I have been thinking about how we can know the will of God for our lives. It has become quite obvious that there has not been much training in this area.
Many have been very satisfied to teach and challenge the members to live by the general will of God. This has resulted in many feeling that the church is not interested in their development or worst irrelevant to their lives.
This is not so in the times of NT. Paul prayed for the Colossians that they might know God’s specific will for their lives.
Col 1: 9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.
Few obvious worthy of highlighting;
- We need to know His will WITH wisdom and understanding lest we become rash and tactless (lack of wisdom) in our walk.
- Life worthy of the Lord and please Him MUST be founded on His WILL.
- We would be able to bear fruits, grow in His knowledge, strengthen with all power, have great endurance and patience, give thanks and share in His inheritance.
Such is the blessing of walking in His will.
Now the question is how can I know His will?
I chanced upon Discipleship Journal and found this very interesting guide.
There are 5 systems whereby we need to check to confirm or discern His will for our lives.
1 The bible
The bible will give us general guidance on His will and ways to show us. We will know the character of voice to confirm His leading.
2 Our unique gifts and talents – our design
Our giftings and talents are from God to lead us to His end for our lives. Thus they are good indicators of where He is leading in our lives.
3 Our Circumstances
Open doors are not necessary signs to proceed or closed doors as signs to stop. We need to ask God to reveal His purpose in these circumstances.
Remember that the devil is at works too.
4 Direct leading
Specific events or confirmation must also be checked with scripture and godly counsel.
5 Input from others
We are created in community and we need to know what the community is saying to us too.
These are not new insights for many of us. But the key difference I learnt here is that we can be more certain when all 5 systems lead to the same conclusion. And anything less would call for more waiting and weighing.
I am very blessed with this information. But I would like to see if I can develop this further so that I can be a blessing for others who are at the crossroads of their lives.
My study - How theology in Galatians can contribute to Education
Living in this performance-centric society, it is very difficult to discern the subtle influence of “works” in our walk with God. Yet through the signs of many stressed out believers, tired out pastors, and unhealthy pursuit of outward conformity to the “culture” of western Christianity such as robes, church tradition, birthday blessings, and many other subtle influences, we can conclude the yoke of “distorted gospel” is at work among us. This is where the book of Galatians can help us to examine where we have fallen and how the theology highlighted earlier could help us in staying true to the “true gospel” (pun intended).Being a pastor and leader of an education institution before, it is of particular interest to me to look at Christian Teachers Training and Development. Having the book of Galatians and the course study guide as my reference, we would explore 2 specific areas of applications – the development of teachers and the delivery of lesson. The theology discussed earlier, specifically “Union with Christ” and “Role of Holy Spirit”, will be used in this consideration.
1 Development of Teachers - Need for spiritual training for our Christian teachers
Good teaching comes from good teachers. And good teachers are good because they are good people (Palmer, 1998, p. 10). Skills alone cannot make an eternal impact in the lives of our students. It is the life in Christ that makes the teachers good (Mk 10:18). Thus, only in Christ, can the teachers become good teachers. Also it is only in Christ that Christian Teachers can live out the “cruciform life” (Gorman, 2001, p. 30). The question is who is responsible for the spiritual development of the teachers. We cannot assume that this will be taught in churches. Churches, for most part, will be focusing mainly on the general needs of the congregations. They will not be able to focus on the specific needs of any occupation. Beside, it may not have the resources to do so too. Hence, Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College must consider the spiritual development of Christian Teachers just as they do for other subject matters.
Just like the Galatians, it is very easy for the Christian Teachers to feel that “grace and good teaching performance = acceptance and approval from God” in this performance centric society. The “and …” is what causes the confusion in the Galatians church; adding anything to grace is in fact nullifies grace. For the Galatians, it is circumcision, while for the Christian Teachers, it will be ability to produce students with good grades in this performance centric society. This has caused many Christian Teachers, in Singapore, to feel discouraged with their sense of calling. On one hand, they feel the call to teach, and on the other, they feel the pressure to perform. As a result, we are seeing many resignations among the Christian Teachers or they become indifferent. Such disillusion in teachers can be minimized if the Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College make effort to educate and tutor the Christian Teachers to understand the privilege of being “in Christ”.
