An identity of passion

When I am using my mother tongue and want to ask a person what his passion is, I will ask: “What are you on fire for?” - I like that phrase. We are different personalities, however, you do not need to be an extrovert to be on fire for something. I know typical introverts who are very passionate in their fields of interest.

Last week I focused on the “tongues of fire” that came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. If people have to move in the same direction towards a common goal they need to be able to communicate in a common language. The confusion of Babel is an example of what can happen when people do not understand one another (1). On the Day of Pentecost people received a tongue that surpasses the languages of Babel – all of a sudden they could understand. It was a unifying language of fire, of passion that opened insight into divine truths.

When I read about William Booth, I see a very passionate man. If I could have asked him what his passion was, I am sure he would have answered something like “The world for God!” or just “Souls!”. I am also convinced that this passion kept him moving towards that goal for the whole of his life. What I am on fire for will help me keep the momentum, keep me moving towards the goal.

Therefore, it is important for me to frequently check the ‘temperature’ of the fire in my life.

In the wilderness, the Israelites for a long period almost forgot that they were on the move towards a goal. And by the mount Horeb they had camped for so long that God had to recharge them again:

“You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance…”
Deuteronomy 1:6-7

Also the first disciples needed frequent refilling of The holy spirit to keep the fire burning (2) and move to with the Spirit. If they needed that, I need it too, because I need passion, I need the fire.

‘Manna’ for today:

I need fire to be on fire

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(1) Genesis 11:1-9
(2) Acts 4:31

New dimensions in my identity

Last week I wrote that the believers on the Day of Pentecost received a new identity. I am not walking away from this statement, but more precisely, I believe that they were restored in the original image of God, in which Adam and Eve were created. When they had their firstborn, he was born ‘in the image of Adam’ after the fall (1).

In the story about what happened in the ‘third move’, I read that after a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting:

“They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them”
Acts 2:3

It is very easy to focus on the fire in this story, and I believe that the fire is important. However, in an identity perspective, I believe the tongue, as in language, is equally crucial. I am not referring to the ‘physical act’ of speaking in tongues (2), but in the unique language of love that binds believers together across language-barriers and geographical borders.

When my identity in Christ includes this language, the momentum will never stop, because love moves me on. This ‘drive’ is not a duty but a response. I love because I am loved by an even greater love - God himself (3). Paul phrases it like this:

For Christ’s love compels us.
2 Cor 5:14

‘Manna’ for today:

When love is strong, I move in response!

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(1) When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. Genesis 5:3
(2) To speak in tongues, as in speaking an existing or angelic language, may come as a consequence; however, it is not a goal in itself. Personally I frequently speak in tongues when I pray. It is my spirit speaking with God’s Spirit in love.
(3) God is love. 1 John 4:8b

Keep moving!

We have just moved again. Not very far this time. Our new apartment is approximately 3 km away from where we have lived for the past 2,5 years. In addition, I have moved office – I carried my stuff across to the other side of the corridor. 

I am moving because of moves in our movement. Christianity is not a religion; it is a motion, a movement. Therefore, The Salvation Army is first and foremost a movement that sets people in motion.

We know that there is motion in the world; whatever is in motion is moved by another thing; this other thing also must be moved by something. For Thomas Aquinas (1) this developed into one of his philosophical arguments for God’s existence. Because motion takes place there must have been a ‘first mover’ and for Aquinas this ‘first mover’ is God. Since God is infinite, Aquinas consider him as the ‘immovable mover’.

So, when we chose the Latin word ‘Momentum’ as our motto, it is to remind us about the fact that Christians are supposed to be moving on the impulse from the first mover – every day! What this means in practical terms, I will elaborate on in my blog once a week.

So how did it start?

The Creation-story tells us that the earth was formless, empty and in darkness:

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Gen 1:3

What a move! This was not the creation of the sun. This was God placing himself in the middle of his creation. The first mover had moved. The first motion had begun. John captured this in his writings: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all (2), and in prologue of the gospel where he described the coming of the Word, he wrote: In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind (3).

