God created us with an innate need to desire something more than what we perceive and experience through our five senses. He made us living souls desiring life and freedom. I didn’t understand this when I was a child growing up in a home full of strife escalating into suicidal attempts. I cannot tell you how many times I saw my dad storm out of the kitchen door with his shotgun in his hand, stating in anger that he was never coming back.
I had no clue as to the pain that my dad must have been going through on the inside of his soul as he stomped out of that kitchen door. I just know that it broke my heart to hear him say those words causing me to run to my room, crying each time he left with the gun. Maybe that is the reason I never grew attached to hunting and guns the way dad was and the way I was raised. I have owned guns and have gone hunting since those days at home, but never with an enjoyment that most men experience when they go hunting or shoot a gun. Maybe in my subconscious mind the images of dad walking out the door with the possibility of him not returning, discounted the pleasure for me.
Fortunately, my parents both found a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ that allowed them to work through all the anger stored up in their souls and still be able to stay married and in church till they went to their eternal freedom. They were married for over 64 years. Dad attended church for over 34 years. Mom attended church for over 40 years. This doesn’t mean that they never argued again, but it means that they learned to depend on someone higher than themselves to resolve the conflicts.
It was good therapy when you think about it. They went to church three and four times per week for years, singing songs about the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ and His name. They prayed out loud with the congregation and spent time in prayer individually at the altar. They shook hands and hugged others at church. They enjoyed the blessing that comes from worshiping and lifting up the Lord and His Word. This is more than you get from a psychologist, while being a lot less expensive plus a lot more enjoyable.
I believe this is what we were made to do, depend on someone higher than ourselves, instead of depending on one’s self or on others. We let ourselves down as we all can testify, and there is no question when it comes to others letting us down. And why not? Self and others are all made out of the same material and that material is faulty. It starts decaying the moment it is given life. The natural tendencies of the flesh is do the opposite of that which is right. Even Paul spoke of the battle waging in his flesh and soul over right and wrong.
Paul, also known by his former name Saul, had strict training as a Pharisee in the knowledge of the Law. When he heard of the Christians teaching about Christ and the Kingdom of God, he became very angry, to the point of securing authority to seek them out for punishment. Paul approved the execution of Stephen for preaching the Good News Message. Then something happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. The Lord showed Himself to Paul in a blinding light from heaven asking why Paul was persecuting Him?
Ananias prayed for Paul to have his sight restored, and from that point on Paul began to preach that which once he persecuted so heavily. (Paul’s father was a Roman, so Saul had his Roman name of Paul in addition to his birth name of Saul) Paul just needed a higher power to show him that he had been operating sincerely, but ignorantly, while following his fleshly mind instead of his conscience. Jesus told Paul that, “It is hard for you to kick against the goad”. The goad used by the Syrian farmer is usually a straight branch of oak or other strong wood from which the bark has been stripped, and which has at one end a pointed spike and at the other a flat chisel-shaped iron. The pointed end is to prod the oxen while plowing. The flattened iron at the other end is to scrape off the earth which clogs the plowshare. So, Jesus was saying that He had been trying to convict Paul’s conscience but Paul was too hard-headed to listen. Jesus in His love chose another means to get Paul’s attention.
While the Pharisees were very devout in the adherence to the letter of the Law, Jesus was non too happy with them for their lack of mercy and love for others. The Pharisees were very proud of their knowledge and discipline about the Law, but it left them feeling superior to those who didn’t keep the Law or didn’t know the Law as they did. Self-righteousness was their disease. I have always said that it takes just a little bit of religion to make a person very super-spiritual. Paul is right when he says that knowledge puffs up a person. Paul had such a problem with pride that God allowed him to have what he referred to as a ‘thorn’ in his flesh to help keep him humble and dependent on His Lord.
Barbara Bradley Hagerty, in her book ‘Fingerprints of God’, writes about her experiences with God, while doubting the teaching of Christian Science and desiring something more than our thoughts are our reality. She did interviews with some of the best known scientists to be able to describe what their groundbreaking research has revealed about human spiritual experience. One neurologist, Jeffrey Saver stated that over 60% of Americans report that they have had an experience of the ‘presence of God’, and that this is universal across cultures.
Of all the people that were interviewed who had experienced a personal encounter with God, each of them described the same things in regards to unconditional love, serenity, peace, acceptance, and light. They had their personal values in life changed by these spiritual experiences. The men stated their personal values as wealth, adventure, achievement, pleasure, and being respected. The women stated theirs as family, independence, career, fitting in and attractiveness. After the spiritual experience, the men stated their values were spirituality, personal peace, family, God’s will and honesty. The women stated theirs as personal growth, self-esteem, spirituality, happiness, and generosity.
