A Work of Fiction

"We do live in the world, but we do not fight in the same way the world fights. We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses. Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy's strong places. We destroy people's arguments and every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ."---2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NCV)




"Fiction is a piece of truth that turns lies to meaning."---Dorothy Allison







Fiction: the class of literature comprising works of imaginative narration, esp. in prose form; something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made-up story; an imaginary thing or event, postulated for the purposes of argument or explanation; an imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented.




Synonyms: drama, fable, fabrication, fantasy, illusion, invention, legend, myth, narrative, pretense, vision




Myth: any fictitious idea accepted as part of an ideology by an uncritical group; a received idea.




Vision: the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be; an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency.




OK. I think this message may hurt a few feelings, but that is certainly not my intention. Remember that the message is always for the messenger, first and so you can best believe that it took me a moment to gather my own "fictitious tales" together and heal some wounds before I could begin to pen this. However, in my efforts to get freer than I've ever been before (John 8:32), I am thankful that the wounds of a friend are faithful (Proverbs 27:6) and that Christ is definitely the best friend that any of us could have. (Proverbs 18:24)




As I've been making more of a concerted effort to study on my own time so that I can show myself approved before my Father (2 Timothy 2:15), something that I have come to realize is just how "slighted to the side of selfish" the concept of faith has been taught to so many of us. I've shared before that it was a HUGE wake-up call for me when I prayed for revelation concerning the definition of faith, first (Jeremiah 33:3) , reread Hebrews 11:1, second and then looked up the definition of hope. For the purpose of setting the foundation for this message, I will briefly recap:




"Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it."---Hebrews 11:1 (NCV)




Hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence; to believe, desire, or trust.




Yes, it is true that without faith, it is impossible to please our creator (Hebrews 11:6), but the Bible also tells us that while a man may plan something, it is the Lord who directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9) The Word also says that the things that we do not have, it's either because we did not ask for them (telling God and asking him are two totally different things, by the way) or because we want to use them solely for fleshly purposes (James 4:2-3). The thing is, because the flesh (the physical or carnal nature of humankind; sensual pleasures) and the spirit are always at war with one another (Galatians 5:17), it can be very challenging walking the fine line between discerning what's best for our spirit and what appeases our flesh.




Therefore, even when it comes to scripture and our use(s) of it, you can best believe that there are many times when our flesh will get all up in it. Yes, you must have faith to make anything in the spiritual realm possible, but "being sure of the things that we hope for" doesn't always equate to getting what we want/desire. It also includes being sure that no matter what, it, whatever "it" is, will turn out for the best. A scripture that I hold very dear to my heart in this season is, "But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way." (I Corinthians 12:31).




And yet I show you a more excellent way. I don't know about you, but that sounds to me like no matter what we conjure up, even the "best" things, God can top them...if we let him. (I Corinthians 2:9) All of us have heard (and probably quoted) that if we have the faith the size of a mustard seed, our mountains can be moved and nothing will be impossible for us. (Matthew 17:20) For some of us---no many of us, that "mountain" is the "huge quantity" of lies that we have been telling ourselves concerning what we want and/or what we believe we deserve to have. I use the word, "lie" because sometimes what we desire is not necessarily "bad", but not God's best for us (Ecclesiastes 3:14) It's a lie when we have tricked ourselves into believing that just because the desire is within us that 1) God placed it there and 2) he is automatically in agreement with it. (Amos 3:3) Of course, if you want it, and you've prayed about it, and you still want it, that's different. Surely then it must be in God's will, right?




