Written by: Reverend Ferdinand Melendres

Greetings! I am very glad to be a member of this great family of God. Just want to inform everyone that the recent pastoral meeting has ignited my desire to serve the Lord better, aspiring to bear more tangible fruits and concrete result in the ministries for His glory. I made this personal ‘position paper‘ in response to Bro. Ed Santibanez’ question regarding Spirituality, in which the delegates from different WIN churches had ‘forgotten’ to address. Let me just share my little understanding on this subject.

In today’s world, we can see people, Christians and non-Christians having different opinions when it comes to Spirituality. Books, journals, and other reading materials regarding Spirituality can be found from various bookstores and online stores like amazon, and abebooks that offers even cheaper prices. Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, an old time favorite, had outlined various areas in men’s lives that transpire spiritual growth and maturity. And if you want, you can Google it by typing the word “spirituality” and you will discover that there are various sites from different religious groups that offers not only excellent meaning of the word but also provides the way of how they practice it. Some sites will tell you that there are six basic principles to be followed in order to reach the paths of God’s spiritual presence. Other site said that they are not six but ten, so you can attain the highest level of spirituality in life with God. Another site said that there are many paths in spiritual forms to reach heaven as there are many paths of obtaining the highest form of learning on earth.

This writing is not an attempt to ‘exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees’ so I can enter the kingdom of heaven, rather an expression of my understanding through the knowledge of God in the Bible, and through experiences that I have accumulated for many years of serving the Lord. Spirituality cannot be explained and defined in one sentence or paragraph. It cannot be understood by a man in just one seating or in a single session alone. To understand Spirituality in its broader sense is a continuous learning and understanding of the word of God, a process of our entire life in the kingdom of God.

Spirituality (continuation)

Seeking God

Every human being particularly the religious people like Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhist, Hindu, and the likes are striving to attain ultimate spiritual life. I believe spirituality cannot be obtained through education alone, nor through the creation of rules and dogmas that would govern one instituion. Though both learning and trainings are necessary, unfortunately, the more rules we impose, the greater the tendency for man to fall away from spirituality.

When Jesus Christ stepped down on earth, He urged His disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). For Jesus, seeking God’s righteousness is vital because by doing so, it may help them to be in the right relationship with God. This one is not a new commandments to the Israelites. In fact, Moses asked his people to “seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29). King David declared, “Your face, LORD, I will seek” (Psalm 28:8). The ancient prophet of Israel told the people to forsake unimportant things but “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6). Lastly, the weeping prophet proclaimed to his sinful nation saying, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Seeking God’s will is important to one person’s life. The seeking of God’s face, God’s kingdom, God’s will, or God’s righteousness, is just one thing and the same. It is a never ending search because the nature of God is everlasting and His kingdom is a never ending kingdom, an everlasting place for the righteous people of God. It is a kingdom without wall and without boundary, transcending even the institutions and individuals who submitted to the authority of God. For this reason, your understanding of God’s attributes five or ten years ago has a great difference on your current life right now, simply because you do not stop seeking His will, His kingdom and God’s righteousness.

Jesus has promised that all these things shall be added unto us. When? Today, tomorrow or next year? Well, as long as we seek God continually, the ‘addition’ of ‘these things’ in our lives will continue to flow as well, like a fountain of water springing up in our lives.  As we seek Him constantly, there is a continues flow not only of material blessings, but also of spiritual things like wisdom, knowledge, gift of the Holy Spirit, fruit of the Holy Spirit, etc. As we seek Him day and night, we can learn from the Lord the things that He does likes, and things that He doesn’t like. The example of this is Moses or David. What are the things that God loves in the personality of Moses or David that we should emulate and do? Or what are those offensive and unpleasant traits of Moses or David that we should avoid so that God will not be happy with us.

Unfortunately, the process of seeking and knowing God is not an easy task. In most of the time, it is painful, hurting, distressing, traumatic, and sometime life threatening. It brings mark in our lives that cannot be erased until we breathe our last. Moses suffered so much from the hands of his people while on his forty years journey in the wilderness. David even pretended to be insane just to protect himself from the tyrant hand of King Saul. Jeremiah was commissioned by God to proclaim repentance to the apostate nation of Israel only to face oppositions from the false priests and prophets of King Zedekiah. Furthermore, even the New Testament characters and beyond were not immune from sufferings and persecutions. Jesus, Peter, Paul, Justin Martyr, Polycarp, Tyndale and many others had sought the will of God diligently with wounds and pains. Yes they had finished the race, but the mark of Spirituality was in their lives implanted in their hearts.

