Ordering Your Private World…Are You Called or Driven?
Boy…chapters three and four hit me hard 
The title of Chapter Three is “Caught In A Golden Cage”, but the focus is on distinguishing between being driven or called. I have to admit that much of my life leans toward the driven side…but I’m working on it (smile).
Gordon MacDonald says that a sure sign of a driven person is stress. He basically thinks that we live under stress when our life reaches such a pace that it offers little restorative rest and retreat. The way we live life is the reason for our stress. I’m sure we are all a lot happier blaming our stress on other people, maybe our jobs, finances, and a myriad of other reasons. But I am becoming convinced that it is more a matter of choices.
Below is a summary, paraphrased in my words, of what Mr. MacDonald believes are the symptoms of a driven person.
- One who is gratified only by accomplishment. Somewhere along the way this person began to think that he is only of value if he is racking up accomplishments. This person is usually always doing two or three things at once, always reading books or attending seminars on how to be more effective, and sees life in terms of results not the process.
- A driven person can be preoccupied with symbols of accomplishment…titles, awards, etc. (I am not guilty of this one)
- They are usually caught in the pursuit of expansion…loves to be part of something bigger and more successful. Or they might be a spiritually driven person who is never satisfied with who he is or what he accomplishes in religious work. This person is also rarely pleased with the accomplishments of those around him. He lives in a constant state of uneasiness or restlessness, always looking for greater results, more efficient methods or deeper spiritual experiences.
- Driven people often possess limited or undeveloped people skills. They think projects are more important than people and usually leave a trail of bodies behind them (not literally, of course). They usually get things done, but sadly, may destroy people in the process.
- And lastly, driven people tend to be highly competitive. Winning makes them feel valuable and they think it makes them look good before others.
Another sign of a driven person is the one I am most guilty of. Driven people are usually abnormally busy. Because they rarely think they have accomplished enough, they seize every available minute to study more material, work on more projects, always trying to improve things around them. They are usually too busy for the pursuit of ordinary relationships in marriage, family or friendships, or even carry on a relationship with themselves. Busyness for a driven person becomes a habit, a way of life.
And although because of my health problems I am not physically as busy the last couple of years, my mind still is constantly thinking of what I should be doing, planning, scheming, fretting about how I am going to get everything done. And to be honest, very little of it actually needs done. I am slowly realizing that most of the “busy” is really unnecessary. I think it is finally sinking in that simple is so much better and so much easier. Hmmmmm isn’t it is funny the things you learn when you have to be still? And even though I hate how incapacitating my illness can be, I know it has taught me so much and I hope I am learning what I need to learn from this. My mom used to laugh at me and say I was half gypsy and half indian…either on the go or on the warpath all the time! I can honestly say that no longer describes me!
I will discuss Chapter Four tomorrow night…it talks about why we are driven, what makes us that way. This book really is excellent. I wish I could buy a copy for every person I know. TTYL.
For an inner life fraught with unresolved drives will not be able to hear clearly the voice of Christ when He calls.The noise of pain and stress will be too great.
Have You Really Been Transformed?
I would like to share some of my notes from another of my “favorite” books…”The Life You’ve Always Wanted” by John Ortberg. This particular section is about “transformation”. Here is what he has to say:
The desire for transformation lies deep in every heart. But what usually happens is that when we don’t experience authentic transformation we settle for being informed or conformed. We adopt practices that we feel distinguish us from the world. We are “pseudotransformed”.
In other words we are pseudoChristians or fake!! Here is a summary, in my words, of what Ortberg calls the five signs of pseudotransformation:
- Preoccupation with the appearance of being spiritual.
- Being judgemental, exclusive or proud…as soon as we start to pursue virtue, we begin to wonder why others aren’t as virtuous as us.
- Am I becoming more approachable or less? Pseudotransformation pushes people away, true spirituality draws people to you.
- Am I growing weary of spiritual growth? The pursuit of righteousness is always an exhausting pursuit when it seeks a distorted goal. Are we devoting our lives to observing all the rules and never opening our heart to love or joy?
- And finally, am I measuring my spiritual life in superficial ways? Measured by prayer time and Bible reading? Chapters? Giving? These things are important because they can be used by God to help us grow. BUT….
…The real question is what kind of people are we becoming? Who are we at home? How do we talk to our family? What do we do when no one is looking?
