32633 Love One Another

No concept has catalyzed the production of more music, poetry, art, writing, or film than love. From highbrow artistic creations to playground rhymes to marketing campaigns to pharmaceuticals to our most cherished dreams and aspirations, love, and our human experience of it, is undeniably center stage.

Love, it turns out, is also central to God, Jesus, faith, and being a Christian. It was from an abundance of love that God created everything, especially humanity. It was because God loved us that Jesus came to die in our stead and so restore the possibility of an abundant love relationship with God. Jesus commanded His followers to live lives characterized by loving God and loving others. And it is to a future of the fullest expression of love joined with our most authentic expression of worship that we look forward to after death.

In the passages below, it is striking to notice how loving one another is described. Love is spoken of as devoted, as in the way in which families are committed to each other. Reflecting the reality that even if family relationships are broken, you can’t physically un-relate yourself. Being a Christian is similar—even if you don’t get along with someone, by nature of the new family created in Jesus, the Church, you are still related to them. This means that just like the kind of love that makes families work, love in the Church has to be other-centered, humble, obedient, and completely committed.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Romans 12:10

“Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.” 1 Thessslonians 4:9

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.” 2 Thessalonians 1:3

“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 13:1

“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.” 1 Peter 1:22

“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.” 1 Peter 3:8

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

“For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” 1 John 3:11

“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” 1 John 4:7

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” 1 John 4:11, 12

“And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.” 2 John 1:5, 6

In 1 John 4:11-12 above, loving other believers even transcends the love within families. Love in the Church becomes one of the ways we actually know and experience God. God becomes tangible, in a sense, when His Church loves one another. Living out God’s love is our purpose.

Some Challenges

  1. Take a minute to think back over this past week. What kinds of words would describe your love towards other believers? Were you other-centered, humble, obedient, and completely committed?
  2. The truly radical thing about Christian love is that by it God is experienced tangibly. Who is pointed to by the way you love? Do you love ultimately to be loved in return or do you love with abandon such that the only explanation for your love is that it has its source in God?
  3. Think of a difficult person to love in your life. Commit to praying daily that the Lord would give you a “nothing needed in return” love for them. Find a way to remind yourself to pray—set an alarm on your phone, pick a landmark you drive by that will signal that it’s time to pray, or obviously your own idea!

32632 Encourage, Instruct, and Spur On One Another

A congregation does not thrive on a foundation of superstars. The passages below call everyone into the foundational work of building each other up. It is not solely the leaders’ work. In the Church everyone encourages, teaches, and motivates everyone else, and should do so with the warmth and equality of teammates. No one in our congregations is more important than another but everyone shares the important responsibility of encouraging.

Runners in a relay race do this. Though equal as teammates, they instruct each other as they practice. During a race, they are each other’s strongest supporters, yelling encouragement, urging every last ounce of exertion from their teammates. Then, when the baton is passed, they run, feeding off the encouragement of the ones they were moments before encouraging.

Each individual competes, encourages, and instructs in a manner unique to them. But they are united by a common goal; a purpose accomplished through their unique contributions in the service of something bigger than any of their individual efforts.

I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. (Romans 15:14)

Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:17-18)

He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:10-11)

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13)

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

The passages above are clear that the point of cheering each other on is not just positivity or personal enrichment. We run on a team with every other Christian in the world, and we rally each other to run the race well, now, today. But our encouragement and motivation spring from our solid hope that one day we will see Jesus face to face. That hope is strong enough to help us persevere, even thrive, no matter the struggle or obstacle.

This hope should not dismiss or minimize the challenges we face. Christians are sometimes guilty of trite encouragement where we think that because our future is secure our present realities shouldn’t matter. But it is because our pain, temptations, and discouragement are real that the call to persevere is needed. It is when our energy is spent, our will eroded, or our resources exhausted—when we have nothing left to depend on save God—it is in the reality of that moment that we most need one another’s encouragement, literally, bringing forth courage. That courage is anchored, not in the mess of our lives, but in the truth that “He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:10)

We don’t encourage, teach, and motivate ourselves—this is communal work. We put an arm around one another to draw each other into worshiping and depending on our God. We cheer each other on so we remain focused on the goal of running our race well today and finishing in the arms of our savior.

