Category Archives: Freedom of Speech

Hidden in Plain Sight

Freedom of Speech, God, Spiritual, , ,

The Advantage of a Seeking Heart

Photo by Arturrro on Unsplash

I’ve been getting to know God for some time now.

And I’ve noticed things about him.

One of those things, is that he is very clever with communication.

He speaks on one level, but there are multiple levels embedded that are not noticed by everyone.

And he’s quite comfortable with that.

I find that intriguing.

It reminds me of something Jesus said.

He used to tell parables, during his three years of public ministry.

Stories, that anyone could relate to, but which had a point.

Everyone understood the parables, but not everyone understood the point.

Jesus acknowledged this, saying,

‘“You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” Matthew 13:14

I find that fascinating.

I get that not everybody gets everything. But it’s curious to me, that God is comfortable with not being obvious to everyone.

I suspect it’s something to do with seeking people’s hearts, not their minds.

For elsewhere God says,

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Lately, I find myself writing similarly.

Writing to connect at some level with anyone. But embedding deeper things to be discovered. And knowing that not everyone will find it. For some reason, there’s a joy in hiding things.

Perhaps this is because it’s then more special for the one that does take the time to look deeper and see. And they know it’s special, because they know if they just skimmed they would have missed it. And it is more valuable because they took the time.

I reflect on this, and think the joy is likewise for God and the seeker. Those who find him, are like the one who found treasure in a field. And sell everything they own, so they have enough to buy the field to have the treasure. And their joy is full because they know what it is worth.

The Language of God

Emotions, Freedom of Speech, God, Grateful, Inspiration, Spiritual, , , ,

My Unusual Experience

Photo by Dylann Hendricks | 딜란 on Unsplash

So often I find myself trying to communicate, by searching for the right word.

I know what I want to say. But it is a knowing without words.

Language is just my tool to convey to another person the meaning that is in my heart.

And the language is inadequate.

I’ve heard peoples’ descriptions of heavens. And they all lament about the same thing. That their words don’t do justice to the glory that they have seen, the colours, the beauty, the incredible atmosphere.

This is true of so many things here on earth. How do you convey the depth of feeling that stirs up in your soul. How do you represent it digitally or on paper. It feels like a farce in some ways. A two-dimension version of something that is beyond even 3-D.

God gave me a language many years ago, when I was 16 years old. I was praying ‘in tongues’ in my bedroom — a Pentecostal practice that I had stepped into, while growing up in my ministry parents’ home. But this time was different — I started praying ‘in tongues’ with variations, inflections and intonation that sounded exactly like I was speaking a real language, instead of the usual monotonous drone that I used to utter.

Of course I had no idea in my mind what I was actually saying, but I’ll never forget how it was accompanied with a power and authority that was beyond my age and maturity. It was shocking to me in it’s boldness and difference to anything I had ever experienced. I didn’t want it to stop.

I prayed like this for quite some time. Knowing that it was accomplishing something significant, but having no idea in my human mind of the actual content. But the lack of awareness didn’t matter. My spirit was electrified. It felt like I was operating exactly how I was meant to, with God in me. The sense of rightness was without apology.

I am so grateful for this experience, that confirmed to me personally the validity of this God given gift. Without it I would have wondered at the monotony and powerlessness of so many ‘speaking in tongues’ prayers that I had heard over the years.

I often contemplate the brilliance of God in coming up with this ‘tongues’ strategy — a way for human beings to bypass the constraints of human language — and to communicate to the heart of God with words of heavenly origin. A fruit of the empowerment of his spirit.

This strategy is beyond my comprehension really. But I don’t need to understand everything about God. He wouldn’t be God if I could. I just trust and dive in with him.

Something else about God on this theme that I find fascinating… He often speaks to me in my heart. And I know what he has communicated. But I don’t have the words for it. I have to try to put it in words if I want to tell someone else. But my heart knows it.

I suspect and I have heard it will be like this in heaven. Language without words — just knowledge of what is in others’ hearts. It will be so much fuller and richer. And thankfully in that place there will be nothing we would need to hide.

I’m Ticked Off!

Angry, Emotions, Freedom, Freedom of Speech, God, Homosexuality, Social Issues, Spiritual, XXX, , , , , , , ,

angry emoticon

I’m feeling mad today. I’m feeling angry at so many lies going around, that are being chewed up and swallowed by the wider community. Lies that keep people locked in chains, that take away freedom.

For a long time I’ve felt muzzled. I’ve felt like it’s not OK for me to say what I really think. Because what I have to say in the current cultural climate and ideology is…

  1. Embarrassing
  2. Unpopular
  3. Outdated
  4. Irrelevant
  5. Bigoted
  6. Hatred

Aaaaargh!!! I’ve been tipped over the edge and now I have to SPEAK!

