I do the work that I do and teach what I teach because there
are so many confusing messages out there about health and nutrition. There are all sorts of people
claiming to be health gurus and nutritionists and health care professionals who
really aren’t, or if they do have the credentials, sometimes they’re sharing
information that’s based on personal ideas and not fact or anything that has
been researched and proven. It’s all right to share your personal ideas, but to
do it in a public forum while saying that you’re an expert can be damaging to
people, and a lot of what I find myself doing is helping people to figure out
the truth and how to find out what is the truth for themselves in the midst of
all this confusing and misleading information.
The Holy Spirit does that for us spiritually. There are
times when even Pastors and Priests will not be giving people the right
information – we’re all human, and even people who have all the theological
education in the world can still misunderstand things or have personal opinions
that go beyond what is truth. The saying goes that religion and politics are
two topics that we shouldn’t discuss with people over the dinner table because
they can lead to bloody fights, and that’s true. I’ve seen it happen before
that perfectly nice people can get all hot under the collar if you try to talk
to them about your ideas that are different from theirs. But in areas of
understanding truths about God, we do have a helper in the Holy Spirit. We don’t
have to ask anyone else for their opinion, because the Holy Spirit is the one
who shows us what is true. But that can be tricky too because some people think
they’re listening to the Holy Spirit when they’re just listening to themselves
or advice from someone that they want to follow. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us
to, “Test all things, hold onto what is good.” But how do we know what is good
if we’re not really connected to God and the Holy Spirit?
Sometimes when the Holy Spirit gives us advice it can seem
contrary to what we think we should be doing. There are times when the Holy
Spirit will tell us to wait and others when He will tell us to act. There are
times when we are angry and want to get revenge, and He’ll tell us to just let
it go. There are times when we think we need to panic and He says, relax and
enjoy yourself. That’s happened to me before several times. Once when I was
having trouble with a landlord who was really nuts and was trying to drive me
nuts, I cried out to God and a friend called to ask if I wanted to go see a
play that he had free tickets for. I found myself saying yes, and I couldn’t
figure out why. When I got off the phone, I started talking to God and saying, “I
can’t go see a play I’m too stressed out!” But He kept saying to go ahead and
enjoy myself.
All day long I was arguing with Him about it, and when I got off
the subway and was walking toward the theater, I finally said, “This doesn’t
make any sense. Isn’t there something else I should be doing about my landlord?”
And He answered, “You know, not trusting me is very disrespectful.” Just like
that, very simple and easy – not mean in any way, just letting me know to cool
it and just listen and follow His leading. I apologized and went to the
theater. It was a Woody Allen play, something that I doubly had thought He
wouldn’t want me doing – I love Woody Allen, but he’s not exactly the most Christian
of writers and it just seemed frivolous to me to be going to see this play when
I had such other pressing things to be worrying about. When the lights went
down and the play started, the first words were from a woman who walks into a
room and says something along the lines of, “I’m looking for God can you help me find him?” I just started
to cry right there I my seat. It was another little God joke from Him to me,
and even though I found it really funny, it also really touched me so deeply.
He cared that much about me – and He knows how much I love plays and the
theater – that He’d arrange all that just to let me know I could trust Him no
matter what was going on.
It’s at times like that when we can know we’re really
hearing from God. When there is something that is touched deeply inside of us
with love, with joy, with healing, with laughter, with peace. If we do
something that feels the opposite of those things, then we know we’re not
hearing from Him. Sometimes we might have a feeling of discomfort with
something that He is asking us to do, but the end result will be one of
comfort. For example, when He asks me to forgive someone who has wronged me, I
can fight with Him all day and I don’t want to do it, but when I finally do, I
feel that peace, joy, love, healing and laughter again.
Test all things, hold on to what is good. I heard a sermon
on Sunday from Times Square Church, Pastor William Carrol, who was speaking on “When
Grace Makes You Wait.” Listen to it at http://www.tscnyc.org/,
the 10am sermon. It was so much what I needed to hear just then, even when I
saw the title, I knew that it was a message for me. I found myself weeping and
laughing all through it, tears of healing and joy – and I knew that God was
speaking to me. And I could hear the congregation laughing and weeping too, and
that is how the Holy Spirit works, speaking to each what it is that we need to
hear individually. Pastor Carrol spoke about those times in our lives when we
are waiting on a promise of God – and when we feel like that promise is
something that we can expect from Him because He has told us that He will do
what we have asked. But then somehow something else seems to get in the way of
our blessing, and it seems as if God has stopped moving toward us and is moving
away in another direction. The images Pastor Carrol uses are so beautiful and
powerful – I don’t want to write too much here, because it will be more helpful
for you to listen for yourself, but part of the message was that in those times
God has not stopped wanting to bless us, but that He wants us to walk with Him
a little while to show us the needs of others so that when our blessing comes,
we do not forget their need.
That is something that the Lord has been taking me through
now in the work that I do, every day showing me the need of others so that I do
not forget and move away from them when my own needs are met. Hearing that
sermon gave me the strength to continue on with the assurance that my blessing
is coming, that God will do what He has promised.I get an email every morning from BibleGateway.com with the New Testament from the Voice translation, and today’s was Mark 1. Verses 12-13 tell us that after Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, “the Spirit compelled Him to go into the wilderness, and there in the desert He stayed for 40 days. He was tested by Satan himself, and surrounded by wild animals; but through these trials, heavenly messengers cared for Him and ministered to Him.” When we are connected to God, when we go through our trials, those same heavenly messengers will minister to us, and we will know what words are from God by the power of His Holy Spirit who helps us test all things and hold on to what is good.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
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