Some Challenges

  1. Think about encouragement and instruction you’ve given to others over the past two weeks. Did it build the other person up and spur them on? Or conversely, did it leave them with another expectation they’ve failed to meet, another trite saying that dismissed their struggle, or another surface-level interaction that left them more alone in their reality?
  2. Continuing to think about encouragement and instruction you’ve given, did you take their reality seriously? Were you motivated to interact by curiosity (i.e. the oft-used cover for Christian gossip: “I just want to know how I can pray for you”), confidence you could fix them (“well all you need to do is…”), or judgment (“Well, just stop.”)? Or, was your encouragement in the spirit of the passages above where your encouragement humanized them through your presence and focused on the strong hope that “we may live together with him?”

32631 Being the Church to One Another

Have you ever walked into a full elevator and, instead of turning toward the door, remained facing your fellow occupants?

People in elevators, like people in many other contexts, follow particular unspoken rules.

Congregations are no different, each having beautifully (and sometimes not so beautifully) characteristic ways of relating that are specific to that church. But are there ways we, as Christians, should treat each other that transcend the norms of individual congregations?

Whatever customs a particular congregation lives out, suits and dresses to Hawaiian shirts and flip-flops, scripture gives clear instructions for us to apply in our individual contexts for how we should treat each other in the Church.

Throughout the New Testament, commands that include “one another” or “each other” let us know that we should apply these words to our relationships with other believers. While passages that include this phrase don’t constitute an exhaustive list for how we should act as Christians, they do give us a solid starting place for what actions, commitments, and attitudes should characterize life together in a congregation.

The five articles that follow each focus on “one another” passages grouped according to theme.

The articles are meant to:

  1. Invite you into a gracious way of living. It would be a misapplication of these passages to wield them as condemning weapons toward your congregation. Their application begins in your life and continues into the life of your church through humble modeling and conversation. It is an invitation to humbly ask the Holy Spirit to grow you and your congregation toward more vibrant Christ-likeness.
  2. Invite you to reflect on passages of a similar theme. Each article lists the Bible verses related to that theme. Take the time to read each one and ask God to show you how it applies to you and your church. Your own insight is important, so don’t rush past the verses into the reflection and challenge sections that follow.
  3. Invite you into conversation. These passages are perfect for communal dialogue. As they prescribe certain ways to treat one another, it only makes sense to consider them with the very “one anothers” you should treat that way!

These articles also assume a few things:

  1. The characteristics that define how a congregation relates can change. It’s not often easy. Or fast. But they do change.
  2. You affect the life of your congregation. You do. No matter how big or small your presence, how influential or invisible your role, your pursuit of Jesus-honoring/other-honoring living will encourage and challenge those around you.
  3. Sometimes characteristic ways of relating are bigger than individuals. Change happens as individuals change, but sometimes hurtful or unjust ways of relating are connected to our organizational structures, rules, or broader cultural norms. These passages apply to us as individuals but we should seek their communal applications as well.

So come, be encouraged and challenged in how you act toward one another. Who knows, maybe you’ll be so excited by how you and your congregation change that you’ll find yourself trying to start group sing-alongs in packed elevators.

32623 A Practical Guide for Finding a Church

These guidelines are designed to get you started on the discernment process. Since the decision to commit to a church involves both discernment and process, you know it’s not simple and it takes time!

Use the church’s website, their printed documents, what you observe while in their space, and tactful conversations with real people to help you check items off and get answers for the “Questions Section” at the bottom of this page. Don’t try and answer everything in one visit, or use the questions like an interview—again don’t miss out on really connecting with God and really connecting with other Jesus followers.

Any church you decide to pursue should meet these basic standards. If a church has a statement of faith on their website or in print, it will speak to many of these points. But if possible, also try and discern whether these beliefs and practices are demonstrated in the church’s services and the lives of people you meet.

Beliefs—What do they believe about God and church doctrines?

  • God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is one. Is anything elevated above worshiping God?
  • Jesus, the Son, is fully God and also fully human. He really died and really rose again to life so our sin would be forgiven and our relationship with God could be restored.
  • The Holy Spirit guides us in following God, convicts us of sin, reveals God to us, comforts us, equips us, instructs us, and forms us to be more like Jesus.
  • The church is designed to bring us together to worship God, grow in our individual and collective love for God and understanding of Him, and engage our world with words and actions that introduce others to God and His love and provision.
  • We have all sinned and all need to receive God’s forgiveness.
  • Salvation is a free gift of God’s—a gift that we accept through faith in Jesus, not a reward we somehow earn.
  • We respond to God’s gift of salvation with gratitude, which is worship, and the desire to live in a way that is pleasing and honoring to Him. We love and obey Him.