Really? Remember that one definition of "lie" is an INACCURATE or false statement. One definition of "inaccurate" is MISTAKEN. To make a mistake is to make "an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc." The truth is that we all make mistakes; we all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). This is why God saw fit to renew our need for mercy every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23); why we are all called to have truth, wisdom, instruction and understanding and why the Bible is here to correct us. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) You can best believe that if we are of a sinful nature (and we all are), then there will be times (many, many times) when our desires will be sinfully-tainted as well. (Jeremiah 17:9-10) This is why Paul's humble admittance of his "spiritual inadequacies" is so dead-on as it relates to humankind:




"It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different."---Romans 7:21-25 (Message)

I love that first sentence: It happens so regularly that it's predictable. I fear that far too many of us are spending way too much time, energy and effort in praying for what we want rather than asking God to put our hearts in the position to even know if want we want is what he desires for us in the first place. I can't stress enough how dangerous it is to assume that just because you "feel" something then that automatically means it's the right thing for you. Remember, all the flesh cares about is having its carnal needs met and it will use/abuse/manipulate whatever it has to, including your own sense of spirituality, to feed it. So, how are we supposed to handle our feelings? What steps are we supposed to take the discern the difference between what's attached to our flesh and what's attached to our spirit when it comes to our heart's desires?

"My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on."---Galatians 5:16-21 (Message)

And how do you know what's your personal emotional garbage; what you joylessly grab for happiness; what all consumes you, is a lopsided pursuit or uncontrollable addiction? A man by the name of Robert Collier once said, "Any thought that is passed onto the subconscious often enough and convincingly enough is finally accepted." It doesn't really matter if it's moral, right or biblically-sound. All that the Enemy is counting on is if our flesh has attached itself to whatever it is we are thinking about/considering/pondering. And if it has, voila: "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he." (Proverbs 23:7) If you think it, whatever "it" is long enough, it becomes a part of you and if it's apart of you, you can, perhaps without even noticing it, begin to believe and accept it as being a part of God's perfect plan for your life---even when it's not.




Hmm. Maybe that's why when the disciples asked Christ to teach them how to pray, the only items he verbalized on the "wish list" were that heaven's will would be done on earth and that we would receive the bread (something that nourishes; means of support) that we needed daily. (Matthew 6:9-13) I don't know, maybe Christ was trying to tell us something: that we don't know nearly as much as we'd like to think we do...even about our own lives and what's best for them. (I Peter 5:6-7)




This week, I am working on a story for a short story fiction contest. It is a bit draining, but also healing as well. It's my take on what my life would be like right now if my four (terminated) children were living. Of course, it's fiction, fantasy, an invention, a myth, but a part of it is also based in truth. At one point, over the course of time, I waspregnant with four children. My story is based on that foundation. But, what I am adding to it is not real. It's based on what I would have liked to have happened.




So many of us pray just like I am writing this story. The foundation of "Delight yourself in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4) is there, but we write our own "stories" from there on. Many of us have nothing, including God's approval, to support what we are claiming, but simply because we want it to be that way, we call it faith(spiritually-based) when oftentimes it's no more than fiction (carnally-based).




Ecclesiastes 7:18 (Message) says that a man who fears God deals RESPONSIBLY with all of reality, NOT JUST A PIECE OF IT. The realityis that I couldn't bring my four children back even if I wanted to. It's a consequence of the gift of choice that God gave me. Just because I didn't make that best decision at the time, that doesn't mean I can abuse faith to rewrite my life's journey. I could spend the next umpteen years "believing" God for them to reappear on this earth, orI could pray that not my will, but his be done (Luke 22:42) and get on with living my life in the way that he has in mind for me NOW (Romans 8:28). Since Christ said that he came to give me abundant (present in great quantity)life (John 10:10), since God knows the end from the beginning (Revelation 1:8), and since his Word says that his ways are not my own (Isaiah 55:8-9), then why spend so much precious time trying to get my waywhen my way is not the best way?




Remember how Christ instructed us to pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10)? Look at the Message Version of Isaiah 55:8-11:




"'I don't think the way you think. The way you work isn't the way I work.' God's Decree. For as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way you work, and the way I think is beyond the way you think. Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them."

This doesn't just include the way we live, but the faith that we put into the way that we live. Even when it comes to faith, God doesn't think the way that we think or work the way that we work. This is why faith is defined as having hope. This is why hope is defined as trusting that all things will work out for the best. This is why without putting this faith, this hope, in the one who does not think like we think or work like we work, it is impossible to please him.

