Soul direction

Soul Hack

If the process of hacking means gaining access to a data system to undo or redo something, let’s venture into our souls that way.

We have an inner data system of “spirit, soul and body” (1 Thessalonians 5:23) that includes mind, will, and emotion; the intricate and mysterious human system. I wonder if we can “hack” it to begin to undo what’s embedded and bring in new data.

I have a friend who had a sad miscarriage and swam in grief for about a year. It began to define her. She couldn’t seem to get above water. They couldn’t get pregnant again. It was drowning her, sloshing her usual outgoing self. In a prayer time with someone, she decided to give the miscarried baby to God. She felt that opened up space in her heart.  They conceived shortly thereafter! Of course, this isn’t and won’t be everyone’s story.

But I’m interested in going after the expectations or demands that we unknowingly hold in our souls and that consequently keep us from joy. We all hold expectations that aren’t unveiled until we find ourselves in deep disappointment. Then we can decipher our assumptions.

One of my hacks from my early days of faith realigned my perspective. I had read of Joni Ericson’s accident that put her in a wheelchair for life and I wondered how I would have handled that. As I faced a new day, I would imagine this fate as an alternative to what God was holding before me that day. It shocked me into praise, accepting what my day held and walking into it with Him. It was a helpful exercise giving me perspective to choose what to allow in my thoughts and what attitudes to take on.

 

We can intentionally carve new pathways in our brains that defy our defaults. In my coaching practice, I often refer to carving out a new path in the jungle of our souls. The old path is still there luring us. It’s much easier, already beaten down from use. But if we want change we have a choice to carve a new path by new heart & mind habits.

“…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God.”

Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV

Refusing the old path, we stand and consider the new way. (For example, instead of an uncontrolled outburst, we can pause to pray, ask a question, or breathe).

We can

  • reverse the spiral of self-disdain to value what God has made
  • flip the switch from self-protection to curiosity and care
  • triumph over triggers by acknowledging visceral reactions and looking underneath them to be transformed

Sounds easy until you try it! Our heart and mind habits are deeply engrained and will take work and practice to hack into our souls. Just as an athlete envisions and drills toward excellence, we will need to envision and practice a new path. We are given the choice and the power for this as we work together with God.

 “…present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.”

Romans 6:19 ESV

 We are under obligation to live by the Spirit. It’s our choice to walk in His power! Romans 8:12

What is one spiral, switch, or trigger that you’d like to hack into in your soul data system?

“You [God] desire truth in the innermost being…”!

Psalm 51:6 NAS

Soul direction

Grasshoppered Soul

My soul was recently “grasshopper-ed” by looking at someone else’s work and comparing it to mine. I know better and came to my senses eventually but not without a bit of a fixation on the giant of “I should be doing more…”

As I sensed the condemning nature of that thought I clued into the deceit and lure to do more for God than He is asking of me and thus to detach from the Vine. Not a good prospect. Though I found that this led to some healthy reflection and self-examination where I let Him “test the attitude of my heart” (Jeremiah 12:3); where I got some clarity, received His love, and walked in faith in what I believe He is asking of me, trusting His redirection if I’m off. A joyous, freer, spacious place it was, trusting Him for His work of multiplying and using the bit I bring. This allowed more prayer, thought, and planning into what He has asked of me. Instead of pulling away diminished or rushing in with hubris, the giant was reduced in the fear of God.

The Israelites felt like “grasshoppers” when they encountered the people in the promised land. Their souls were diminished. (Numbers 13:33)

Of course, it was impossible for them to do it on their own yet they were acting like it would all be up to them. Their choice deeply disheartened God, along with Moses, Caleb, and Joshua. (Numbers 14:11) The people’s hope was in the wrong place.

I think they had misplaced assumptions as we often do: (Numbers 14)

  • That life in the new land would be easy
  • That God wasn’t really FOR them
  • The illusion that life before was better. (Romanticizing the past)
  • That our kids (the vulnerable ones) would suffer if they obeyed
  • That the land wasn’t good for them, but rather full of dangers
  • That they knew better than God and so didn’t heed Him

Then when they were rebuked and told that they’d have to wait 40 years, they wept and  swung the pendulum, deciding they would go, but on their own. They didn’t heed God’s warning. They were quickly defeated.