Authority—What is their foundation?

  • The Bible should be the ultimate authority—is it treated with respect, taught, understood, and followed? Are other writings elevated above or equal to the Bible?
  • The church leaders lead in a Christ-like manner. They should serve under Jesus’s authority, not be the ultimate authority themselves. They should sincerely serve the congregation and community, not simply to benefit themselves. Leaders should balance influence with humility and confidence with listening.
  • Do church members follow their leaders with a balance of respect but not adoration?

Relationships—How do they act?

  • Relationships between people in the church should be marked by warmth, love, and service.
  • There should be evidence of the church pursuing both the spiritual maturing of its people and the flourishing of its community (spiritually and physically speaking).
  • What are they doing about the rest of the world? The church should not be self-serving but rather value and pour into the world outside its walls.

For a quick refresher on what Christians through the ages have believed see the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed.

The discernment process doesn’t stop with assessing whether a church is reasonably healthy and holds to basic Christian beliefs. The next step is getting to know the church and beginning to discern your compatibility. That doesn’t mean that the church you are most compatible with is best choice—it still comes down to following God to the place He draws you. That sense of being drawn to a place, though, is at least partially related a sense of compatibility. Just beware of being drawn to a place simply because it’s filled with people just like you.

Some Questions to Help You Get to Know a Church

[The following questions are meant to be asked casually as you interact with people from the church or peruse the church’s documents.]

Who is this church?

  • Why did you decide to come to this church?
  • How have you grown as a result of the church?
  • What do you appreciate about it?
  • What were some of the significant moments in the history of this church?
  • Tell me about the personality of this church.
  • How does the church have fun together?
  • What are some of the traditions of this church?
  • What is a typical Sunday like here?

What is important to this church?

  • What does the church care about? How is that demonstrated?
  • What are some of the things this church does or has done that people are proud of (in a good way)?
  • What has become more important and less important to the church over the last several years?

[The following questions are meant for you to think about and explore (i.e. don’t ask these!)]

How could you serve this church?

  • What opportunities are there to get involved?
  • How does the church support and grow the people volunteering?

What do they believe and practice?

  • Many churches have a website that spells out what they believe. As you read these statements, does it seem like anything is missing? Anything seem over-emphasized? What excites you about what they believe?
  • If the church has archived sermons, take a look to see what topics and scriptures have been preached on. If there are some sermons by people you haven’t heard preach in person, listen for a little bit to get a deeper perspective on the people who lead the church.
  • Does what you hear preached match with the church’s belief statements? Are there aspects of what the church says it believes and practices that are absent from actual life and teaching of the church?
  • Are there factions or divisions?
  • Can you learn and grow from the teaching?
  • How do people treat each other?
  • Does the worship focus you on Jesus?

What is God telling you?

  • How do your non-essential beliefs correlate to the beliefs the church has? Could you see yourself adapting in areas that don’t match perfectly?
  • What do you feel like God is telling about your involvement with this church? Should you continue to pursue the relationship?
  • What, if anything, in the course of your time with a church focused your attention on Jesus?

32622 Discernment in Finding a Church

Discernment is hard work. Given the other stresses of transitions, we easily replace discernment with the more efficient church-shopping. If Amazon sold churches, we could just read customer reviews and select the one everybody likes best!

This is the tricky part—how to make wise decisions but not fall back into a consumerist mindset? How can we cultivate an openness to God’s leading?

What follows are some suggestions to help in making this decision.

1. View this season of discerning a church as an opportunity.

“I hate church shopping!” is a common complaint during seasons of transition. But what if we relished this season for the unique opportunity it affords us? You are free to experience the variety of ways Christians worship in your area. God will surprise you and convict you as you find faithful Christ followers in all sorts of churches, who all approach God in different ways. Once we commit to a particular family of Christians, we don’t often get to step back and experience the bigger picture of Christianity in our areas.

2. Go worship God with other Christians—don’t think of it as visiting or checking-out churches.

Our attitudes and expectations make all the difference. If you went on a first date clutching your spousal wish-list, not only would you get weird looks from your date, but you’d miss out on connecting with a person. Go for the purpose of worshiping God with others. Even if you won’t eventually commit to that particular church you can still worship God, be present to your fellow worshipers, and actively trust that God will lead you to a church family.