‘Manna’ for today

Let us live, move and have our being in the light and the life of the first mover. (4)

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(1) Tommaso d'Aquino was an Italian Dominican Friar who lived from 1225 to 1274.

(2) 1 John 1:5

(3) John 1:4

(4) Acts 17:28

I am born of ... yes, of course

NORSK
The theme: “What kind of birth which gives access to the kingdom of God” is still on the agenda:

“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.”
John 3:5

Yesterday, I wrote about water, blood and Spirit as three witnesses to my regeneration. Today "born of the Spirit" gets my full attention. For some reason we seem to be more familiar with the idea of the Spirit’s role in the rebirth. Perhaps, the reason for this familiarity is found in the creation-story:

And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7

Already in the first verse of the prologue, John identified "logos" as God. A few verses later he states “In him was life”. Therefore, it is also he who gives mankind new life. Just as God breathed the breath of life into the first Adam, he now breaths new life through the last Adam. This is how Paul describes this:

“The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
1 Cor 15:45

There is a lot of food for the thought in this reflection, but the main thing is to have the assurance of regeneration in the heart!

‘Manna’ for today:

I am born of the Spirit! (1)

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(1) Of course I am – I have already declared that "I am born of God"

Sober in all that I do?

As a soldier of the Salvation Army, I have taken a total abstinence pledge, and as far as I know, I have never broken that promise. Therefore, I have never been intoxicated by ingesting intoxicants that have not been prescribed by a doctor. 

However, I have several times experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in such a way that it has become a kind of intoxication. It has been a strange, but good experience.

Some years ago I participated in a series of meetings, where the keynote speaker instructed the intercessors to remain "sober" while they took part in the prayer-ministry. I understood what he meant, and see the importance. There is a time for everything (1).

Paul has a similar charge to Timothy:

But you, be sober in all things, suffer-hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.
2 Tim 4:5

In translations of the Greek original other words than sober are commonly used, like e.g. vigilant, watchful, in control, remain steady, clear-headed etc. The main idea is that I am charged to be present in my own life, in my work and in my ministry.

I have repeatedly pointed out that the first question God asked Adam after the fall was: “Where are you?” (2). If I can be available and respond “Here I am” when God calls, I will be very close to fulfilling the charge given in today's verse.

‘Manna’ for today:

‘Here I am’ – sober and available!

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(1) Eccl 3:1
(2) Gen 3:9

I need inspiration

NORSK
It is easy to stumble in words. I do it many times per day. It is perhaps understandable since I must relate to many languages every day. However, it does not get much better when the evening comes and Magna and I can speak Norwegian. Presumably the brains are too tired or we continue to work with what has happened during the day.

He was probably a little hyped up the student at Jeløy Folkhighschool. He should tell that something had happened to his roommate, that caused him to go the hospital which again lead to this statement "He had to go to the hospital and is in 'desperator'". The situation may have seemed to be pretty desperate, and it is good that there is a respirator. 'Re' means 'again' and 'spirator' means a 'breathing'. So the respirator helps people to retrieve their breath.

Inspiration is therefore the noun for the act of blowing life into. In the Creation-narrative, I read that

the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Gen 2:7 KJV

So - inspiration brings life to that which is lifeless.

I write this as a prelude to this reminder to Timothy:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17

If I need inspiration, I must go to an inspired source. I have good experience with the living word of God. It gives me something fresh every day. The God-breathed Scriptures carries God's life in him, and I have decided to be remain in this verse for couple of days.

‘Manna’ for today

I will go to the source which is life and gives life.

PS - Today, I am also inspired by the thought of ​​the care that I received from my grandmother. It is already more than 40 years since she was promoted to glory, and today is the 100th anniversary of her birth.
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It is about living in the light

NORSK
For three years, I worked in Securitas and learned quite a lot about security both in relation to prevention of crime, and also with regard to creating good routines for the times when something unfortunate had happened. The by far best single factor in the protection of both property and human individuals is light.

