Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

The Holy Spirit Defends and Comfort; Satan Accuses and Attacks

By

“When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.”

Whereas the etymological meaning of Satan, Diabolus, is the Accuser, the Slanderer, that of Paraclete, is the Advocate, the Counselor, the Helper.

That underscores what I have been thinking.

Accusation, criticism, slander–all these stem from the spirit of the enemy of the brethren, the one who “accuses God’s people night and day.” The Holy Spirit, on the contrary, is the advocate, the helper, the one who intercedes on our behalf.

And in a world of exaggeration and white lies, it is important to be truthful in all things, so that we might increasingly experience the presence of the Spirit of Truth within us.
———————————————————————————————

NIV footnote, The Paraclete is a Counselor or Helper. It is a legal term, but with a broader meaning than “counsel for the defence.” It referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law.

Rene Girard, a Christian anthropologist / philosopher, argues that paraclete ought to be translated as the defense attorney who is defending human beings against the assaults of Satan (the Prosecuting Attorney, the Accuser, the fomenter of violence).

Henry Liddell (father of Alice in Wonderland) says the word “paraclete” is an antonym for diábolos.  The former is a defender and the latter is an accuser. (Greek διάβολος or diávolos = slanderer or ‘accuser’).
Paraclete comes from the Koine Greek word παράκλητος (paráklētos, “one who consoles, one who intercedes on our behalf, a comforter or an advocate”).  The word “Paraclete” is derived from the Ancient Greek παράκλητος (paraklētos, “called to help, helper”) from παρά (para, “beside”) + καλέω (kaleō, “I call”). It is passive, and literally means etymologically signifies “called to one’s side”.

The paraclete is often translated as to pneuma (the spirit) to hagion (the pure one)  the Holy Spirit.

 

“Preaching the Gospel to yourself” by Rose Marie Miller

By

I received this email today from wonderful Rose Marie Miller. How important it is for those in ministry, those who constantly endeavour to refresh other people’s souls, not to forget to preach the Gospel to themselves, and nourish their own souls!
“I have gone through a long time of spiritual dryness.
But then something strange happened.
We have a prayer time on Thursday morning at our Asha shop, and after praying, I called my friend Priya and asked if I could pray for her.  She was nervous, agitated, fearful, and not even sure she wanted to see me.  But she came.  We went to her house and I opened Psalm 139 to her. God spoke to her heart, and for someone who has isolated herself from the Christian community, the Word brought her life.  She returned.
Then I shared the same Psalm with Balvinder who is still grieving the loss of her son–actually weighed down by the sorrow. When she read it, her face changed and peace filled her heart.
Yesterday Saroj and I spent the day together.  She too is burdened by family cares.  I had her read the first part of Psalm 139 to me.  English is still a problem.  I called this a.m. and had her read it to me again.  She said she especially liked vs. 17 “How precious are your thoughts, O God, how vast is the sum of them.”
I saw burdens lifted–a lighter step in the midst of trials, a willingness to endure and persevere.
Then the lights went on for me.  “If it helped them, it should help me.”
This a.m., I turned to Psalm 139, and what caught my heart, was the verse that helped Saroj, “How precious are your thoughts O God how vast is the sum of them.”
I began to list His thoughts to me.  Peace returned; the Spirit met me.
You prayed; God answered.  I write this often, but your prayers are my lifeline to God’s favor and blessings.”

Connections in High Places

By

Can miracles happen today? Breakthroughs in creativity? In writing? In publishing? Financial miracles? Breakthroughs in health?

 

Well, people always say, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”

Well, I retain my faith in miracles, because you see, I am incredibly well-connected.

I know a guy who can change 5 loaves to 5000; can help me walk on water, and change that water into wine.

And he whispers to me, “Do not be afraid. Trust in my Father. Trust also in me.”

Learning French

By

When I was younger, I used to read about all the things one should do to prevent a middle-aged brain degenerating into an old and useless brain.

Learning languages was on every list.

That’s always been a passion of mine.

So, one day, you wake up, and discover: YOU are middle-aged.

Time to learn those languages you always promised yourself you would.

I had Hindi as my second language in school. so choose French.

I didn’t realize how much I would love learning it. I love the sound of it. It honestly fills me with a kind of ecstasy when I understand what my teacher is saying perfectly.

I love the way some French people talk, as if they had a plum in their mouths.

I love translating their expressions to English, and then laughing!!

I love how learning a new language is literally like seeing things from the point of view of another race.

I like reading Le Monde online, and seeing how their World News, is different from the Guardian’s or The New York Times. Subtle shifts in world view.

It is a lovely language. Roy says it is not a serious language: it is a joke language, but I love it, and I agree.

Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret

By

Hudson Taylor, exhausted, learned this spiritual secret which was the turning point of his spiritual life. We grow spiritually, “not by striving to have faith, but by resting on the faithful one.”

From the letter Taylor wrote after this transforming spiritual experience.

