This might be the most challenging Bible Challenge you have ever participated in. This challenge is so utterly out of the box that ONLY serious Christians should attempt this. I mean ultra serious. This is a challenge that is NOT for the fearful, doubtful, or hesitant Christians. This is a challenge that will leave you totally exposed and in turn, at the complete mercy of our Savior.
It is time to use those wings He has given you and FLY! Yes, my adrenaline junkie friends, it is time to be BOLD in your FAITH..and leave some religion in the nest as you LEAP in FAITH into the everlasting sky and TRUST that HE will blow his breath beneath your wings and carry you off on a miraculous adventure. Are you ready? Are you sure you are really serious? If you are hesitant at all, don't not attempt this.
If your pastor would disapprove, don't do it..unless you are ready to make Christ your High Pastor. Will you choose what is comfortable, steady, reliable? Will you choose your religion, your pastor, your idols, over Christ himself and the faith he has bestowed upon you? Will you choose the evidence of things planned for? Or the evidence of things UNSEEN?
What are the consequences? There most certainly CAN be consequences. You could fall. You could fall flat on your face. And do you know what that means? It means you have a very weak faith. This is why I am strongly urging you to be sure you are ready for BUILDING your faith by EXERCISING it! You won't know if you can fly until you leave the nest. If you fall, it means Christ will be there to lift you up. Yes, falling hurts..but you get back up and fly again. But there is no work to do on your part, all you need to do is jump and open your wings. (This is NOT meant to be literal, please do NOT jump off a bridge or out your second story window. It's JUST a metaphor)
The Challenge! If you choose to accept it. Will be to replace the voice of your Bible and all other teaching, devotionals, and teaching CD's or DVD's or even cassette tapes (if you still have those lingering around) for the Voice of Christ's Spirit. ONE WEEK only. This means no preaching services either. Go serve in the nursery if you must. But this challenge will be to see if you can recognize and follow the voice of our Great Shepherd.
If you choose to accept this challenge, you must learn to be still, find a real quiet place. Do NOT pray on the "telling end"..be in prayer on the "listening end". Just sit in silence each day and listen. It might be in the middle of quarreling children. You might have to find your silence in the middle of a loud play room. Be attentive to His voice. Listen to HIM. If he tells you to give, give. If he tells you not to give, don't give. If He tells you to hug your children instead of spanking them, hug them. He might not tell you to do what you think. He may not even agree with the voice of your pastor. Even more intense is if He speaks to you in total contradiction to what your pastor taught you in theology class.
You will need to learn to test the voice. Is He telling you to be gracious? Or point fingers? Is he asking you to yield to someone you disagree with? Or insist on your own way? Is he asking you to love lavishly, or hold back in fear? This is a serious challenge. I'll come back next Friday and ask you what took place over the course of your one week.
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I gave up listening to human authorities on my spiritual life a very long time ago and I've been too traumatized by the Bible-guilt-trips I got in church and Sunday school and at home to pick up a Bible for nearly twenty years. So the first part of your challenge is easy-peasy for me.
Even the second part, actually listening to God, isn't too hard. I've known what God was saying to me, despite its being in contradiction to most of what I'd been taught in organized religions of all the stripes I've tried (and most certainly the Christian kind).
It's the next part, the one you didn't mention, that has left me chilled. Even after all these years of knowing God's message for me, I have only this past month, even more this last week, begun to take action to fulfill his direction. I have spent decades inside Jonah's whale with my hands over my ears trying to make myself believe that I couldn't hear what God was saying.
Finally, with trepidation and resignation and no great joy (yet?), I have begun making my way to Nineveh. It is a relief finally to quit denying and fighting with God. We'll see how I feel about actually preaching once I get to the Great City.
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