3. Be open to the new or unfamiliar.

Go with the attitude of a learner. Seek to understand how their particular forms of worship really allow them to worship. Expect to be surprised by beauty and significance in the unfamiliar.

4. Know yourself.

What strengths has God given you? How can you serve the Church? We can fight consumerist attitudes by embracing the opportunity and privilege to contribute to the life and service of that body. Relationships involve both people initiating and receiving, so part of discernment is understanding not just what you need from a church but what you can give as well.

5. Identify your speed bumps.

We should submit our non-essential (yet important) preferences about church to God. What, if anything, distracts you from worshiping God, whether theological, musical style, size, preaching, etc.? Talk to God and search scripture about what you’ve identified. As you listen to God speak through others, the Bible, or internally, ask yourself if you sense any of those preferences shifting. The fruit of this work will help you understand what preferences you should prioritize as you think about your compatibility with a particular church. Often times we see that in our friendships quirks that once annoyed us are endearing once we love a person. Other times however, differences actually hinder intimacy in which case, it is wise to not commit to that person any further.

6. Avoid debriefing.

The temptation is certainly there to walk out of a church service (really, whether we’re in the discernment process or not!) and immediately begin debriefing what we liked or didn’t like. When we talk about the service we should cultivate thankfulness instead of criticism. It might help our memories to record some of our observations, but it is more helpful to develop the habit of asking God to continue to bring that church to mind if He’d like us to worship there again.

7. Pursue spiritual growth during this discernment process.

It is easy for us to become apathetic about growing in our relationship with Jesus while we lack the stability of a primary spiritual community. But our sensitivity (developed through familiarity!) to God is the most important piece of the discernment process. So we should do whatever it takes to stay vibrantly connected to God during this time: devote time to being with God in prayer and scripture, meet or call mentors and friends, or take risks and ask for prayer, meet with church leaders, or attend mid-week events when you worship with different churches.

32621 Finding a Church

How to Avoid Church-Shopping but Still Decide on a Church

“What’s the most I can get for my money?” Whether it’s a return on an investment or looking for the best deal on a product, this question is central to a consumer mindset. Not a bad question to avoid wasting resources, but it’s a terrible question to ask when searching for a church!

So what’s wrong with shopping for a church? Why not simply attend the church we like best?

Picking a church based on simple preference creates a decision-making process centered on us instead of on God. One very basic assumption about the church is that while we are part of the church, church is not primarily about us. When we gather as Christians, it is God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who is our focus.

The shopping metaphor also sets us up to view a church as an object or a product. But a church is not a thing—it is the particular Christian people, the community of believers with whom we are in relationship. Thus a better, though surprising, metaphor for figuring out which church to commit to would be dating!

At its best, dating is a process of discernment whereby two people, often with input from family and friends, try and figure out how committed they want to be to each other. While some people certainly approach relationships with self-centered wish-lists for the perfect match, we don’t often talk about “shopping for a boyfriend” or “choosing a wife.” The language of consumers thankfully hasn’t crossed over too much into how speak about committed relationships.

So if we don’t shop for a church, what do we do? What is a way to approach the decision-making process without being self-focused and acting like consumers? Discernment. What if we said to each other, when we’re in a transition time and without a church family, “I’m trying to discern a church” or “we’re still in the church discernment process.” Discernment has two important connotations. First, it is a wisdom word. It suggests more than the simplistic “I like this” / “I don’t like that” responses. Rather, it suggests intentionally seeking depth of  understanding before coming to a decision.

Discerning a church also suggests that listening is a part of the decision-making. We listen to what is being said and what isn’t being said when we worship at different churches. We listen to others who know us well. We listen to our own thoughts, responses, and reactions and, if applicable, to those of our families. Primarily, however, discerning a church involves listening to God. [Read Discernment in Finding a Church]

If we cut off a relationship every time our needs aren’t being met, or there is conflict, or something isn’t comfortable then it’s a good bet that we also won’t experience intimacy or grow in our emotional maturity.