We are warmly received into the Kingdom of God because of grace and grace alone. It is the result of the gospel event. There is nothing we can do or add to gain acceptance and approval from God. Christ has done it all for me. It is in Christ that Christian Teachers receive the acceptance and approval from God. And this acceptance with God will allow the merits and perfection of Christ to be applied to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Goldsworthy, 1991, p. 220).
Such truth needs to be experienced by Christian Teachers regularly so as to keep their motivation in service pure - they serve diligently not because they need that to be accepted but because they are already accepted in Christ. In this way we would have lesser disillusion teachers.
One way to do so is to schedule regular retreat for Christian Teachers to remember the gospel event. It is in the act of remembrance that allows God to illuminate their mind to this truth with freshness. This “remember” retreat approach is in much agreement with what the Bible advocates too (Heschel, 1951, p. 161). Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College can also tap into the wider Christian Community such as Christian Seminaries and Christian Churches for renowned teachers in this subject matter to come and lead the retreat. In this way we will have provided a good experience for the teachers as well as helped the larger community to be mindful of the needs of the Christian Teachers.
2 Classroom teaching - Need for relying on the Holy Spirit
The book of Galatians emphasizes a lot on being dependent on the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasizes such reliance when he exalts the Galatians to receive the Spirit (3:2), begin with the Spirit (3:3), be in the Spirit (4:6), through the Spirit (5:5), walk by the Spirit (5:16, 25), be led by the Spirit (5:18) and live by the Spirit (5:25). All these reflect the great need to be relying on the Holy Spirit in our daily walk. This reliance should apply to the classrooms for the Christian Teachers too. Many teachers are tempted to rely more on the lesson plan than the spontaneous guidance of the Spirit.
But the role of Holy Spirit is more than the exercising of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It should include both the gifts as well as the fruit of the Spirit (5:22) in the lives of the teachers. This does not imply that lesson preparation is not important. It does, however, imply that dependence on the Holy Spirit should start from the point of lesson preparation. Students are not drawn to the smartness of the teachers alone. They are looking for models who can relate and inspire them. Spirit-filled teacher will certainly be attractive teachers to the students because they would be reflecting Christ in the class through personalifying the fruit of the Spirit and exercising the gifts of the Spirit. Such teachers would be awesome.
During classroom management, students do not need to face the raw emotion of a frustrated teacher. Instead they would be managed by one who can control his emotion with a tone of spirituality. During correction, students will receive correction which reveals their weakness and yet heals their pain. During lesson time, students will be amazed by the Spirit-led lesson plan presented with the gifts of the Spirit. This is made possible because the Lord has given us His Spirit through faith (3:2).
Living out this reliance on the Holy Spirit, among the Christian Teachers, needs to be nurtured in the whole school. As in developing any habit, teachers need community to encourage the development of this intentional reliance on the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 2:2). Clustering Spirit-filled teachers with younger (in faith) teachers together will help modeling this practice as well as imparting practical ways to live out this Spirit-filled lifestyle. This will certainly help to transform the class into a Spirit-filled room for learning.
1 Development of Teachers - Need for spiritual training for our Christian teachers
Good teaching comes from good teachers. And good teachers are good because they are good people (Palmer, 1998, p. 10). Skills alone cannot make an eternal impact in the lives of our students. It is the life in Christ that makes the teachers good (Mk 10:18). Thus, only in Christ, can the teachers become good teachers. Also it is only in Christ that Christian Teachers can live out the “cruciform life” (Gorman, 2001, p. 30). The question is who is responsible for the spiritual development of the teachers. We cannot assume that this will be taught in churches. Churches, for most part, will be focusing mainly on the general needs of the congregations. They will not be able to focus on the specific needs of any occupation. Beside, it may not have the resources to do so too. Hence, Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College must consider the spiritual development of Christian Teachers just as they do for other subject matters.
