Series: Renewal
Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV
Genesis 1:2 ESV
Psalm 90:2 ESV
Hebrews 1:10-12 ESV
John 17:5 ESV
Romans 8:15-17 NIV
Revelation 1:8 ESV
While we speak about God in the Christian community we generally recognize God as Father, Son, and Spirit each for their part, or how scripture describes their role in creation and in the world today.
We understand the concept of one God through scripture. We also understand the relationship between God and man.
Ephesians 4:4-8 tells us, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
But what was the relationship of Father, a son, and Spirit before creation?
Genesis 1:2 says before creation, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
Consider when the earth was without form and void in the darkness there was no time, no beginning, and no end.
There was God…Father, Son, Spirit always.
Before time God was…
Their love was…
The deep was…
Psalm 90:2 says, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
As difficult as it is for us to comprehend the breadth and depth of the deep, which is endless with no beginning and no end, man has been given the ability (if he/she chooses) to form and develop a connection with the deep.
Man seeks communication with God. Christian Mystics seek communication on a different level. “Mysticism is a rather broad and vague term, but it generally has to do with a spiritual communion with some type of ultimate reality or higher power. Christian mysticism brings the principles of mysticism into a pursuit of God in Christ. A Christian mystic believes that a relationship with God is intuitive and seeks closeness to God through subjective experiences and direct communion with Him.”(https://www.gotquestions.org/Christian-mystics.html)
Christian mystics from the time of Christ through the centuries seek to connect with God in Christ in the deep.
Modern day Christian mystics practice contemplative prayer.
Prayers may be Christian Mystics who are naturally practicing and seeking a deep relationship with God.
As a young teenager I simply thought I was strange or different from others who prayed. Those who were able to eloquently pray aloud were the only pray-ers I knew. I had never been able to formulate my prayers in spoken form and I thought I should be able to do it. I felt drawn to prayer but I wasn’t able to pray eloquently aloud. I asked God to help me by strengthening my gift. God did strengthen my gift but I still wasn’t able to pray aloud.
As a young adult I met a man who touched me and told me he recognized my gift of prayer. He sensed I didn’t understand it and he told me things that reassured me…mostly he told me in time I would understand.
Years later I met a group of people who were like me. When I was with them and especially when I sat with them to pray it felt like “home”. We did not pray aloud. We sat in silence and prayed. We were praying as one in the Spirit.
We couldn’t and didn’t put words to it, but we understood the deep…the eternal.
Hebrews 1:10-12 says,“And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
It took many more years (and seven years of studying in Seminary) for me to be able to understand enough to put words to what I felt. That was mostly because I learned how to do deep research into early Christianity. That led me to study early Christian’s mysticism. I discovered it wasn’t weird. It was just different and it was something modern day Christianity seldom practices or discusses.
One huge chasm formed because the noise of the modern day world (television, cell phones, computers) can drown out the ability to hear God.
Today when someone comes to me for help in hearing God the first thing I tell them is that they will need to “unplug” the noise and sit in the silence. For many reasons there are those who choose a different path. They do not want to practice silence. God can still speak to them but it will take a different form.
In John 17:5 he wrote, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.”
Christian mystics I’ve studied and known seek to sit in silence in “the deep”. In that silent space the glory of God exists. It IS. We can experience the freedom of the ONE. We are children of the Most High God.
In Romans 8:15-17 Paul wrote, “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Being heirs/co-heirs means we can see and experience the deep places of God on earth. We have the option to share in his glory.
We can sit in the deep with God.
Revelation 1:8 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
God does not force us to choose, it’s up to us.
If you choose, you can turn off the sound and sit in the silence of God.
Spiritual Practice: You Choose
Sit with God in the deep.
In God, Deborah