God uses the hard work of perseverance, self-sacrifice, and daily dependence on His provision as the means by which we grow. Staying in an imperfect church (i.e. every church!) is about our growth in becoming more like Jesus.[1] When aspects of our community become uncomfortable and frustrating, God begins to form our motivations and desires to reflect his and away from focusing only on ours. We are also more willing to work toward a peaceful, effective, and healthy church if we’re committed to that particular Christian family for more than our individual benefit.

But not every relationship is a good one to really commit to, and neither should we commit to a church on a whim. We need discernment to understand the culture, beliefs, and priorities of a particular church. We need discernment to value compatibility without making it all about us. We need discernment when we listen for God’s direction so we don’t simply hear our own preferences.

If we begin at a church because we sense God drawing us there, we’ll be more likely to stick around to see why He has us there! Let’s get the most for our wisdom and the biggest bang for our discernment. Let’s drop the shopping and go worship with fellow Christians until God draws us to a particular church family.

32612 Why Church?

Paul Simon sang in “I am a Rock”: “I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain…If I never loved I never would have cried. I am a rock, I am an island.”

The Church, at its heart is about relationships—relationships with others and relationship with God. But relationships are hard and being truly open in a relationship involves the risk of getting hurt. It’s safer to avoid vulnerability—to be an unfeeling rock.

Or why not be an island, why not go it alone? Many of us desire spiritual experiences, want to connect with God, or even sincerely desire to follow Jesus, but we’re skeptical and suspicious of church.

The church, after all, has been guilty of all sorts of terrible things: the crusades, the inquisition, witch trials, siding with oppression, not to mention how individuals have been hurt by judgmentalism, abuse, scandal, and just plain old meanness. Being an invulnerable rock seems pretty appealing in the face of this kind of church. Or for others of us, church seems like a club that requires thoughtless adherence to rules and prescribed ways of thinking. Wouldn’t it just be easier to follow Jesus as a blissfully independent island and forget other Christians? For many of us, Jesus is inspiring and intriguing but Christians are petty and hurtful. [Read “Being the Church to One Another”]

One of the primary ways the Bible talks about God’s people is as a family. Indeed for the entire history of God’s people, up until Jesus, God’s people were a family—a nation proud of having descended from Abraham. With Jesus, this literal, blood-related family was expanded to include those of other races. This inclusion had been the point all along—it was the fulfillment of God’s ancient promise to Abraham, “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis 22:18)

In Jesus, anyone can receive the blessing of being saved from sin. But even though the Church doesn’t exclude all non-Jewish people, the family metaphor hasn’t changed. Non-Jewish Christians are described as: children of Abraham (Romans 9:8), children of God (Luke 20:36, John 1:12-13, Romans 8:16-17), and adopted children (Romans 8:14-15, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5).[1] So if we follow Jesus, we’re family.

Family is the place where we learn, grow, are loved, and form our identity and foundation for experiencing the world. As Christians it seems easier and less risky to avoid other Christians or at least those not like ourselves.[2] So the only way it makes sense to do the hard work of paddling off our islands or breaking our rocky shells is if we see the Church as a network of relationships—that, like a family, give us life and growth precisely because they occur in the nitty-gritty of life. If, however, we see the Church as a product to be used for our individual benefit, we begin to desire the benefits without the messy and difficult work of connecting to imperfect people as part of an imperfect church. This disconnection can happen even when attending a church, if we aren’t also vulnerably connecting with real people at that church!  [Read “Discernment in Finding a Church”]

The church plays an additional role apart from its family role of providing identity, growth, love, and learning. The church also connects us to God’s work in the world and the part we play in that work. It’s through the church (that network of relationships extending around the globe) that we get glimpses of the work of God that is so much bigger than us as individuals. [Read “God’s Call to Reach Out”]

Family and purpose. Christianity is not an individualistic religion. That’s what makes it different than a philosophy or ideology. Take relationship out of the doctrines and practices and it’s not Christianity. We are meant to grow together, to pursue God’s purposes in the world together. For this reason it says in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

We are not islands or rocks. We are a family—vulnerable in our openness, obviously imperfect, but given the incredible opportunity to love God and love others together.

32570 Visions and Dreams

Throughout the history of the people of Israel, there were occasions when God spoke in visions and dreams as documented in the Scriptures.

God appeared to Abraham in a vision and repeated his promise to make him great (Genesis 15:1).

Prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Hosea, Nahum and others recorded in their writing that they received instructions, warnings, exhortation, and other oracles from the Lord in visions.

