Can sickness be better than health?

The deepest, most precious, and most abiding spiritual lessons, which God has been pleased to teach me were learned in consequence of enduring my various experiences of sickness. . . . I feel it would have been nothing short of a calamity to have missed the physical suffering through which I have passed. . . . I am positive that I have sometimes met with God’s refusal to heal when I have been most in fellowship with him.

Hudson Taylor

If it’s good enough for one of the greatest Christian Missionaries 

Loving our enemies?

The Spirit is the One who can transform us from people who love only the people we like and the people who are like us, into people who love the people we don’t like, the people who are different from us, and yes, even our enemies. - Scot McKnight (Open to the Spirit)

Maybe it’s because of my Pentecostal background but mention the Holy Spirit and the first thing that pops into mind or is often mentioned by others is miracles, healing, speaking in tongues. Basically the 9 “gifts of the Spirit” given as examples by the Apostle Paul to the church in Corinth. (Yes for me Pentecostal friends I said examples as comparing this with other similar list I don’t think Paul’s intention was to create a definitive finite list for the gifts of an infinite God)

Now I prefer to think firstly about the Holy Spirits work in my salvation journey which is beyond doubt the ultimate miracle!

But I also think of Jesus command for us to love our enemies! The first virtue of the Holy Spirit is Love and the Spirit grows divine Love in our lives. Even love for our enemies. That could be the second biggest miracle of the Holy Spirit? Just a thought.

Not so fond of transformation a prayer

Praying for transformation that I’m not sure I want. By John Levison 

Holy Spirit, 

I’m not so fond of transformation. 

I’m not so hungry for adaptation.

I’m not so keen on modification. 

“Leave things as they are.” 

That’s my earnest prayer. 

But how can I ask you for this? 

And how could you possibly answer this prayer?

What could I be thinking? 

How little could I know you? 

You’re torrential. 

We’re sopping, sodden, soaked. 

Caught in the downpour of your craving 

to transform us from inside out 

and also from outside in. 

Amen

Have we tamed the lion?

The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused Him of being a bore—on the contrary; they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him “meek and mild,” and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.

Dorothy Sayers

Open to the Spirit......

Being open to the Spirit has nothing to do with struggling to meet a standard. Rather, to be open is an inside-out and upside-down approach. To be open means God’s grace is at work in us through the Spirit. Openness is not a game of strategy and intense planning, like chess. Rather, being open is a dance in which we listen to the beat of the Spirit and respond to the Spirit’s promptings. Every time we are open to the Spirit’s steps, the Spirit takes us to Jesus, the Living Word.

Scot McKnight

Open to the Spirit

Page 21