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Season 3 Episode 1: Understanding the Spiritual Life as a Journey
129 Plays2 years ago
Mentioned in this episode:
Things that can cause us to get stuck:
- Distractions and noise
- Laziness
- Spiritual apathy
- Desire for a quick fix (not being willing to endure)
- Bitterness
- Trama
- Being too hard on ourselves
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This podcast is produced and edited by Angie Elkins Media, Inc.
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Transcript
New Season Announcement
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Ruth Schwenk and I'm so thrilled you're listening in with us at Root Like Faith. It is our deepest desire to encourage and equip men and women to be rooted in God's word, transformed by the love of Jesus and moved by his mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more important.
00:00:18
Speaker
We are back.
Missed Christmas Series Due to Illness
00:00:19
Speaker
We're back with a brand new season. I know. It feels like forever. We were supposed to do a Christmas series. It didn't work out so well. Just everything sort of came undone there. Middle of November, sickness hit our house and took over for about six weeks. And so it's nice to be back and to be alive and healthy.
00:00:37
Speaker
All the good stuff. Well, we were good for Christmas, though. We were. Just in time for Christmas. Just in time, fortunately. But we missed our Christmas series. And that's OK, because we are back with a brand new season.
Introduction to 'The Unstuck Spiritual Life'
00:00:48
Speaker
This is season three. We're so excited. And we are kicking off season three with a new series called The Unstuck Spiritual Life. So on today's episode of Root Like Faith, we are talking about those seasons when we feel stuck.
00:01:03
Speaker
and why it's so important to understand the Christian life as a journey. And listen, I think we've all felt stuck. I mean, we wouldn't be being honest, I don't think, if we didn't say we haven't all felt stuck. And, you know, we can't always ride that spiritual high you have after a retreat, you know, like go to... If only we could stay there, right? Like you go to a retreat and you're like, yes, you know, this is it. Well, just like in the morning, you know, like you get up and you turn the light on and light the candles and...
00:01:32
Speaker
you know, make a hot cup of coffee and you turn on some instrumental George Winston. Who is it? David, David, David, I don't know if that's how you say it, but I don't know. And then you, and then yeah, but then it's, and then life, life happens, you know, you get done praying and reading your Bible and you start sinning. Exactly. So it isn't just the retreat high. I mean, I'd say it's like the devotional high. You're like ready for the day and then you're stuck every day. Yeah.
Human Connection with God and Sin
00:01:59
Speaker
Oh my goodness, but you know, I think we would, we wouldn't be being honest if we didn't say that we don't all feel stuck. And I think we want to say that because it's normal. It's normal to feel stuck. It's not necessarily a bad thing. And we're going to talk about that today. And feeling stuck can actually be an invitation.
00:02:19
Speaker
Absolutely. You know, just to sort of back up a minute, I mean, when you think about, first of all, what we were created for, I think it's so important to start there that we bear the imprint of God's image. I mean, we were made to be in relationship with Him. And, you know, the scriptures talk about, you know, in very kind of romantic ways that God desires us. You know, you think about the way God describes His relationship with Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament. I mean, He describes that relationship
00:02:46
Speaker
in spousal terms, the language of desire, that God desires a relationship with us, that we were created for that relationship. We were created to know Him and to love Him and to walk with Him. And of course, sin interrupts that. We live in a world that values very different things. We have a spiritual adversary who works against that. So there's all of these things that are working against that relationship that we were created for, that communion with God, that friendship with God.
00:03:14
Speaker
And so, as we think about then the Christian life, this lifelong journey of trust, of following Jesus, walking with him, listening to him, being transformed into his image, we're going to get stuck along the way. And as you were saying, that's a normal part of the Christian life. I think the challenge for many of us is to think that when we get stuck, there's something wrong with us. And we're going to talk about ways or reasons why we get stuck.
00:03:38
Speaker
And some of those, you know, we definitely need to pay attention to. But the reality is, is it's more concerning if we're not getting stuck. That getting stuck is the evidence that the Holy Spirit's up to something in our life. That He is pressing in on us or pressuring us, if you will, for lack of a better word, to go deeper.
