This is a new series, the follow-up to my series about the "Gifts of the Holy Spirit."
In the previous series I listed the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and their scriptural references and commentary.
In this series I will do the same regarding the twelve fruits of the Holy Spirit.
First, let me put this in a context for you to understand two things: why God organizes spirituality and sanctity to follow any sort of list of personal qualities, and what the differences are between gifts and fruits, and how are they related.
There is not a list of these gifts or fruits in the Bible, dictated by God, as God provides in the obvious example The Ten Commandments or Jesus provides in The Beatitudes (the blessings). But that does not mean that they are not "from the Bible," because they are. From the earliest times both Jewish and Christian students of scripture and thus their teachers have distilled from the Bible the lessons and insights that can be gleaned.
For example, the first and most fundamental gift of the Holy Spirit, "Fear of the Lord," does not appear in a list of gifts, but there is repeated reference throughout scripture that Fear of the Lord is a gift from God, that it is basic and essential to faith and truthful knowledge of both God but also the world, and the benefits of Fear of the Lord.
Scholars have combed through the scriptures and very early on gleaned what gifts God, through his Holy Spirit, provides to humanity as a whole, that can and must be cultivated by each recipient. Therefore I provided in the series the Gifts of the Holy Spirit the most obvious places in scripture from which scholars studied and cited to recognize each of those seven gifts. So that is why God organized what humans have put into a list format. It is not a "performance check list" by any means.
Rather, let's think of it in computer terms, where the list of gifts is like a "shortcut" to access an application that runs on your computer. Rather than entering a bunch of commands to get to the application, you have an icon that gives you a direct route to the application. The icon itself is not the application, but a picture of it that takes you to the application. Likewise the gift "Fear of the Lord" is a lengthy application, which one must humbly receive and cultivate from the Lord. Putting it on the list of "Gifts of the Holy Spirit" is simply the pointer that scripture discusses that this gift exists and it is essential to both faith and truth. So God, in order to make himself more understandable and to uplift humans to their genuine potential under his holy guidance, provides a great deal of sacred verbiage in the scriptures, organized in a way that people can be open to applying, such as "Fear of the Lord," "Piety," or "Fortitude." A gift from the Holy Spirit is not like having an object or a talent given to you, poof, just like that. So let us now move into explaining how to best think of the gifts and the fruits.
Let's start with analogies. A gift of the Holy Spirit is like learning how to play a musical instrument. While some people are born as prodigies and fast learners, even they must recognize that a musical instrument exists, and they must become proficient in its use. Some people learn by imitating other musicians in their family, others learn by steady and frequent practice, while others learn by responding to their ear where what they play sounds good to them and others.
A fruit of the Holy Spirit is the benefit that is achieved for both one's self and the world as a whole by using appropriately what was given to them as a gift. Using again this analogy a young person who learns to play a musical instrument might receive fruits as a result of that gift in a number of ways, individual and personal to them. They might not ever do anything with that instrument other than enjoy a few years in band or other activities in high school. They might continue to play but only for their own enjoyment or their family's or friends'. They might use that instrument in church services or other faith or secular events. They might become a teacher of that instrument. They might become a talented amateur or they might become a talented professional. They might use their knowledge of the instrument to better manage the careers of other musical professionals. See? The gift is not "standard" to any one person any more than the resulting "fruit" is standard to any one person.
Likewise you cannot jump to conclusions about who "uses" their gifts "best" or is most "worthy" of those gifts. That is a severe error that is one of human beings' most disastrous flaws. It can be best explained by an example.
Two people each receive the gift of music, sticking to our analogy. They reach equal levels of proficiency. One goes on to volunteer her musical instrument talent to the church choir, and thus dedicates much time to donating her gift. Her fruit is that she is an essential part of the church services that many benefit from.
The other person does nothing with her musical instrument and it sits in the closet. Ah ha, you are thinking, she "wasted" her gift. No..... that's the great error I am going to point out to you. One day years after her musical lessons were received and the instrument has been untouched, her grandmother is dying of an illness. That woman brings her untouched musical instrument out of the closet and plays for her grandmother to ease her pain, and to help her pass the time remembering the good things in life. The fruit of this woman's gift was just as precious as the one who weekly donates in choir practice.
I hope that you have found this helpful and I look forward to working on this series with you.
FRUITS of the Holy Spirit
Charity
Joy
Peace
Patience
Longanimity
Goodness
Benignity
Mildness
Fidelity
Modesty
Continence
Chastity
Showing posts with label Fortitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fortitude. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Monday, August 17, 2009
Becoming sanctified or "spiritual"
The objective of every God fearing and God believing person should be to be sanctified. Being sanctified means that your life, whether secular or religious, modest or prominent, puts service to God first and foremost to all else. In other words, your service to God structures and informs all that you do, including routine tasks in your job or chores, your recreation, your relationships, etc. When one is sanctified one does not do things that impede God's will and, instead, you seek to further God's will.
I am including a nod toward the lame objective of the semi-believing or non-believing "New Agers" who claim to be "good" and thus want to be "spiritual." Being "spiritual" without belief in God is a structureless egocentric fraud, but I know many well meaning people fall into that trap, so I invite them to read this blog posting which is a "don't do" checklist for those who seek to be sanctified.
It's easy to write how to become something, but we also know that negative examples are also informative. So I've made a list of "warning signs," where if you do any of the following, you need to be alert that you are working away from sanctification, rather than toward it.
Here are things you might be doing, or traits that you have that you think indicate admirable fortitude (a gift of the Holy Spirit, by the way), but are deceiving and instead should be suspect.
1. If you persist in hanging onto false beliefs.
Some people think this is admirable, because they are "keeping an open mind" "just in case" up until the bitter end. This is a barrier to sanctification. Scripture show that when the scales fall from one's eyes, repentance, change and conversion should be immediate, and false beliefs must be dropped immediately and in total.
2. You are talented in finding reasons or excuses not to drop false beliefs, repent or convert.
In contrast to problem #1, this problem is not rooted in a false sense of "keeping an open mind" or "being loyal to one's beliefs" (even when proven wrong) but instead you have "reasons" to resist the truth. The problem with this, besides the obvious one that you want to get to truth, not resist truth, is that you are creating false links to past errors. It's like tying yourself down to the road using twine, then wire, then rope, then vines, when the objective should be not to tie one's self down to the road at all. You become trapped in thinking of more excuses, more ways, to tie yourself to error, rather than immediately move on to truth.