"Do you see a man wise (having the power of discerning and judging properly as to what is true or right; possessing discernment, judgment, or discretion)in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."---Proverbs 26:12 (NKJV)

A man who believes that he knows more about what's right for him than God does? There's a greater chance of things "working out for the best" for a fool than for him. So does this mean that we are to live our lives like spiritual robots? That there aren't times when we will receive an inclination that, to the mortal mind, seems impossible? Does this mean that we don't have some say in the fate known as our future? (Isaiah 1:18)

Come on, now. Every choice you make is evidence of your power and God is more than willing to let you do it. I am just trying to direct you into making more realistic and spiritually-profitable ones. No where in the Bible does it say that God is not a fan of truth or facts or that he encourages myth and fantasy. That said, I'm sure we are all quite familiar with Habakkuk 2:2-3 (NCV):

"Write down the vision; write it clearly on clay tablets so whoever reads it can run to tell others. It is not yet time for the message to come true, but that time is coming soon; the message will come true. It may seem like a long time, but be patient and wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not be delayed."

Do you recall what the definition of "vision" is?

Vision: the act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be; an experience in which a personage, thing, or event appears vividly or credibly to the mind, although not actually present, often under the influence of a divine or other agency.

Visions are based in what? Anticipation of what's to come or an experience in which something comes to mind under the influence of a divine agency. One of my favorite "church songs" is "Write the Vision". If you've never heard it before, one part of the chorus says, "For if the Lord said it, you can count on it, he will do just what he said."

Hmm. I wonder how many of us have even fictionalized our visions? How many times have we prayed, "Lord, I have written what I want down and I will wait patiently for 'it' because I know that surely it will come." What does the chorus of the song say, again? That God will do just what HE said, not what WE said. How many of us, because we do not "die daily" to ourselves (I Corinthians 15:31), therefore leaving the room for our flesh to manipulate us, have been believing God for something that even he doesn't believe in? How many of us, because we have no spiritual truth to support our theory, have confused daydreams and night dreams with actual visions? How many of us can TRUTHFULLY and HONESTLY say that a lot of what we consume ourselves with is based on an experience in which God came and ministered to us directly?

"My clock is ticking and since I want a child, I know that God will give me one."

"I got a promotion and since I want a big house, I know God wants me to have one, too."

"I have been single for 10 years now and since I am sick of it, I know God is going to send me my husband this year."

Family, that is not faith. That's a farce. First of all, God is love (I John 4:8) and love casts out fear (I John 4:18) and so you can best believe that anything that is done with fear as its motivation (and when you rush timing, there is usually some element of fear in your decision---Acts 1:7---Message), he will work on clearing the fear out, first before even considering granting it. (Because if you get it in fear, there's a great chance that you will try and maintain it in fear.) But secondly, faith is not about putting you or "it" first. Faith is always about putting God first.

That's where I believe most of us have it all messed up. Instead of saying, "Because I believe in you and your love for me, I will remain open to you doing whatever you think is best", we say, "Because I want that man/woman, child, house, car, job, ministry, outfit, whatever, and because I know you have access to all of those things, I am going to believe you for them until I get them." There are scriptures that speak to God's will, not God's can. God CAN do anything, but that doesn't mean he WILL. Fiction puts you in touch with the cans and runs with it. Faith puts you in touch with his will and builds on it.

Again, this isn't meant to discourage you. As a matter of fact, I felt a huge burden lifted when I heard in my spirit, "You love who you love, you want what you want...NOW GIVE IT TO ME AND LET ME DO WHAT I'M GONNA DO. Whatever it is, it will be better that what you could have come up with on your own."

True faith is in believing that to be true, in believing that if I make a concerted effort to live a surrendered life and I still don't get my way, then it really wasn't the best way; that I don't need to be spending precious time trying to convince and coerce God into doing something that he already knows is or isn't best for me; that if I'm really, honestly, truthfully and faithfully giving to him, then I really need to let him have it---totally.

Even in the midst of all my ignorance, God is merciful. I mean, if I've just got to control everything, there's a place for that. It's called "fiction". The place where, at the end of the day, the true God nor real faith are really even necessary. Or real.

©Shellie R. Warren/2008