Determined

Posted On March 18, 2024

“But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

2 Chronicles 15:7 NIV

“The experience of the Spirit is like the experience of breathing: one is not conscious of it all the time, but if one is not conscious of it at least sometimes, something is wrong.”

James D. G. Dunn

Do you ever wonder if you should be more aware of the Holy Spirit’s presence? Do you worry if there are times you don’t see, hear, or feel Him working? If so, you are not alone. But just because we don’t notice the Holy Spirit working in our lives doesn’t mean that He’s idle. He is always on the job, whether we perceive it or not.

So, what does that mean for us? If He’s doing all the work, does that mean we’re off the hook? Not exactly. There are times when the Holy Spirit operates quietly in the background, but there are other times when He shows up in a big way. Our job is to stay ready, pay attention, and be willing to follow Him when He does!

Our plan for 2024 is a new format that blends an ongoing fiction story with a devotional each week. Our current story is a science fiction tale I’ve named Awakening. It’s a story about faith, with a focus on the core beliefs of Christianity. This week, our adventure continues with Chapter 7. The doctrinal focus is the Holy Spirit. (Click here for Quick Links to previous chapters.) As a reminder, I am using colored boxes to set the story apart from the rest of the post. So, any text that has a colored background is part of the fictional story. And any text that does not, is not. The video below gives a short recap of the story so far. I hope you enjoy Awakening!

Awakening
Chapter 7: Determined

Notes from Christian Doctrines Course
ICMC Training – Week 7
20 February 2318

“The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. The word spirit (Hebrew ruah, Greek pneuma) is the word used from ancient times to describe and explain the experience of divine power working in, upon, and around men, and understood by them as the power of God.”
-James D. G. Dunn

As Christians, we sometimes take for granted the power that resides in us. When we accepted Christ into our lives, we also accepted His power into ourselves. This is the same power that created and sustains the universe. It is the same power that parted the sea, healed the blind and lame, and brought the dead back to life. It is the supernatural power of God Himself. And it lives in us, giving us the strength and ability to do His will.

“The Spirit uses what we have and what we make available. And according to the biblical record, the Spirit uses what is needed in a given situation.”
-J. Ellsworth Kalas

One of the most fascinating and exciting things about the Holy Spirit is that He partners with us to accomplish His work. He doesn’t force His way into our lives. He will sit quietly in the background if that’s what we want. But if we are willing to make ourselves available to Him, He can do amazing things through us as we step out in obedience and faith.

Faith spent another night wrestling with her disturbing dreams. The main images that stuck in her mind the next morning were the dark eyes of an evil man — a man she now knew to be Devon Hargraves — and the tower he is building on this world as a symbol of his power.

In her dream the tower stood complete, a modern monstrosity in the center of an otherwise beautiful garden. The sight of it disturbed her, though she couldn’t really explain why. It just seemed wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be there. And once again, she saw fire raining down from the sky, completely destroying it. According to Peter, she’s the one God has chosen to stop Hargraves. So, what was the dream was trying to tell her? Am I really supposed to call fire down from Heaven like the prophet Elijah? Even thinking the question seemed ridiculous … but that didn’t make the answer no.

She also had another dream about the wormhole, but this time it struck her that her dreams had been about its formation, not its collapse. According to her old journal entries, she had never had a dream like this before. Her dreams back then had mainly been about the attack on the ICMC, premonitions which had prompted her crazy-sounding warnings to the powers that be and her early departure from Earth.

The deadly explosion in the ICMC hangar was a vision that still haunted her and was one of the reasons she was now living on Nova as a fugitive. The other reason was the fact that the wormhole had collapsed right after she and Michael arrived in the Helios system. She had to admit, it sounded suspicious, even to her. But as far as she knew, she had never dreamed about the wormhole before leaving Earth. And if she had, wouldn’t it have made more sense for her to have foreseen its collapse? But she hadn’t. So why dream about its formation now? It was yet another question to add to the list of unanswered questions she had.

Of course, she also dreamed again of her husband, a man she still couldn’t remember. She tried not to dwell on it, because she knew she was supposed to focus on her task here and trust God with the rest. But she couldn’t help thinking about it. It was the same dream as before. She couldn’t see her husband’s face, just his soft, gray eyes. And the words he whispered replayed over and over in her mind: “I love you, Cassie. Be strong. You have been called to serve, and the cost to you will be great. But I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”

The cost to you will be great. It had already cost her the last twenty years of her life and the memory of the man she was supposed to be sharing this life with. What more of a price would she be asked to pay? She was afraid to think about it. Instead, she got back to her studies, still feeling a sense of urgency to learn all she could before …

She realized she didn’t know how to finish that sentence. She didn’t know what was coming, only that something was. And she had better be prepared.

