I have no record of the best artistic piece I've ever created. It truly was a miracle, primarily because I possibly have a negative amount of hands-on creative ability. My house looks decently decorated because I can arrange photos and think up ways things look nice together. But vision and design - and the hardest part - implementation of that vision and design - allude me completely.
Maybe that's why I liked this little playdoh statue I made so much. Not only was it actually pretty
good, but it dealt with words, specifically, C.S. Lewis' creative interpretation of how the Lord spoke the universe into being. We know those first words - LET THERE BE LIGHT - from Genesis. Lewis, in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew presents that "speaking" in a most unique way. He intimates that Aslan - the God/Christ figure in his Narnian universe - sang creation into being.
(This was before the days of smartphones, dear children, so I couldn't document it. I know it hurts your head to think of the dark, dreadful and seemingly complicated days your parents grew up in, when they didn't have easy access to everything.)
It lives on in my memory and, of course, in my pride.
Perhaps that is why I acquiesced to my mother's wish for a doctor in the family when I chose my major in college: Pre-Med. Creation, especially the intricate ways the human body works together (99% of the time without us even being aware it is WORKING) is completely fascinating. It's beautiful, exquisite in it's rhythms. It is marvelous and majestic that I sit here breathing, thinking and typing. It ranks as one of the most fantastic miracles of all time.
I'm a little philosophically poetic today, for some reason. I digress.
The Words of God - and truly the Living Word of God (the Logos...that is Jesus Christ Himself) - are very important in our spiritual development. Just over a month ago, as I was reading the first chapter of John, when the Lord bubbled something up in my spirit about the words He speaks into our lives. All of these words come from THE WORD, meaning Christ, via His Spirit.
Parenthetically - it is important to note all words we receive, from natural or supernatural sources, should actively be held up against the light of Truth - the full context of the Bible - as well as experience and feeling. Sometimes that's obvious and sometimes it requires playing hide and seek for awhile until you get the confirmation. Either way, that's fundamental Christian living - the balance of biblical knowledge and spiritual experience. We are people of Spirit and Truth, after all.
Back to beginning of August - I'm reading about Christ as The Logos and I get an idea we should be asking more regularly for God to speak - and speak specifically - in a word we can understand. It's not a foreign idea, I've been asking for rhema words of knowledge and wisdom for awhile, but this was the first time the idea of these words having a category came to me.
Picture an org chart: Jesus is at the top as the Ultimate and Final Revealed Word of God but underneath Him are 3 subsets of words we can be asking Him for: creation, incarnate and resurrection words.
When I prayed on this idea (and you pray on it too, again, confirmation is key) the thoughts started to percolate some more.
Creation Words are those words God speaks into you/your life that create something out of nothing. For instance, where a calling did not exist in your mind/heart/life before, suddenly it is there. Or maybe where there were no funds in the bank, you receive an unexpected check in the mail. Even more dramatically, where there no baby in your womb yesterday, now you are pregnant.
Creation words bring beauty and hope. They spring up from nothing, just as our universe sprang up from the mouth of God all those millennium ago. Where there were was no light, dirt, rivers, mountains, birds, mosquitoes, bananas or even people before, now there is. Cool, huh?
Incarnation Words are those words that help us know more about Jesus - Who He is and what He does. We find a lot of these words in Scripture, but I believe He can give us more. You could probably describe your best friend in 3 words but would that encompass all he or she really is?
Incarnation words also tell us who we are in Christ. They reveal more of Him and as a result, more of our identity and ability as Christians. They are words we are to lean into when we start to slip or get confused or even as the enemy tries to trick us into believing lies. They are words we can stake our faith on, and in fact, as in the case of Philippians 2:6-11, they are doctrinal. Stay with me....
(Finally, of course) Resurrection Words are those words of desperate hope, faith and peace only Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, can speak. These are words that bring dead dreams, emotions, situations and, yes, even people back to life. God alone has the final word on everything, so it stands to reason, if He wants something living that is dead - He can and will do it. The Resurrection of Jesus is what gives our faith credibility and power. If it didn't happen, our faith is smoke. BUT IT DID HAPPEN!!! As a result, we can count on things coming back from the brink of death and beyond, when that meets His plan and purposes.
These are words we can't speak ourselves. We don't have the capacity in our humanity. It is only the divinity given to us by faith that makes these kinds of words possible - even desirable - to us. They move us forward and bring light into our darkness - just as the WORD's First Word brought light into the void.
I see there are other categories of words I haven't touched on (or experienced yet). Another I thought of while typing: Salvation Words. Those are words that save what is lost, make the broken whole and complete. These are the words that bring wayward children home, rescue us from our slimy pits and put a fine robe on us so we can go to the party hand in hand with our loving Father. I definitely think that ties into the Person of Christ - into Incarnation - because Jesus' name means The Lord Saves....to the utmost. His life and death prove it.
I don't know what kind of word or words you need spoken, prayed or even sung into your soul today, but I pray you get them. I pray He changes you with these words, by the power of His Word, in Spirit and (of course) in truth. He delights to give them. I think He is talking constantly and we are the ones who have to slow down, turn down the volume of our thoughts enough to hear Him.
He is there for the having and these words are here for the taking. I hope you don't pass them up!
