It is amazing how much we love boxes! The box I used to love the most was my theological box, as I am a theologian and I believed that my doctrinal box of rules of right and wrong kept me safe from deception and error.
Narrative Theology – “Discourse about God in the setting of story” - Gabriel Fackre
It was because of a story that I became a Spirit-filled Christian. I was a student at Roberts Wesleyan College, having been saved in an ultra-conservative Baptist church. My theology was staunchly anti-tongues and anti-healing. Then a lovely lady invited Patti and me to her home for some great meals. She told us a story of how her family used to have to go to the hospital several times a year with illnesses, and since she started praying for healing for them, no one had gone to the hospital for the last couple of years. Wow! That didn’t line up with my theology, but it was an amazing story by a person extending friendship and a meal to us. I listened to the story, honored it and by the time I was done researching Scriptures with an open heart and mind, my systematic theology which said healing wasn’t for today had changed and I became a charismatic Christian.
The Bible tells us praying in tongues is a manifestation or gift of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). Therefore it obviously has great value for our lives. Even though our minds may say this is ridiculous baby talk and has no value, what do you suppose the value is? The following journaling is from Malachi Talabi.
Wholehearted, passionate commitment means that once God grants you a revelation concerning an area you need to possess, you press into that area until you have success, mastery and victory (Jeremiah 29:11-13).
This page serves as an index to a series of blogs on the topic of "Narrative Theology." These discuss the role of story as Jesus' primary teaching method. Since life is lived as A STORY, sharing stories powerfully impacts life! The links below will become active hyperlinks over the next several weeks as we post the blogs in this series.
In my morning journaling I said, "God, I hate my personality! I am such a fighter. Why couldn't I be more of a lover. I dislike my passion to battle." The Lord spoke back in my journal:
"Mark, if I wouldn't have made you a fighter, you would never have fought for 10 years to learn to hear My voice. You would have never received the 4 Keys which have brought intimacy to your life and to those you have shared them with. Your nature to fight is a gift from Me which has allowed you to produce a gift for the world. So celebrate your willingness to battle and do not despise it."
Wow! OK, Lord, I celebrate the fact that I am a fighter, and that I am left brain, and that it took me 10 years to discover the right hemisphere in my mind.
I always appreciate people who are willing to grow and be stretched, and here is a comment from Jackie who took our training on Hearing God’s Voice and is struggling.
I took the Hearing God's Voice course and have realized that this material is not Biblical. Though it is littered with Bible references, and seems to promote careful discernment at first, the scripture verses are out of context and the material promotes false ideas. Yes, we are called to be still at times, and yes God does prompt and lead His people, but the idea that all positive spontaneous thoughts are from God and any negative thoughts are Satan, and all analytical thoughts are from us, is totally unBiblical. I find instead that the Bible urges us to use our minds, to use wisdom and discernment and test everything to ensure it lines up with the Bible. In 2 Peter 2, it urges us to "crave the pure milk of the word" in order to grow, not tune to spontaneity. The Bible is the only trustworthy source of truth. Our spontaneous thoughts change depending on mood, circumstances, etc. How can we depend on them to lead us in godliness?
When Thomas Edison had completed over 9,000 unsuccessful attempts at perfecting a light bulb, he was asked by a newspaper reporter if he felt like a failure and if he should give up. Edison simply stated “Why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitely over 9,000 ways an electric lightbulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp.” Edison passionately pursued his love to discover and create and it granted him the victory of over 1000 patents to his name (reference here).
I went to college and was transformed because I met and married Patti, who has brought 45 years of joy and blessing to my life. On the other hand, one student who graduated from a leading charismatic university told me, with tears in his eyes, that he went for his master’s degree because he hungered to get closer to God, and instead his spiritual life dried up!!! Wow! The opposite of what he was hoping for.
Below is a testimony from Wendy Kay Domena concerning the impact her first course at Christian Leadership University had on her life. Let it take your breath away...
Ten years ago I developed, out of the blue, an anxiety disorder. Really, really annoying and exhausting. It's a permanent latent anxiety level which you feel. Totally irrational. It's just constantly there and one cannot rationalize it away. I couldn’t believe my heart wasn’t listening to my mind. I found it ridiculous, that wasn’t me at all. I rejected this anxiety, I fought it with every rational weapon I knew. Then I appealed to the spiritual weapons I knew. I tried to cast it out, fast it through, praise it away, rebuke it, anoint it, proclaim the louder the better I thought .. it still remained unchanged like a poison in my heart. I truly thought I was going nuts. I withdrew totally from normal life. It got worse and worse. I avoided every possible claustrophobic trigger situation. Even cloudy weather and walks in the woods were too heavy for me. Every situation in which I felt stuck was a possible trigger for a panic attack: trains, planes, traffic jams, hairdresser, cashier queues,… It was extremely threatening because I could fall into a panic attack any time.
