Tuesday 7 May 2019

Where I get spiritual food

Where I get food

From the beginning Jesus called his disciples into a group of fellow disciples. One of the major dangers of solitary Christians is that we may become “strange”. We can all too easily be led by our own subjective glasses through which we read the Bible into all kinds of strange and simply wrong understandings nad interpretations of the Word of God. That is why Paul also confirmed his message with the first apostles (Gal.2:1-10). This is also why periods of being alone with God in the Bible are always that: just for a certain time. It might be very necessary, but it is not meant to last forever.
The Word of God in the Bible is like milk for newly-born babies and like solid food for those who have grown a bit in the Christian life after having been born again (1 Pet.1:25 - 2:2; Heb.5:12-14). So my first source of spiritual food is the Bible. Reading the Bible for yourself is like eating a rare steak; you need to to cut it and chew it for yourself to get the most out of it. Many Christians never progress past eating pre-cut and overdone bits of steak or eating only milk and porridge. They only read “daily devotions” from some book that quote maybe one or two verses from the Bible or from a preacher in church – all prepacked and cooked and pressed through the blender of one person’s interpretation to make it easily digestable. We cannot grow like this… but perhaps it is also not healthy to only eat steak every day?
So before continuing in sharing what I am learning in my time of silence with God, I think it is important to mention that much of what I share is not simply my own opinion of what I read in the Bible. I have been reading books and a few online groups regularly on the internet. One of the things that I noticed, is that God has been speaking with many different people all over the world, saying essentially the same things. In this post I would like to share some of my sources for spiritual food in this time.
  1. The Bible. I am currently in the process of reading through the Bible in a year again. This is not the same as in-depth Bible study, but God still uses it to speak to me. As part of this, I am also recording (and sharing on WhatsApp) the various Messianic prophecies that I find. Both milk and solid food, this is the most important part of my spiritual diet.
  2. While I do not generally like “daily devotion” type of books, the one exception is “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers. It is available online and as a daily e-mail: My Utmost for His Highest
  3. Frank Viola (author of “Pagan Christianity”, “Reimagining church” and other good books) has an online blog and an online network focusing on the deeper Christian life. More recently, he has written a book “Insurgence” and a web site dedicated to the principles discussed in that book.
  4. Those who know me, also know that I have a heart for Israel. Two Messianic groups in Israel from which I recceive good spiritual food, are Tikkun International and Revive Israel (I was a volunteer for a few months at Moshav Yad Shmonah as well, and helped to build some of their wooden guest houses).
  5. A favourite for me for keeping in touch with world news from a Christian perspective, is Incontext Ministries.
  6. And of course, we are priviledged today in that while I am fairly isolated in the mountains, I can still post online, and from time to time connect with friends via WhatsApp or Facebook (and even e-mail)… and like all believers in the past, pray for each other.
  7. Just being able to spend time in creation (and getting paid for it!) and seeing and praising the wonderful works of God’s hands, is of course water for my soul. He has made all things good Ps.104.

No comments:

Post a Comment