God is TRUE! God is LOVE!

God loves gay people. God loves transgender people. God loves politicians. God loves adulterers. God loves kind old ladies. God loves everyone!

And he is not interested in chaining people up and making their lives miserable. He is in the business of bringing freedom. Not freedom to do what one feels in the moment. But true freedom. Inner peace, inner joy, liberty of spirit and soul. What we all really LONG for!

So I’m angry. Because God is misrepresented. He is not a bigot. And true followers of his are NOT bigots! They are the biggest love balloons that the world has ever seen. And if it pops on top of you, you get a love dose! You don’t get a rifle in your face, you get LOVE. And if you have met one who is a bigot, then understand they are on a love journey. None of us are perfect, just like you!

And this God I’m talking about – he wrote the Bible. It’s his book, written through inspiration from him. Him himself! And it’s good stuff.

And the stuff in there that you think is judgment and bigotry and hatred is NOT THAT AT ALL!

I used to hear people say that when you read the Old Testament books of the prophets, that God was such an angry and vindictive God. As a teenager I read these books. All of them at once, all in a row. And I braced myself. But what I saw was not an angry and vindictive God. I saw a God that desperately loved his people SO MUCH. He kept warning them again and again and again and again to turn from living life their own way, and to turn back to HIM. He warned them of consequences if they didn’t. When they listened, he forgave them. So freely, and with so much love and joy. He’s a loving father. And when they didn’t, after immense patience – far more than I would ever have – he brought judgment.

He must have hated seeing such unnecessary suffering after bringing judgment. But he understands the bigger picture. He sees the short-term and long-term impact of living life one’s own way. He sees the inner individual devastation and he sees the wider community devastation. And he puts a stop to it. And what he does is from LOVE because that is who he is. And with our puny minds we can’t understand some of the things he does, but he GETS it. Because he is the only one that sees the bigger picture!

God wants us to walk about in FREEDOM. He has let us know very bluntly in the Bible, the things that will take away our individual and community freedom. Things like lying, stealing, murder, coveting, adultery, etc, etc. He created us and he knows what works and what doesn’t work. He knows what breaks us as individuals and what destroys communites. We need to listen to him. We need to read his Word and take it seriously.

When he writes about homosexuality being an abomination, it’s not because he’s a bigot and he hates a segment of the community. It’s because he’s the loving Creator and he knows what we are made for. He knows what is good for us. He wants us to live the richest, most fulfilling lives in love with him, in trust with him and in unity with him. It means laying down our own agendas, our own wills and trusting him. And there we find our true selves and what we have been created to be.

When we are willing to trust him with our lives, and let him work in us he can do miracles! He can do the impossible. He can take long-term feelings, addictions, thought patterns, ways of thinking, beliefs and turn them around, dissolve them and bring true freedom. Sometimes it’s overnight. Sometimes it’s over a lifetime. But we have to trust him and submit to his shaping.

Jesus came to set the oppressed free. He came to bring liberty to the captives. He gave his life away to dismantle the power of sin and Satan so we could have true freedom and union with him.

Aargh! That’s another one… I’m tired of being scared to talk about Satan. Because science has scoffed at the notion of an evil supernatural being. So believing there is a devil has vibes of anti-intellectualism and being out of date. But we are spiritual beings. Most of the planet will acknowledge this, plus the truth – yes truth – that there is a God. If there is a good God, and there is, then it is not so absurd to believe that there is an evil supernatural being.

Satan is the one that we are at war with. Not gays with Christians. Not pro-lifers versus pro-choicers. Not whatever versus whatever. Satan is at war with gays. He wants to rob them of their true selves and keep them chained up. He wants to feed them with lies that this is who they are. God is not against gays. He wants to expose Satan’s lies and show them who they really are, sons and daughters made in the image of God. He wants to teach them his ways and lead them in his paths. He wants to deliver them from their sexual bondage and bring them into their true sexual identity, as he created them to be.

I’ve had enough of the stupid rhetoric. I’ve had enough of the accusations of hatred.

When Jesus was on earth, the religious leaders brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery and demanded she be stoned. They asked Jesus about it. He said, ‘let him who is without sin cast the first stone’. Talk about the grace genius! But that wasn’t all. After the woman’s accusers all left, Jesus told the woman that he didn’t condemn her and told her to go and sin no more. He did two things. He forgave her. And he told her to stop sinning.

Same with homosexuality. Same with any sin. Jesus forgives and says, ‘go and sin no more’.

What we feel like is not necessarily good for us or society. We need to stop idolising our feelings and start paying attention to what our Creator says. He’s the only one that knows the bigger picture. He’s the only one that knows what works and what doesn’t.

One of my favourite Bible verses is in Psalm 119:45: “I will walk about in freedom for I have sought your commands”.