3. You have an actual, genuine reason for hanging onto false beliefs.
What if you are a minor child and have a parent who is violent, drug abusing, a blaspheming heretic who has horrific beliefs. Of course you have to think of your own well being, and I would not recommend that you "make a break for it" if that would put you or others in actual worse danger. However, what I want to warn you is to believe the truth in your heart and do not use your confinement to believe in falsehood in your heart. You may be trapped for the moment in the reality of the falsehood, but do not resign your mind to believing falsehood. Live openly the truth as soon as you are of age, out of the household, or in a genuinely safe place. But do not give into despair that you have to actually believe the garbage in your private heart, even if you have to live in its midst.
4. That you have to become "sanctified" according to a "schedule."
God is the creator of the universe, not subordinate to space, matter, energy or time. Thus if you attempt to sanctify (put yourself in service to God) according to a schedule, most particularly one based on occult beliefs, obviously you do not understand sanctification and are moving away from that goal, rather than toward it.
5. That you can be sanctified but hang onto a favorite sin.
You cannot partially sanctify. You cannot sanctify yourself in the Lord's eyes but continue to cheat people out of money, for example. Nor can you sanctify yourself in the Lord's eyes and eliminate all wrongdoings, but one, which is, for example, to continue to bear false witness. That is what can be viewed as an attempt to "cohabit" with a sin. Many times when the Bible condemns adultery, it means spiritual adultery (not literal hanky panky). This means you have a "marriage with God" but continue to cheat on the side with your favorite sin.
6. You think you are sanctified but hold yourself back from full worship and service to God because you are practicing "self denial."
This argument goes: I really love God and want to serve him, but because that would give me lots of pleasure I will hold back from being one hundred percent belonging to God, because I'm therefore suffering that loss of joy and that's a mortification and self-denial. What? That's nuts and the underlying reason for thinking this rubbish is reason #5, which is you are still hanging onto a favorite sin, and thus can't give yourself 100 percent to God because you are still "cheating on God" with your favorite sin or "lifestyle choice" (as moderns call sins today).
I hope this helps! Negative examples are very illuminating of how well one is really doing and probing genuine motivations.
I am including a nod toward the lame objective of the semi-believing or non-believing "New Agers" who claim to be "good" and thus want to be "spiritual." Being "spiritual" without belief in God is a structureless egocentric fraud, but I know many well meaning people fall into that trap, so I invite them to read this blog posting which is a "don't do" checklist for those who seek to be sanctified.
It's easy to write how to become something, but we also know that negative examples are also informative. So I've made a list of "warning signs," where if you do any of the following, you need to be alert that you are working away from sanctification, rather than toward it.
Here are things you might be doing, or traits that you have that you think indicate admirable fortitude (a gift of the Holy Spirit, by the way), but are deceiving and instead should be suspect.
1. If you persist in hanging onto false beliefs.
Some people think this is admirable, because they are "keeping an open mind" "just in case" up until the bitter end. This is a barrier to sanctification. Scripture show that when the scales fall from one's eyes, repentance, change and conversion should be immediate, and false beliefs must be dropped immediately and in total.
2. You are talented in finding reasons or excuses not to drop false beliefs, repent or convert.
In contrast to problem #1, this problem is not rooted in a false sense of "keeping an open mind" or "being loyal to one's beliefs" (even when proven wrong) but instead you have "reasons" to resist the truth. The problem with this, besides the obvious one that you want to get to truth, not resist truth, is that you are creating false links to past errors. It's like tying yourself down to the road using twine, then wire, then rope, then vines, when the objective should be not to tie one's self down to the road at all. You become trapped in thinking of more excuses, more ways, to tie yourself to error, rather than immediately move on to truth.
3. You have an actual, genuine reason for hanging onto false beliefs.
What if you are a minor child and have a parent who is violent, drug abusing, a blaspheming heretic who has horrific beliefs. Of course you have to think of your own well being, and I would not recommend that you "make a break for it" if that would put you or others in actual worse danger. However, what I want to warn you is to believe the truth in your heart and do not use your confinement to believe in falsehood in your heart. You may be trapped for the moment in the reality of the falsehood, but do not resign your mind to believing falsehood. Live openly the truth as soon as you are of age, out of the household, or in a genuinely safe place. But do not give into despair that you have to actually believe the garbage in your private heart, even if you have to live in its midst.
4. That you have to become "sanctified" according to a "schedule."
God is the creator of the universe, not subordinate to space, matter, energy or time. Thus if you attempt to sanctify (put yourself in service to God) according to a schedule, most particularly one based on occult beliefs, obviously you do not understand sanctification and are moving away from that goal, rather than toward it.
5. That you can be sanctified but hang onto a favorite sin.
You cannot partially sanctify. You cannot sanctify yourself in the Lord's eyes but continue to cheat people out of money, for example. Nor can you sanctify yourself in the Lord's eyes and eliminate all wrongdoings, but one, which is, for example, to continue to bear false witness. That is what can be viewed as an attempt to "cohabit" with a sin. Many times when the Bible condemns adultery, it means spiritual adultery (not literal hanky panky). This means you have a "marriage with God" but continue to cheat on the side with your favorite sin.
6. You think you are sanctified but hold yourself back from full worship and service to God because you are practicing "self denial."
This argument goes: I really love God and want to serve him, but because that would give me lots of pleasure I will hold back from being one hundred percent belonging to God, because I'm therefore suffering that loss of joy and that's a mortification and self-denial. What? That's nuts and the underlying reason for thinking this rubbish is reason #5, which is you are still hanging onto a favorite sin, and thus can't give yourself 100 percent to God because you are still "cheating on God" with your favorite sin or "lifestyle choice" (as moderns call sins today).
I hope this helps! Negative examples are very illuminating of how well one is really doing and probing genuine motivations.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (5) Counsel
When you have at least a moderate receptivity to having received and understood the use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit of Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude, you can now anticipate and understand use of the gift of Counsel. Counsel is not the giving of advice in and of itself, although receiving advice is part of receiving counsel. True counsel, however, is having an ongoing relationship with a colleague who has wisdom that he or she imparts to you. So you can think of Counsel as having access to the transmission to you of Wisdom. So to have the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel means that you have an ongoing relationship with God where, through the Holy Spirit, you benefit from consultation with his Wisdom.