My soul is hungry for REAL transformation. I want Christ to consume my life. I want to feel complete but I know I never will until I completely belong to Christ.
Ordering Your Private World…Preface
Alright, so I messed up and summarized the first couple of chapters when I should have reviewed the preface first. So….better late than never. Here is my favorite quote from the Preface:
Bringing organization to the private world where Christ chooses to live is both a lifelong and a daily matter.
Here is another paraphrased quote…
The entire treatment of order in one’s private world is based on the principle of the indwelling Christ. To bring order to one’s personal life is to invite His control over every segment of one’s life.
The following paragraph is a summary of the book.
The private world can be divided into five sectors:
- Our motivation…why do we do what we do? are we called or driven?
- What we do…how do you use the limited time you have in this life?
- The third is intellectual…what are you doing with your mind?
- The fourth sector is that of the spirit…how are we communing with the Father?
- And finally, the part of our life that draws us to rest….are you experiencing a Sabbath peace?
It is possible to live with a ordered, regulated spiritual, private life. The result is amazing spiritual growth and Christian witness. Without it, there exists anxiety and chaos. Which would you choose?
Having Trouble Trusting God?
We can’t really trust Him until we KNOW Him! Really know Him, know His heart, His likes, His dislikes. There is no other way. I want to trust Him explicitly…I know there is tremendous peace in doing so.
We were created to be in the center of God’s love and purpose. He created us to be there, right in the middle of His entire plan, loving us, talking to us, laughing and crying with us. I can’t explain how wonderful that thought is! I long so much to be able to live in the present, eagerly anticipating each day as an opportunity to know Him, to trust Him, to love Him. I so desperately want to stay away from my limited human concepts of what I should or shouldn’t be doing…only to be open to His guidance and to embrace every moment with joy.
Here is an excerpt from “The Shack”, a conversation between Mack and Jesus.
Jesus, “Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?”
“Why do I do that?” asks Mack.
“It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can’t. It is impossible for you to take power of the future because it isn’t even real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear.”
Mack asked, “So why do I have so much fear in my life?”
Jesus replied, “Because you don’t believe. You don’t know that we love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe that I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”
The answer is simple…know Him, love Him, believe Him, trust Him.
Ordering Your Private World
I love this book! It is SO what I need…I am so sick of struggling to have a consistent private life, of not having an organized spiritual world. Here is what the author, Gordon MacDonald, says about our private world.
Our public worlds are filled with a seeming infinity of demands on our time, our loyalties, our money, and our energies. And because these public worlds of ours are so visible, so real, we have to struggle to ignore all their seductions and demands. They scream for our attention and action.
The result is that our private world is often cheated, neglected because it does not shout quite so loudly. It can be effectively ignored for large periods of time before it gives way to a sinkhole-like cave in.”
He went on to say, “I believe that one of the great battlegrounds of our age is the private world of the individual”.
This is my public proclamation that I am beginning a fresh attempt to “order my private world”! I will try every day to summarize a chapter or two and discuss how I intend to apply it to my life.
I will start tonight with Chapter One…The Sinkhole Syndrome. Scientists say that sinkholes occur when underground streams drain away during seasons of drought, causing the ground at the surface to lose its underlying support. (Hmmm…have you been through a season of drought? Lost your underlying support?) Most of us spend the majority of our time and energy establishing life on the visible level, at the surface. And there is nothing wrong with that….BUT too often we discover that our private world is in a weakened state.
We manage our public, outward world and our private, spiritual world often is neglected or given our left-over time and energy, if anything. And the whole, “private world” thing is not quite the same as “quiet time” or “study time”…it is much more than that. If someone were to ask us, “How is your quiet time? or How much time did you spend in Bible study”? we would know exactly how to answer. We could measure it in chapters, hours, minutes, etc. But, if someone were to ask, “How are you doing spiritually?” Could you answer truthfully? Would you be ashamed of your answer? It is more about quality, not quantity.
Chapter Two, The View From The Bridge, discusses how having our private world in order can assure us that our hearts, souls, and lives can be secure no matter what the external circumstances are.