Just like the Galatians, it is very easy for the Christian Teachers to feel that “grace and good teaching performance = acceptance and approval from God” in this performance centric society. The “and …” is what causes the confusion in the Galatians church; adding anything to grace is in fact nullifies grace. For the Galatians, it is circumcision, while for the Christian Teachers, it will be ability to produce students with good grades in this performance centric society. This has caused many Christian Teachers, in Singapore, to feel discouraged with their sense of calling. On one hand, they feel the call to teach, and on the other, they feel the pressure to perform. As a result, we are seeing many resignations among the Christian Teachers or they become indifferent. Such disillusion in teachers can be minimized if the Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College make effort to educate and tutor the Christian Teachers to understand the privilege of being “in Christ”.
We are warmly received into the Kingdom of God because of grace and grace alone. It is the result of the gospel event. There is nothing we can do or add to gain acceptance and approval from God. Christ has done it all for me. It is in Christ that Christian Teachers receive the acceptance and approval from God. And this acceptance with God will allow the merits and perfection of Christ to be applied to us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit (Goldsworthy, 1991, p. 220).
Such truth needs to be experienced by Christian Teachers regularly so as to keep their motivation in service pure - they serve diligently not because they need that to be accepted but because they are already accepted in Christ. In this way we would have lesser disillusion teachers.
One way to do so is to schedule regular retreat for Christian Teachers to remember the gospel event. It is in the act of remembrance that allows God to illuminate their mind to this truth with freshness. This “remember” retreat approach is in much agreement with what the Bible advocates too (Heschel, 1951, p. 161). Christian Schools and Christian Teachers College can also tap into the wider Christian Community such as Christian Seminaries and Christian Churches for renowned teachers in this subject matter to come and lead the retreat. In this way we will have provided a good experience for the teachers as well as helped the larger community to be mindful of the needs of the Christian Teachers.
2 Classroom teaching - Need for relying on the Holy Spirit
The book of Galatians emphasizes a lot on being dependent on the Holy Spirit. Paul emphasizes such reliance when he exalts the Galatians to receive the Spirit (3:2), begin with the Spirit (3:3), be in the Spirit (4:6), through the Spirit (5:5), walk by the Spirit (5:16, 25), be led by the Spirit (5:18) and live by the Spirit (5:25). All these reflect the great need to be relying on the Holy Spirit in our daily walk. This reliance should apply to the classrooms for the Christian Teachers too. Many teachers are tempted to rely more on the lesson plan than the spontaneous guidance of the Spirit.
But the role of Holy Spirit is more than the exercising of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. It should include both the gifts as well as the fruit of the Spirit (5:22) in the lives of the teachers. This does not imply that lesson preparation is not important. It does, however, imply that dependence on the Holy Spirit should start from the point of lesson preparation. Students are not drawn to the smartness of the teachers alone. They are looking for models who can relate and inspire them. Spirit-filled teacher will certainly be attractive teachers to the students because they would be reflecting Christ in the class through personalifying the fruit of the Spirit and exercising the gifts of the Spirit. Such teachers would be awesome.
During classroom management, students do not need to face the raw emotion of a frustrated teacher. Instead they would be managed by one who can control his emotion with a tone of spirituality. During correction, students will receive correction which reveals their weakness and yet heals their pain. During lesson time, students will be amazed by the Spirit-led lesson plan presented with the gifts of the Spirit. This is made possible because the Lord has given us His Spirit through faith (3:2).
Living out this reliance on the Holy Spirit, among the Christian Teachers, needs to be nurtured in the whole school. As in developing any habit, teachers need community to encourage the development of this intentional reliance on the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 2:2). Clustering Spirit-filled teachers with younger (in faith) teachers together will help modeling this practice as well as imparting practical ways to live out this Spirit-filled lifestyle. This will certainly help to transform the class into a Spirit-filled room for learning.
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