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Praying Psalm 23

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Fear Not

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About the Series Leader
William Gaultiere, Ph. D., is the Director of Spiritual Formation Ministries at the Crystal Cathedral. Learn more about Bill and his ministry at his
"Christian Soul Care Blog."

 

Wednesday Nights

Welcome to "Come & Grow" Wednesday Nights! We invite you to come join us at the Crystal Cathedral to grow closer to Jesus. Here are the most recent notes from the current Wednesday night series:

Fear Not
Led by Bill Gaultiere
& the Spiritual Formation Ministries Team
Crystal Cathedral, Family Life Center 470
Wednesday, 7 to 9 pm

WEEK 2: Fear Not: Listen to the Birds!
October 28, 2009

Last week I was overly negative on Halloween and all its ghosts and goblins and bloody skeletons and dark things.

I got to thinking that actually it is Biblical to celebrate Halloween. Did you know that? I think the Bible teaches us to celebrate Halloween. It's even in the Lord's Prayer. You know Jesus taught us to pray, "Hallow-ed by Thy name."

And we even celebrate a ghost – the Holy Ghost in the Trinity.

So Halloween can't be all bad! The good in Halloween is little kids having fun dressing up and walking down neighborhood streets to knock on the doors of strangers' houses and receiving a piece of candy. I enjoyed doing that as a kid and Kristi and I have wonderful memories of doing that with all three of our kids.

You know, Halloween is this Sunday night. Is anybody going out Trick or Treating? My daughters are in high school, but they're going out with their friends as Princess Fairies.

Sleeping in the Storm
We talked about more than Halloween last week! We learned about sleeping in the storm with Jesus. We recalled Jesus with his disciples in their little fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee when suddenly a fierce storm came upon them. They were pelted by heavy rains, tossed up and down by the waves, and whipped around in circles by the winds. The boat was being swamped and the disciples screamed out, panicked that they were about to drown!

But Jesus was sleeping! He wasn't scared. He wasn't worried.

I suggested that the reason Jesus' body was full of peace and he was able to sleep in the midst of a miserable, life-threatening storm was because he was resting in his Abba Father's arms. He knew that his Father would take care of him. Maybe he thought if they drowned being held in the loving arms of Abba it was okay.

Maybe as Jesus was resting he was listening to the Father. And that may have been why Jesus waited to calm the storm. (Jesus said that always he only did what the Father told him to do.) Perhaps he heard the Father say, "Wait until the disciples panic and then calm the storm." (As we see all through the Bible, God likes last minute rescues!)

So Jesus brought the calm in his body to the atmosphere, the lake, and the disciples. He manifested the kingdom of God in the world around him.

Jesus said that the disciples had "little faith" because they were dependent on pleasant circumstances to be at peace. But Jesus, to use Paul's terminology, "Walked (or in this case slept!) by faith and not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7). He didn't need to see the storm calmed to be at peace. He got his peace from being submitted to his father's rule.

We're here at "Come & Grow" tonight because we want to encourage one another in a life of being with Jesus to become like him. We want to learn to live our whole lives as apprentices to Jesus in his kingdom. Learning to live in submission to Christ – day-by-day, issue-by-issue, moment-by-moment – is the key to a life of "Fear Not."

Check In
I wonder what Jesus has been teaching you this week? Did you spend some time memorizing the Luke 12 passage? Did you quietly pray the words of Jesus, "Peace! Be still."?

I woke up before dawn the other day. I started thinking about things I needed to do and instead I laid back down. I imagined Jesus sleeping in the boat on the stormy seas. And I laid my head on his chest (like John at the Last Supper) – or at least I tried to do that. Actually, I wasn't able to get back to sleep for almost two hours.

But I laid in bed. And as I did I was challenged to be still in my mind and spirit and distracting thoughts interrupted my meditations a number of times. But it was time well spent because I'm training. And I was praying. I just kept directing my mind to Jesus in the boat on the stormy seas and I prayed with him about many things: "Peace! Be still." And I meditated on Luke 12, which I had memorized last weekend.

And I was led into a confession, "Lord Jesus, I see you laying down in a hard, wet, cold boat in the midst of a loud rainstorm and you're resting comfortably, sleeping peacefully. And here I am laying in a soft, dry, warm and cozy bed in the quiet of night and I'm tossing and turning! I have so much to learn from you! Teach me to be at peace with you and your Father! Help me to share your peace with others."