00:03:55
Speaker
in that we are in a place or a set of circumstances or a season where God wants to do something new. He wants to do something different.
Is Spiritual Growth Normal?
00:04:03
Speaker
And so getting stuck is actually a good thing. It's an invitation by God to go deeper with Him, to open up to more of His love, more of His grace, and more of His truth. I love that so much.
00:04:13
Speaker
you know, when we talk about getting stuck, it would imply then that there should always be this progress or forward movement of some sort. And so I think we should talk about that a little bit because I don't know, is it normal to be making progress? Biblically, does it tell us that we should be making progress? Yeah, that's a great question. I think the reality is that, you know, I think we probably all know already that, you know, if we're not moving closer to Christ, then we're usually moving away from Him, that there's not really sort of this neutral
00:04:43
Speaker
in the Christian life. And I think about, I guess there's probably a lot of places we could point to in the scriptures that would indicate that this walk with God is really marked by progress. I think about 1 Corinthians 1, verse 2, for example, where Paul's writing to this church that's really
00:05:01
Speaker
pretty messed up. They're pretty dysfunctional, if you will. And so if you're listening and you think, boy, my church is really messed up, you should just read 1 Corinthians. You'll feel much better about your pastor and about the church, I'm sure. But Paul was writing to this group of Christians that were dealing with all sorts of issues
00:05:18
Speaker
And he says to them, to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people. And so on the one hand, Paul's writing to those people that are struggling with sin, there's division, all sorts of things. And he calls them holy ones. They've been set apart. They've been sanctified by Christ's life and his death and his resurrection. But they've also been called to be holy. They've been called to live up to what is already true of them. And so in the Christian life,
00:05:44
Speaker
You see both of those things. We've been made holy. We really have been declared righteous by God the Father through our faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us. He lives inside of us. He's changing us from the inside out. But there's also this call to become holy, to pursue righteousness, to walk in obedience.
00:06:04
Speaker
Hebrews chapter 12 verse 14 is another good example of that. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And so I think, again, we could point to all sorts of examples. Jesus' invitation to come follow him, again, is a picture of this lifelong journey, this movement away from self.
00:06:25
Speaker
and towards God and towards others. And so there ought to be, I think, great progress happening, even if it's happening slowly, even if it's happening over the course of time. It's God's work. We're not doing it in our own effort and our own strength, but it's a work of God's grace through the power of His Spirit. But there ought to be this progress. There ought to be hunger for righteousness.
Holiness as a Gift
00:06:44
Speaker
Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. And maybe there are some that are listening. They're going, I don't really feel hungry.
00:06:51
Speaker
To know God or to grow and so really a simple way to begin maybe today is just say God give me a hunger To want to be righteous to thirst after the things of your kingdom And so I want to want those things because right now I don't and I think you know this invitation to go deeper and like this lifelong journey where we are becoming a
00:07:13
Speaker
holier, it sounds so lovely. And to be honest, a lot of times in the middle of that, you don't feel like that at all. Like you feel like it's dry, a wasteland, if you will, which is kind of a strong term. But sometimes it feels like that you don't necessarily feel like you're making progress.
00:07:35
Speaker
But God is up to something. And I think if we can just be consistent and continue to persevere and continue to seek Him through that, there is the other side of it, right? The wasteland will start to flower and we will start to feel.
00:07:51
Speaker
Um, God's presence again. And so I think, you know, I love, I love that living up to what is already true of us. I mean, what a great example from first Corinthians where we see that the church of court in Corinth, they're called, they're sanctified, but then he's calling them to be holy. So it's like they were holy, but you, you can be holier. Right. I just love that. That's such a great example. Oftentimes we think about, you know, holiness, like, you know, it's like trying to avoid poison ivy.