Maybe that's why I liked this little playdoh statue I made so much. Not only was it actually pretty good, but it dealt with words, specifically, C.S. Lewis' creative interpretation of how the Lord spoke the universe into being. We know those first words - LET THERE BE LIGHT - from Genesis. Lewis, in the Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew presents that "speaking" in a most unique way. He intimates that Aslan - the God/Christ figure in his Narnian universe - sang creation into being.
In the darkness something was happening at last. A voice had begun to sing…it seemed to come from all directions at once…Its lower notes were deep enough to be the voice of the earth herself. There were no words. There was hardly even a tune. But it was beyond comparison, the most beautiful noise he had ever heard. It was so beautiful Digory could hardly bear it. (p. 62)Creation starts not truly with words our ears could hear but in tunes we can feel; tones and notes so beautiful you think you might actual die from the experience of hearing them. My brilliant clay sculpture was my version this Great Lion singing, with his wide, ferocious mouth forming a "O," that one Sunday night in Bible Study, ten (or more) years ago.
(This was before the days of smartphones, dear children, so I couldn't document it. I know it hurts your head to think of the dark, dreadful and seemingly complicated days your parents grew up in, when they didn't have easy access to everything.)
It lives on in my memory and, of course, in my pride.
Perhaps that is why I acquiesced to my mother's wish for a doctor in the family when I chose my major in college: Pre-Med. Creation, especially the intricate ways the human body works together (99% of the time without us even being aware it is WORKING) is completely fascinating. It's beautiful, exquisite in it's rhythms. It is marvelous and majestic that I sit here breathing, thinking and typing. It ranks as one of the most fantastic miracles of all time.
I'm a little philosophically poetic today, for some reason. I digress.
The Words of God - and truly the Living Word of God (the Logos...that is Jesus Christ Himself) - are very important in our spiritual development. Just over a month ago, as I was reading the first chapter of John, when the Lord bubbled something up in my spirit about the words He speaks into our lives. All of these words come from THE WORD, meaning Christ, via His Spirit.
Parenthetically - it is important to note all words we receive, from natural or supernatural sources, should actively be held up against the light of Truth - the full context of the Bible - as well as experience and feeling. Sometimes that's obvious and sometimes it requires playing hide and seek for awhile until you get the confirmation. Either way, that's fundamental Christian living - the balance of biblical knowledge and spiritual experience. We are people of Spirit and Truth, after all.
Back to beginning of August - I'm reading about Christ as The Logos and I get an idea we should be asking more regularly for God to speak - and speak specifically - in a word we can understand. It's not a foreign idea, I've been asking for rhema words of knowledge and wisdom for awhile, but this was the first time the idea of these words having a category came to me.
Picture an org chart: Jesus is at the top as the Ultimate and Final Revealed Word of God but underneath Him are 3 subsets of words we can be asking Him for: creation, incarnate and resurrection words.
When I prayed on this idea (and you pray on it too, again, confirmation is key) the thoughts started to percolate some more.
Creation Words are those words God speaks into you/your life that create something out of nothing. For instance, where a calling did not exist in your mind/heart/life before, suddenly it is there. Or maybe where there were no funds in the bank, you receive an unexpected check in the mail. Even more dramatically, where there no baby in your womb yesterday, now you are pregnant.
Creation words bring beauty and hope. They spring up from nothing, just as our universe sprang up from the mouth of God all those millennium ago. Where there were was no light, dirt, rivers, mountains, birds, mosquitoes, bananas or even people before, now there is. Cool, huh?
Incarnation Words are those words that help us know more about Jesus - Who He is and what He does. We find a lot of these words in Scripture, but I believe He can give us more. You could probably describe your best friend in 3 words but would that encompass all he or she really is?
Incarnation words also tell us who we are in Christ. They reveal more of Him and as a result, more of our identity and ability as Christians. They are words we are to lean into when we start to slip or get confused or even as the enemy tries to trick us into believing lies. They are words we can stake our faith on, and in fact, as in the case of Philippians 2:6-11, they are doctrinal. Stay with me....
(Finally, of course) Resurrection Words are those words of desperate hope, faith and peace only Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, can speak. These are words that bring dead dreams, emotions, situations and, yes, even people back to life. God alone has the final word on everything, so it stands to reason, if He wants something living that is dead - He can and will do it. The Resurrection of Jesus is what gives our faith credibility and power. If it didn't happen, our faith is smoke. BUT IT DID HAPPEN!!! As a result, we can count on things coming back from the brink of death and beyond, when that meets His plan and purposes.
These are words we can't speak ourselves. We don't have the capacity in our humanity. It is only the divinity given to us by faith that makes these kinds of words possible - even desirable - to us. They move us forward and bring light into our darkness - just as the WORD's First Word brought light into the void.
I see there are other categories of words I haven't touched on (or experienced yet). Another I thought of while typing: Salvation Words. Those are words that save what is lost, make the broken whole and complete. These are the words that bring wayward children home, rescue us from our slimy pits and put a fine robe on us so we can go to the party hand in hand with our loving Father. I definitely think that ties into the Person of Christ - into Incarnation - because Jesus' name means The Lord Saves....to the utmost. His life and death prove it.
I don't know what kind of word or words you need spoken, prayed or even sung into your soul today, but I pray you get them. I pray He changes you with these words, by the power of His Word, in Spirit and (of course) in truth. He delights to give them. I think He is talking constantly and we are the ones who have to slow down, turn down the volume of our thoughts enough to hear Him.
He is there for the having and these words are here for the taking. I hope you don't pass them up!
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