This is the difference between obtaining true “advice” from God and false “advice” through the use of occult means. When you read in the Bible and the Qur’an about the ancient Prophets, they did not receive Counsel from God without first having: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can “skip” right to the obtaining of “advice” without first having a relationship with the one true God as evidenced by accepting and understanding the first gifts of the Holy Spirit: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can personally invoke and “interpret” the advice or the prognostication of supernatural powers or some of the divinities by performing occult rituals, and that only they have access through their arcane knowledge or “gifts” of advice or fortunetelling. It is one of the hallmarks of false prophets, and one sure way to “spot” them, that they believe that only those inducted into their methods receive Counsel from God. In other words, it never occurs to them that the Bible reading “simpleton” who not only reads the Bible but has cultivated a humble relationship with God is receiving more true Counsel that they are, through the Holy Spirit, who loves and guides all people, particularly the pious and the humble in the eyes of God.
To understand Counsel, look at the great Kings of the Israelites, such as David. David had a personal and direct relationship with God, one that is totally unique, yet he understood that he had to surround himself with wise counselors of the government, military and priesthood. To have Counsel in the earthly setting means that you have a circle of wise friends, family and colleagues who have an ongoing relationship with you, where you can discuss all that is going on. When one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel, you are “adding to your counselors” the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not replace human counsel, and is not “summoned” to “answer questions” anymore than your valued counselors are kept far away, only to be summoned to answer “yes or no” to your problems. Through the gift of Counsel the Holy Spirit is a quiet and gentle continuing presence that brings the Wisdom of God as a contribution to your overall living of your life and your quiet consultations of God.
Counsel from the Holy Spirit is not dramatic, and does not provide “new” revelation. Nothing that truly comes from God contradicts or changes what has gone before and is in the scripture. Counsel from the Holy Spirit is, in fact, very rarely prophecy at all. Counsel from the Holy Spirit can be likened to the wisest and quietest counselor of the King, who sits while the other counselors debate alternative courses of action in front of the King. Once in a while the King will glance at the wise old counselor, who is observing silently, and notice that he will convey in a look what he thinks of the person now speaking. When one prays for Counsel from the Holy Spirit, that is often what you receive, a slight “eye roll” when you think about one of your courses of action, a slight nod of approval when you think of another, but not in a prognosticating way. Rather, the Holy Spirit Counsels you to understand what you are hearing with your own ears, and seeing with your own eyes, and see the evidence of results in your own hands, and thus understand how to discern a situation within the context of God’s ongoing will. By God’s “ongoing will” I mean, again, that God is not prophesying or making a decision for you, but you are making your own decision while firmly grounded and comprehending God’s ongoing will and greater plan, for not only you but also the community of the faithful and the entire world. This is why the gifts of Knowledge and Fortitude are prerequisite to actually receiving the gift of Counsel. One must have the facts of God, how to worship and serve him, through Knowledge, and one must have trust and the ability to endure through Fortitude, before one can receive and comprehend God’s Counsel.
Impatience, which is lack of Fortitude, tempts one to seek Counsel as I’ve described above, an occult tool, to answer “What will happen” and “What should I do?” That is why Fortitude that is grounded in Fear of the Lord, Piety and Knowledge is a prerequisite to receiving the genuine gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Trust in God, which is the basis of Fortitude, allows one to understand that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit walks with you at all times, rather than having to be “summoned” as an “advice giver” or “fortune teller.” Genuine patience and trust in God prevents one huge temptation, which is to start to think of life as a string of supernatural “yes and no” decisions and occurrences. That is a mistake of pagan and now “New Age” “thinking.” The Bible is about a book of living, of ongoing life, not a “how to” of a string of decisions, with life being meaningless filler in between supernatural or “destined” events.
The true and genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always with you, although obviously, when in quiet prayer, you might be more conscious of the Holy Spirit’s presence. That does not mean that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works” only when you pray, far from it. Like the wise and quiet counselor in the analogy of the King’s circle, the Holy Spirit’s Counsel is quietly there, and is reassurance that there is no part of life that has a monopoly on God’s benevolent attention. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is just as available and present to the poor person as he or she works in the rice paddy as it is to you when you have to make a difficult decision regarding an investment, or how to deal with a parental situation. Be clear in understanding, though, that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not make you wise. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit allows you to benefit from God’s Wisdom. The actual gift of the Holy Spirit of Wisdom comes only to those who have received, acknowledged and comprehended all of the previous six gifts, one of which will be the topic of the next blog post on this subject. You see, this is another problem with occult thinking, where they believe that their prognostications and receipt of “answers” makes them personally wise, or that they are “tapping” or “channeling” some universal databank of supposed wisdom. That is not true. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always received only in the context of living a true one God centered normal life. True Counsel of the Holy Spirit is not about “what will happen” but how to live in the present, with a mind to the future of eternal life, a good life, in other words, a life that is filled with goodness and seeks the goodness of God for self and neighbor.
For example, as a friend, an intimate, a confident, a colleague and a boss, many people in my personal and professional life have noticed that sometimes when they pitch an idea to me I respond with a neutral “Mmmm.” That is sometimes very frustrating to them, LOL! I have never done it consciously; that is my genuine response to hearing what is being said. They have asked me, is that an “Mmmm” or an “mmmM,” trying to discern even a tendency toward approval or disapproval! At those times it is genuinely neither, and even an atomic scale would not detect a trend either way, ha. That is because the best I can translate my “Mmmm” is that it means “keep on going.” It means I’ve heard what you’ve said, but a point of sufficient information has not yet been reached to make a decision or to change course. That is often how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “sounds,” because genuine Counsel is received as an ongoing presence throughout an ongoing coherent life, not one that is parceled into decisions, “destiny” and prognostications. Sometimes the Counsel of the Holy Spirit is, simply, to “keep on going,” (another reason why Fortitude is a prerequisite to comprehending the gift of Counsel). Think of that wise and quiet counselor of the King. If he continues to sit there, with an occasional nod, significant look to you, or a sigh and a look up to heaven, you know that you should “keep on going” and use your own skills of discernment to continue gaining information. That means he is neither agreeing with nor condemning what he hears your other counselors tell you.