00:08:20
Speaker
you know, a church camp, like it's something terrible. And the reality is that walking in holiness, walking in obedience is God's gift to us. I mean, we're sharing in the life that He has between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And so, you know, to pursue righteousness, to pursue holiness, to pursue obedience is really God's gift. It's His invitation to share in His life. We become divine partakers, or partakers in the divine nature, excuse me, you know, according to 2 Peter chapter one,
00:08:47
Speaker
And so this idea of becoming holy, becoming more righteous is not a bad thing. It's God's gift to us. And we experience the fruit of that because again, we were made to be in relationship with God. We were made to walk with Him. And so as we do that, as we experience that, as He draws close to us,
00:09:03
Speaker
and gives us the grace to be changed and to grow, to respond, then yeah, we're enjoying the fruit of that. And I think the challenge for us is not to focus on necessarily where we're at, but to keep our eyes on Jesus. He's the one that bears the fruit in our life. John 15 says that, I mean, he says, if you abide in me, you'll bear much fruit. We can't bear fruit apart from him.
00:09:28
Speaker
And so we want to keep our eyes first and foremost on Jesus and walk with him and desire to know him. And he'll do that work, you know, in us and through us. But what a gift. Yeah.
Lifelong Discipleship
00:09:39
Speaker
And I think, you know, we are his disciples. And as a disciple, we are learners and we're students. And I think, again, there that would show us that we there is progress. Again, even in the times you don't feel like it, there is progress.
00:09:57
Speaker
I wasn't a very good student in school, so maybe that's a bad example. Honey.
00:10:03
Speaker
But it is, you're right. I mean, that language of disciple is just that, that in the Gospels, the word disciple means apprentice, it means learner, it means student. And so to follow Jesus is to learn from him and learn to be like him. It's to take on his ways and his values and to live in God's kingdom like he does. And so there is that learning process, that lifelong journey
00:10:29
Speaker
and learning process where we're trying to live life the way that we were created to. And as a student, we're really reorienting our entire life around the person of Jesus and what it looks like to live under God's reign and God's rule. And that's not something that happens overnight or in a week or even in a year.
00:10:46
Speaker
But it happens again by God's grace as we just continue to walk with Him and again open our hearts and our minds to more and more of His grace and His truth and His love. Yeah, and if you've been listening to this podcast, this is something we talk about often, you know, that this is over a lifetime.
00:11:03
Speaker
We grow closer to God over a lifetime, and sometimes we want it all right now, but it takes a long, long time. And it's step by step. It's persevering. It's being faithful. It's continuing to go to Him in prayer and in learning and in your devotions and everything. It's a step by step journey throughout your life.
00:11:24
Speaker
I think that that's one of the things that, again, kind of coming back to today's theme, this idea of the unstuck spiritual life, something we'll be talking about over the next couple of episodes, that being stuck is not a bad thing. And I think sometimes we need to be corrected by the scriptures, and of course, men and women that have come before us throughout church history, that the spiritual life is not marked by just one high after another. I think sometimes we just think that
00:11:48
Speaker
that following Jesus is going to be easy or that it ought to feel like that retreat over and over again. And I think when you look at the scriptures, the men and women that were faithful to God, that walked with Him, that God used, or you read church history, you read some of the lives of the saints, these men and women who live lives of heroic virtue.
00:12:08
Speaker
lived lives that were marked by great struggle, great challenges, and they left
Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation
00:12:12
Speaker
behind writings, diaries that tell us that they went through seasons that were incredibly dry. They had a difficult time hearing God's voice. They didn't feel His presence. They didn't understand what He was up to. They suffered greatly. And so I think that it's really, really important for us as we think about what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a disciple,
00:12:32
Speaker
to remember that, again, being stuck is a normal part of the Christian life. It's a necessary part of the Christian life because, again, being stuck is really an opportunity for us that we need to see his invitation to draw closer, to draw deeper.
00:12:49
Speaker
In another week or so, we're going to be talking about those different stages and what those look like. But again, being stuck is actually a good thing. It can be a good thing because it's an invitation by the Holy Spirit to grow deeper, to come to a new understanding, to see God for who He really is. And so there's all sorts of reasons as to why being stuck is actually a good thing if we understand it in the right way.
00:13:12
Speaker
Right and if we recognize when we're stuck and I think you know that's kind of what we want to close with here we want to talk about the things that can cause us to get stuck because I think if we are aware of that we can be proactive instead of reactive and it you know you don't all the sudden find yourself in the desert wasteland you know you know seeking God but but you're kind of you're proactively
00:13:39
Speaker
noticing the things in your life that might cause those times for you to get stuck. And the first one is something that, well, I'll share a story after I share what it is, but it's distractions and noise that can cause us to get stuck. And I think about since we're at the beginning of a new year, for me, like every new year, I have to look at, it's kind of like a time for me to evaluate the priorities in my life, like the new year, new me type of thing.