“How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life, His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in the Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith . . . but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and eternity.
. . . . I looked to Jesus, and when I saw––oh, how joy flowed!
It was resting in Jesus now, and letting Him do the work––which makes all the difference. Whenever he spoke in meetings after that, a new power seemed to flow from him, and in the practical things of life a new peace possessed him. Troubles did not worry him as before. He cast everything on God in a new way, and gave more time to prayer.
It was the exchanged life that had come to him––the life that is indeed “No longer I.” . . . It was a blessed reality “Christ liveth in me.” And how great the difference!––instead of bondage, liberty; instead of failure, quiet victories within; instead of fear and weakness, a restful sense of sufficiency in Another.
“Perhaps I may make myself more clear if I go back a little. . . . I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for meditation––but all without avail. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness sin oppressed me.
I knew that if only I could abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not. I would begin the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye off Him for a moment, but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, and constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, caused me to forget Him. Then one’s nerves get so fretted in this climate that temptations to irritability, had thoughts and sometimes unkind words are all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power. To will was indeed “present with me,” but how to perform I found not.
Then came the questions, is there no rescue? Must it be thus to the end––constant conflict, and too often defeat? . . . . Instead of growing stronger, I seemed to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin; and no longer, for faith and even hope were getting low. I hated myself, I hated my sin, yet gained no strength against it. I felt I was a child of God. His Spirit in my heart would cry, in spite of all, “Abba, Father.” But to rise to my privileges as a child, I was utterly powerless.
. . . . I knew I was powerless. I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help and strength. Sometimes I almost believed that He wold keep and uphold me; but on looking back in the evening––alas! There was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before God.
. . . . And yet, never did Christ seem more precious; a Savior who could and would save such a sinner! . . . And sometimes there were seasons not only of peace but of joy in the Lord; but they were transitory, and at best there was a sad lack of power.
All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was––how to get it out. He was rich truly, but I was poor; He was strong, but I weak. I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem, abundant fatness, but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As gradually light dawned, I saw that faith was the only requisite––was the hand to lay hold on His fullness and make it mine. But I had not this faith.
I strove for faith, but it would not come; I tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fullness of our precious Saviour, my guilt and helplessness seemed to increase. Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word. . . . I prayed for faith, but it came not. What was I to do?
When my agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before.
“But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.”
As I read, I saw it all! “If we believe not, he abideth faithful.” I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed)! That He had said, “I will never leave thee.”
“Ah, there is rest!” I thought. “I have striven in vain to rest in Him. I’ll strive no more. For has not He promised to abide with me––never to leave me, never to fail me?” And, . . . He never will.
. . . . As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! How great seemed my mistake in wishing to get the sap, the fullness out of Him! I saw not only that Jesus will ever leave me, but that I am a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine is not the root merely, but all––root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit. And Jesus is not that alone––He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding too may be enlightened, that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.
. . . It is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Savior, to be a member of Christ! Think what it involves. Can Christ be rich and I poor? Can your right hand be rich and your left poor? Or your head be well fed while your body starves? . . . . No more can your prayers or mine be discredited if offered in the name of Jesus (i.e., not for the sake of Jesus merely, but on the ground that we are His, His members) so long as we keep within the limits of Christ’s credit––a tolerably wide limit!
The sweetest part, . . . is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine. It makes no matter where He places me, or how. That is rather for Him to consider than for me; for in the easiest position He must give me His grace, and in the most difficult His grace is sufficient. . . . So, if God should place me in serious perplexity, must He not give me much guidance; in positions of great difficulty, much grace; in circumstances of great pressure and trials, much strength? No fear that His resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me.
And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been! . . . I am no better than before. In a sense, I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be. But I am dead and buried with Christ––ay, and risen too! And now Christ lives in me, and “the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
. . . . Do not let us consider Him as far off, when God has made us one with Him, members of His very body. Nor should we look upon this experience, these truths, as for the few. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonoring our Lord. The only power for deliverance from sin or for true service is Christ.
And it is all so simple and practical!

To find God you need Silence

By

“He did not think that there was enough quiet in the world. To realise God you need silence. He loved spaces for silence, and places of silence. He encouraged the practice of retreats. He was an inspiring conductor of retreats. He thought of the religious communities as little havens of quiet scattered across society …” Owen Chadwick on Michael Ramsey, 100th Archbishop of Canterbury

Traditional English Edible hedges–Cottage Garden Style

By

I tried to build an edible hedge when we lived in Williamsburg, Virginia, without  success. I’m now reading about traditional English hedges, and would love to build one. Traditional English hedges around cottage gardens had a dual purpose–to keep sheep out, and chickens in. The hedge was inter-planted with fruit and roses, so the precious space contributed both food and beauty.

A traditional English hedge had Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Crab apple, Guelder rose, Dog rose, Wild privet, Honeysuckle,  Field maple, Holly, hazelnuts, blackberries, forsythia, quince, and damsons.

A well-laid hedge can be as thick and impenetrable as a wall, quite impossible to see through or get through. One day I will have one!!