The desires went from the material to the spiritual, from self to others, from emphasis on this life to the spiritual. This is what Paul experienced with his vision of Jesus Christ. This experience enabled him to write approximately thirteen books of the New Testament. Over half of the Book of Acts is devoted to his activities for the Lord. He is known as one of the greatest Apostles of the first church. It also enabled him to endure what he had sanctioned for Stephen. ‘The Death of Paul at Rome’, an article by A.T. Robertson, describes his death as follows:
“The details are all wanting. Tradition supplies only a few, which may be true or not. The story is that Paul was beheaded on the Ostian Road. It was customary for criminals of prominence to be executed several miles out of the city so as to avoid the crowds. We may picture the event in a possible manner. One day in late spring or early June the executioners came to Paul’s dungeon and led him out of the city. One is reminded of Jesus as he bore his cross along his Via Dolorosa. Paul, as a condemned criminal, would be the victim of the rabble’s sport. He would have no defender. We do not know if Luke was with Paul to the very last. We may at least hope so. If he could, he would surely walk along as near Paul as would be allowed. But no band of Christians followed with him now. He was going out of Rome on his way to the true Eternal City. He knew Rome well, but his eyes were fixed on other things. Outside the city, the busy, merry life of the time went on. The crowds flowed into town. Some were going out. Paul was only a criminal going to be beheaded. Few, if any, of the crowds about would know or care anything about him. At a good place on the road some miles out, the executioners stopped. The block was laid down. Paul laid his head upon it. The sword (or axe) was raised. The head of the greatest preacher of the ages rolled upon the ground. Tradition says that a Roman ‘matron named Lucina buried the body of St. Paul on her own land, beside the Ostian Road.’ Be that as it may, no Christian can come to Rome, especially by the Ostian Road, without tender thoughts of Paul, the matchless servant of Jesus.”
Barbara says that all of her reporting shows that anyone who has encountered the spiritual is transformed emotionally and often neurologically; that each person’s ability to engage God is written in each person’s genetic code and brain wiring. I believe that this is what creates our desire for something more, outside of our five senses, because we are indeed a living soul.
In all of the people studied while they were meditating or praying, the scientists found that the frontal lobe actually shuts down, and the mind begins to merge into one with God. Monks, nuns, and Pentecostals were studied, each showing the same thing, with the Pentecostals showing that they were keenly aware that they were separate from God while being in an intimate relationship with Him in prayer. The study even went further to say that the language or other tongues that Pentecostals pray in, are not understood for a reason. The cortical areas that help produce something comprehensible is not tied into whatever is being spoken. Paul did say we should pray with the tongues of men and the tongues of angels; and that he spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthians. He also said that we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that cannot be expressed. hmmm…science and Bible complimenting one another….
I know that in all my personal pain and heartache that there has been only one person who knew how I felt, and it was not another mortal like myself, but Jesus Christ Himself, as my High Priest who suffered in all points like mortals do, while being the Divine Son of God.
I personally believe that there is a time and season to everything that happens in a person’s life. Nothing happens by chance or accident. God is in control and involved with the hearts of mankind. The devil hates God and anyone who believes in Him. There is a spiritual warfare going on in the atmosphere around us; with Satan and his demons trying to enlist our help to hate God by disobedience and breaking His commandments. By the very act of disobedience to God’s Word, we do exactly what the devil intended for us to do.
The devil meant to destroy Joseph by having his brothers sell him into Egypt, but it turned out that God meant for his good. God gave him favor and exalted him to a position of authority where he was able to provide and protect his family, the nation of Israel.
Instead of being destroyed by the Destroyer (Satan), my parents found God and gave Him thanks for His Mercy, provisions and protection till the day they left their bodies lying in the grave. In turn, they produced a son who God sent to Africa where there are now several thousand experiencing the Fingerprints of God in their souls.
What is God trying to bring forth in your life from the hurt and pain that you keep hidden inside your soul? The medication you need is not in another mortal or the things that pertain to this mortal life. The salve for your soul is in the hands of the greatest physician of all…Jesus Christ, and the atonement of His Blood shed for you. He loves you unconditionally without condemnation. He desires a relationship with your soul, but He will not violate your will, nor will He deceive you like Satan and his New Age Demons. He always patiently waits for an invitation. When you surrender your pride, He will place His fingerprints on your life.