00:14:08
Speaker
No, but really, I take time to really look at all the things in my life and reevaluate the areas that the noise that I need to cut away. And that helps me every year to kind of get a new perspective, reorient where I'm at and make sure that I'm on the right path. Not that I won't ever have dry spiritual seasons, but I think that is being proactive.
00:14:31
Speaker
Against those distractions and noise that so easily creep in or all the things that we you know want to be a part of and we realize wow I need to set that aside because I don't have time to get with God like I should and so for me That's what that looks like really practically But there's many more so what the first thing distractions and noise laziness can be another spiritual apathy and
00:14:55
Speaker
Yeah, I think these are some examples of negative things that can cause us to get stuck. And you're right, we live in a culture where there's just so many distractions around us. You're sharing some of those things. I mean, think about social media, the internet, television, all of those things. As a parent, sometimes it's difficult to find that quiet time to get alone.
00:15:15
Speaker
And it's very easy. We can live an external life. We can just sort of go throughout our day, throughout our week, just responding to things outside of us instead of cultivating that interior life, the life of God. And so there are all sorts of distractions, noise, spiritual apathy or laziness. I mean, again, just sort of that lack of desire to really want to go deeper, to want to grow closer.
00:15:40
Speaker
to read the scriptures, to pray, and so oftentimes, yeah, just being in a bad place spiritually, and again, not having that hunger and thirst to want to go deeper. Well, it's hard when you feel like that. It is. It really is. And that's what I meant when I keep talking about persevering. It's doing it anyways. Right. But you don't feel like it a lot of times.
00:16:01
Speaker
I think another one that comes to my mind is we're kind of talking about those first two is just that desire for a quick fix. I mean, we live in a culture that just loves things to happen quickly. And if they don't, then we give up. And, you know, historically I've been a quitter. You know, I quit soccer in fourth grade, then I quit football in fifth grade.
00:16:18
Speaker
I can think of different examples. You finally make the team and then you quit, honey. I know. I know. I quit basketball as a sophomore. I'd probably be in the NBA by now, honestly, if I hadn't. But then I won't let you quit. You won't, no. So anyway, so I think that idea of just not being willing to endure and to persevere, and we see that in all different areas of life.
00:16:41
Speaker
that everybody loves the success story. And they want that success to come quickly and they're not willing to, whether it's starting a blog or writing a book or starting a business, whatever it is, we just don't typically value persevering and sticking it out. And the same can be true in the spiritual life.
00:16:58
Speaker
we just think that it's gonna come easy. And the reality is that it doesn't, that there's nothing terribly flashy about spiritual transformation. It's showing up every day and it's oftentimes opening our heart and our mind to God in the same way that we did the day before. It's going to His word, it's getting on our knees, it's praying, it's being in community, it's being amongst God's people, that weekly mass or weekly worship service.
Addressing Deeper Issues for Growth
00:17:24
Speaker
it's partaking in the elements of communion or the Eucharist and it's over and over again, all of the different ways that God meets us and changes us and transforms us, but there is no quick fix. Again, it's that lifelong journey. And so I think sometimes just our expectation of what we think we should be or when we think we should be that can cause us to get stuck. We get discouraged and getting discouraged in the spiritual life can be really, really dangerous.
00:17:48
Speaker
And then I think there's also some deeper issues probably that maybe it's unresolved sin, unforgiveness, unwillingness to forgive, bitterness, which causes bitterness. Maybe it's things from our past, trauma. I mean, there can be all sorts of things like that that can cause us to get stuck, where we need help, I think.
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, one of the one of the prayers I've been praying, just as we've entered into the new season, we'll talk about this more here in the next couple episodes, but just, you know, again, Psalm 139, you know, search me and know my heart, you know, show me God if there's anything offensive, you know, in me and lead me in the way everlasting and just really inviting the Holy Spirit into our time alone, you know, with God the Father and saying, God, search me like you know me better than I do. And, you know, the thing about our own sin is that we usually are blind to it that oftentimes other people see it before we do.
