Comfort in Waiting

 The workbook assignment in Stephen W. Smith’s Soul Shaping has been very comforting. We all want to be more and more and increasingly more Christlike, don’t we? That’s what soul shaping is all about. Allowing God to remove the impurities from our clay, to water the clay to make it more pliable, to mix in powdered shards to add strength, and then to change our shape and change it again as he deems best. Are you impatient, like me, for faster progress? Why is it taking so long?  

Smith says: 

“Transformation occurs over time, so often we must wait. We may need to wait for changes in other people, other circumstances, or ourselves.” (155)  

I thought I’d share my workbook responses from pages 155 and 156.  

We learn from Isaiah 30:18 that God is patient with us. Indeed, his patience glorifies him; it is a sign of his mercy. We are blessed if we wait for the Lord. 

We see in Isaiah 40:30-31 that those who wait for the Lord will have their strength renewed; they will soar like eagles! 

Job 5:17-18 tells us that God’s discipline is a gift. He wounds but then he heals. The goal is restoration. 

Psalm 147:3 comforts with the promise to heal the broken-hearted; he will bind up our wounds. 

We see this played out across all of time in Isaiah 53:4-5.  God’s wounds have healed us, are healing us and will heal us.  

Smith assures us that something transformational happens when we are still and wait. He says that “Something important happens in the waiting time…something that cannot happen when we are moving.” (159) 

Let Psalm 130 give you words to pray when you are waiting for transformation: (164) 

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
²     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
    from all their sins.

Maybe you could share with your Soul Friend what it’s like for you to wait. Have a great week.

Five Excellent Soul Friendship Questions

 At the end of the month we will be going to Westminster Abbey in Mission, B.C. for our third and final retreat of the academic year. Each retreat has a focus. The first one, “My Soul Within Me,” concentrated on the Breath Prayer and praying lectio  over a Signature Scripture. The second one, “Praying Our Challenges and Triumphs” used the tools to let God do his formation work on us by processing key moments in our lives. This final retreat is designed to give us time and space to develop the Art of Soul Friendship. We introduced Soul Friendship from the first seminar so that by the time of the retreat you would have the comfort of familiarity. You have experienced Soul Friendship now in a variety of settings covering many topics related to your spiritual wellness. At the Abbey we will practice our skills in a monastic setting rich in beauty and tradition.  

I’m excited to share with you what I found in my reading this week. On pages 252-3 of Prayer, Finding the Heart’s True Home, Richard Foster writes about both spiritual friendship and the value of small groups.  On spiritual friendship, he says:               

Some, in their ongoing life in the way of Christ, have found it helpful to seek out individuals who could mentor them in the things of the Spirit. Spiritual Director is the old term for this; others use the term spiritual friend. Personally, I prefer to speak of a spiritual mentor. Spiritual mentors are people gifted in discernment, wisdom and knowledge. Their task is to help people see the footprints of God in their lives and, now and again, to urge them to move in directions they might not go otherwise.   

On small group spiritual  formation:               

One model of Christian community that shows tremendous potential for the future is small group spiritual formation. This is an approach that seeks to provide both nurture and accountability. I… meet weekly with a small group of four whose goal is to help each other become better disciples of Jesus. We do this by means of five questions: …What experiences of prayer and meditation have you had this week? What temptations did you face this week? What movements of the Holy Spirit did you experience this week? What opportunities to serve others have you had this week? In what ways have you encountered Christ in your study of the Bible this week? (Emphasis added). 

What would it be like to have that kind of ongoing spiritual mentorship? Either one on one or in a small group, I love those five questions. Can you see yourself using them in your Soul Friendship visits?

More on Foster's "Authoritative Prayer"

 Last week my notes were from Chapter 21, “Authoritative Prayer” from Richard Foster’s Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home. Foster had more to say than I wanted to share in one posting. This week I want to continue on the theme of “Authoritative Prayer.” For one thing, we will be doing this kind of prayer on Friday of this week from 7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. at Bethel. Another reason I wanted to include this material now is that it leads beautifully into next month’s seminar topic: healing from the destructive power of inner vows. This will be  presented by Kathy Troll on April 5^th at both sessions. Listen to what Foster says about inner vows:

 “Spiritual warfare is not something we talk about; it is something we do. How do we do it? We do it by breaking all the destructive vows – both conscious and unconscious – that lie over the lives of people. Many have condemned themselves with inner vows of sickness and failure and death. Seeing these things and knowing that it is not good for people to be in such bondage, we speak the word of authority that breaks the curse. Some have curses lying over them from the generations that have gone before: the curse of alcoholism, the curse of mental illness, and more. Whether the curse is physical, emotional, or spiritual, we break it in the name and by the authority of Jesus.

“How do we do it? We do it by taking authority over the sickness of mind and body and spirit. Sickness is an enemy, and we are to fight against it. We speak balance into the phobic and neurotic…We rebuke fevers and choke off the blood supply to cancer cells…

“How do we do it? We do it by coming against every “mountain” that hinders our progress in God. We command fears of all kinds to leave and never return. We stand against evil thoughts and suspicions and distortions of every kind. We bind the spirits of anger, jealousy and gossip and release the spirit of forgiveness and love and faith.


“How do we do it? We do it by demon expulsion. Wherever we find forces of evil at work, we firmly demand that they leave. We are in charge not they.” Emphasis mine.

And with humility we pray all these things and more in the name and in the power of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Join us this Friday as we marshal our forces to go against the powers and principalities. If you are unable to join us at Bethel, will you pray with us and for us in spirit?

Until next week, Trusting Him - Theresa

A Call to Arms!

A Call to Arms! An adventure in Authoritative Prayer 

Next week we are going to spend an evening waging spiritual warfare so I am preparing my heart and mind for the battle. Foster’s material on Authoritative Prayer from chapter 20 of Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home is helping in that preparation. Let me share with you some of what I am learning. This is the kind of prayer where we “use the authority of God to command something done… [the kind that] God uses to invade enemy territory and establish his kingdom” (page 229). I must admit that I approach authoritative prayer with trepidation. Who am I to command anything? When I think of spiritual warfare I mostly think in terms of defense; I put on all this protective gear – this full armor of God. The only offensive weapon is the Scripture – the Sword of Truth. But, Foster reminds us that Jesus gave his authority away, and not just to the twelve or to the seventy. “’Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father’ (John 14:12)” (page 235).  

But! “This is one area that has been horribly abused and misused today…This way of prayer can be extremely dangerous,” Foster warns (page 230). One of the ways to handle this authority with caution is to balance it with compassion. “Authority needs compassion to keep it from becoming destructive. Compassion provides the environment in which authority can function” (page 231).

The powers and principalities are stronger than we are. But not as strong as our God. “For greater is he who is in us than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).  This comforting thought was also spoken by Elisha, 800 years before John wrote his letter. Elisha assured his servant looking over a vast enemy camp, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16).  

“Ole Hallesby writes, ‘the secret prayer chamber is a bloody battle-ground. Here violent and decisive battles are fought out’ But remember, we are told that the gates of hell cannot withstand the onslaughts of the church (Matt 16:18). The kingdom of darkness goes into full retreat when we take up the full weapons of our warfare” (page 240). We do not go unarmed into this war. 

Stay tuned for Part II on Authoritative Prayer. Meanwhile, make plans to join us as we take up arms against great enemies.  

See you next Friday, March 14^th, from 7:00 p.m.  – 11:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room at

Bethel Baptist Church 2625 Hoyt Ave, Everett, WA 98201