God rewarded the few who believed and feared God over the giants but they had to wait a long time.

How has your soul been tempted to grasshopper-ing?

 

How will you overcome your wrong assumptions?

 

 “These things were written for our instruction…” 1 Corinthians 10:11

Soul Warning

Soul Backdrop

Our souls grow in the swirling backdrop of wild philosophies that present themselves as new when they’re just coming around again deceiving, bringing regret and strife as they’ve done over the centuries.

If we could only see through it.

Their claims seem so virtuous and right but we forget how cunning our soul’s enemy can be. Ephesus was a city that 2000 years ago had a strong economy based on the commerce from their territorial goddess that “clearly fell from heaven” (Acts 19:35). Their cry, ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians,’ supposedly promised help with fertility and childbirth.

 

To speak or act against their god was blasphemous. That’s the context of the fledgling group to whom Paul wrote the New Testament letter to the Ephesians where he and his companions had caused a significant riot.  (Acts 19:32) These new believers were being called to live there, in the midst of opposing philosophies and powers; to live out their newfound faith and to love one another in that darkness and confusion.                                                                                                                                                                                                     Ruins – temple of Artemis

Paul’s charge to them was to begin to allow this scandalous notion of God’s choice of them, and His incomprehensible love for them to bring peace and reconciliation between centuries-old differences and prejudices.

A new walk was called for. Walk in a new way, walk in love, walk in light, walk worthy of your calling, walk in good works, walk as wise, walk in God’s strength to fight against the prevailing philosophies and powers.

The letter is a treatise for living life against the backdrop of contrary forces.  Being rooted and grounded in God’s love (Ephesians 3:17) walking in and speaking the truth in love would bring a flagrant contrast to their old manner of life. This would get the attention of evil forces that they would need to “withstand in the evil day” (Ephesians 6:10-13). Not an easy notion that called upon His power in their inner beings. (Ephesians 3:16)

What is the backdrop of your soul growth?

How will your rootedness lead to a new walk that goes against the flow of the present day?

Soul Searching

Soul Ironies


Some ironies of the Passover Week when Jesus was falsely accused and killed:

1. During Jesus’ unjust trial the Jewish leaders wouldn’t go into the Gentile palace because they wanted to keep themselves pure. (John 18:28)

Keep themselves pure? While they carry out their deceitful plot to kill the only one telling the Truth? They were anything but pure. Here on display is ritual gone awry.

Where in our lives has a ritual or habit overshadowed the significance of that very habit for our own convenience or lack of understanding?

2. They were celebrating the historical Passover while condemning the actual Passover Lamb. They forgot that John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)

Do we celebrate an event in history without acknowledging or reflecting on the deep meaning for us?

3. They entirely missed the timing and symbolism of the blood of the lamb shed from the ancient outset of their relationship with God when they left Egypt in ~1400 BC.

What in the history of our relationship with God can we easily forget?

4. They could only fathom their own agenda while God so deeply uses them to carry out His agenda for their good! They were so clouded by what they wanted they could not hear truth.

Could there be a place in my life where I’m missing God’s agenda?

5. While thinking they were honoring God by calling out a blasphemer, they condemn God himself.

Where might I be pointing fingers or holding grudges that are actually blaming or condemning God?

Let’s examine our souls for any of these ironies and rejoice in His mercy, kindness and forgiveness toward us!

Soul Comfort

Soul Value

God values us enough to wait for our choice. During the week before His death and resurrection, He has a poignant moment of deep grief.

”O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together…and you were unwilling.”

Matthew 23:37 NASB

Not that He was powerless to change things but somehow God limits Himself by handing choice to His human creation. He offers truth, help, wisdom for what is best for them. He gives, shows, warns, waits and weeps. At times He agonizes over our choices and over choices made by others that deeply hurt us. He weeps knowing what could have been.

Yet in His sorrow is awakened a fierce and loving redemption that can bring about “new creation” (Galatians 6:15). So much so that evil is reversed, defeated, overcome. He makes a way humbling Himself to a “system” He set up for the sake of love.