At about lunchtime, Peter showed up as promised to check on her. But instead of the cheerful greeting she was expecting, he entered the airlock quickly and quietly, looking back toward the entrance of the cave before securing the door.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, sensing his nervousness.

“Hmm? Oh, yes, sorry,” he answered distractedly. “Everything is fine. I just thought I saw …” He stopped and shook his head. “Never mind, it was probably nothing.” He forced a smile, but she wasn’t buying it, especially considering the foreboding she had been feeling all morning.

“What did you see?” she pressed. The urgency in her voice seemed to catch him off guard.

“I thought I saw someone watching me,” he admitted. “In the forest as I approached the cave. I just caught a glimpse, so I can’t be sure. It could have been my imagination.”

“I have a feeling it wasn’t,” Faith insisted. “I’ve been feeling unsettled all morning. I had the dreams again — about Hargraves, the tower, the wormhole — all of them.” She couldn’t bring herself to talk about her husband again, but she could see in Peter’s face that he understood what all of them included. She took a deep breath and continued, “And I’ve had this urgent drive to complete my studies before …”

She still didn’t know how to finish that sentence, so she just said, “Something’s coming, Peter! I can feel it.”

Peter studied her for a few seconds, as though considering what to do next. Finally, he said, “Okay, kiddo. I’ll call Michael and have him check it out.”

They ate the lunch Peter had brought in relative silence while waiting to hear back from Michael. They were both too distracted to really enjoy the meal, but they made an effort to keep calm and proceed with business as usual until they knew more. Although they didn’t talk much, Faith didn’t feel awkward sitting with Peter while they ate. Quite the opposite, in fact. She found his quiet presence reassuring as she tried to tame her anxious thoughts.

She prayed that she would be prepared to face whatever was coming next. She began replaying in her mind everything she knew: I am Cassie Davis. I am also Faith. I am a child of God. I am a wife. I am a missionary. I am a prophet … And I am called to stop the evil on this world. She let these thoughts turn over and over in her mind, trying to let them sink in. Trying to let them become a part of her.

She had studied almost nonstop since she awoke on this ship seven days ago. She had reviewed as much as she could about Scripture and doctrine and her past visions. She had even regained a lot of memories about her life. And she knew that the reason she couldn’t yet remember everything was that God wanted her to focus. At least that was what Peter had said. And, as much as she longed to remember her husband, she knew deep down that Peter was right. She trusted that God had a plan, and that plan included her need to prepare for her task with no distractions.

So the question now was: Am I ready? She wanted so much for the answer to be yes, but she honestly didn’t know. She did know, however, that she was determined to serve the Lord, no matter what. So, maybe that made her ready enough.

Just then, Michael burst through the airlock doors wearing a serious expression. The fact that he showed up in person instead of simply calling Peter back was probably not a good sign. She and Peter stood and rushed over to him. She tried to remain hopeful, but she mentally prepared for the worst. “They know we’re here,” Michael confirmed.

Faith felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. Michael looked down at her and she saw worry in his gray eyes. “I’m sorry. I tried to protect you, but it looks like our time here is up,” he said gently. For a moment, it looked as though he wanted to reach for her, but he stopped himself.

Then, turning to Peter, he said, “You know what to do.” Peter nodded gravely and headed quickly toward the cockpit.

Before she had time to wonder what he meant by that, Michael turned back toward her and explained: “We’ve got to destroy the ship.”

“[God] is engineering your circumstances with a definite result in mind. Part of His plan is to bring you to the end of yourself, to a point of desperation where you get so sick of yourself and your inability to change that you throw up your hands in surrender. When that happens, you are closer than you have ever been to knowing the joy of the Spirit-filled life. So relax…. God is in control. After all, He wants this for you more than you want it for yourself.”

Charles F. Stanley

This week’s Scripture passages remind us to persevere in seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He will teach us, strengthen us, prepare us, and transform us, but only if we are willing to let Him do so. We must continually seek the Lord, never tire of doing good, stand firm in the faith, and be determined to run the race set before us, no matter how difficult it may seem. For it’s only when we come to the end of ourselves that the adventure really begins!

“When God looks at you, He sees the Holy Spirit within you. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a permanent reminder of God’s promise to finish what He has begun in you. It is also a sign to the principalities and forces of the spiritual realm that you belong to the Lord.”

Charles F. Stanley

References:

• Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Readings. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Dunn, James D. G. “The Doctrine of God the Holy Spirit.” The Portable Seminary, edited by David Horton and Ryan Horton, Bethany House, 2006, pp. 147-159.
• Kalas, J. Ellsworth. Christian Believer: Knowing God with Heart and Mind — Study Manual. Abingdon Press, 1999.
• Stanley, Charles F. The Spirit-Filled Life: Discover the Joy of Surrendering to the Holy Spirit. Nelson Books, 2014.

Images & Audio:

• Images created using Midjourney Bot AI image generator, midjourney.com
• Audio clips from mixkit.co