00:18:41
Speaker
And so we really need supernatural help. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and to give us understanding, to illuminate our understanding. And so I've just gotten into the practice of asking the Holy Spirit to show me what I can't see and to point out, yeah, those things in my life that maybe everybody else around me sees and that I don't so that I can confess that sin. Sometimes like you said, it's unforgiveness, it's going to somebody. I mean, you read the New Testament and God takes unforgiveness very serious.
00:19:10
Speaker
And so oftentimes it's an unwillingness to forgive and to be reconciled to somebody that can get in the way of us continuing to grow in greater intimacy with God. And you mentioned already just some of those wounds. I mean, again, we're made to know God and to love him and to receive his love, but sometimes we need healing before we can receive God's love. We need healing from previous relationships, whether it was with a parent or a sibling or a friend.
00:19:37
Speaker
And so we need sometimes the help of somebody else to kind of help us see those areas of woundedness or trauma or dysfunction or sin where we need to confess that or be healed by that in order to fully receive God's love. You know, one other one that I don't know that we think of as often, but sometimes just being too hard on ourself can be a place where we get stuck that sometimes we look at things in our own life.
00:20:05
Speaker
and we call things sin that maybe really aren't sin. We tend to beat ourselves up spiritually and we kind of nitpick on things that maybe aren't really sin issues. And so we can become too hard on ourself. We can become maybe too much of a perfectionist in our own life. And that too can be a way that we get stuck spiritually.
Embracing Stuckness for Transformation
00:20:26
Speaker
But again, I think overall, well, there's a variety of different reasons or examples of how we can get stuck.
00:20:32
Speaker
The invitation in all of these things is that God wants to do something new. He wants to do something different. And the spiritual life is marked by this long sort of steady faithfulness to God and growth in God, relying upon His grace. He's changing us bit by bit by the power of His Spirit. And there's going to be seasons where we get stuck, but we ought to see those seasons as opportunities by God to go deeper, to draw closer, and again, to be moved
00:20:58
Speaker
By his love and his grace and his truth. I love that and so this list is an opportunity I think practically for if you're feeling stuck or maybe you just want to be aware of these things We'll make sure we put this list in the show notes But you know I would just really encourage you to take a look at this list and or write the the list down that we just shared and think through that in your own spiritual journey where you're at and if any of these things are
00:21:24
Speaker
are in your life and maybe causing you to get stuck I think that's the first step like what is it that's actually causing me to get stuck and then next week we're gonna revisit this and we're gonna talk about what you do when you feel stuck
00:21:40
Speaker
So I think this is a really good place to land. Again, progress is normal, but you're not always going to feel like you're making progress. And we wanted you to know you're not alone if you feel stuck because we all go through those times. But we want to help in that because you don't have to stay in that spot.
00:22:00
Speaker
And so if you wanna take a look at that list and then make sure that you join us next week because we are going to be taking that next step in understanding what it is that you can actually do when you feel stuck.
00:22:14
Speaker
Well, friend, we are so grateful that you joined us. If we haven't met, we want to get to know you. So be sure to follow us on Instagram at Patrick W. Schwank and at Ruth Schwank or on Facebook and make sure you send us a message there. Let us know who you are. Introduce yourself. We'd love to get to know you.
00:22:32
Speaker
Also, don't forget, everything we talked about will be at root like faith.com forward slash podcast. Again, we welcome you into our family here at root like faith. Honestly, that's what we feel like it's like, right, honey? Absolutely. It's like a family and we'll be back. It is. And like you're sitting around in our living room with us talking. That's what we love the most. So we hope it feels like that.
00:22:55
Speaker
Um, you know, we would absolutely love your help. If you would do us a big favor and leave us a review or rating and share this podcast with your friends kind reviews, kind reviews only, please don't, don't leave a bad review. That would be sad. We haven't gotten any of those yet. No, we haven't. It's season three. You never know. Right. We're so grateful for your help and helping us get the word out. All right, friend. Well, we will chat soon and we hope you have the best weeks.