How is one way to hear the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? A guilty conscience is one way. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit when you feel a pang of guilty conscience when you contemplate a course of action that is contrary to the goodness that God has taught one to always pursue. You might say, well, why do some evil people not feel a guilty conscience? Precisely; that answers one’s own question. They no longer have the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel. The evaporation of shame or the lack of a guilty conscience when contemplating what is bad and wrong is a warning sign that one either never had or has lost the gift of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Behind many jokes there is a kernel of truth, and the joke of “Catholic childhood guilt trip” or the “Jewish mother making her child feel guilty” is a sign of genuine and serious contact with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Parents, nuns or priests who teach children during their spiritual formation to feel some sense of guilt or shame are, in moderation, doing good work, because it is countering the tendency of society to shut down the amber warning lights that guilt or shame provide. When one does not feel some honest guilt or shame in appropriate circumstances this is an example of the wise counselor of the king no longer being in the room. A voice of Counsel of the Holy Spirit is silent when one can contemplate what is wrong without having warning feelings of guilt and/or shame. It is ironic that the freak show society teaches spiritual experimentation to have illusions, revelations and listen to every random narcissistic firing of one’s brain cell on one hand, but teaches silencing and rejection of the loudest and continuous warning of the wise counselor, which are appropriate feelings of guilt and shame.
What is another way that one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? Having feelings of interest and affection for fellow humans and one’s “neighbor” is another way one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seeks to constantly intertwine humans in a benevolent way with one another, so that one’s own human circle of counselors is widened, and not narrowed. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit teaches humans not to constantly “divine God’s every instruction for every situation,” but to live godly and God based lives among benevolent and wise fellow companions. This is, sadly, another way that “New Age” has ruined genuine Counsel from God. “New Age” “teaches” that people “enter your life” “for a reason,” related to “learning lessons” or “karma.” That is so manipulative, wrong and anti-God and anti-humanity. Everyone is equal companions in the journey of life, and people are supposed to have normal relationships with everyone, not impugn self important motives to people who enter “your” life. Love of neighbor means loving those of your community, whether the literal local community or the broader community of fellow mankind and womankind, the way God loves them, which is as an equal person created in God’s image, and not as a “tool” for occult thinking. So when one feels genuine interest and affection for a neighbor, friend, acquaintance, work colleague or hobby sharer, one is responding to the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, broadening one’s connectivity in a pure and motiveless way among one’s fellow humans who are loved by God.
I know that if I were speaking to a group, this question would be asked, so I will answer it. No, it is not the Counsel of the Holy Spirit if you imagine that the Holy Spirit is “giving you a message” for someone else. That is hubris and lack of understanding of God’s ways. If the Holy Spirit had a “message for someone else” the Holy Spirit would give the message to that someone else directly. However, the Counsel of the Holy Spirit will stir you to compassion and intervention when a fellow human is suffering, is in need or is misguided into sin. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is felt not through “incoming messages” but through the stirring of compassion and ongoing concern for another, where one is encouraged to have a truthful ongoing relationship with that person and to be an ongoing helping hand, not to deliver an “oracle.” There is a world of difference between those two scenarios.
A traditional saying, said in admiration of people who have been remarkably kind, pious, and/or wise is that he or she “walks with God.” This is a folk saying that recognizes someone who emanates through their attitude toward life and their fellow humans that they are walking with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit from God. Again, this is something that “New Age” has ruined, trying to get people to feel that they have “spirit guides” of dead people or so called “angels” and, of course, this is all about their ego rather than being about God and his goodness, and normal human life. A person who “walks with God” is not “channeling spirits,” but is someone who through their receipt, acknowledgement and cultivation of Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude has opened themselves to the continual gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Their Counsel is not in world shaking matters, but as I said, well developed and serene understanding of guilt and shame as a trip wire to warn of bad behavior, and the ability to turn to the Wisdom of God for encouragement and solutions throughout life. Their Counsel is also a genuine egalitarian spirit toward their fellow humans that can only come from God and is rooted in the understanding that all are equal and loved in the eyes of God, even when they seriously stray.
Again, one needs to look no further for the example of walking with God than Jesus Christ, who was constantly with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why people constantly commented on the “authority” with which Jesus spoke. No human can ever hope to have the authority of Jesus, who could and did speak for God the Father, but one can see no better role model for how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works.” Jesus did not deliver “messages” and “oracles” to individuals. Rather, when challenged by his detractors and sinners he rebuked, but always with the tone of explaining with authority their error and allowing them to view the option of changing themselves.
Jesus always knew “the right thing to say,” to use a modern expression, because of his continual gift of the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This not only means that Jesus spoke correctly, with the authority of God the Father, but also that Jesus always knew what to say, or not say, and when to say it. Jesus would ask a question and then sit in companionable silence when that was best for the situation, or he spoke a parable that moves the hearts and enlightened about God the thousands who listened to him. Jesus was the human embodiment of a man who walked with the visible and continuous Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why he continually astonished those who knew that he had not attended years of religious study, starting when he as a child amazed the scholars and holy men in the very Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus was already “role modeling” what a person who walks with the genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit looks and sounds like.
And while no one can ever hope to be as Jesus, for that is impossible, one can understand how to strive to be a role model in his footsteps by looking at the Apostles and disciples as they received, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and, in the case of St. Paul, directly from the resurrected Jesus Christ. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit who is the helper and consoler when the Apostles and disciples preached and pled their cases in persecution, often providing them with the words with which to speak. (This is another reason that historical-critical Biblical scholars totally miss the point when they analyze the “writing styles” of the New Testament authors, questioning how they could be so literate and erudite, and why they seem to write in a style that is “popular” only “later.” I mean, duh. The Holy Spirit is nothing if not erudite, in every language, in every time, and in every heart and head.) The Holy Spirit knows what they could not know, which are what eyes would someday read their Biblical authorship, and which souls would depend on belief in what they said. That is why the Bible was written “then,” but for all times, and what being “inspired by the Holy Spirit” truly means. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not move the pen on scroll like pagan belief in “automatic writing,” but the Counsel of the Holy Spirit provides access to the Wisdom of God, allowing the Bible authors to write the truth of what transpired in a way that future generations can all understand, follow, and find their faith and belief.
