The God Shaped Hole

My last blog post was about the human soul desperately searching for something, not knowing what we need to fill this desperate longing with something of this Earth. Ephesians chapter 4 says, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” It’s not addictions, material things, work, or any kind of human relationship. Ephesians chapter 4 says, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” Carolyn Moore says this longing, this search for something is like homesickness, that we were made for something we are trying to get back to. 

While at Bible Study yesterday talking with my small group, my friends again blessed me with some amazing insight. I quickly wrote down these three thoughts that they shared:

• We are created with this God shaped hole. We are made to want to look for God.
• Our souls thirsts for God.
• We don’t know what we don’t know….

Later, as we watched the video and I looked in the book to find the illustrations and tables being referred to, these two passages popped out at me from the pages of our book, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. Psalm 42. and Does your soul thirst for God?

Now get this! After Bible Study, my friend, Mary, gave me a water bottle that said, “… he that believeth on e shall never thirst.” John 6:35. What a wonderful God Thing!!! I just love it when He sends these little messages to meJ

When I got home yesterday the first thing I did was Google “God shaped hole.” I was expecting to find some more references and details about this concept. What I did not expect to find were images. As a very highly visual person, I was immediately drawn to these images, which then lead me to more information.

Inside each of us is a "God-shaped hole"--a place inside of our hearts that only God can fill. If we try to put anything else in there, it won't fit. It won't fill the need we have inside of our soul.

I learned that the concept is biblical: John 7:37-39 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'"  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. NAS

The word "innermost being" is the Greek koilos, meaning hole or empty place. In John 7, Jesus is describing a spiritual empty place in the heart of man. This empty place is the source of thirst and the divine solution to this hunger/thirst is to fill it with living water from the Holy Spirit.

Unhealthy Wants

You know, you can find messages about God in so many rather unlikely places. Take song lyrics for example, I listened to one this morning after reading a lesson in our current Bible Study, Encounters of the Spirit. This song, “Sin For a Sin” by country music singer Miranda Lambert, had a line that just captured my attention.  Initially, the song is about a cheatin’ man, but then this line just jumped out at me:

“Bad things come with consequence
What feels good, hurts in the end
Don’t want to think about that now”

This is EXACTLY what I read this morning! In 1 Corinthians 2:13-16, Carolyn Moore, the author, asks us to consider if all our wanting is for something Earth doesn’t have? She goes on to wonder “what if our addictions and our debt and our serial relationships are all about this yearning for God even when we don’t realize that’s what we’re after? What if the answer to our brokenness is God’s holiness?” Moore posits that we are not merely after a mental idea of God, but a relationship. She likens it to homesickness, explaining that we were made for something we are trying to get back to.  Ephesians 4:19 says, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.”

I am getting a lot out of this book, but this particular message resonated with me. It was like a big aha moment.

Just for fun, you might like to listen to Miranda Lambert’s song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlvUmYGLdgM

Some additional lyrics from this song read:
Bible told me to forget
All those who trespass against  
 
Fire and brimstone
Dirt and a headstone
Bury them, baby
Along with your sins
Hear the thunder
Six feet under
Hit your knees
Wont do it again

False Prophets

While reading and watching the news this past week, I found myself repeatedly thinking of God. How very heartbroken he must be at how we treat one another. So much of the torment in the world today is because of religion. People don't agree and they fight over their beliefs, who should be ruling and what land countries should possess etc. I also recalled what the Bible says about false prophets, and what I learned in a recent Bible study on world religions.

False prophets are very real, and often disguised as religions, even Christian religions. In 1 John 4:2-3 we are told how to test the spirits. “This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

We shouldn’t believe everything we hear just because someone says it is a message inspired by God. There are many ways to test teachers and even entire religions to see if their message is truly from the Lord:

• check to see if their words match what God says in the Bible
• their commitment to other Christians, which we call the body of believers
• their life-style
• the fruit of their ministry
• But the most important test of all, says John, is what they believe about Christ. Do they teach that Jesus is fully God and fully man?

False teachers are popular with the world because, like the false prophets of the Old Testament, they tell people what they want to hear. John 3 tells us that Christians who faithfully teach God’s Word will not win any popularity contests in the world. People don’t want to hear their sins condemned. Nor do they want to listen to demands that they change their behavior. A false teacher will be well received by non-Christians.

