And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. (Exo. 3:2)
We learned last week that evil spirits will try to enslave us using the facts we know about religion; they will twist the teachings of the Word to prevent us from doing anything good. How do we combat that to live a spiritual life?
Some people think that living a spiritual life means not living a natural life, as if the two were mutually exclusive. Some people fear that tending to the everyday (making dinner, meeting deadlines, being nice to people you meet) gets in the way of spiritual life, as if meditation and prayer or reading and studying were the way to live spiritually. Ritual is sometimes confused with spirituality, believing that going to church on Sunday and saying your prayers at night constitute a spiritual life. In correspondential terms, we think that the fire of spiritual life should consume the bramble bush of natural life. But it doesn’t and we wonder why.
We often believe that the way to fight against the enslaving hells is to live apart from the natural life. But as long as we are on this earth, genuine spiritual life can exist only within our natural lives. Like our bodies are containers for our minds, our natural lives should be containers for our spiritual lives. Spiritual life is not something apart from the everyday, but is the purpose within the everyday. The fire does not consume the bramble, but instead allows us to experience the presence of God.
To see that this is true, read Exodus 3 and Secrets of Heaven 6832:10, listen to the full audio sermon, and then spend a week on the following task:
Be still and listen for the voice of the Lord through reflection and reading the Word. This week take time to hear the voice of the Lord and see His leading in your life. What is the message of hope that the Lord has for you in the face of enslaving thoughts, habits, and behaviors? Your task this week is to listen for the Lord God by spending time by yourself on a walk, sitting quietly, praying, or meditating. When faced with a challenge in a relationship, at home or at work, pause and listen for the message the Lord God has for you. Read the Word with these thoughts in mind “What is the message for me? How does this move me forward on my spiritual journey?”
This sermon is part 2 of 8 in our series, “The Journey: Realizing Spiritual Freedom”, and is on the subject of listening to God’s voice. Check back next week for part 3, which will be about moving forward on our spiritual walk. For more information on the Journey, please contact us. To sign up for an online version, click here.