Once you understand this, dear readers, you no longer fall for false prophets and their writings, because the ego and delusion of their speech and script become to your ears like the grating of finger nails on a chalk board. Likewise, you can identify right away those authors through the ages (I’m speaking now of literature, not the Bible) who have the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, not because they prophesy and “reveal,” but because they manifest the obvious benefits of having the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. They demonstrate love and fear of God, genuine love of neighbor, and flashes of quiet wisdom and comfort that “hit the spot” (an American expression for a food or beverage that directly and perfectly addresses a hunger or a thirst). When one reads what a person who truly writes with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit writes, you may leave with greater Fear of the Lord (in the way that I have explained, which is not terror) but you also leave with greater love of and confidence in life and humanity itself. That is how it was for those who listened to Jesus. Jesus woke them up and pricked them with genuine concern that they better do what is right and get their souls in shape for God’s final judgment of them, and so Jesus helped those who listened and believed to have the gift of Fear of the Lord, in a time of much complacency and the blaming of sin on the poor, widowed, orphaned and crippled. Do not skip over the parts of the Gospel where Jesus “put the fear of God” into people; that would be most unwise. However, equally Jesus spoke with authority about the goodness of life and how a life lived for God prepares one to receive the blessing of eternal life in God’s presence. Those who truly, therefore, walk with the Counsel of God manifest to all who read and listen the Fear of the Lord and the Knowledge of God.
I’ll conclude this blogging with this thought. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is far more common than people realize, but it is hidden among the every day lives of the humble, and it is rarer than people think, for many of the so-called “wise” have pyrite in their hands and not the genuine gold of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. I hope that you have found this useful. I love this subject as I love God.
This is the difference between obtaining true “advice” from God and false “advice” through the use of occult means. When you read in the Bible and the Qur’an about the ancient Prophets, they did not receive Counsel from God without first having: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can “skip” right to the obtaining of “advice” without first having a relationship with the one true God as evidenced by accepting and understanding the first gifts of the Holy Spirit: Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude. Pagans believe that they can personally invoke and “interpret” the advice or the prognostication of supernatural powers or some of the divinities by performing occult rituals, and that only they have access through their arcane knowledge or “gifts” of advice or fortunetelling. It is one of the hallmarks of false prophets, and one sure way to “spot” them, that they believe that only those inducted into their methods receive Counsel from God. In other words, it never occurs to them that the Bible reading “simpleton” who not only reads the Bible but has cultivated a humble relationship with God is receiving more true Counsel that they are, through the Holy Spirit, who loves and guides all people, particularly the pious and the humble in the eyes of God.
To understand Counsel, look at the great Kings of the Israelites, such as David. David had a personal and direct relationship with God, one that is totally unique, yet he understood that he had to surround himself with wise counselors of the government, military and priesthood. To have Counsel in the earthly setting means that you have a circle of wise friends, family and colleagues who have an ongoing relationship with you, where you can discuss all that is going on. When one receives the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel, you are “adding to your counselors” the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not replace human counsel, and is not “summoned” to “answer questions” anymore than your valued counselors are kept far away, only to be summoned to answer “yes or no” to your problems. Through the gift of Counsel the Holy Spirit is a quiet and gentle continuing presence that brings the Wisdom of God as a contribution to your overall living of your life and your quiet consultations of God.
Counsel from the Holy Spirit is not dramatic, and does not provide “new” revelation. Nothing that truly comes from God contradicts or changes what has gone before and is in the scripture. Counsel from the Holy Spirit is, in fact, very rarely prophecy at all. Counsel from the Holy Spirit can be likened to the wisest and quietest counselor of the King, who sits while the other counselors debate alternative courses of action in front of the King. Once in a while the King will glance at the wise old counselor, who is observing silently, and notice that he will convey in a look what he thinks of the person now speaking. When one prays for Counsel from the Holy Spirit, that is often what you receive, a slight “eye roll” when you think about one of your courses of action, a slight nod of approval when you think of another, but not in a prognosticating way. Rather, the Holy Spirit Counsels you to understand what you are hearing with your own ears, and seeing with your own eyes, and see the evidence of results in your own hands, and thus understand how to discern a situation within the context of God’s ongoing will. By God’s “ongoing will” I mean, again, that God is not prophesying or making a decision for you, but you are making your own decision while firmly grounded and comprehending God’s ongoing will and greater plan, for not only you but also the community of the faithful and the entire world. This is why the gifts of Knowledge and Fortitude are prerequisite to actually receiving the gift of Counsel. One must have the facts of God, how to worship and serve him, through Knowledge, and one must have trust and the ability to endure through Fortitude, before one can receive and comprehend God’s Counsel.
Impatience, which is lack of Fortitude, tempts one to seek Counsel as I’ve described above, an occult tool, to answer “What will happen” and “What should I do?” That is why Fortitude that is grounded in Fear of the Lord, Piety and Knowledge is a prerequisite to receiving the genuine gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Trust in God, which is the basis of Fortitude, allows one to understand that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit walks with you at all times, rather than having to be “summoned” as an “advice giver” or “fortune teller.” Genuine patience and trust in God prevents one huge temptation, which is to start to think of life as a string of supernatural “yes and no” decisions and occurrences. That is a mistake of pagan and now “New Age” “thinking.” The Bible is about a book of living, of ongoing life, not a “how to” of a string of decisions, with life being meaningless filler in between supernatural or “destined” events.
The true and genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always with you, although obviously, when in quiet prayer, you might be more conscious of the Holy Spirit’s presence. That does not mean that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works” only when you pray, far from it. Like the wise and quiet counselor in the analogy of the King’s circle, the Holy Spirit’s Counsel is quietly there, and is reassurance that there is no part of life that has a monopoly on God’s benevolent attention. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is just as available and present to the poor person as he or she works in the rice paddy as it is to you when you have to make a difficult decision regarding an investment, or how to deal with a parental situation. Be clear in understanding, though, that the Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not make you wise. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit allows you to benefit from God’s Wisdom. The actual gift of the Holy Spirit of Wisdom comes only to those who have received, acknowledged and comprehended all of the previous six gifts, one of which will be the topic of the next blog post on this subject. You see, this is another problem with occult thinking, where they believe that their prognostications and receipt of “answers” makes them personally wise, or that they are “tapping” or “channeling” some universal databank of supposed wisdom. That is not true. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit is always received only in the context of living a true one God centered normal life. True Counsel of the Holy Spirit is not about “what will happen” but how to live in the present, with a mind to the future of eternal life, a good life, in other words, a life that is filled with goodness and seeks the goodness of God for self and neighbor.