Here is my favorite quote from Chapter Two:
Why is that for so many the answer to personal tension and pressure lies not in going to the bridge of life but rather in attempting to run faster, protest more vigorously, accumulate more, collect more data, and gain more expertise? We are of an age in which it seems instinctive to give attention to every cubic inch of life other than our inner worlds–the only place from which we gain the strength to brave, or even beat, any outer turbulence.
Proverbs 4:23 says, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”
How do you keep, or watch over, your heart? This verse lets us know that our heart NEEDS watched over and protected! It is a choice we make. Guard your heart with all diligence. What is diligence? To pay careful attention…don’t neglect…use caution. Why? The last half of the verse tells us why it is so important. “For from it flows the springs of life!” A healthy heart flowing with the water of life should never be assumed…it must be cultivated, maintained, protected. The condition of our heart, our private inner world, shapes our outer, more visible world. OR more importantly, if our heart or private world is not maintained properly, then the outer or carnal world around us will force its condition onto our heart!
My final quote, “There must be a place where all is in order, a place from which comes the energy to overcome the turbulence and is not intimidated by it.”
See ya tomorrow
T. Austin-Sparks
I discovered an author that I had never heard of before while on David Wilkerson’s site. His name is T. Austin-Sparks. He was a British Christian evangelist and author. (1888-1971) I have pasted some quotes from him below:
You see, I feel the Lord is wanting to say something to us at this time about the end which is at hand, and of His concern to have a vessel that will serve Him in this fuller way regarding His Christ in a time of coming spiritual need; and of what, therefore, we may expect as to our own experience, our own handling, in view of our having to meet forces so unusual, the awful drive of the enemy. How necessary it is for there to be more than an ordinary abandonment to the Lord – coming to the place where He is Master and Lord in very truth, and where we are utterly subject to Him. Let us make this a very definite matter of prayer. If we can at all discern these signs, both as to the world and the coming phase of things, as well as in our own spiritual experience, let us see that they are of tremendous meaning, and get very much to the Lord that He shall find us a vessel to hand, completely under His mastery.
Look at this section of the quote, “and of what, therefore, we may expect as to our own experience, our own handling, in view of our having to meet forces so unusual, the awful drive of the enemy.” How will I handle my experiences? my handling of meeting Satan’s last desperate attempt on earth before Christ’s return? Am I focused? Am I ready? Am I strong?
Are “YOU” The Reason Your Prayers Aren’t Answered?
We must do those things that are pleasing in His sight. There are many things which would be pleasing to God for us to do which He has not specifically commanded us to do. When you love someone you don’t just do the things they ask you to do, you want to do special things, extra things, to please them. That is how we should be with God. A true child of God should not need a specific command, he will want to do the things that are pleasing to his Father. Maybe this is the reason for many unanswered prayers; we are not going to the trouble to find out what pleases God. Many times we feel a slight twinge of guilt about something we are doing, but comfort ourselves with the fact that nowhere in the Bible does it say that we cannot do that thing. The question should be is our heavenly father pleased with what we are doing? There may not be any harm in what we are doing, but is it robbing our prayer of power?
R.A.Torrey says,
“If we would have power in prayer, we must be earnest students of His word to find out what His will regarding us is, and then having found it, do it. One unconfessed act of disobedience on our part will shut the ear of God against many petitions.”
There may be many reasons why God hasn’t answered some of your prayers… don’t let one of them be you.
Praying With Power
In chapter two of his book “How To Pray”, R. A. Torrey explained our lack of power in three short sentences.
“Much of our modern prayer has no power in it because there is no heart in it. We rush into God’s presence, run through a string of petitions, jump up and go out. If we put so little heart into our prayers, we cannot expect God to put much heart into answering them.”
Acts 12:5 says “…but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.” The key to powerful prayer is prayer offered unto God. We are so concerned with our needs and our mind is not on God. If we were really honest, we would have to admit that usually our mind is on a million other things and most of them are about us…not God. There is no power in this kind of prayer.
If we would pray like we are supposed to, the first thing we would do is to really get into His presence. Before one word ever comes out of our mouth we need to realize that we are talking to God, the creator of the universe, and we need to believe that He is listening to us and will answer our prayer. Take time to rid your mind of all distractions and focus on Him before you utter a single word. We should be more concerned about entering into His presence than getting our prayers answered.
