Christians today yearn to develop their spiritual lives, nonetheless we will sometimes lack a knowledge of or close relationship with the Holy Spirit. Tyler Staton, in his book The Familiar Stranger, calls on Scripture and spiritual practices to assist Christians enter into an authentic relationship with this Person of the Trinity.
Christian Today spoke with Staton to listen to about some common barriers to experiencing the Holy Spirit and his heart to assist Christians break through them.
Tell us more about why you felt moved to put in writing this book.
My reasons were personal and pastoral in that I had experienced my very own journey of walking within the Christian faith with a variety of understanding and yet little experience of the Holy Spirit, to eventually reaching a spot where I had each understanding and the experience.
This appears to be a typical story for individuals who have journeyed deeply in faith but alternatively, it is also some extent of breach for individuals who cannot experience it after which walk away from their faith. I need to supply a way deeper into that spiritual life that many individuals are only standing ankle deep in.
Secondly, it just seems that we’re in a moment within the Church more broadly where the Person, presence and power of the Holy Spirit aren’t a lot feared as desired. We are probably emerging from a century or more of there being large streams of the Church, a minimum of within the Western hemisphere, where the Spirit was not pursued in any respect. It seems we’re emerging out of that at this moment in church history and into the on a regular basis believer having a hunger for an authentic deeper experience with God through the Spirit. My heart is to articulate a transparent pathway towards that have that so many hunger for.
What are some common barriers to experiencing the Holy Spirit?
One barrier can be throwing the infant out with the bathtub water, so to talk, i.e. ‘I had a negative experience and so I’m now going to permit that to color all that I take into consideration who the Holy Spirit is and just keep away from any pursuit of the Spirit by any means.’
Another can be the most effective, most well-intentioned type of spiritual settling. I believe so often we misunderstand the Bible, we take a look at it like a biggest hits record of all of the things that God used to do within the lives of other people. The truth is that the Bible is an invite to experience God; it’s a record of what life with God is supposed to be like.
We often study the work of God within the lives of other people without ever expecting God to do the identical kinds of things in our own lives. I study Paul’s letters and I’m pursuing Paul’s life but I also desire a head to head encounter with Jesus, to be the recipient and source of miraculous healing and powerful words of prophecy.
Could you elaborate on what you mean by ‘spiritual settling’.
I might say it’s settling for a spiritual life that falls in need of a biblical experience.
Would you say that’s the case for a big proportion of Christians on the planet today?
I can speak for the West and say it’s the case for a big proportion of Christians within the West. I believe that we live in a world today that for a lot of good reasons lacks a desperation and dependence on God, and that may very easily lull us right into a spiritual sleepiness. God is part of my life, like work is an element of my life and weekend adventures are a component of my life and family is part of my life, but God is just not the centre of my life. God is just not the utter dependence of my life and due to this fact we lack the pursuit of God that has marked His people down through the ages.
On a couple of occasions in your book you check with the Spirit being present in the course of the creation of the world. Why do you’re feeling that is a very important fact for readers to have in mind?
We can trace the Holy Spirit as revealed through various metaphors from the Genesis creation story to key moments of revelation within the Old Testament and key moments within the New Testament. I restart at the identical point to indicate that the Spirit is revealed as these different metaphors within the opening lines of Genesis. I do that very clearly in ways that might be obvious to the unique Hebrew-speaking biblical readers who are sometimes lost on us today through the intervening centuries and many alternative language translations. Essentially it’s to indicate that the Holy Spirit is just not a latest revelation of God that began on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is a central a part of the Trinitarian God’s Person that has been present and energetic from creation right through to the renewal that we still await.
Our society loves life hacks and things like being ‘mindful’. In what way are these limited?
I might say that a healthy lifestyle is all the time a very good idea, whether that’s eating more leafy greens, exercising, slowing down an internal hurry, or decluttering your stressed mind. These are all good things to pursue within the name of a healthy lifestyle. However, they can not bring us peace within the biblical sense. Peace within the biblical sense surpasses our human understanding and is just not something that we will gain through our own efforts. The peace that comes from God is a present that only He can offer us, but He does readily dispense peace to those that walk with Him. So I might say there may be nothing incorrect with a more contemplative way of being even where that’s doing things like specializing in respiratory or slowing down, but when the God revealed in Scripture is just not on the centre of that practice then I might say that it is just not going to supply true and lasting peace to your soul.
What do you hope for readers to achieve from The Familiar Stranger?
I hope that they gain a variety of hunger to know God more they usually gain an understanding of a pathway that they’ll follow to know God more. I also hope they gain a deep sense of assurance that nonetheless much they need to know God, He desires to know them much more and is the one in pursuit of them way over they are going to ever pursue Him.
