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Body-Builders |
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Issue 13 from |
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In this issue ·
How To Develop Spiritual
Strength ·
Feedback For new subscribers: ·
Introducing
“Artios Ministries” |
Welcome to Body-Builders! This is a new series of teaching articles intended to
bless and build the Body of Christ. I trust you enjoy this the thirteenth issue, and I
welcome your feedback. For my latest personal newsletter, please click here. Every blessing, George Alexander For Artios Ministries |
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can now subscribe a friend to Body-Builders (and please do!). Just click here. Your
friend will first receive an e-mail offering the chance to subscribe. (To
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Burnout can strike unexpectedly, but if it does it will
have been building for some time.
Last issue we looked at some of the causes, and how to avoid it. Continuing with the theme of the inner
life, this issue we take the next step and look at developing spiritual
strength. Paul prayed: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he
may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” (Eph 3:16f) He’s praying for spiritual strengthening
and resourcing in the inner life. Did Winnie the Pooh ever suffer from burnout? Probably not. However, the following proverbs could be “words” for Winnie the
Pooh: Eat honey, my son, for
it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Prov
24:13 It is
not good to eat too much honey … Prov 25:27 If you find honey, eat
just enough — too much of it, and you will vomit. Prov
25:16 He who is full loathes
honey, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. Prov
27:7 Putting them together, the point is clear. Too much of a good thing can be a bad
thing. Balance is needed between “not
enough” and “too much”. We may readily recognise that individualistic
Christianity is an unbiblical deception, that the Body of Christ is of
primary importance, and that we are the people of God together. Yet as vital as the revelation of the Body
of Christ is, corporate Christianity can lead to a dependence on the Body,
without dependence on the Head.
We can be drawing life from the Body, the people, but not be in
active relationship with the Lord—and our Christianity is therefore
second-hand. As new covenant people, we each have a great privilege
and a great responsibility.
Your privilege is: to hear God for yourself. And your responsibility is: to hear God
for yourself. In the first-hand
exercise of that privilege and responsibility, spiritual strength is
developed. What is spiritual strength? It’s not Superman!
Spiritual strength is not the Christian equivalent of Mr Universe,
with bulging, bodybuilder biceps and Atlas-stone ability. It’s not: “I’m strong—I can lift heavy
weights”, but rather: “I’m strong—I can stand up on the inside and not give
way or cave in when the pressure is all around”. It’s not about muscle so much as resilience and
robustness. We instinctively want the quick fix, the hypodermic of
instant spirituality. Popeye may be in trouble, but as long as he is able to
crack that can, and have the spinach arc into his mouth, strength instantly
comes and he can deal with whatsoever! So we spend our time looking for a spiritual spinach can. We look in sermons (for “keys”). We look for some life-changing spiritual
experience. We see in the Scriptures
where Moses met God through a burning bush (Exodus 3); or where Isaiah saw
Him high and lifted up with the train of His robe filling the temple (Isaiah
6); or when Saul of Tarsus encountered Him on the road to Damascus (Acts
9)—and we think, “That’s what I need!
If that happened to me, I’d be set up for life. I’d never falter or look
back!” But would we? More powerful than encounter is consistency. Spiritual experiences can surely
help. They can suddenly deal with a
number of problems and accelerate our progress. But we can’t coast in the glow or on the memory of spiritual
experience. There’s no substitute for
the regular and steady disciplined approach of consistency, as any athlete
knows. With much wisdom, Bob Mumford
once said; “I don’t care how high you jump.
What I care about is—do you walk straight when you come down again?” The “quick fix” can help, but will not by itself be
permanent or even long-lasting. Your
garden may be overrun with weeds through inattention and neglect. The “quick fix” approach will blitz it and
get rid of all the weeds. That will
surely help! But if the underlying
pattern of inattention and neglect is not addressed, for all your “powerful
weeding experience”, the weeds will gradually grow back. The secret of spiritual strength The secret may not sound very impressive (because we’re looking
for a quick fix)—consistency in personal time and relationship with God. Some find early morning the best time. Some find late at night the best
time. There are no rules; but
whatever is the best time for you, apply consistency! It may help to set the time as an appointment,
an appointment with God at an agreed time and place. Then you have the extra motivation of
imagining the presence of God “rolling in” at the appointed time. How can you be late, or stand God up? The two main ingredients of the time are the Word
and prayer, but beyond that there’s no prescription. You can’t know and interact with God by
formula. However, here are some
suggestions and hints … Read good-sized chunks of the Bible—it’s spiritual food,
building strength. You may “get a lot
out of it”, in which case have a little book and write it down. You may have questions about it—ask God,
look it up, ask others. You may feel
you “got nothing out of it”, but amazingly you’re still feeding your inner
man whatever your mind thinks! It’s good to follow a Bible-reading plan. In terms of spiritual food, some passages
of the Bible are like steak and some are like liver—and you need a balanced
diet. If you live on choice
passages, you’ll inevitably go for the steak (or even the Mars Bars), but
liver is good for you too. A
Bible-reading plan means you live on chosen passages. It’s okay to have choice bits if
you also have chosen bits. Let
someone else balance your diet or you’ll live on steak and Mars Bars! Popular Bible-reading notes may be helpful, but don’t
settle for them long term. It’s still
choice bits (it may not be your choice, but it’s still
bits!). Expect to need more than
that. When it comes to prayer, take the time you need. Gordon MacDonald said: “We are
indoctrinated that the only way to achieve is through action. But prayer seems to be a form of
inaction.” Overcoming the “this is a
waste of time” thoughts, we essentially pray for the will of God to be done.