What has the Lord shown you this week? What has your experience been with the prayer experiments of memorizing Luke 12 and doing Centering Prayer with Jesus?

Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer is a way to learn to be at rest with Jesus in the midst of life storms. We pray a short Scripture to take it deep into our hearts, which is our will. And we can make it a Breath Prayer by letting our rhythm of breathing in and out be an expression of prayer.

So let's take a few minutes now to practice using our minds and our breathing to receive God's Word and Spirit into our heart so that we want what God wants.

I'd like to share with you a Breath Prayer that I developed that's based on Psalm 62:1 and 5: "In Christ alone my soul finds rest... Selah." We did this as part of our Breathe with Jesus retreat last week.

Spend some time with this. Then repeat it five more times, substituting for the word "rest" the words "faith", "hope", "love", "joy", "peace". These five godly states of being have positive, pleasant, and energizing emotions associated with them.

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my soul finds rest... Selah

In Christ alone my soul... Selah

In Christ alone... Selah

In Christ... Selah

Se... lah

Christ...

A Man who is Afraid of His Wife
This week our topic is "Fear Not: Listen to the Birds." We're going to learn more about how we can live our life today without fear and anxiety by submitting to and drawing nourishment from God's Kingdom in our midst.

I talked with a man recently who has been paralyzed by fear in his marriage. I'll call him Christopher (that's not his real name and he's not anyone that you'd know or could identify based on what I tell you.) Christopher tries to please his wife, but feels he can never be good enough for her. Continually, he feels judged as being inadequate and criticized... He travels too much for his job. He doesn't help enough with the kids. He isn't managing their money closely enough. He doesn't listen carefully when she talks. On and on it goes.

Obviously, his wife has a problem with being critical. However, to be fair to her, there's some truth to the issues she's raising.

But the real issue I want to draw your attention to is the way that Christopher deals with his wife's criticisms. He's afraid to hurt her feelings. He's afraid to displease her. He's afraid of conflict. Because in all these situations he feels inadequate and bad about himself.

He absorbs his wife's frustrations – usually without reacting, though sometimes he loses his temper. In other words, he internalizes his anger. He doesn't speak up and tell her that he feels judged and criticized. He keeps avoiding the conflict.

So he's become depressed. He doesn't feel free to be himself with his wife.

What's Christopher's problem? Why is he so controlled by fear that he doesn't tell his wife when he feels hurt by her? Why doesn't he help her understand that he needs her to be gracious with him? Because he's emotionally dependent on her approval to feel worthy. Deep inside he feels inadequate as a man and her disappointments with him reinforce that. He lives with "conditions of worth" and thinks that he needs to earn her acceptance to be worthwhile.

Christopher has some hurts from childhood and some unmet needs and he's brought them into his marriage. And he's replicating with his wife some of the ways he related with his mother.

Christopher has hooked up his air hose to his critical wife instead of to Jesus and to one or two gracious people who could serve as "Christ's Ambassadors" to him. He hasn't learned how to live in the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God
In our Luke 12 passage Jesus teaches us: Don't "run after" the things you want, "but seek [God's] kingdom, and [the things you need] will be given to you as well. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:30-32).

Christopher is running after his wife's approval. Just like he did with his mother. He hasn't learned to trust that God is a loving Heavenly Father who has been pleased to give him the kingdom. Through submission to Christ the King Christopher already has access to the riches of God's kingdom.

The kingdom of God is not far off and way later. It's not heaven. The kingdom of God is present wherever Christ is in charge and ruling. The kingdom of God is where what God wants done is done. To be in the kingdom of God is the best news possible, the best life that's available, because the King with all the power is kind to you.

If Christopher was attuned with God's Kingdom he could take courage and speak the truth in love to his wife. To get in sync with God's loving leadership he needs to trust and rely on God's compassion and encouragement through a counselor, pastor, or friend. And he needs to internalize God's words of grace and affirmation in Scripture – in Luke 12, for instance – instead of absorbing his wife's disappointments and criticisms.