Some people believe everything they read or hear. Sadly, many ideas printed and taught are simply not true. We must verify every message we hear, even if the person who brings it says it’s from God. If the message is truly from God, it will be consistent with Christ’s teachings. This is one reason why reading and studying the Bible is so important. No matter how much we learn, we must never forget or ignore the basic truths about Christ. Jesus will always be God's Son, and his sacrifice for our sins is permanent. No truth will ever contradict these teachings in the Bible. No matter how much we learn, we must never abandon the basic truths about Christ. Jesus will always be God’s Son, and his sacrifice for our sins is permanent. No truth will ever contradict these teachings in the Bible.

In warning against antichrists John has this to say: Dear Children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist – he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 1 John 2: 18, 22-23

John is talking about the time between Christ’s first and second comings. During this time, antichrists (false teachers who pretend to be Christians and who lure weak members away from Christ) will appear. Then, just before the world ends, one great antichrist will arise.

However, we don’t need to fear these evil people. The Holy Spirit shows us their errors, so we will not be deceived. We must share and teach God’s Word clearly and carefully to those in the margins, weak members among us so that they won’t fall victim to people who “come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)

Our culture is high on politically correctness right now. Psychologists call this movement social engineering. We are constantly told to embrace all religions and that they all have value and are good. Unfortunately, this is simply not true. The reason we must be aware of the false prophets is so we don’t follow any of their ideas. We must approach one another with love and kindness, but we are not to be gullible either. We do not have to agree with others in order to treat them with kindness and respect.

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Wikipedia has this to say about social engineering: “Social Engineering is a discipline in social science that refers to efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behaviors on a large scale, whether by governments, media or private groups. Social Engineering can also be understood philosophically as a deterministic phenomenon. A social engineer is one who tries to influence popular attitudes, social behaviors, and resource management on a large scale. Social engineering is the application of the scientific method for social concern.”

 

Understanding the Gift of the Holy Spirit

The book of Acts tells of the early Christians and that as God's people, they shared the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us of a gift from God that unleashes the power and wisdom of His kingdom, providing everything we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). The Spirit's coming upon believers was so dramatic that onlookers "...were all amazed and marveled..." (Acts 2:7)

Does the world marvel at Christians today? Much of what happens in the church today is mainly a reflection of the values and the reasoning of the surrounding culture, rather than a clear demonstration God's power. Why is this? What happened since the time of the first century Christians?

For many Christians, when we attempt to discover our part in the work of God's kingdom, the question we ask ourselves is kind of self-centered. "What can I do for God?" Perhaps we should be asking a more God-centered question: "What does God want to do through me? What is His specific assignment for me? If we can make that subtle shift in thinking and experience the true giftedness of the Holy Spirit that follows from it, we will have dramatic results in our lives. Because what we'll witness will be God's power to transform lives, not just our own ability to help people in need.

Did you ever wonder why today's church has so little impact? Why there are so many frustrated Christians? In a world desparately needing what we claim to have, why do so many believers seem to be powerless?

One reason is that Christians are seeking gifts of the Holy Spirit and not the Holy Spirit Himself. They want power instead of a relationship with the One whose presence gives that power. Christians want to do great things for God, but perhaps they haven't understood that greatness in the kingdom of God comes out of a relationship with Christ and being filled with the Holy Spirit. People in today's society have become so enchanted with SELF that we have no idea what is on God's heart.

If we seek the gifts of the Spirit and not the Holy Spirit Himself, we'll always focus on SELF. We need to understand that there are no gifts apart from an intimate relationship with the Spirit.

There are several popular books out on spiritual gifts and many online tests to take to help you identify yours. What these books often leave out is the fact that if you do not have a close relationship with God, if you have not received the Holy Spirit, you do not have a spiritual gift.

The Bible and Spiritual Gifts

In Spirit Gifts the gift is called…	Romans 12:3-8	1 Corinthians 12:4-11	1 Corinthians 12:27-31	Ephesians 4:7-16
Prophecy	prophecy	prophecy	prophets	prophets
Pastoring	ministry			pastors
Teaching	teacher		teachers	teachers
Encouragement	exhorter
Giving	giver
Compassion	compassionate
Wisdom		wisdom
Knowledge		knowledge
Faith		faith
Healing		healing
Miracles		miracles	power/miracles
Discernment		discernment
Tounges		tongues	tongues
Interpretation		interpretation	interpret
Apostleship			apostles	apostles
Assisting			assistance
Leadership	leader		leadership
Evangelism				evangelists