7 prayer for Oslo in 2003. Tuesday 14 Jan approximately 100 people were gathered in the Temple corps and the time had just passed 22:00 when we were standing in a huge ring of prayer. All of a sudden, a strong presence of the Spirit was felt in the room. One by one, we felt that we had to lay prostrate on the floor with our faces down in the holy presence. It was quiet for a long time, and I thought: “Somebody must do something to avoid that people become restless”. Then I realized that I was the one leading the meeting, but it was impossible for me to reach the microphone which was just 5 cm from my hand. The Holy Spirit did not allow me to do it.

Only once there was something that broke the silence. One of the prayer-warriors had brought a shofar* which he used to blow a powerful tune with. Instead of destroying the “gentle whisper”, the sound made it even stronger. I think we stayed on hard tile floor for close to 30 minutes. So many, so long, so quiet.

It is only the holy presence of the Lord that can make it happen when he has ‘roused himself from his holy dwelling’.

To experience that the Holy Spirit can be like a wind that makes it difficult stand, like an earthquake that makes the whole body shake, like a fire that makes it impossible for me to stop speaking about what I have seen and heard, and to experience him as a gentle whisper, creates in me an awe for his diversity. It does not stop with these images. Even if I chose to introduce several more, it will only give a glimpse of his boundlessness.

‘Manna’ for today:

“Be still before the Lord, all mankind,
because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
Zec 2:13  

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It is about wind

NORSK
The first images of the Spirit are connected to the meaning of the word ‘spirit’. I have already reflected on spirit as in 'air' and 'breath'. Each of them add to the insight about the person of Holy Spirit and his functions. When I today reflect upon wind, I primarily connect this image with power.

The strong elements of the nature are in several mythologies related to the activities of the gods (1).

Even in the Jewish/Christian faith, such elements are occasionally interpreted as divine manifestations (2). At the same time I should not forget the important incident in the life of Elijah that testifies to the fact there is no rule that God is present in the strong elements of nature. When the Lord passed Elijah, he was neither in the powerful wind, the earthquake nor the fire, but in a gentle whisper (3).

Still – on the day of Pentecost, the first manifestation the 120 noticed, was the wind:

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:2

Several times during my life together with the Holy Spirit I have experienced his presence as a powerful wind that literally has blown me over. I do not understand why it happens, but accept that I am part of a mystery which by far exceeds the limited capacity of my thoughts. But, I believe that it was the power of the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, and that this power is at work in us who believe (4), I should not be surprised that his power occasionally will manifest itself in a strong manner.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8

This is part of Jesus’ teaching about being born again. The one who is born by the Spirit, becomes like the Spirit. That means that through being led by the wind, he becomes like the wind. I have met believers who through what they say and do confirm this image. Humanly speaking, I have no idea as to where their “contribution” comes from, but because they are born by the Spirit and led by the Spirit, I get the ‘picture’. I also know that they will continue to do the ‘unpredictable’ – in other words: I do not know where they are going.

It is interesting that also the angels are linked to the wind:

Of the angels he says,
“Who makes his angels winds,
and his servants flames of fire.”
Hebr 1:7 RSV

‘Manna’ for today:

The life of holiness is living in, and as, the wind

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(1) In Norse mythology, a phenomenon like lightening and thunder is associated with Thor and his hammer.  
(2) The manifestation of a god is called Theophany
(3) 1 Kings 19:11-12
(4) Eph 1:18-20