Glitter of a Diamond

One of the most important objects that fascinate the eyes of many people in this world is the diamond. Diamond is a famous gemstone with superlative qualities, becoming very popular among the rich and famous. When the modern technology for cutting and polishing diamond was invented and became popular, the diamond cut jewelry became more attractive and lucrative business market. It was said that when you add the cuts to the diamond, you are just enhancing its beauty and glitter, especially when being exposed to the light. When the diamond cut gemstone was put to gold or silver jewelries like rings, earrings, or pendants, it also heightens the charm and elegance of the whole jewelry. In other words, the more cuts the more glitters when exposed to light, therefore the higher the price.

How do we apply it to our subject matter? Christian Spirituality can be compared to the diamond cut jewelry. Cuts are equivalent to our personality and character; the more cuts the better; the more cuts the more spirituality it would be.

When Peter stand at Jerusalem during the Pentecost and delivered his first sermon to the people, the Bible tells us that, “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37) The purpose of the word of God in our lives is to cut our hearts in such a way that we may repent from our sins and change our nasty and rebellious characters. The cutting of our hearts, like the cutting of the diamond is not a one time affair. It takes time and it needs careful and diligent labor and toil to perfect the craft. It is therefore necessary for a man to hear different messages about Christianity because the word of God has the power to penetrate the inner most being of a man. As the Bible said, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). As we hear the word of God regularly, we are also being cut to the heart regularly so that unlikable things in our lives may be removed. The more cuts the better because our hearts, like a diamond will give more reflections of Christ’s image in this world. As the good Lord said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

Sad to say, there are diamonds that are poorly cut and therefore making the jewelries look cheap. They were not done professionally, and the cuts does not give more glitters when exposed to the light. Comparing this analogy to more stories in the Bible, when Stephen, the first Christian martyr delivered his sermon in Jerusalem, the result to the hearers was annoying and irritating. “When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth” (Acts 7:54). The cutting of the hearts among the listeners to Stephen’s sermon was in bad shape. Their hearts were not yet ready to receive God’s grace and favor, making their spiritual lives degraded.

To be Spiritual means to pay attention and apply the things we have heard from our mentors, leaders, and fellow servants of the Lord. If we will look at the spirituality of the believers in Corinth, Paul tells us that they “were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge......so that you come short in no gift” (1 Corinthians 1:4-6). The Corinthians were the most gifted people among the Greek churches; gift of wisdom, healing, discernment, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, name it and you’ll have it. Yet, it was the Corinthians who received the most number of rebukes from the Apostle Paul because of their carnality. With these passages, we can say that the gifted Christians does not automatically mean Spiritual! Let us always remember that the gifts of the spirit cannot be separated from the fruit of the spirit if we want to be Spiritual. They always come together in a package.

What about the Galatians? The Galatians were faithful servants of the Lord, they received the Holy Spirit, they operated in the Spirit, they can relate the story of the Old Testament excellently, but along the way they had fallen into the spirit of legalism. They claimed to be free, but they used their freedom to go back to the old ways of Judaism, which means, working their salvation by grace AND works. They used their freedom to set laws and rules, and not to serve God with freedom from sins and bondages. Again with this experience, we can say that the hardworking Christians do not automatically mean Spiritual! It is good to understand the precept of the Old Testament, but it is better to know that it has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ at the cross.

What do you think has the greater spiritual impact in the life of a Christian: praying, fasting, teaching, preaching, washing another’s feet, singing, cooking, sweeping the floor, or cleaning to toilet? Someone may say, ‘to fast is more spiritual than to sweep the floor,’ or another one may say, ‘to clean the toilet is more spiritual than to preach.’ But the truth is, they are all equal in the eyes of God. As the Apostle Paul said, “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 4:4-5). To God there is no such things as greater ministry or more important ministry than the other.

Conclusion

Who is spiritual among us? Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14:12). Our goal is to do the works of God, the same way or even greater when Jesus Christ ministered on the earth. This must be the quest of every believer in Christ Jesus. Alas, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard for no one was able to attain the highest quality of God’s righteousness. Many a time our seeking of God’s righteousness, the pursuit of God’s holiness, and the desire to please our heavenly Father had failed and come short. We tried to please God by doing great things, by sacrificing our personal goals and ambitions, by exerting every effort that we can, yet at the end, we felt that we are on the loosing end. When these things happened, do not be discouraged nor disappointed because something good is going to happen. In the lowest point of our lives, when we are vulnerable to the enemies’ attack, when we suffer a major blow to our souls, and when we are so desperate to hear any human voice, that is the moment of truth to weep and seek the Lord’s face. There is nothing wrong to cry out and convey your lamentation before God, because this is our expression of seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness. This is the will of God that by seeking Him we may gain strength to bear us up in our daily battles, thus letting us grow in our Spirituality.

Reverend Ferdie Melendres is currently the senior pastor of Word International Ministries - New York (WIN NY). He is also the author of the book 'My Country's Godly Heritage'.