Let's read out loud together Jesus' promises for us, his disciples, that are in Luke 12:

• God feeds us day-by-day, like the ravens (verses 22-24).
• We are much more valuable to God than birds! (verse 24).
• God clothes us beautifully, like the lilies of the field (verses 27-28).
• We don't need to worry because our Father knows our needs (verses 29-30).
• If we seek God's kingdom then he will give us all that we need (verse 31)
• We do not need to be afraid for our Father has been pleased to give us his kingdom (verse 32).
• We have heavenly treasure that is secure forever (verse 33).

Luke 12 is describing the reality of God's kingdom. (These kingdom promises are not just nice, pretty words or true principles the represent are actual, here and now real life.) That's what we want to hook up our air hose to!

Christopher needs to digest and metabolize that kind of grace from his Heavenly Father.

Birds and Flowers
Jesus lived in the Luke 12 world of God's Kingdom of love and brought it into the visible world. He was in the Luke 12 reality when he was sleeping in the boat on the stormy seas.

Here in Luke 12 Jesus teaches us that if we abandon ourselves to God as our Sovereign King and trust that always – even in trouble and disappointment – he is our good and kind Father then we can "Fear Not."

And he gives us some wonderful imagery. He describes the Kingdom of God as the realm of bird songs and flowers. He says that if we immerse ourselves in God's beauty and his generous provision then we don't need to worry. Jesus says to his disciples (we're his disciples too!): Do not worry about your life... Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!

Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! (Luke 12:22, 24, 27-28).

The birds sing like angels making heavenly music. Jesus says it's because they trust God as a loving Father who provides rain and seed and worms for them to eat. We have a lot to learn from the birds!

Have you heard about the conversation between the Robin and the Sparrow? Listen in...

"Said the Robin to the Sparrow: ‘I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.' Said the Sparrow to the Robin: ‘Friend, I think that it must be That they have no Heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me'" (Elizabeth Cheney, Streams in the Desert, October 10).

One day I was thinking of Jesus' words: "Don't worry. Look at the birds... Your Heavenly Father cares for them. Aren't you much more valuable than them?" (Matthew 6:25-26, PAR). (The Psalmist had a similar meditation that Jesus may have drawn from, Psalm 104:10, 12-13).

And they inspired me to sit down and do some bird watching while I prayed one day as I was alone with Jesus in the quiet for a few hours. As I watched and listened to what was going on above my head Jesus spoke to my heart.

Don't misunderstand me. The Lord's voice didn't come to me like lightening filling the sky. And I didn't see an angel. At first many things distracted me: lawnmowers and grass blowers, a cold wind blowing, my own concerns and worries. But I kept looking at the birds in the heavens (the lowest level of the kingdom of the heavens is the air right around us) and I kept listening.

I discovered that indeed I was alive in the Kingdom of God with the Trinity, the angels, Christ followers – ancient and present – and all of God's creation, including the birds who were God's messengers to me on this day.

I wrote down the prayer poem that I heard Jesus whisper to me:

Don't Worry: Live Like the Birds
Don't worry: Look at the birds; Trust my Father as they do, Feeding each day from his hand.

Don't worry: Listen to the birds; Rest in my Word as they do, Sitting quietly and alone on the Branch.

Don't worry: Learn from the birds; Sing with my angels as they do, Harmonizing with the choruses of heaven.

Don't worry: Live like the birds; Fly with my Spirit as they do, Responding to the currents of my Breath.

Don't worry: Love like the birds; Gather with my friends as they do, Traveling in formation as my flock.

Weekly Prayer Experiment
Let's take a moment for prayer. I'm sure that you've listened to birds singing happily before and that you've noticed how carefree they are. Imagine watching some birds in a tree or hopping along flowering plants... Listen to their happy songs...

• Consider Jesus' words: "Don't worry: Listen to the birds."
• Say them to yourself: "Don't worry: Listen to the birds."
• Pray that the Lord would help you to notice birds singing as you go about in days ahead and that this would prompt you to pray on Jesus' words: "Don't worry: Listen to the birds."

Try this on your own this week. Sit in a garden and meditate on Jesus' words while you listen to some birds. Or notice birds singing as you're walking and meditate on Jesus words as you walk. (It's a powerful experience to do a Scripture meditation in its nature setting!)

"Fear Not" Scripture Memory: Luke 12:22-34
Here's our passage to memorize and meditate on for this series. (Notice that the kingdom promises above are all in here!)

Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

 

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