Actually, I knew this from many years of Sunday School attendance:

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3:20-21

These are the words of Jesus. He even said that judgment is that the light came to the earth. Light exposes me, and when I am exposed, my first thought is to justify myself. It is one of the most evident human faculties to try the escape by blaming others. 

This tendency goes all the way back to the story of the fall. Adam blamed the woman, and even God for giving him the woman, Eve on her part blamed the serpent (1). The exposed Peter represents in many ways a counterpart. He made a full surrender under Jesus' interrogation: "Peter do you love me?" Peter’s reply: “Lord, you know all things” (2) is also a testimony of his awareness: “I know that I live in the light!” - Such an awareness grows the fruit, - the fruit of the light:

The fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth
Eph 5:9

Like goodness, which I mentioned yesterday, righteousness and truth are divine attributes.

Jesus confessed: “I am the truth” (3), and in him I have also part in God’s righteousness (4). The fruit is a consequence of living in the light.

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is about living in the light.

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(1) The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Gen 3:12-13
(2) John 21:17
(3) John 14:6
(4) God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.  2 Cor 5:21

It is about the gardener

NORSK
When Jesus uses pictures from the agrarian culture of his time, I feel that I am on foreign soil. My fingers can be “multicoloured”, but the closest I come to have “green fingers” is when I on the rare occasions have to mow the grass. All the rest I leave to the specialist to whom I am happily married. I have no problem in understanding the picture, but I am glad that I do not have to prune a tree:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
John 15:2

Of course, I am able to see when a branch is completely withered and dead, but with regard to the pruning of a fresh branch so that it bears more fruit, I have nothing to contribute. Maybe that is the whole point?

In this picture I am the branch. The specialist is the gardener, and Jesus has already presented him as ‘my Father, the gardener’. A branch is not able to prune itself. It is the task of the specialist. My contribution to the process is to give him access. 

It is possible that I stretch the image a bit if I say that a branch can hide and try to make itself invisible to the gardener, but with a little imagination, I move to another 'vineyard'. I travel back to the Garden of Eden:

The two who were in the garden had no good fruits to show for when gardener came for an inspection: "… they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden." (1). The ‘branches’ that were supposed to carry good fruit had to hide among the trees because they had nothing to display, and God called out:

"Where are you?"

I think availability for God is a precondition for increasing the fertility in relation to the mission he has entrusted to the believers: Leading his lost children back to him through the production of fruit of the Spirit. Holiness is about being available for the gardener. Therefore, the 'manna' for today must be:

Here I am!

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(1) Gen 3:8b

It is about a triune image

NORSK
Another interesting aspect of being created in the image of God, is the fact that he is a triune God. If we believe in a triune God, a logic consequence must be that I am a triune man – but I am still "one", like God is still "one". I have found it helpful to use this illustration when I teach the doctrine of holiness:

,

Thomas Aquinas wrote: “They who say that with regard to the true belief it is completely irrelevant what one says about the creature as long as one has the right belief with regard to God, is clearly mistaken. Because, if one is mistaken with regard to the creature the consequence is that one is mistaken also with regard to God.” (1)

We know that man is created with body, soul and spirit (2).
In our soul we find our personality, intellect, emotions and will – I like to say that my soul is the seat of my self-consciousness. 

I only need to move my knee to be aware of the fact that I have a body - I do not need to pinch my arm any more. My body is the seat of my world-consciousness because it is by the means of my physical body I relate to this world.

But when I decided to follow Jesus, I became constantly more aware of the fact that I have a spirit, simply because I know that his Spirit lives in my spirit. The spirit of man will always long for God, and if a gospel is not preached or received, this urge will make man create a god in his own image.


Having accepted salvation through what Jesus did for us on Calvary and having received his Spirit in our spirit, we know the experience of harmony, integration and love which is also the character of a triune Godhead. Any atempt to explain God will only be a human effort to grasp the unexplainable, but I like the phrase: My spirit is the seat of my God-consciousness.

'Manna' for today:

His Spirit in my spirit!