Notice that Acts 12:5 also says that prayer was made without ceasing. It is easy to pray without ceasing when you read the Word every chance you get. If you are going to listen to music, try listening to music about Him. Do you feel like reading a book?….read one about Jesus. If you feel like just laying back in that recliner and watching TV, why not watch something that will draw you closer to the Lord? How can you keep your mind on God when you are watching affairs, divorces, sexuality, violence, cursing, and the list goes on and on! If you are having a hard time focusing on the Lord and praying without ceasing, it could be because your filling your mind with things that have nothing to do with Him. Surround yourself with the things of God and it will be a natural reflex to talk to Him continually (and to live like Him!)
We want to pray with power, yet are not willing to pray with fasting. Daniel sought God with prayer and fasting. The first church prayed and fasted and so did Jesus. Some people think they don’t have to fast unless the Lord specifically tells them to. That is pretty lame. Jesus doesn’t need to tell us to fast; we are to follow His example. The Bible says that if we say we abide in Him, we should walk as He did. (1 John 2:6) He assumed that we would fast. In Matthew 6:16 He says, “Moreover when ye fast….”. Quit looking for excuses not to fast. If you want to pray with power, pray with fasting!
Another secret of praying with power is also found in Acts 12:5. The verse says that prayer was made without ceasing of the church. There is power in united power. In Matthew 18:19 it says, “Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” Notice that this particular verse does not say agree in asking, it says agree as touching (or concerning) anything. We shouldn’t just agree with someone in prayer just because they asked us to pray with them about something. There should be real agreement with the Spirit of God bringing two believers into perfect harmony concerning something they are asking God for. When the Spirit of God lays the same burden on two hearts, you will find prayer with power.
We are creatures of habit and it is easy to pray the same old phrases day after day. It may not be intentional but we do it nevertheless. We are not praying with our hearts; many times our prayers are absentminded words stemming from a sense of duty. No wonder our prayers don’t get answered. What is the secret to praying with power? Pray to God, pray without ceasing, pray with fasting, and pray with other believers.
PRAY WITH POWER!
Choices…They Reveal Our True Character
There is no doubt in my mind that we are living in the last hour. But I have considerable concern about the condition of the “church”. I think we are far from where we should be, myself included. I don’t see a hunger for Christ. I am amazed at the carnality that is so obvious in our lives. There should be a marked difference in our lives and that of the world….shouldn’t there???
I think because we aren’t committing the “big” sins that we have allowed the little ones…the gray area sins…to become part of our daily lives. Here are excerpts from A.W. Tozer on “choices” and how they affect our character.
The choices of life, not the compulsions, reveal character.
In the realm of religion right choices are critically important. If we Protestant Christians would retain our freedom we dare not abuse it, and it is always to abuse freedom when we choose the easy way rather than the harder but better way. The casual indifference with which millions of Protestants view their God-blessed religious liberty is ominous. Being let go they go on weekends to the lakes and mountains and beaches to play shuffleboard, fish and sun bathe. They go where their heart is and come back to the praying company only when the bad weather drives them in. Let this continue long enough and evangelical Protestantism will be ripe for a take-over by Rome.
Our choices reveal what kind of persons we are, but there is another side to the coin. We may by our choices also determine what kind of persons we will become. We humans are not only in a state of being, we are in a state of becoming; we are on a slow spiral moving gradually up or down. Here we move not singly but in companies, and we are drawn to these companies by the attraction of similarity.
I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and we are able to think of what we will instead of what we must, what do we think of then?
The Christian gospel is a message of freedom through grace and we must stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. But what shall we do with our freedom? The Apostle Paul grieved that some of the believers of his day took advantage of their freedom and indulged the flesh in the name of Christian liberty. They threw off discipline, scorned obedience and made gods of their own bellies. It is not difficult to decide which company such as these belonged to. They revealed it by the company they kept.
Am I throwing off discipline? scorning obedience? Am I studying the Word, staying in constant communication with Him? Is my life so crazy and noisy that I can’t hear the whisper of the Spirit directing my daily choices? What do I do with my free time? What do I talk about, what do I think about?
I honestly believe part of the deception of the last days could very well be much more subtle than we think. Am I deceived? Is the time I give the Lord in prayer and study enough? Isn’t something wrong when we have to make ourselves spend time in the Word or drag our lazy bodies out of bed early enough to spend time in prayer? Shouldn’t our love for Him, our desire for Him, be motivation enough?
I wonder.
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