Faith, Mystics and in-class Participation

Thanks to Ed Gungor for really turning the light on for me in so many ways over the past 20 years! Ed writes about When Faith Is Mystical in his latest notes on Facebook. See www.edgungor.com.

I know there are many people who look at what I'm saying right now, and they think, "That's all fine for you, but I don't believe in some 'name-it-and-claim-it' scam." Well, neither do I! See? How lovely! We agree!

When I talk about believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth in order to "create" things, I'm not talking about some kind of spiritual blackmail or manipulation of God. First of all, I don't think we CAN manipulate God or he wouldn't be God. Secondly, we only deceive ourselves if we think that this is some "pie in the sky" philosophy in which we can control everything.

And it's not about trying to trick myself or con myself into believing something in order to amass wealth. It's so much more than that superficial, self-serving concept. This is about participating with God.

As a high school teacher, I put a lot of emphasis on "in-class participation", because I knew that if my students were engaged, they would just "get it." They didn't have to struggle to comprehend French or Spanish. In a way, it just came to them if they only participated wholeheartedly in class. If they paid attention to what they heard in class, language acquisition was theirs!

And that's kind of how it is with us. God knows that when we engage with him wholeheartedly, when we seek to know him personally, when we stop trying to manipulate ourselves into some kind of manufactured belief or faith and just begin to BE around him, to converse with him, then we'll "get it". That's when we begin to understand that what we believe in our hearts (our attitudes) and what we say with our mouths DOES, indeed, create realities on some level. But it's not about what I want! It's about getting around God and asking him for insight; asking him what HE wants. Then when we pray, we start saying things like "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven", and we mean it!

That's when we begin to relate to guys like Daniel and Joseph and Abraham from the Old Testament and we start to get glimpses of heaven, the future, or the other dimension. And then we speak about what we have seen by faith. And then we are assured that what we ask for will be given to us, because we aren't just asking for our stuff, but we are asking for the stuff that God gives us glimpses of. Does that make sense?

And this is the mystical part...we don't always see things clearly. Sometimes we get a glimpse, maybe in a dream or maybe just an impression in our minds, or maybe someone says something and we think, "YES! That's just what I've been thinking but couldn't articulate!" And that word resonates in our spirits and we just know that it is true. That's where faith comes in. Faith sees what cannot be seen.

The cool part is that we get to participate in the way God created the universe. We know now through Quantum Physics and Mechanics that God created the universe to respond to the words we speak. Oh, not just the "I claim a million dollars" kind of crap, but the get-around-Jesus-and-start-to-know-his-mind kind of stuff. That's when we have full confidence that what we ask for will be done.

The Book of Hebrews is full of this stuff; examples of people who participated WITH God, not outside of God; not people who tried to manipulate God or the universe, but people who loved God and couldn't wait to be around him. And a side-effect of knowing God was this exciting possibility of getting to participate WITH him in creating stuff. The Bible says that Daniel's powerful words, born out of relationship with God, are still accomplishing today what God intended.

That's why Jesus made the analogy of the vine and the branches, because he knew that apart from him we can do nothing, just like a branch on a grape vine can produce nothing if it's not attached to the main vine where life comes from. But, lest we forget, the object of a branch on a grape vine is to produce good fruit. And here comes that concept again: It is by grace that we have been and are being saved, and even that is by faith which didn't come from us, but was a gift from God, so that no one can boast. It didn't come by doing or by works, and yet Paul says "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Eph. 2:10)

Ah, here's the thin line, the spider web on which we hang our hopes: It's the age-old "to do is to be" and "to be is to do". Do, be, do, be, do, be, do... Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Faith without works is dead, but faith is not from us, lest anyone think that he/she somehow manipulated God... Hoooo boy. The whole purpose of faith is to open our eyes enough, beyond what our mortal eyes can see, in order to acknowledge God and find relationship with him and to get with HIS program.

I can't say it enough: this is NOT about manipulation or selfish control or some kind of magical mumbo-jumbo. It's about loving God. When you love someone, you want to be around that person. You try to plan your days around being with that special someone. You can't seem to stop thinking about him/her. And when you are with that person, everything seems so alive and you want to know what makes that person tick? What are his/her goals or dreams?

Maybe that's why Jesus kept breaking it down to this one commandment: "Love God with everything that makes you who you are, and love your neighbor as yourself." When we love God, all the other stuff; participating in creation, believing and speaking, even miracles and really cool wonders, are just a side-effect. We don't love God just to have power! No, we love God and get to know him, and sometimes he displays his incredible power in us. But mostly, we get to stand in awe and mind-blowing gratitude of an almighty God who condescended to become one of us so he could become the open door to a relationship with the Father, a God who calls us friends.

And when we do have faith, the kind that could move mountains, we recognize that it doesn't come from us, but it's a gift from God and is a result of LOVE. And out of gratitude for his love which he pours into our hearts, we want to be a part of some form of kindness or love for other people and so we speak words of life, love and hope. We want others to "get it", too. We want them to be called friends of God, because we know the incredible joy that comes from knowing Christ.

And now we find ourselves believing and praying things like:
"In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence...For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to KNOW this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more that all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph 3: 12, 14-21)

Yippee! I feel like dancing like a prospecting, old coot who just found gold in a remote, mountain stream! I didn't find the treasure because I'm good-lookin' or rich or intellectual. Nope, God was nice enough to let me stumble onto the riches of knowing him because he said, "if you seek me, you will find me." And not only do I get the treasure of knowing him, but once in a while I stumble on the secrets/ the mysteries/ the gems that come from knowing him. And I get to share it with the whole world! Neat-o! Yippee! Woo hoo! I think I'll dance a jig!