Letters From Your Host (5)

I am attempting to do what C.S. Lewis did in "The Screwtape Letters", only I am going in the reverse, characterizing angels, not demons.

Dearest Company,

What a delighted to hear from you! We return our warmest greetings. We are overjoyed to see that you are doing well and have been staying in communication. Thank you for your reply.

It is to our understanding that you are discouraged with the responsibility you feel in ministering to others. You are afraid to pour time and energy into loving people because you seriously doubt your capability and their receptiveness. You remember in the past you have failed to witness any growth from the seeds you tried to plant, and as a result you are disheartened to venture out again.

Dearly beloved! Do not forget your purpose. Your purpose is not to find success--in anything. We will remind you again, you are not measured on the level of hearts you save, you cannot save anyone. No. Also, never forget that what you might consider defeat or victory your Father may see as something completely different.

What matters is that you remain faithful. Remain faithful in your relationships. Refuse to base your gratification on the change you see in others. It is not your responsibility to change them, only to remain faithful to what you are able to do today.

It is not right to take on the responsibility of another's salvation. If you believe it is your duty to convert the nations, then you will likewise believe it is to your credit they are converted. It is not. The credit belongs to God and God alone.

This does not mean you forget about the call of discipleship. By no means! You are indeed commanded to seek after the Kingdom. Yet, we warn you, be careful to what standard you would hold yourself. Do not discredit the situation you are in today as an opportunity. Do not wish you were somewhere else. The reality is you are not somewhere else, and you are called to be faithful in all circumstances. So love unconditionally, minister with no expectation. Remember it is  not your responsibility to make the seed grow, only to plant it. It is not your responsibility to make the sheep come, only to feed them. It is not your responsibility to change the world, only to remain faithful in it.

Be encouraged. Pride would have you believe your ministry aught to look just so, with these specific components, or else you are not pleasing God, and what you are doing is not truly ministry. Everything you do is ministry, beloved. Everything. If your heart truly drives you to reach the thousands, then by all means, reach them. But you will not, indeed, you cannot, until you are faithful in the small, thankless ministry he has called you to right now, in this place, at this hour.

We will not neglect to reply again soon.

God be with you always,
Your Host

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Letters From Your Host (4)

I am attempting to do what C.S. Lewis did in "The Screwtape Letters", only I am going in the reverse, characterizing angels, not demons.

Our Dearest Company,

We have not heard from you in a while. We trust you are doing well. 

We are under the impression you are frustrated with your life. Particularly, you are frustrated with God. Is this your way of punishing Him? Do you distance yourself out of frustration, grief, or whatever this reason is that you have not been in communication? 

Or rather, are you frustrated by yourself, because you know you are doing something wrong, and you don't want to face Him with it? What is the reason for your silence? Are you too busy? Are you apathetic? Do you even realize the two of you have not spoken for a great length of time? 

You pray, yes, but your mouth is like a religious puppet, being opened and closed by the strings of tradition, those strings are not attached to your heart and therefore your prayers seem empty. 

Perhaps you have forgotten the kind of relationship the two of you share. How easy it is for you to forget. You are terribly forgetful. He is not just a polite acquaintance you tend to speak friendly hellos to from time to time. This is not just a nice relationship with a good friend. 

You are in love with God. 

Must we remind you? God is not human. He is not like you. He does not think like you, understand the world the same way you do, or submit to anyone or anything besides Himself. For a lack of better words, God is wild and dangerous. He is not domesticated in the way you would like to believe He is, he does not fit into any one idea, He is infinitely beyond the god you understand. 

Imagine the shiny golden star sticker your teacher put on your math test in third grade. This is your understanding of God. Now think of the sun, 92,960,000 miles away, 9900 °F on the surface, 27 million °F at the core. This is God. Hold them up side by side in your mind: the sticker and the sun. 

Are you beginning to understand now? Do not fool yourself. You will understand Him best by recognizing you do not understand Him. Yet, the fact still stands: the two of you are in love. 

Remember your golden sticker understanding: you imagine God to be incredible, magnificent, awe-inspiring (even when you are frustrated with Him). Now, take everything you know about Him, and multiply it 27 million times. Does this not excite you? Does this not steal your breath away? 

There is so much more than you could possibly imagine about who this Deity really is. We are frustrated by your inept language and its lack of ability to communicate this truth to you. Yet, what a privilege it is for you to have an eternity to find out more.  

Eternity began the day you fell in love with Him. So, our dearly beloved, talk with Him; share everything, and above all, listen. He will begin to reveal Himself to you, one degree at a time. Of this you can be sure. 

Affectionately yours, 

Your Host

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Letters From Your Host (3)

I am attempting to do what C.S. Lewis did in "The Screwtape Letters", only I am going in the reverse, characterizing angels, not demons.

Our dearest company,

We are glad to know that you are doing well and that you have found our last letter helpful in your pursuits and understanding of this life.

In your next letter, we hope you might answer a question we have for you: what does it mean for the human body to allow the Son to dwell within it; the "accepting of Christ", as you call it? What does this entail? We can hardly imagine what this must be like. We humbly admit to our envy of such a privilege.

Still, we do not understand. We cannot makes sense of the fact that still you and your brothers falter, doubt, remain anxious, and self-reliant, as if Christ was not there at all. Is it easy to forget? We hope you can make this clear to us. We have heard that the world of a human soul is completely changed when Christ comes. It is to our understanding Christ becomes not a part of you, but you completely. Do you become less yourself, or is it not that you find yourself more fully? Is He truly in everything you see, every thought, every action, every mundane moment of your life? Or, is he just there sometimes? What is it like to have the God of the universe breathing through your lungs? Do you think of Him as separate from you, saying: "this is where God ends and I begin", or is He who you truly are? Is he your self? We know of the term "manifestation", are you combined or are you two separate entities living in one body? If there is separation, should there be? Are you not meant to be wholly unified? Who truly defines the soul, you or Him?