By His power and resurrection evil no longer has sway over us. We now have the choice to overcome with Him by His love! (Romans 8:37)

Where are you overcoming with Him in your life?

Soul Growth

Inner Soul Work

Discouraged with their new life back in the ruins of Jerusalem in 520BC, the returned exiles turn their focus to building their own houses while neglecting work on the house of God due to opposition, weariness, and low yields of their harvests. They are discouraged by the inferiority of the new temple compared to the past one.

We may wish for past encounters with God.

As we move into the rubble of our own or someone else’s mess, we are easily detracted from the building of the inner temple where God dwells. Discouraged, we can focus on outward endeavors that may bring more immediate returns; whether ministries that make us feel good or outward appearances that gain the praise of others.

God pleads through Haggai, “Consider your ways…!”  Stop and notice your neglect of Me in the inner place. Reflect on these matters. Then God stirs the leader, the priest, and the people to turn toward Him and engage in the temple work, putting their attention there. (Haggai 1:14, 2:4)

Haggai sees the greater glory coming in the future, pulling them from dwelling on the past as wonderful or terrible as it was. He lifts their eyes to the need for God’s presence now, highlighting His divine overcoming of oppressors. “The latter glory will be greater.” (Haggai 2:9) The remnant of God’s people would be established in the midst of turmoil. Their eyes would become fixed on an Eternal King and kingdom.

As we work with Him on our temples (souls) we are lifted above our internal enemies. We name and renounce the shame of our past, defeating its power over us. We can look ahead with hope and endurance even through the “shaking of the nations,”  fixed on the Greater One among us.

This powerfully speaks to those in the rubble of life, dwelling on how it used to be or should be. There’s a time to release that, consider our ways, and hear what God is saying, attending to the “now” of our inner temple, where God dwells.  Let’s work with Him in that place. Build there and begin to see your hope and glory in Him. He is establishing you, grounding you for a better future and hope, even amid the turmoil.

What might be an external focus that needs to be put aside to “heed the voice of the Lord”?

 

photo by Cheri Magerell

 

artwork – ALEXANDRA DE BASTO

Soul Growth

Reflective Soul

It’s worth taking a look at your soul for 2023

 

“Once we accept the gospel of grace and seek to shed defense mechanisms…,  honesty becomes both more difficult and more important. Honesty involves the willingness to face the truth of who we are, regardless of how threatening or unpleasant our perceptions may be. It means hanging in there with ourselves and with God, learning our mind tricks by experiencing how they defeat us, recognizing our avoidances, acknowledging our lapses, learning completely that we cannot handle it ourselves. This steady self-confrontation requires strength and courage.  We cannot use failure as an excuse to quit trying.”  Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning, p. 86

What would you like to see at the end of ’23?

Reflection Guide 2023examine our ways

 

Soul Comfort

Soul Calling

Congratulations to our daughter Rachel, completing her M. Div next week!

(A portion of her manuscript from an advent message by Rachel S Wood, edited by JS):

We are mentored by our sister, Mary, through her song in Luke 1:46-56.

She sings into this extraordinary situation (Luke 1:21ff.): Gabriel appears to Mary announcing the miraculous baby she would carry, the Son of God.

Yes, this is good news – the savior of the world is coming, and through you, Mary, of all people! But, if we’re honest, this is also really hard news. What were your plans for next year, for your life with Joseph, for your family? Cancel them all.

You will be pregnant out of wedlock. You know, and I know, that this conception is miraculous, that you have kept yourself pure and that your relationship with Joseph hasn’t crossed inappropriate lines. But the neighbors won’t know that. The judgmental eyes and knowing looks will be the same as if you’d committed adultery.

Yes, it’s a beautiful blessing to be chosen as the bearer of our Lord. But let’s not over spiritualize to the point that we lose touch with the truly human. This is a hard calling.

Mary, an obedient servant of the Lord, says “let it be to me according to your Word” (Lk. 1:38). And the angel leaves. Where does that leave her? With a gloriously heavy assignment. No evidence…. except an angelic update about Elizabeth’s pregnancy.  She didn’t have Instagram to see the pregnancy announcement post, she had no phone to call Elizabeth and check the angel’s story (and in so doing check the trustworthiness of his message to her).