In the New Testament, the Lord appeared to Paul in a vision to encourage him (Acts 10:17). It was the vision of a Macedonian man that directed Paul and his missionary company to Macedonia (Acts 16:10). 

The Lord spoke to Ananias in a vision and instructed him to go see Paul (Acts 9:10). At the same time, Paul was also visited by the Lord in a vision concerning Ananias so that Paul might expect Ananias (Acts 9:12). The Lord brought them together through visions. In the similar way, Cornelius and Peter met because God gave them instructions in separate visions (Acts 10:3; 10:17). 

God also spoke to people in dreams.

In the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob in a dream (Genesis 31:11). Joseph had a dream which foretold his future (Genesis 37:5-11). In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and exchanged a conversation with him.

It is interesting to realize that God spoke through dreams not only to the people of Israel but also to the peoples of other nations. In the life of Joseph, for example, you read that the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt both had a dream in the prison where Joseph was also kept (Genesis 40:5). Later, Pharaoh also received a message from God in a dream, which Joseph was able to interpret (Genesis 41:15). Joseph explained to Pharaoh that God revealed to the king what the Lord was about to do.

In the New Testament, perhaps, the most well-known are four dreams Joseph had concerning Jesus. God gave him insights in his difficult and uncertain situations.

The first insight through a dream was concerning his marriage with Mary.

“When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit… 

“When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife.” – Matthew 1:20, 24

Then he had another dream when King Herod sought the life of Jesus.

“After they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.” – Matthew 1:13

Without an insight from God in this dream, Joseph would not have known to flee from Herod and endangered the life of Jesus.

Later, Joseph was instructed in two dreams to return from Egypt. In a dream, Joseph learned Herod’s death and that they were safe to return to Israel.

“After Herod had died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead… But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the regions of Galilee.” – Matthew 2:19-20, 22

Because of God’s warning in another dream, Joseph settled his family in Nazareth. This fulfilled a prophecy concerning Jesus that he would be called a Nazarene. God’s insight to Joseph, in this case, accomplished the words which he had spoken long ago.

32560 Parallel Examples

We can glean insights from God through parallel examples. 

There are two kinds of parallel examples. 

The Bible is written as an example for us. The stories and characters in the Bible give us insights into life as it is and as it should or could be. The power of the Biblical narratives is the presence and intimate interactions of the Lord with people. 

The Biblical stories show us that God always enters our life and meets us where we are. He guides and instructs us “on the go” while we live our everyday life. He uses what is available in our life at the time and brings resources that we are not aware of. 

As you read the stories of Abraham, Moses, Esther, prophets, the stories from Judges and 1 and 2 Kings, and many others, you may find parallels in your current situation. When you do, pay closer attention to those stories. 

What are some similarities between their situations and yours? What did they do? What was the result? What are some principles you see at work in the lives of Biblical characters? How was God at work in their life?

Keep in mind that the Biblical stories are descriptive, meaning they are telling you what happened. They may be examples of what NOT to do, examples not to be followed.

Another parallel examples that can bring insights from God are testimonies. 

Testimonies are your sharing with others your first-hand experience with God. It can be as simple as how a Scriptural passage you read spoke to you and as large as how God brought healing to your body or to your relationship. Testimonies glorify God by telling others how wonderful God is.

You may find parallel examples in the testimonies others give. Just like the stories and characters in the Bible, these testimonies may give you valuable insights into who God is and what he does. As you witness to how God has worked in other people’s situation and circumstance similar to yours, you can ask the Holy Spirit for insights into your situation and align your reality to his truth.

32550 Spirit-Inspired People

God speaks through others who are filled and led by the Holy Spirit.

They are spiritually mature and have known and walked with Jesus through the ups and downs of life. They have trained themselves in righteousness and discernment (Hebrews 5:14), handling the Word of truth rightly (1 Timothy 3:15).

God designed us to live in a community. Just as God exists in three Persons in perfect harmony and fellowship, we are designed to function as unique members of a single body of Christ. For this reason, God delights to use other believers in your life for encouragement, training, and guidance. God uses others to show his goodness, love, and wisdom.

Asking Spirit-filled believers in Jesus, you can receive insights from God through them.

It is sometimes wise to seek more than one person for counsel. When two or more people tell you a similar thing or the same thing, that is weightier for you to consider more carefully.