For example, as a friend, an intimate, a confident, a colleague and a boss, many people in my personal and professional life have noticed that sometimes when they pitch an idea to me I respond with a neutral “Mmmm.” That is sometimes very frustrating to them, LOL! I have never done it consciously; that is my genuine response to hearing what is being said. They have asked me, is that an “Mmmm” or an “mmmM,” trying to discern even a tendency toward approval or disapproval! At those times it is genuinely neither, and even an atomic scale would not detect a trend either way, ha. That is because the best I can translate my “Mmmm” is that it means “keep on going.” It means I’ve heard what you’ve said, but a point of sufficient information has not yet been reached to make a decision or to change course. That is often how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “sounds,” because genuine Counsel is received as an ongoing presence throughout an ongoing coherent life, not one that is parceled into decisions, “destiny” and prognostications. Sometimes the Counsel of the Holy Spirit is, simply, to “keep on going,” (another reason why Fortitude is a prerequisite to comprehending the gift of Counsel). Think of that wise and quiet counselor of the King. If he continues to sit there, with an occasional nod, significant look to you, or a sigh and a look up to heaven, you know that you should “keep on going” and use your own skills of discernment to continue gaining information. That means he is neither agreeing with nor condemning what he hears your other counselors tell you.
How is one way to hear the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? A guilty conscience is one way. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit when you feel a pang of guilty conscience when you contemplate a course of action that is contrary to the goodness that God has taught one to always pursue. You might say, well, why do some evil people not feel a guilty conscience? Precisely; that answers one’s own question. They no longer have the gift of the Holy Spirit of Counsel. The evaporation of shame or the lack of a guilty conscience when contemplating what is bad and wrong is a warning sign that one either never had or has lost the gift of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Behind many jokes there is a kernel of truth, and the joke of “Catholic childhood guilt trip” or the “Jewish mother making her child feel guilty” is a sign of genuine and serious contact with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. Parents, nuns or priests who teach children during their spiritual formation to feel some sense of guilt or shame are, in moderation, doing good work, because it is countering the tendency of society to shut down the amber warning lights that guilt or shame provide. When one does not feel some honest guilt or shame in appropriate circumstances this is an example of the wise counselor of the king no longer being in the room. A voice of Counsel of the Holy Spirit is silent when one can contemplate what is wrong without having warning feelings of guilt and/or shame. It is ironic that the freak show society teaches spiritual experimentation to have illusions, revelations and listen to every random narcissistic firing of one’s brain cell on one hand, but teaches silencing and rejection of the loudest and continuous warning of the wise counselor, which are appropriate feelings of guilt and shame.
What is another way that one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit in a real situation? Having feelings of interest and affection for fellow humans and one’s “neighbor” is another way one feels the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit seeks to constantly intertwine humans in a benevolent way with one another, so that one’s own human circle of counselors is widened, and not narrowed. Genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit teaches humans not to constantly “divine God’s every instruction for every situation,” but to live godly and God based lives among benevolent and wise fellow companions. This is, sadly, another way that “New Age” has ruined genuine Counsel from God. “New Age” “teaches” that people “enter your life” “for a reason,” related to “learning lessons” or “karma.” That is so manipulative, wrong and anti-God and anti-humanity. Everyone is equal companions in the journey of life, and people are supposed to have normal relationships with everyone, not impugn self important motives to people who enter “your” life. Love of neighbor means loving those of your community, whether the literal local community or the broader community of fellow mankind and womankind, the way God loves them, which is as an equal person created in God’s image, and not as a “tool” for occult thinking. So when one feels genuine interest and affection for a neighbor, friend, acquaintance, work colleague or hobby sharer, one is responding to the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, broadening one’s connectivity in a pure and motiveless way among one’s fellow humans who are loved by God.
I know that if I were speaking to a group, this question would be asked, so I will answer it. No, it is not the Counsel of the Holy Spirit if you imagine that the Holy Spirit is “giving you a message” for someone else. That is hubris and lack of understanding of God’s ways. If the Holy Spirit had a “message for someone else” the Holy Spirit would give the message to that someone else directly. However, the Counsel of the Holy Spirit will stir you to compassion and intervention when a fellow human is suffering, is in need or is misguided into sin. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is felt not through “incoming messages” but through the stirring of compassion and ongoing concern for another, where one is encouraged to have a truthful ongoing relationship with that person and to be an ongoing helping hand, not to deliver an “oracle.” There is a world of difference between those two scenarios.
A traditional saying, said in admiration of people who have been remarkably kind, pious, and/or wise is that he or she “walks with God.” This is a folk saying that recognizes someone who emanates through their attitude toward life and their fellow humans that they are walking with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit from God. Again, this is something that “New Age” has ruined, trying to get people to feel that they have “spirit guides” of dead people or so called “angels” and, of course, this is all about their ego rather than being about God and his goodness, and normal human life. A person who “walks with God” is not “channeling spirits,” but is someone who through their receipt, acknowledgement and cultivation of Fear of the Lord, Piety, Knowledge and Fortitude has opened themselves to the continual gift of Counsel from the Holy Spirit. Their Counsel is not in world shaking matters, but as I said, well developed and serene understanding of guilt and shame as a trip wire to warn of bad behavior, and the ability to turn to the Wisdom of God for encouragement and solutions throughout life. Their Counsel is also a genuine egalitarian spirit toward their fellow humans that can only come from God and is rooted in the understanding that all are equal and loved in the eyes of God, even when they seriously stray.
Again, one needs to look no further for the example of walking with God than Jesus Christ, who was constantly with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why people constantly commented on the “authority” with which Jesus spoke. No human can ever hope to have the authority of Jesus, who could and did speak for God the Father, but one can see no better role model for how the Counsel of the Holy Spirit “works.” Jesus did not deliver “messages” and “oracles” to individuals. Rather, when challenged by his detractors and sinners he rebuked, but always with the tone of explaining with authority their error and allowing them to view the option of changing themselves.
Jesus always knew “the right thing to say,” to use a modern expression, because of his continual gift of the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This not only means that Jesus spoke correctly, with the authority of God the Father, but also that Jesus always knew what to say, or not say, and when to say it. Jesus would ask a question and then sit in companionable silence when that was best for the situation, or he spoke a parable that moves the hearts and enlightened about God the thousands who listened to him. Jesus was the human embodiment of a man who walked with the visible and continuous Counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is why he continually astonished those who knew that he had not attended years of religious study, starting when he as a child amazed the scholars and holy men in the very Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus was already “role modeling” what a person who walks with the genuine Counsel of the Holy Spirit looks and sounds like.