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(1) My translation of Thomas Aquinas: ”Order and Mystery” Oslo 1964, p 31
(2) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thess 5:23

It is about 'my' image

NORSK
I have a “Holistic” view on man. In short, this means that I believe God is interested in all of me. He is not only concerned about the soul, but about our whole being – body, soul and spirit.
It is important to state this when I now go to the individual level, and I start with a simple question: “What is ‘my image’?”

For me, the belief in the fact that man is created in the image of God is extremely important when I want to get deeper into the mystery of holiness. God is holy, and a logic consequence of being made in his image is that I am meant to be holy. God himself confirms this:

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.’”
Lev 19:1-2 & 1 Pet 1:16

The “Fall” did something to the divine image in man. We read that Adam 

“…had a son in his own likeness, in his own image” 
Gen 5:3

The descendants of Adam are born in the image of the fallen man. Paul addresses this issue with the relationship between Adam and Christ (the second Adam), and concludes:

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Rom 5:18-19

What I was originally made to be, is restored in Jesus Christ. There is no other way of holiness – because it is ‘THE’ way of holiness. ‘Manna’ for today:

In Christ man is restored in God’s image

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It is about language

NORSK
I believe that one of the most important images of the Holy Spirit is ‘language’. Few things can be more concrete than language, at the same time it may turn out 100% abstract. 

Language is the tool we use to communicate our thoughts. Therefore, language becomes closely attached to “identity”.

Language issues are central in many of the conflicts around the world, and the story of the tower of Babel illustrates that in an excellent way (1).

It is very important for me to have an identity as a child of God, an identity that I can recognize in brothers and sisters of the same faith. To strengthen this identity I need a language that can "explain the unexplainable”. The disciples were not able to explain the ‘mystery of Jesus’ before they had been filled with ‘tongues of fire’ – or may be even more correct ‘the language of burning love’.

When that happened (2), the 120 were immediately able to grasp and communicate what they had tried to understand during the three years they had walked with Jesus.

I have already written about this several times on the blog – e.g.:

• "Tongues" of fire 
• Identity and language

And now I am reminded about the following truth:

‘Manna’ for today:

The language of burning love, is the identity of the life of holiness

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(1) The Tower of Babel - Gen 11:1-9
(2) They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.
Acts 2:3

It is about breath

NORSK
“Breath” is one of the most common images of the Spirit, and it has been there since the creation story:

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Gen 2:7 KJV

The image of the Holy Spirit as life-giving breath – a “kiss of life” – is beautiful, and it makes a lot of thoughts fall into place, like e.g. the fact that the regeneration is an act of the Holy Spirit. Like the oxygen is vital for my physical life, is the breath of life from the Spirit vital for my spiritual life.

It must have been important for the resurrected Jesus to make a point of this by doing it literally:

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit".
John 20:21-22

It is important also to note that the purpose of the breath is to be empowered and ‘equipped for every good work’;

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Tim 3:16-17

…and in prolongation of these verses, I quote Brengle once again:

“While others debate about the inspiration of the Word, let us eat it, drink it, preach it, and live thereby, and we shall live in the power of ‘an endless life’. Hallelujah!” (1)

‘Manna’ for today:

I breathe in the breath of the Spirit

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(1) Samuel Logan Brengle in: ”A Month with Samuel Brengle” p 4

It is about spirit

NORSK

The headline seems obvious, but it is interesting how often we forget this truth when the subject is holiness. Our attention easily drifts to behaviour, but: Holiness is about God’s spirit and man’s spirit = my spirit.

Already on the first page of the Bible we read that:

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:2 KJV

It was just this presence that was needed for creation of new life. Holiness is not something I do, holiness is something I live. That which is about spirit, is about life. It was the same life-giving spirit that breathed life in the first man, but that is the subject for tomorrow.

Today I realize that spirit is like a red lifeline through the Scriptures to the very last page where we see the influence of God’s Spirit upon his creation:

“The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”
Rev 22:17

In this “Grand finale” it is interesting to note that the mission of the Spirit and the bride has become “one” – one of the aims of holiness has reached is fulfilment!

‘Manna’ for today:

Holiness is something I live

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