The tools of spiritual strength A task is much easier and much less frustrating if you
have the tools! The tools of
developing spiritual strength are spiritual disciplines. There are many, and some are intensely
personal. Here are four: Silence and solitude This can be a hard battle, but it’s worth it. It’s like closing a double-glazed window
on the noise of outside traffic: the difference is amazing. We often find ourselves in a conspiracy of
noise, and it’s difficult to be undistracted. Indeed solitude itself can test our inner reality: some are
extremely uncomfortable in the absence of other people. Jesus said, “Go into your room and close
the door” (Mt 6:6). We can hear God
in a noisy room, and even in a conversation.
But it’s in the quiet place that we develop spiritual strength. Listening to God We can easily forget to do this! We “get through” the readings, we pray
without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17!!), and then we’re done. But God wants to speak to us. He wants to communicate and interact with
us. Listening may take more time, but
it is essential to the reality of relationship. Reflection and meditation We may come to this time with God still preoccupied with
the things we were doing, or rushed from all the things that need to happen
when we’re finished. It may take a
while for us to settle and become open.
Gordon MacDonald calls this the “out-of-breath principle”. We may need a few minutes to catch our
spiritual breath. A little time to
reflect and meditate may be make-or-break to the development of spiritual
strength. Journaling One practical activity that may help us “catch our
breath”, reflect, and indeed listen is to journal. Much has been written about this, and
there are many helpful insights. Here
I mean simply writing down our thoughts and our prayers to God, and also what
He may be saying to us. The
very act of writing will crystallise things, and reading over and reflecting
on these notes later may be very enlightening. Without a journal, the immediate tends to overwrite the recent,
and the latter is lost. I pray that out of his
glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your
inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Eph 3:16f) Will these things really develop spiritual
strength? Our tendency is to try them
for a few days or a week, or even two or three weeks, and then decide. But that may not be long enough. And it indicates how prone we are to
“quick fix” thinking! The approach of
consistency along these lines may yield dividends in years rather than
days. To paraphrase John Wimber: Let’s try it. Let’s do it for two hundred years; and then we’ll all get together again and talk about it. And if it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else! George Alexander June 2005 Note: All Bible
quotations are NIV unless otherwise stated. |
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News and Update |
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Okay, I admit it — this Issue is somewhat delayed. Last time I began a series of articles on
the theme of “the inner life”. We
started with “Internal
Prosperity” (for a
quick link to the Article, click here.) We continue with “How To Develop Spiritual Strength”.
All feedback appreciated. These articles make reference to and go along with Gordon MacDonald’s
book from the middle 80s, a book called “Ordering Your Private World”. It made quite an impact, and has become
something of a classic; and it’s still available. I recommend it as a timely read or re-read. The full information is: “Ordering Your Private World” by Gordon
MacDonald – Highland Books
ISBN 0-9446616-31-0 There’s update information on the Artios School of Theology, and links to any previous issues of
Body-Builders that you may have missed.
There’s also a link to my latest personal newsletter. Artios Ministries is being developed in three phases, and Phase 1 is
almost complete. Check out www.artios.org
for updates. If you have difficulty opening these e-mails or if the text looks weird
and you suspect it’s not showing as it was intended to (I know it looks a
little strange in Hotmail for instance), please let me know and I’ll try to
solve the problem. Alternatively, you
could try the web version (click here). I continue to receive more requests to subscribe to Body-Builders. If you have received this e-mail
second-hand and would like to be subscribed, please click here. If you’d like to subscribe a friend,
please click here.
(The friend will first receive an e-mail offering the chance to
subscribe.) More news and developments soon …. Return to top
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Previous Body-Builders |
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You may have missed or
mislaid a previous issue of Body-Builders.
If so, don’t despair! They can
be accessed by clicking the links below: Issue
2 (The Beginning of Life) Issue
3 (Getting the Word Out) Issue
5 (The Purpose of the Church) Issue
6 (Pointers to Personal Purpose) Issue
8 (Laying Hold of the Word) Issue
9 (The Community of Perfect Love) Issue
10 (What Should We Do With Christmas?) Issue
12 (Internal Prosperity) |
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Artios School of Theology |
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Artios School of
Theology is a modular course leading to a Diploma in Theology from Artios Ministries. The first run of the School, with classes
held in Dunfermline, is currently under way. The first module, Old Testament
Survey, had eighteen students enrolled, and was completed in June. The second module, “Acts of the Apostles”
had seventeen students, and completed in December. That was followed by,
“Gifts and Ministries”, and most recently “Spiritual Dynamics”, which
finished earlier this month. For more
information on the Artios School of Theology, please click here*. “Old Testament Survey” and “Acts of the
Apostles” are currently in preparation as correspondence courses. * If you tried this
and it didn’t work, you may have to download an Acrobat Reader first. This is available free of charge from
Adobe. To get it, click here. |
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Introducing Artios Ministries
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Artios Ministries is a new ministry launched
officially in October 2003. The Founder and Director is George
Alexander. For 12 years, George pastored Liberty Church in Dunfermline,
Scotland, before being released in 1997 to a wider teaching ministry. The
aims of Artios Ministries are: 1.
To proclaim the Christian doctrine and principles through teaching,
literature, and other means 2.
To provide Biblical education and ministry training 3.
To promote good practice and sound doctrine in the Church of Jesus
Christ Artios
Ministries is a charitable trust recognised in Scotland as Scottish Charity
number SC 034194. |
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“Artios” is
a Greek word occurring in the New Testament. It means, “complete,
fitted, completely qualified, with all its needed parts”. It
occurs, together with another word derived from it, in 2 Timothy
3:16,17 “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for
every good work.” RSV |
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Contact Information |
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Difficulties or Comments? Just click here and let us know. |
Artios Ministries 13 Whinhill Dunfermline Fife KY11 4YZ U.K. |
01383-739537 (+44-1383-739537) |
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© Copyright 2005 Artios Ministries |
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