So, she packs her bags and hastens (1:39) to visit Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Can you hear the questions in her mind as she travels? Will her baby bump be visible or am I going to have to outright ask, “Elizabeth, I know you have struggled with infertility for years and this is probably a really sensitive and painful subject, but you don’t happen to be pregnant, do you?”

How incredible if she is – after all these years!

But, will she believe my story about an “immaculate conception”?

Imagine Mary approaching Elizabeth’s door with all the fear, anticipation, questions. The door opens, “Elizabeth!” and before she can ask a single question, explain her situation, plead for evidence or for belief, Elizabeth bursts out:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”” (1:42–45)

What joy and relief must have flooded Mary’s heart – Elizabeth IS pregnant! And she already knows about the baby in my womb – not just that he’s from the Lord but that he is the Lord! And it is here that Mary sings out our Scripture for today:

46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47  and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49    for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

50    And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

51    He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52    he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;

53    he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.

54    He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

55    as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Lord, teach us through your servant, Mary, to put our hope in You. What a song! In it, Mary praises the Lord for how he dealt with her personally, then she recounts how that is characteristic of Him at work throughout history, and whether she knows it or not, foreshadows the ministry of her own Son. Mary’s hope for the future is based on the character of God in the past and it changes her present.

Her initial praise is based on what he’s done in her own life.

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

And what had he done? 48 …looked on the humble estate of his servant. Looked upon her. Seen her. Someone no one else would notice or think twice about, God saw. And lifted her to bear his Son. Note the kindness and condescension of God to provide Elizabeth for Mary to stay with in first 3 months – He deals gently with our humanity.

She says all future generations will call her blessed – not be impressed by her and focus on how great she was (don’t get me wrong, we have much to learn from her example, but that’s not what she is saying) – because of GOD and the great things he did for her. OT Scripture is woven all throughout Mary’s song. You’ll hear echoes of Moses and Hannah, the Psalmists and prophets.

When the LORD does great things for us, the right response is to tell everybody! Then others praise him too and his actions in our lives ripple out to greater and greater circles of praise. Mary praises the Lord for what he’s done in her life particularly, but this is not just how he treated her, it represents his way of working. Her song moves beyond her own circumstances and zooms out to magnify the character of the LORD and his way of working in the world. We’ve already been introduced to a major theme throughout the song – the lifting of the lowly. Mary is an embodiment of God’s delight to lift the lowly.  The reverse is also a trademark of God’s character. He has shown strength with his arm – to do what? scatter the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones…

God has an MO of reversal. He uses his strength the exact opposite way from that which we’ve come to expect. On earth, “power” has come to carry negative connotations, skepticism, fear, because we’ve become so used to humans using their power for their own advantage at the expense of others. But we see in the character of God what power is meant to look like. He protects and lifts up, advances others, BUT ALSO brings down the proud.

In addition to reversal, God is characterized by his faithfulness to his promises, his faithfulness to his servant Israel, the true offspring of Abraham. Here again, Mary is one particular example of God’s consistent way of working in the OT. His mercy is for those who fear him and in that same mercy he has now sent the long-awaited seed to save his people.

Mary magnifies the Lord: You saw me and lifted me. Praise you because this is not just how you treated me — This is the kind of God you are. She didn’t know Jesus yet when she sang this song. She didn’t know what he’d be like or what he’d do…

And yet, she did. To the extent that she knew the Scriptures and the character of God in the OT, she knew what Jesus would be like and be about.

We can see, as Mary sings, the Holy Spirit is also foreshadowing the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. “God my savior.”  “Holy is his name.” Didn’t Jesus do all these things?

  • He gathers the humble disciples and scatters the proud Pharisees.
  • He looks upon the lowly estate of Mary of Magdala and lifts her to be the first announcer of his resurrection.
  • He tears down the money changers in the temple and lifts up the kneeling leper and the children.
  • He feeds the 5000, but the rich young ruler walks away
  • He helps his servant Israel by coming to be the servant that Israel could never be.
  • He scatters those who thought they believed and gathers all the sin and shame of history unto himself.
  • In his life He lifts up and in his death he is lifted up to tear down the veil of separation from God!

 Mary’s hope for the future is based on the character of God in the past and it changes her present.