And while no one can ever hope to be as Jesus, for that is impossible, one can understand how to strive to be a role model in his footsteps by looking at the Apostles and disciples as they received, as Jesus promised, the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and, in the case of St. Paul, directly from the resurrected Jesus Christ. It is the Counsel of the Holy Spirit who is the helper and consoler when the Apostles and disciples preached and pled their cases in persecution, often providing them with the words with which to speak. (This is another reason that historical-critical Biblical scholars totally miss the point when they analyze the “writing styles” of the New Testament authors, questioning how they could be so literate and erudite, and why they seem to write in a style that is “popular” only “later.” I mean, duh. The Holy Spirit is nothing if not erudite, in every language, in every time, and in every heart and head.) The Holy Spirit knows what they could not know, which are what eyes would someday read their Biblical authorship, and which souls would depend on belief in what they said. That is why the Bible was written “then,” but for all times, and what being “inspired by the Holy Spirit” truly means. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit does not move the pen on scroll like pagan belief in “automatic writing,” but the Counsel of the Holy Spirit provides access to the Wisdom of God, allowing the Bible authors to write the truth of what transpired in a way that future generations can all understand, follow, and find their faith and belief.
Once you understand this, dear readers, you no longer fall for false prophets and their writings, because the ego and delusion of their speech and script become to your ears like the grating of finger nails on a chalk board. Likewise, you can identify right away those authors through the ages (I’m speaking now of literature, not the Bible) who have the Counsel of the Holy Spirit, not because they prophesy and “reveal,” but because they manifest the obvious benefits of having the Counsel of the Holy Spirit. They demonstrate love and fear of God, genuine love of neighbor, and flashes of quiet wisdom and comfort that “hit the spot” (an American expression for a food or beverage that directly and perfectly addresses a hunger or a thirst). When one reads what a person who truly writes with the Counsel of the Holy Spirit writes, you may leave with greater Fear of the Lord (in the way that I have explained, which is not terror) but you also leave with greater love of and confidence in life and humanity itself. That is how it was for those who listened to Jesus. Jesus woke them up and pricked them with genuine concern that they better do what is right and get their souls in shape for God’s final judgment of them, and so Jesus helped those who listened and believed to have the gift of Fear of the Lord, in a time of much complacency and the blaming of sin on the poor, widowed, orphaned and crippled. Do not skip over the parts of the Gospel where Jesus “put the fear of God” into people; that would be most unwise. However, equally Jesus spoke with authority about the goodness of life and how a life lived for God prepares one to receive the blessing of eternal life in God’s presence. Those who truly, therefore, walk with the Counsel of God manifest to all who read and listen the Fear of the Lord and the Knowledge of God.
I’ll conclude this blogging with this thought. The Counsel of the Holy Spirit is far more common than people realize, but it is hidden among the every day lives of the humble, and it is rarer than people think, for many of the so-called “wise” have pyrite in their hands and not the genuine gold of Counsel of the Holy Spirit. I hope that you have found this useful. I love this subject as I love God.
Monday, December 1, 2008
7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (4a) Bible citations
Here are selected Bible passages related to the gift of “Fortitude,” through the symbolism of fortress, tower and other indications of protection.
Jeremiah 6:27
I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 37:24
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
Psalm 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying Yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.
Jeremiah 6:27
I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 37:24
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.
Psalm 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying Yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built.
7 gifts of the Holy Spirit: (4) Fortitude
When one has, even in small amounts, the firm foundation of the gifts of "Fear of the Lord," "Piety" and "Knowledge," one, essentially, receives unasked for the gift of "Fortitude." You can think of it as a recipe that requires only three ingredients to produce a complete loaf of bread, where the three ingredients combine to make something larger than the sum of the total appears to be. "Fortitude" is like a loaf of bread that comes into being when one combines flour, leavening and oil. So what is "Fortitude" and how is it explained in the Bible?
"Fortitude" refers to the ability to endure, not just hardship, but the sense of being secure and of one's actions being long lasting, and not momentary, trivial or short lasting. If one has "Fortitude," one is not necessarily the strongest person, and that is why competitive qualities such as "strength" or "toughness" or "energy" or "zeal" are not gifts of the Holy Spirit, while "Fortitude" is. To fully understand one must think of the nature of life in Biblical times, and also the relationship that humans have with God, and express that relationship in the lingo of those times.
In order to be safe during those very dangerous and lawless times, humans gathered themselves together under the protection of a fort. The defensive protective building structure-a fort-is where the concept and the word "Fortitude" comes from. Forts took one of two forms. Either the city itself was a fort because it had a protective wall with strong gates for entry and towers for observation and defense, or a fort was nearby, dedicated to being a refuge in siege and the place where military men served to observe and protect not only the nearby city but also key roads and routes of travel. This is why the tone of the gift of "Fortitude" is one of unflappability, constancy and reliability. The fort is always there and is watchful, since being alert and on guard is as important as one's skill in actual defensive battle. One can think of the fort as being like what we call today "homeland security." A person who has the gift of "Fortitude" is like a person who serves as either their own and their family's self-contained "fort of refuge" or a person who is secure in knowing that a fort of refuge is nearby.
Thus if one reads the Bible one does not see reference to the attribute of "Fortitude," but instead one sees the praise of God who is the fortress of the faithful. This is why one discerns from studying the Bible that a gift of God through the Holy Spirit is "Fortitude," both one's own, having developed from the foundation of the gifts of "Fear of the Lord," "Piety," and "Knowledge," and that of God, knowing that God is there, God is nearby, and God is one's fortress.
2 Samuel 22:1-2, 40
David sang the words of this song to the Lord when the Lord had rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. This is what he sang:
"O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock of refuge...the foreigners fawned and cringed before me; they staggered forth from their fortresses..."
King David starts with the image of God as his fortress in the very first line of his song of thanks and praise. Forty lines later he returns to that specific image, where the invaders were defeated out of their own fortresses through God's aid to the might of King David's defending soldiers (in fact the names of his most outstanding commanders are preserved, along with their deeds, in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. I mention this to constantly, gently demonstrate to you that the Bible is a work of historical accuracy in addition to being a book of faith, and you can see that by the great detail that is recorded of the names of those who do not have an ongoing part in some "mythology," but are instead, people who said and did actual true life things). Because this is so important and here is a great example, let me make an aside to cite just one warrior so you can witness how this is a battle list of actual people, and not just part of some mythological writing.
