God teaching us to grow up

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God teaching us to grow up

Posted by Neil Davey on 2000-07-28
On Wed, 26 Jul 2000 18:19:04 GMT d.g.anderson@removethis.susx.ac.uk
(David Anderson) blinked, reached for the parchment and then scribbled
the following:

>In article <7jktns8oqe463ocpual9v6s4codr3v0i7s@4ax.com>, astra@millmark.co.uk wrote:
>>If I`ve managed to fall away after 3 months then it don`t say a lot for me.
>
>That's about normal actually.  The experience of conversion wears off, 
>and you have to settle down to coping with the return of all the old 
>sins.  The thing is to realise that it's normal, and you're not any 
>worse than any other Christian.

Yup, perfectly normal. As someone who became a Christian not so very
far in the past I well remember that feeling that God was no longer
with me as he had been at the start. When I first became Crispy and
got baptised I remember my soul bubbling inside me for ages, I was on
a real high for about 6 months. Then gradually that high died down and
the quickening in my soul calmed as I got used to my new life. 

I also believe that God raises us just like we would raise children.
For the first period of our new lives he covers us in cotton wool and
keeps us very close but we can only grow and change for the better if
we are given more rein, just like children growing up. If you
molly-coddle your children for the whole of their lives then when they
are in their thirties they will still be living at home and unable to
look after themselves in the big wide world. It's just the same with
our Christian lives, we must be given more rein to learn for ourselves
otherwise we will never develop in the way that God wants us to.

I really think that we all go through this at some stage in our
Christian lives. Dark night of the soul? Maybe, for some anyway. For
most I think it is just the excitement of finding Jesus wearing off a
bit, (it does, everything becomes normal after you have become used to
it for a while, even incredible things like Jesus' sacrifice, good
news and gifts). For the first year that I experienced the same I used
to really worry that God had left me. Then someone would give me a
prophecy or I would get one for someone else and I'd realise that God
was still there and still working in me. Or something else would
remind me that God was still there, it was just that generally I
wasn't connecting, (or so I felt). 

What do you expect God to do with you in the day to day? Do you expect
him to give you more than you need or do you expect him to give you
exactly what you need and nothing more? I used to expect to "feel" God
every moment of the day, to hear Words from him every time I prayed. I
have gradually learned that most of what he gives me comes beneath the
surface and changes me from within, but I don't notice it happening. I
had previously expected to see God doing things all of the time but
now I realise that the best way to see God's hand is to look back over
my life and recognise what he has done. 

I have been gifted with a stronger faith over the last two years, I no
longer worry if I don't hear from God for a bit, I don't need to. I no
longer worry if I don't hear from my Mum or Dad for a bit, I no longer
need to. I know that they are all still there when I need them and I
like to keep the relationship up but I don't feel the need to check
that they are still looking after me like I did when I was a child.

When I was in Croatia God helped me a lot, especially giving me the
mental and physical strength to look after hordes of children every
day. The moment that Lindsay and I got back into the UK we both came
down with colds, (I had yesterday off work and am not feeling at all
good today). We didn't have the colds when the children needed looking
after...

When praying before going out to Croatia I asked God for the gift of
tongues should it ever be needed, in an emergency for instance. If a
child was drowning in the lake then I would need to be able to
understand the screams of the other children. While I was out there
the kids were generally fine but one evening one boy, who had learning
difficulties and didn't understand that I couldn't speak Croat, was
looking for his older brother but couldn't find him. He was getting
quite worked up about it and came up to me and babbled away in Croat.
I picked up a bit of the language out there but hadn't previously
heard the word for brother, (it sounded like "brat", which I guess is
appropriate!) Still, I understood him perfectly and knew he was
looking for his brother, so I went off and found him for the boy.

The point is that God gives more to us when we really need it, when we
are using his power to help others. Generally we don't need any of
this extra, (obvious) help because we are quite alright in our
everyday lives. Yes you are feeling lost and lonely at the moment and
needing God to grab hold of you but that is a different sort of gift
from him. Generally I am quite happy and know that God is still there
and will be there big time when I need him. How do I know this?
Because I have been through what you are going through and found that
he is still there at the end of it, (and looking back was there
through all of it). I no longer cry as a baby would cry with no
obvious contact from its mother for a period of time, (sorry for the
analogy but it's what I felt that *I* did).

Okay, how about looking at the situation logically? First Biblically
and then using common-sense, (not that the two are exclusive!!) :O)

The Bible says that God loves us and will never forsake us. It also
says that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of
redemption. Those are strong promises and ones which mean that we are
safe, God is with us no matter what. These promises we can rely on.

As for common-sense, well if there is an all powerful God who
interacts with individual human beings then he must be interested in
individuals. If he is interested in individuals then he must be good,
(evil never seems to be interested in individuals but rather in goals
and achievments - just watch a few Bond films to catch that eternal
truth). If God is good and is interested in us then you can be sure
that he will want to help us, (okay, you can see where this is going).
So you can be sure that God isn't likely to leave us alone because it
wouldn't make sense for him to do so. Yes the lines of contact might
be a bit dodgy but then I doubt everything in this post is completely
clear or that you speak with your family in a clear way that they
understand every time.

God does love you and does want a relationship with you. Perhaps you
are having just as strong help and guidance from God even though you
don't know it. Perhaps he is bringing you through something that will
lead to you having stronger faith, (let's face it, thinking that God
isn't with us for a few months and then finding out that he is will
strengthen most of our faiths - it did mine). Perhaps you are feeling
tired and stressed at the moment and that is leading to you feeling
down generally and that makes you feel that God isn't there, (I don't
know a single person who doesn't get this at some point).

Anyway, that's enough for this post. I haven't even read the bottom
half of this thread yet.

Know that I am praying for you.