When Mary sings this song, she’s not likely far enough along in her pregnancy to be able to feel the baby inside, the savior hasn’t yet come, and the circumstances on the ground remain – she is an unwed pregnant woman.

This text is fitting for advent because it falls within the story of advent, Mary is carrying the Christ child in her womb, awaiting his birth. But it’s not just historically fitting, it’s fitting because it displays present hope enacted in praise, based on the promises and character of God revealed in history and in her own life before circumstances change. The sure hope of the future is pulled into the present and changes the now.

You know what Mary’s not doing? Trying to figure out all the details of how this Messiah thing is going to work. I don’t know about you, but if Gabriel tells me I’m carrying the Son of God, I’m starting to feel the pressure of parenting him, what school system he should be in, how we can make sure all those prophecies come true……

Mary does not mistake the call of God on her life for the responsibility to figure it all out.

So much of the Christian life is lived between the opposite poles of two true truths. So yes, we have responsibility to live into the call on our lives. Mary was faithfully obedient.

If you feel the weight of responsibility to figure out how exactly your calling is going to come together, how the timing and logistics are going to work out. let’s be encouraged by our sister Mary who responded obediently to the Lord’s call, but whose next step was not anxious striving but rather HOPE-filled PRAISE.

To close, let’s look at Mary’s role vs. God’s in this song.

Mary:

       “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

God:

48    looks on the humble 49  is mighty, does great things and holy is his name.

50    his mercy is for those who fear him 51  He shows strength with his arm;

scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52  brings down the mighty from

their thrones and exalts those of humble estate; 53fills the hungry with good things,

and sends the rich away empty. 54 helps his servant Israel, remembers his mercy,

55    as he spoke long ago

Clarifying, isn’t it? The job description of creature vs. Creator?

We serve a God whose character it is to have mercy on those who fear him, to lift the humble and bring down the proud, to fill the hungry and keep his promises. As we wait for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in all the dark corners of our hearts and world that so desperately need Him – look to His character in the past and you will find abundant grounds for present hope.

How are you responding to present unusual or unwanted circumstances?

Soul Growth, Soul training

shades of grace

 

Shades of Grace

    always unmerited, never earned, given for different reasons:

 

 

photo – danielle bergen

 

Grace for redemption, before we knew we even needed it, He chose us.

         Grace for forgiveness…

                   Grace lavished on us for His glory                                          Ephesians 1:4-12

                                Grace for salvation & good works                              Ephesians 2:8-10

 

God’s overtures toward us are always undeserved.  Yet he stoops and longs to involve us (after awakening us by grace) in the receiving and use of his grace.

 

Grace to the humble …opposed to the proud,  grace to the humble…           1 Peter 5:5

           Grace for instruction …teaches us to deny ungodliness, worldly passions, to live                                 self-controlled in the present age.                                             Titus 2:11, 12

                    Grace to empower us to live as His servants in difficulty.

(Don’t receive it in vain…)                                2 Corinthians 6:1

                               Grace for growth …Don’t be carried away by error…but grow in grace

                                                                                                                                                   2 Peter 3:18

                                             Grace for a purpose … to shun evil and walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:4,19

                                                        Grace to steward … given to me for careful use

                                                                                                                           1 Peter 4:10

                                                                    Grace to build up and strengthen   

                                                                                                  Acts 20:32; Hebrews 13:9

“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.” Dallas Willard

for pdf:  ShadesofGrace

                                                                                                                            jscott 2022 

https://www.soulfit.us/blog/

#spiritualgrowth #grace #discipleship #spiritualformation

Difficulty to opportunity, Soul Growth

Beauty in the Broken

Beauty in the Broken

A meander through the book of Jeremiah for group or personal retreat

 

  • You need some reflection time before heading into the next season!
  • Take a guided, thoughtful, life-giving plunge to realign & restore yourself.
  • Beauty in the Broken is a gentle retreat guide for personal or group space.

Reconnect with God as you delve into the book of Jeremiah to discover ancient messages for you! Soak in the soul-stirring photography of Anna Fraser.

By Jacqueline Scott & Anna Fraser

 

Paperback – $15.95

E-book – $7.95

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