2 Samuel 23:20-23
Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a stalwart from Kabzeel, was a man of great achievements. It was he who slew the two lions in Moab. He also went down and killed the lion in the cistern at the time of the snow. It as he, too, who slew an Egyptian of large stature. Although the Egyptian was armed with a spear, he went against him with a club and wrested the spear from the Egyptian's hand, then killed him with his own spear. Such were the deeds performed by Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He was listed among the Thirty warriors and commanded greater respect than the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard.
We are not going too far astray from the topic of "Fortitude" in looking at the historic example of Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, because if you read it carefully it gives you crucial insight into the hardship of the times, and also the idea of the defensive fort. Benaiah clearly had reknown as having done a famous deed of slaying two lions in Moab. Now, animal lovers, don't get excited. Lions were numerous and a threat to humans, often preying on women and children as they had to gather food or go to the well (cistern) for water. When the Bible uses the word "slay," this implies a conflict, rather than use the word "kill," which may or may not be a justifiable death. So one can deduce with confidence that Benaiah was already famous for having slaying two predatory lions in Moab, and also going down into the cistern, where a lion was hiding during the snow, and slaying it, thus protecting the populace. Then it is recorded specifics of his defeat of a large and better armed Egyptian, and the specifics of his grouping in the elite unit of Thirty. There is even commentary that he was better than most of the Thirty, but did not make it into the separate better group of the Three! Yet David selected him to be his bodyguard, and I'll bet it's because of the lions too! One of the points I am trying to make is that Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, became David's bodyguard because of his protectiveness in addition to his prowess.
"Fortitude" refers to the ability to endure, not just hardship, but the sense of being secure and of one's actions being long lasting, and not momentary, trivial or short lasting. If one has "Fortitude," one is not necessarily the strongest person, and that is why competitive qualities such as "strength" or "toughness" or "energy" or "zeal" are not gifts of the Holy Spirit, while "Fortitude" is. To fully understand one must think of the nature of life in Biblical times, and also the relationship that humans have with God, and express that relationship in the lingo of those times.
In order to be safe during those very dangerous and lawless times, humans gathered themselves together under the protection of a fort. The defensive protective building structure-a fort-is where the concept and the word "Fortitude" comes from. Forts took one of two forms. Either the city itself was a fort because it had a protective wall with strong gates for entry and towers for observation and defense, or a fort was nearby, dedicated to being a refuge in siege and the place where military men served to observe and protect not only the nearby city but also key roads and routes of travel. This is why the tone of the gift of "Fortitude" is one of unflappability, constancy and reliability. The fort is always there and is watchful, since being alert and on guard is as important as one's skill in actual defensive battle. One can think of the fort as being like what we call today "homeland security." A person who has the gift of "Fortitude" is like a person who serves as either their own and their family's self-contained "fort of refuge" or a person who is secure in knowing that a fort of refuge is nearby.
Thus if one reads the Bible one does not see reference to the attribute of "Fortitude," but instead one sees the praise of God who is the fortress of the faithful. This is why one discerns from studying the Bible that a gift of God through the Holy Spirit is "Fortitude," both one's own, having developed from the foundation of the gifts of "Fear of the Lord," "Piety," and "Knowledge," and that of God, knowing that God is there, God is nearby, and God is one's fortress.
2 Samuel 22:1-2, 40
David sang the words of this song to the Lord when the Lord had rescued him from the grasp of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. This is what he sang:
"O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my rock of refuge...the foreigners fawned and cringed before me; they staggered forth from their fortresses..."
King David starts with the image of God as his fortress in the very first line of his song of thanks and praise. Forty lines later he returns to that specific image, where the invaders were defeated out of their own fortresses through God's aid to the might of King David's defending soldiers (in fact the names of his most outstanding commanders are preserved, along with their deeds, in 2 Samuel 23:8-39. I mention this to constantly, gently demonstrate to you that the Bible is a work of historical accuracy in addition to being a book of faith, and you can see that by the great detail that is recorded of the names of those who do not have an ongoing part in some "mythology," but are instead, people who said and did actual true life things). Because this is so important and here is a great example, let me make an aside to cite just one warrior so you can witness how this is a battle list of actual people, and not just part of some mythological writing.
2 Samuel 23:20-23
Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, a stalwart from Kabzeel, was a man of great achievements. It was he who slew the two lions in Moab. He also went down and killed the lion in the cistern at the time of the snow. It as he, too, who slew an Egyptian of large stature. Although the Egyptian was armed with a spear, he went against him with a club and wrested the spear from the Egyptian's hand, then killed him with his own spear. Such were the deeds performed by Benaiah, son of Jehoiada. He was listed among the Thirty warriors and commanded greater respect than the Thirty. However, he did not attain to the Three. David put him in command of his bodyguard.
We are not going too far astray from the topic of "Fortitude" in looking at the historic example of Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, because if you read it carefully it gives you crucial insight into the hardship of the times, and also the idea of the defensive fort. Benaiah clearly had reknown as having done a famous deed of slaying two lions in Moab. Now, animal lovers, don't get excited. Lions were numerous and a threat to humans, often preying on women and children as they had to gather food or go to the well (cistern) for water. When the Bible uses the word "slay," this implies a conflict, rather than use the word "kill," which may or may not be a justifiable death. So one can deduce with confidence that Benaiah was already famous for having slaying two predatory lions in Moab, and also going down into the cistern, where a lion was hiding during the snow, and slaying it, thus protecting the populace. Then it is recorded specifics of his defeat of a large and better armed Egyptian, and the specifics of his grouping in the elite unit of Thirty. There is even commentary that he was better than most of the Thirty, but did not make it into the separate better group of the Three! Yet David selected him to be his bodyguard, and I'll bet it's because of the lions too! One of the points I am trying to make is that Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, became David's bodyguard because of his protectiveness in addition to his prowess.
The gift of "Fortitude" must therefore be understood as being not only self contained and secure, but also protective of others. One with "Fortitude" is responsible and endures not just for one's self, but on behalf of others. It is not like the popular phrase of today "I am being strong for their behalf," when someone, let's say a grieving family member is "holding it together" so that others don't see him or her cry. That is being "strong," that is not having the gift of "Fortitude." "Fortitude" is when one does not have to mask or pretend because, instead, that person is genuinely serene in the face of even the greatest burden, so great is their faith in God and thus their own capabilities and capacity. This person also consistently maintains their perspective and context about life, what the big issues are and the little ones, and deals with them accordingly and, importantly, they never forget the comparative context of both human life and eternal life.
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