We confess to you, we have no hope of such intimacy with Him. Those of us who have fallen have fallen completely, forever. Much like you, we have a choice. We can chose to remain faithful, or we can chose our own way. Yet, you can fall, repent, and be forgiven. When we fall, there is not hope of forgiveness, there is no hope of redemption for our souls.

Although you might be frustrated with your fickle human heart, be thankful for the hope. There is always hope for you, no matter how many times you fail. Earnestly, we beg you, do not take that for granted. Accept it as the gift it truly is. So priceless, so completely invaluable and precious. We suspect you can never know the true worth of such a gift, not like we do. In your humanness you do not see it, you do not truly understand. We plead with you desperately, seize it! All is lost for you without it.

Wishing you the best always.

Sincerely,
Your host
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Letters From Your Host (2)

I am attempting to do what C.S. Lewis did in "The Screwtape Letters" (I highly recommend this read), only I am going in the reverse, characterizing angels, not demons.

Our Dearest Company,

Thank you for your reply. We are glad to hear you found our last response helpful and trust you are still doing well in the full vigor of your external life.

We have heard that you have expressed to the Father a desire to know His will for you. We are confused, what do you mean by His will?

Do you not know His will? We think that you do. His will is that you love Him first, and love others second. Grow. Connect. Serve. Today. Be mindful, lest you forget: you are stuck in time. Physically, you cannot skip ahead of it or return to it. Your existence is based on this moment. Right now.

Yet, with your mind, you time travel constantly. So often you reflect on the past with longing and the future with anxiety. Why should you waste your present moments so? If there is such a deep desire to know God's will for your life, why do you waste it thinking of what you will do someday, and not this day. Why do you worry you will not be useful to God? You paralyze your life at this very moment.

According your world's judgement, the Father wastes his saints. You think, "I must go here because here I will be the most use to Him." Yet, the Son never measured his life by how or where He was the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring him the most glory, and you are totally incapable of judging where that might be.*

Be careful not to view yourself fulfilling the will of God after this stage of your life. There is only one stage of your life: right now. Yesterday does not exist. Tomorrow has never been. The moment you had ten minutes ago is gone forever. All you have is now.

It amazes us how you forget your own mortality. Here, where we are there is no sense of time nor death. We have a beginning with no end. Yet, you trust your life will continue on forever, like ours. It won't. You have no way of knowing when the inevitable end will come. What if you had died yesterday? What if you were to die in five minutes? Do you now understand how vain it is to measure your worth by the things you plan to do tomorrow? Tomorrow does not exist. It is merely a concept in your mind, a word in your language. Your life, your reality, is in this day. Spend it well for you will never receive it back.

We wish you the best. You can expect to hear from us again soon.

Most sincerely,
Your host

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thes. 5:16-18, ESV. Emphasis added).

*Inspired by My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers
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Letters from Your Host

I am attempting to do what C.S. Lewis did in "The Screwtape Letters" (I highly recommend this read), only I am going in the reverse, characterizing angels, not demons. Be your own critic, don't assume everything they say is true, it is merely a creative angle used for greater understanding. 

Our dear company,

We are glad to see that you are doing well externally and continue to remain in the fullness and vigor of your life.

However, we have taken note that you have been struggling lately in the matter of your purpose. You feel God is not close, you have no direction. Spiritually, we sense you are drying out.

We must confess we do not understand how you can be satisfied to think the way you do, worship the way you do, or live the way you do, and yet question the spiritual condition of your soul. We hope you can make this a bit more clear to us. Your prayers of late have been so disjointed, unfocused. We don't know what to make of them. To be perfectly honest, we are ashamed of them for you. Very ashamed.

It is apparent you want to go to heaven. This is good. It is not selfish to seek preservation of your own soul.

Yet, we wonder why you want to go to heaven. What is heaven to you? You would answer stoically: heaven is eternal glory, worshiping in the presence of the Creator. Still we wonder, why, going off of your approach to worship, would you want this?

You look forward to getting out of the Sunday morning service. In fact, some days you can hardly wait to leave. How then, can you possibly look forward to heaven? Is not this what worship is to you? Imagine eternal pew-sitting and song-singing. Imagine eternal Sunday morning.

We understand what your heaven truly is, it is much like our own (there is more than one heaven). Heaven is not so much like Sunday morning. You should be glad to know.

It might also surprise you to know, you already have heaven. Or, at least you should. The Kingdom of God is within you. Technically, you should be dead. Are you truly dead? We hope so. The Kingdom of God is now. This very moment. Heaven is upon you. But be mindful, lest you forget.

We will continue to write. We see quite evidently you need to be reminded of your deadness. As for your purpose? Seek to live for the Kingdom within you. Discover what worship means to you in everyday life. In folding laundry. In loving your husband. In work. In play. In rest. Because possibly genuine worship never existed on Sunday morning.

And as for God? He may not seem close. Not at all. How can he talk to you when you do not listen? How can you find Him when you aren't looking with everything in your being? He may not seem close, but he is there. Invariably.

We appreciate your thoughts, please, if you could be a little more specific next time this would be beneficial. We find that you are slightly distracted. Focus a little more, articulate more clearly, and perhaps a clearer answer will be provided. Thank you.

Most sincerely,

Your host
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