My Purpose in Writing These Posts
You’ve read bits and pieces of my spiritual life in these blog posts over the years; today I want to talk about my purpose in writing everything I write. Two dreams revealed my purpose to me in 2011. I had been writing my blog for three years when I dreamt this in June: I was talking to the minister. Rev. Mark Goodman-Morris, of my last church in California. I told him, “Your job is to inspire the congregation, mine is to connect the dots.” As I pondered this dream, I decided that to “connect the dots” meant to connect what Jesus said with 21st century life. Five months later, as I was traveling in California, I wrote these words down in the middle of the night: “to make the kingdom real.” When I awoke the next morning, I saw the immediate connection between connecting the dots and making the kingdom real. Jesus was a radical in his time and still in ours, but the way Christianity is practiced is not radical at all; I am called to do my small part to change that.
Now almost thirty years from the time I surrendered my life to God in 1982, I had clarity about what my purpose is. Up until then I just followed the “gentle whisper” of 1 Kings 19:12 NIV. Much of what I write is based on my experience of following that quiet voice inside me [and all of us]. Often what I write about is what I am also learning. And still I am following God’s voice within. Sometimes I inwardly cringe when I post my blog—“what will they think about that?” But mostly I am just pleased to be the pen through which God’s voice might be heard. I know there might be errors in what I write, but all the errors are mine, all truth is His.
The way I interpret my purpose is to 1) call believers to a deeper and deeper relationship with God, to detach from the church and attach themselves to God. I am not trying to undermine the church, or to take away its members, but to fill it with members who are filled with the Holy Spirit, so that the works of the church members will be inspired by God and aligned with God’s will. It may mean that we don’t have to change what we do, only the way in which we do it—wholly engaged, with love.
The other part of my purpose is to 2) broaden how people think about God, to allow God to show them who He is, to build a body of knowledge of God based on their own intimate experience of God and the Biblical teachings. Often our own perspective colors who we can be before God and what God can do in this world.
I am but one small cog in a huge wheel of change that the Holy Spirit is calling for throughout the world: a breath of fresh air in Christianity that would bring us back to the way Jesus taught us to be. And I am sure that I see only a small part of the changes, but I’ve felt in the last year that we’ve been in a birth canal, unable to see where we will be born again, unable to guess what the “new world” might look like. And we’re still in that canal where it is dark and scary, where nothing is clear and where all kinds of things are changing out of our sight.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Holy Spirit, rightly associated with the wind, has blown in a new consciousness in the human family. But we need to get beyond the “I believe, therefore I am saved” mentality. We need to get beyond the fights over which denomination has the right beliefs. We need to live the life God calls each of us to.
We are being called to live Jesus’ Two Great Commandments, to bring our whole selves to God, no longer only the good parts, but the messiness and the oh-so-human parts, too, in love. And we are commanded to treat everyone with love—how we treat anyone is a good measure of how we love God. And we are to be at peace, giving out joy, love, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness and we are able to set aside our own needs—which we know God will fill—in favor of the one before us who needs food, clothing, shelter, visits, affirmation, a listening ear—all the fruit of the Spirit. [Galatians 5:22-33]
If you are willing to go where the Holy Spirit is calling all of us to go, you will find life abundant and fulfilling and purposeful.[John 10:10, John 15:8] You will find that you are living out of a higher calling because you have reached into the depths of your own soul and of your relationship with God. All will be revealed to you, all needs fulfilled, all will be given. [Matthew 6:25-end] Take the plunge, accept the gift extended to you, find out who you really are in God!
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Questions to ponder over the week: Have I brought my whole self before God in love? Has God revealed to me my purpose? Am I living the life Jesus calls me to? What would I need to let go of in order to do that?
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Blessing of the week: May we be the people of God who are aligned totally with God’s will. May we follow his Indwelling Spirit wherever He would lead us. May we express love, peace, joy, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in all that we do.
*****I’m doing more research for my book. If you have had the experience of God revealing to you what your purpose is, would you write me in the Messages and tell me what that purpose is and how it came about. I would greatly appreciate your help. I’ll use it in my book, but the writer will remain anonymous.
My book, “Thy Kingdom Come!”, is up on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle versions. Look under Patricia Said Adams.
I have an essay published in an anthology of writings by Christian authors, entitled “What Can We Learn About Suffering From the Exodus Story.” The book is entitled Let Hope Arise by Authors for Christ and is available on Amazon.
Check out By the Waters on Facebook if you’d like to have parts of this post to chew on five days of the week. Monday thru Thursday I post parts of the blog. On Friday I post questions to ponder based on what I have written that week.