Relationship « Journeyman Journal

Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller

Monday, July 19th, 2010

We all have a story. For most of us, our story includes our interaction and wrestling with God…we have to encounter and respond to Him at some point in our journey. In Searching for God Knows What, author Donald Miller shares his story. And it’s not always pretty, but God comes through and transforms Miller’s faith from cold, rigid religion to warm, active, relational faith. That’s as it should be.

This is the book I wish I had written. Following Christ is about relationship and nothing more. Miller expands on this single thought by sharing his own journey of faith and examining Scripture. He focuses on the story of Genesis Chapter 3—when mankind’s perfect relationship with God was broken. God has been working to re-establish that relationship ever since!

Everything we do in our failed and frail humanity is about searching for something to fill that relational part in our spirits that only God can fill. Miller explains that our attempts to get others to like us and approve of us are all about trying to fill God’s place in our lives. It never works! We need God and we need other people in our lives. Our search for relationship can only be filled by a relationship with God. Period.

Miller using satire and personal experience to draw his reader into his own story. This is more that Miller’s story. It’s my story. It’s your story. Three chapters alone make the book worth the read (3, 5, and 10 if you must know). Get this book. Devour it. Let God us it to challenge your own journey. Examine what you believe and why. And come back to relationship with God. It’s all that really matters!

I must admit that the book also includes some “games” within it’s pages (puzzles you must decipher using Miller’s website). I was not interested in this aspect of the book…too much work for me, just didn’t capture my imagination enough to make the effort. If you do, please let me know if it’s worth it! ;o)

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

19.07.2010 Review, Spiritual Musings 1 Comment

The Process of Being Destroyed

Monday, July 12th, 2010

The Men’s group I lead on Tuesday nights (I use the term lightly…they teach me way more than I do) has decided to study the minor prophets beginning now until the the middle of November. I am stoked about the study and got started this morning getting ready for tomorrow’s discussion by reading Hosea 1-4 and doing some background study. It’s good stuff! Hosea is a little odd to take in at first, but the lessons are incredible…and as relevant today as they where in c. 700 B.C.

As I was reading, one little sentence jumped off the page and I can’t get away from it. It’s a confirmation of what God has been teaching me over the past year or so. It’s at the foundation of His transformation in my own spiritual journey…as I’ve turned from religion to relationship. Here’s the sentence (this is God talking):

My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. (Hosea 4:6a, NLT)

That right there is some powerful stuff…packed into a short little sentence.

The principle here? Knowing God, having a personal relationship with Him, is key to our survival!

Wow. If we don’t know God then we are already in the process of being destroyed…of perishing. It’s that important. God built us this way and if we don’t follow His design for our lives we’re in serious trouble. If we don’t know Him we’re in “deep do-do” (deep theological term!).

But the opposite is also true: If we know Him…if we have a personal relationship with Him…then we’re growing and living. Good stuf instead of the bad stuff. Again, because that’s how God made us.

Off to chew on this more…your thoughts and reactions…??

12.07.2010 Devotional, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

Bookend Faith

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009

God has slowly, but surely, been working on my walk with Him this week. Specifically, He has been talking to me about my “bookend faith”. Bookend faith is starting and ending my day with God with little in between. It isn’t like I am a total heathen the rest of the day…I am just not living as close to Him as I would like (and as He would like).

I get caught up in work and school and family and the myriad of other “things” going on in my life and He ends up getting squeezed out. It’s not on purpose…I start out with the best of intentions…but it happens. I fail to ask Him about a problem at work. I walk into a meeting and forget to partner with Him. It is subtle, but it makes a huge difference. I am not living in relationship throughout the day.

I know better and God is helping be do better. I desire to walk with Him all day long. I need His Spirit to challenge me and guide me and direct me. I need relationship with Him from beginning to end. So I will start my day with Him and I will end my day with Him. It’s just time to fill in the “in between” a little better than I have been doing lately.

03.03.2009 Faith, Holy Spirit, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

More Than a Map

Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

God and I have been spending some good time together recently…which typically means He has also been stirring the proverbial pot of my spiritual life. This week the focus has been on how I see God in my life. Is He a friend? A Father? A Guide? Exactly how do I see Him in my daily life…and how am I supposed to see Him? This has led to some interesting discoveries and prayers.

I think I mentioned that I started a new devotional book a few weeks ago. It’s called Walk with God by Chris Tiegreen and it has been awesome! God is using this book to do a number in my walk with Him (funny how they got the title right).

Yesterday’s reading has stuck with me because it hits a tender spot…and one that I think is true for most people:

We just want direction, not God. We don’t want to put in the time and effort for a life-changing relationship with Him. (page 40)

Now, I can honestly that this is not true for me…at least not anymore! It used to be. And in a big way. I wanted God to solve all of my problems and just give me some direction. And I would get frustrated when He didn’t do it (or at least when He didn’t do it the way I thought He should). I saw God as a type of road map for my life. He has broken—or is in the process of breaking—that in me. I truly do desire a relationship with Him more than just directions.

That has taken a lot of time and work. But it is God’s doing. This got me wondering about how else we see God? Any you want to share….?

10.02.2009 Devotional, Spiritual Development, Spiritual Musings No Comments

God is Working in You

Saturday, January 24th, 2009

There is on old saying in Christians circles (I am not exactly sure where it got started) that goes something like this: “Don’t give up on me…God’s not finished with me yet”. I can relate. I am a mess. Just when I think my spiritual life is moving right along…BAM!…I hit something (or something hits me?). It’s a journey. You can’t give up. You have to keep pressing on and letting God use the ups and the downs to shape and mold you. It doesn’t happen overnight no matter how much you want it to.

But God is working…

Work hard to show the results of your salvation,
obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
For God is working in you,
giving you the desire and the power
to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:12b-13, NLT

Two things stood out for me as I read this passage this morning. First, “God is working in you”. That’s the process, the journey, of walking with God. We do our part (“work hard…obeying”) and God does His part. It’s a relationship. It’s a partnership. You cannot do it alone. He won’t let it work that way.

Second, is that the work God is doing in me is to give me “the desire and the power to do what pleases Him”. I need them both. I need the desire because it’s not my nature (thanks Adam). I need the power because I am not strong enough on my own (I have proven that over and over again). But God knows that. I need Him. He will not allow me to make it on my own. That’s what the journey and the relationship are all about.

I am a mess. God knows it and He is not afraid of it. We are in this together. And that’s cool! I am far from where I want or need to be in my spiritual journey, but that’s OK…God isn’t finished with me yet! And He has done some pretty amazing work up to this point. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.