Graduate 165: Five Reflections on the Church, Part 8

Encouragement, consolation, and fellowship
Composed: 19 July 2009

Prayer really is an essential part of Focusing The Church. Prayer is one of the main ways in which we actively and intentionally surrender this entire process to the lordship and direction of Jesus Christ. Indeed the whole point of this process is that our church would become more completely aligned with God's heart and desire to reach our community and the world. Prayer is one of the main ways that we can work on that relationship with our Heavenly Father whose call we want to hear, receive, and obediently answer. And prayer is a vital part of allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts and minds into greater Christ-likeness.

In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul writes:
"If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." (Philippians 2:1-4)

Verses 3 and 4 perfectly capture the attitudes and dispositions that we hope to develop and reinforce through the Focusing process. 'Regard one another as more important than yourself.' 'Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but look out for the interests of others.' 'Take thought to the needs of the people around you.' 'Go out of your way to help someone else.' But notice how Paul sets up verses 3 and 4. He writes, "IF… there is any encouragement in Christ, IF there is any consolation of love, IF there is any fellowship of the Spirit, …" THEN do these things. The question is: Are encouragement, consolation, fellowship, etc. to be found in our midst?

If you only glanced at our city and world, you might find very little of that encouragement in Christ or consolation of love. In fact, it seems that there's an awful lot in our world about which to be discouraged and disconsolate. The interesting thing about Paul is that he was able to find that encouragement and consolation even in the midst of persecution--while he was being imprisoned and facing trial, while his name and reputation were under attack even by other Christians. Despite all this, Paul was full of and overflowing with praise, thanksgiving, joy, confidence, hope, encouragement, and peace. (See Philippians 1.) Where does that come from? The truth is that encouragement in Christ, the consolation of love, and all those other elements that Paul considered to be foundational for putting on the mind and attitude of Christ--all of them--are available to you and to me right here and right now. But in our crazy, fast-paced, helter-skelter world, it's not at all surprising that we should miss them completely. You have to slow things down at some point if you're to really meet with God and access the encouragement and comfort that He wants to give you. You have to step back from all the stuff that's going on in the world to commune with the One who ordered and created the world. That is exactly why prayer, meditation, solitude, and silence are so essential--for the Christian life and for the Focusing process.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.