The Lord's direction in our lives is a gift. In other "Is the Shepherd Speaking?" blogs, I've covered some of the many forms His guidance takes. Sometimes this gift is tied up with a bow of circumstances that align "just right,"—but that is not always the case. So how do we recognize if God is saying something through our circumstances? Can the alignment of favorable events and situations be a reliable indicator of God's heart for us? Yes – and no!

James makes it pretty clear. If you and I want to reflect godly wisdom and understanding, we must live a life marked by humility, purity, peace, consideration, submissiveness, mercy, goodness, impartiality, and sincerity.

Does this sound countercultural to you? It is! The "wisdom" of the world looks and feels nothing like God's. Instead, it is earthly, unspiritual, bitter, envious, selfishly ambitious, chaotic, and even demonic. This tone is sadly familiar in the culture these days.

In my experience, some people find a random scripture and think God spoke to them but there is no humility, peace, submissiveness in the delivery. Sometimes, they find what they want to hear to self-justify or defend themselves. Instead of cultivating inward peace, submissiveness, and mercy, they try to use what they think they've heard to correct others or make them behave differently. They miss that the real problem is their tendency to self-justify. That's why James 3 is such an important test. The "word" becomes a weapon.

In the previous blog, we looked at how you and I can learn to hear God and test what we receive. High on the list of how to discern such things is to ask ourselves, “Does this pass the Shalom Test?”

“And let the Peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were called in one body; and be thankful.” The literal translation for the word rule is “to umpire.” Just as a baseball umpire determines when a ball is in play, God’s spirit will let us know if we are operating in His Peace. If we are connecting with God and feel peaceful, then game on! However, if we have no peace, we can be sure it is a foul ball—odds are we are out of the boundaries set by God.

Over the years, I find summer is an excellent time to revisit the goals and plans set out at the beginning of the year. It helps encourage me with whatever progress I'm making and determine the necessary adjustments required in areas where I may be stuck. This summer is no different; only life seems more complicated. This year, I must take many more options and considerations before the Good Shepherd. After all, He is the One leading and guiding my way forward. If I hope to venture in the right direction, I must connect with Him and ask.

Having explained the practices, pitfalls, and perils of talking things through to find "peace," let's turn our attention to resources that can help. These materials encourage the development of healthy grace-filled, joyful, and loving attachments in small group settings. Within such spiritual communities, healthy identities are formed, and sustainable transformation is experienced. Together, followers of Jesus can practice and share God's presence, grace, love, and peace.

Followers of Jesus are in the process of being transformed into the image of Jesus. We are born into an entirely new identity from the moment we receive Him. He knows our old identity is hopelessly marred by the 4Ps and our self-created avatars. Instead of trying to fix that false identity, God gives us an entirely new identity rooted in His life and image.

The word grace was around for hundreds of years before Paul used it in his epistles. Grace is a relational term that implies an ongoing, mutual connection between people. Historically, when a person of higher stature sent a gift to another, it signified the beginning of a relationship. The gift was called a "grace" and was a sign of great favor. The person receiving the gift understood the relational intent behind the "grace." Accepting the grace meant the recipient agreed to an ongoing relationship with the giver. The grace giver considered the recipient to be someone special. Today, grace continues to mean that we are someone's favorite and very special to them.

Looking back over the previous blogs, it is clear we have been misapplying what the Bible says. In a sense, we have been creating fog around the topic.

Most small groups operating by any of these misdirected methods are a little murky about grace. They assume the methods they've been using are actually biblical. It's easy to find Bible verses to justify this approach. Examples include:

Hurt and wounding is destructive. Such experiences fester within us. That is why it is blatant stupidity to deny or try to toss away wounds by claiming they didn't happen, weren't so bad, didn't hurt, or any other method of denying the natural world. Denial exposes an "it was only a flesh wound" attitude. What happened in the natural world happened and hurt. Sometimes the pain is increased by our own misperceptions. Peace about pain and wounds comes as we lucidly look into the spiritual world. The perspective of the spiritual world cannot be imagined or invented by talking through what hurts.

Our perception of reality is skewed by all the wounds and hurts we experience — whether they result from our sin or someone else's. Throughout every life, Satan is behind some things that hurt us. What are those sins that so easily pierce us — keeping us from freedom and resilience? Instead of focusing on what is wrong and talking about what has been done to us, we must look to Jesus to find peace. Through heavenly eyes, Jesus and his cloud of witnesses can clearly see these areas of sin grow.