Dealing With Spiritual Problems # 1

Dealing With Spiritual Problems

"I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother, Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. (2 Timothy 1:3-8)"

This passage contains a classic example of a man who, if he was not already in the rut, was in danger of getting into it. The old soldier, Paul, was about to retire; that is, the Lord was about to take him home. Before he went he wrote a letter to his young coworker, much younger than he, but a noble young man. Timothy was full of faith, having been reared in a family where the faith of God was strong. He had proven himself a hundred ways in working with the great man Paul.

But even Timothy, though very busy and even because he was so busy, was in danger of settling into a rut. Otherwise Paul would not have said, "Fan the flame." In the King James this is translated "stir up the gift of God."

In Scripture God never uses superfluous words. He never says to a person who is wide, "Wake up!" He never says to a person who is lying down, "Lie down!" He never says to a person who is already stirred up, "Stir up." God never wastes His words, and He never makes any little  speeches like a person called upon at the laying of a cornerstone.  Nor was Paul wasting words or giving a little talk that would be good just about anywhere. "Stir up the gift of God that is in thee". Timothy needed this, or it would not have been written.

The evidence is that Timothy, even though a hard-working and faithful man, was in danger of getting into a rut. Paul said, in effect, "Don't be ashamed of the Cross."

It is possible to be beaten until you are numb. You can smile and praise the Lord and say, "Jesus, I my cross have taken," for awhile. But then you are slowly beaten until you are numb, and you get into a sort of a rut where you cannot fight back.

Timothy had been with Paula long time, and Paul had been in so much trouble so much of the time. Timothy was tagging along behind in the same trouble, and Paul had noticed a little temptation to be ashamed of the Cross. Essentially, Paul was saying, "Don't be ashamed of the Cross. Don't shrink from the affliction of the gospel. God has not given us the spirit of fear." Then in Second Timothy 2:3 Paul said, "Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." It is as though he might have detected in the young man a little temptation to recoil a bit from the hard life he was called into.

Paul knew that Timothy was basically a sound man. He knew Timothy had been reared in a Christian home. He mentioned Timothy's grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice. The grandmother and mother were both Christians, and good ones. Young Timothy had learned and become a Christian early in life. Paul knew that he was basically sound. But Paul was afraid that the pressure of things and the boredom of always being in the minority might put Timothy in danger of leveling off.

A Personal Revival

There is such a thing as a renaissance, a personal revival. The best illustration is the coming of the springtime on the farm. The snow will lay all winter long, and in some places you don't see the ground until springtime. How utterly dead everything looks, but you know that life is still there. The trees are stark, but there is life in them. The roots in the ground are all quiet, but there is life down there. Just below the frost line are the worms, the bugs, the mice, the moles and the chipmunks. They are all there, and there is life down there. They are all waiting for something, listening for Mother Nature to say, "Stir up the gift of God is in thee."

Then comes the spring; the snow goes, and the blotches and patches begin to appear. The bobwhites begin to whistle their happy but monotonous song on the sunny side of the hill. The cattle begin to kick up their heels and run about the fields. That is spring. Pretty soon all the snow is gone, calves are born and lambs are about, and we start over. Thank God, it is all new.''

There is such a thing in the Christian life as going under for a winter. In other words, something happens to you, little by little, until you get snowed under and frozen over. There is life down there, covered up by the frost and ice. It may be hidden; it is there somewhere.

It is possible for us to go through spiritual experiences that can rouse us, the spiritual equivalent of a springtime in the meadow. I have seen it happen, and I would like to see it happen today.

The winter meadow illustration, as all illustrations, breaks it down. The fields cannot be talked to. You have never heard of a farmer about February standing on a stump lecturing his fields. It  is done that way for this reason: these creatures have no moral perception and no wills if their own. They are dependent upon the position of the sun. They cannot do anything about their condition.

We Have To Enter In

But we can do something about ours. We can have the spiritual equivalent of springtime in the meadow, but we have to enter in. The tree waits it out, and even the animals have to wait it out. But you and I, being made in the image of God and having wills of our own, can do something about it. We can appeal directly to our hearts. We do not need to lie like a field covered over with snow. We can stir ourselves up. We can run to meet the sun. We can create our own crisis, because the job is not for meadow and grass, but for our own hearts. These other things only illustrate spiritual springtime. We can stir ourselves up. We can bring out the sun, and we can bring on the springtime.

How do we get this to happen? First it must come to the individual. I have no faith in anything that happens to a church that does not happen to the individual. If it does not affect the individual, numbers of individuals, if it is  only a sort of social overtone that affects everybody momentarily, I have no faith in it at all.

(Continued with # 2 - The Pad and Pencil Method