How to Hear the Holy Spirit (9)

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Session #9

Overcoming the Fear of Letting Go

Next, listen below to the song “Somewhere in the Middle” by Casting Crowns.

Question for discussion (please post a comment):
What does the song “Somewhere in the Middle” say to you?

Comments from the live event

E.F. shares this:

I am the middle child. Way back, I used to feel I did not belong in our family, suspended in the middle, not belonging to the upper half nor the lower half, like the black sheep in the family. Thank God I have overcome this.
In the song “Somewhere in the Middle” I feel I am not in the middle with God but inching closer to Him with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, spiritually growing in holiness. I still have along way to go. But with the grace of God, we ALL have the making of a saint. Just persevere living a righteous life in God’s image.

D.S. wrote:

I want to let you know how much I like the Paracletia videos. I play it over several times each day. This has reminded me to go to bed at night with the Holy Spirit & wake up with the Holy Spirit. Each morning, I ask the Holy Spirit to be with me all day, keeping me on the right path, safe, a smile on my face, loving, helpful to everyone, and awake to hear his discernment for me. We talk while doing dishes, driving & in everything I do. We are becoming best friends & this makes me happy!

I listened to “Somewhere in the Middle” & thought: That’s where I’m at so often. When I’m at my happiest I’m walking with God, & when I’m feeling down I’ve moved away from him. I know it’s because I haven’t spent enough time with him in prayer or just talking. I find it frustrating when I know what makes me feel peaceful but yet let myself stray all too often. How do I keep what I know is great & makes me happy? I do my daily readings & pray to God after & before I go to bed, but I feel like there’s more for me. I always want to hear how to grow closer to the Holy Spirit & be able to discern what the Holy Spirit is asking if me. Also, how to grow closer to God & hold on to it.

C.T. shares:

I had a painful and challenging relationship with my hubby. Time and again he had piled on me a lot of worries and mental hurts until I wanted to give up this marriage. I truly believed God spoke through my dad, telling me to give forgive him and give him another chance. I remembered Matt. 18:22 (Jesus said to Peter, “I do not say to you, forgive up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven). This message had a great impact on me as a disciple of Christ. I want to act like Christ, forgive like Christ and love like Christ.

My marriage was salvaged, and I can see the change in my hubby. Praise and thank God.

L.M. wrote:

“Caught in the Middle” for me means to be reaching for God, but trying to hold on to some control, rather than the free fall surrender.

C.F. commented:

Somewhere in the Middle — This song for me means that Jesus is somewhere between my old self and the new self I am yearning to be. It’s in between — and I am afraid — afraid of the dark, afraid that I would stumble and fall, afraid of getting out of my comfort zone, afraid of the unknown. I am afraid of moving on, not knowing what to expect. What if I am not ready to receive all that He wants to offer? There are instances when I am excited to know where the Lord is going to lead me — I am filled with joy and happiness, perhaps a little apprehensive, but most often I am afraid. Afraid of the demands that I am going to face. Can I face it? Can I do this? Will I disappoint my Lord?

I truly want to trade my dreams for His. But I fear — I fear everything!

C.M. replied:

“Somewhere between who I am and who I used to be”

“Somewhere between who I was and who you’re making me”

“Just how close can I get, Lord, to my surrender”

These are the lyrics I can relate to. My thoughts are in letting go of what I have wrongly known, to be emptied to see as God sees. I am caught in the middle, of who I was and who I am called to be, which is a path that only becomes clearer as I walk it.

I long for surrender, yet what that means is something I learn as I give things up.

I am caught in the middle between the place where I have been and where I am being sent.

The answer seems to be to just listen and then “go”, with “go” meaning a different thing than I imagined.

Maybe my talk is cryptic. Maybe it only makes sense to me, and yet feeling caught in this middle, I can see God moving me forward. I see myself wanting to go in no other direction than where He has been, where He is, where He will be.

S.L. shared this:

I enjoyed listening to the song “Somewhere in the Middle”, and it took me quite a while to figure out what it means to me. I appreciate the words which you have highlighted: “reckless abandon wrapped in common sense”. It was sort of a paradox to me at first, but I now realize that this is where I am in at the moment, “caught in the middle”.

Reckless abandon to me is to let go totally without worrying at all about the outcome or consequences and trusting God, as He is in control of everything. In other words, to let go of our innate need to be in control. At the same time, I need to use my common sense in deciding what to surrender and not be complacent in expecting things to be taken care of without making any effort or taking action on my part.

In my life, this is a tough call and I believe I have a problem trying to strike a balance. That is the reason why I messed up so many times, although I have been prompted time and again to practice “reckless abandonment”. This phrase actually resonated with me for a long time, ever since I read “Oswald Chambers” devotionals, who emphasized this a lot. It strikes me deeply and it’s now being reaffirmed. Your message for this particular session so deeply touched me, as if you are addressing my situation directly.

A.B. wrote:

This song describes how I’m viewing my situation right now: Somewhere in the middle. I want to move forward and put my trust in God, but a lot of times I get caught in the middle by fear. I’m “somewhere between who I was and who you’re making me”, and so I pray and continue on this journey of becoming closer to the Holy spirit.

S.I. commented:

I’d like to share my experience on point #2 (see below) about the confirmations I’ve been experiencing in my current discernment process. I’ve been in a struggle in doing my job, due to the cross of facing my “difficult” line manager, and also how God gave me some clues to stay in this existing job instead of moving on to other company.

At first, I couldn’t understand His plans. Later on, I felt that He’s been guiding me step by step by empowering me to see my line manager from God’s mercy’s point of view. He taught me to love her with His love, granted me a grace to respect her as His chosen one who has authority over me in my workplace, regardless of her weaknesses. He taught me, through the example of David, who always respected Saul as God’s anointed King of Israel.

Now, He’s shed more light for me by letting my line manager entrust me with a greater responsibility of a bigger team, which will lead me to a career promotion in the near future. This upcoming team will consist of more non-Christian people, who haven’t known Jesus as our Savior. I will take this as God’s field to work on spreading His Good News, so more people will see His mercy through me, and His name will be glorified in our workplace.