Bulletin Article June 2024
by Natalie Holmyard
Complex vs Complicated
This year, whilst studying LLGW together, it has become very evident that for many of us in the community – we are stuck in the middle of some very big, long-term problems that aren’t going away. Albert Einstein once said, “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it”.
When David and I first encountered LLGW, as you already know, we were stuck in some really big problems. Problems spiritually. Problems relationally. Problems financially. Problems physically. On and on it goes – problems everywhere.
When we encountered Chapter 4 – Refusing Bitterness and the Mental Movies, we knew that many of our current-day problems were a result of us not being able to hear from the Father through the Holy Spirit for solutions to these problems. This was because we were sitting in unconfessed and unrepentant bitterness (some of it with Father!). We were cycling through mental movie loops that were reinforcing these roots of bitterness.
Our problems were very complex, but our sin, in terms of holding onto unforgiveness and bitterness, was stopping us from seeing these problems for what they were, keeping us in a complicated mess, constantly looking for “a one-fit solution” that would fix everything.
Firstly, let me encourage you to truly take the time this month to dig into this lesson. Listen to the audio over and over and sit in the questions, firstly with you and the Holy Spirit, and secondly with your spouse or significant spiritual brother or sister in Christ. Be real. Be honest. Be humble.
Look at where you are potentially holding on to thoughts or feelings that are rooted in bitterness – dare to see if some of these feelings or thoughts are even directed at our Father. (This is usually what happens when we are at war with Father’s Sovereignty in our life).
Before your significant spiritual “other”, confess these thoughts and emotions and ask the Father to forgive you by the blood of Jesus, and be sure to ask the Holy Spirit to fill you completely. Now turn away from this sin and walk in repentance, allowing Father’s face to shine upon you. Releasing this burden in confession and repentance will bring a huge measure of freedom to you. This is a spiritual discipline that David and I walk in weekly, if not daily when required.
Secondly, once you are walking in a measure of freedom, you should be able to see your problems in a different light.
Many of the problems we live with daily, become much bigger than they need to become, usually because we are stuck in sin somewhere in our life (like in the instance above, bitterness and unforgiveness). When we are stuck, we are unable to work with the Holy Spirit in wisdom and revelation – bringing clarity and transformation to our situation, along with healing and solutions to our problems. This should be the way of a disciple; instead, our problems are often compounded by our inability to see the reality of where we are!
For David and I, we were able to look at our “problems” with a whole new level of reality once this sin was confessed, and we had begun the journey of walking in repentance with the Holy Spirit. We knew our problems were quite complex and that immaturely looking for a “quick fix” was never going to be the Way of the Lord.
Instead, we began to identify the different aspects of our problems, and we were able to truly categorise these problems into 4 areas that we needed to train, gain wisdom, and mastery in.
1. We came to see that we “never outgrew the need for basics”. We saw the gift Father had given us in LLGW, and we committed to Father that this tool HE had already given us, would be one of the foundations of our “basics”, that we would train in, over and over again. To this day, we have honoured this commitment with Father, and this alone has brought so much life and freedom to not only David and I, but our whole family and fellowship communities.
2. We knew that we struggled with demonic spiritual strongholds that were with us from our inheritance of original sin, our inheritance from our families and our own portion of sin. We knew that we knew very little about this – and so we prayed. Father led us to a study that has become a key component of our family’s spiritual health and life. It is something that we will train in and use diligently, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, monthly, but our use of this tool and its wisdom is never far from our reach and our way of life.
3. We came to understand that many of our problems were due to poor or negligent thinking about who we were in Christ. We needed a revelation of this that we could train in and own! A dear friend who was a pastor, led us to the Riches of Divine Grace series and voila! Here it was. These marvellous 52 riches were how we came to study scripture and systematic theology and became the foundation of how we study, to this day. Knowing who we are in Christ is vital to having a healthy relationship with our beloved Trinity. (Added to this now is a wonderful book by Martyn Isles, Who Am I, Solving the Identity Puzzle – book review below).
4. At this point, we knew we could not allow condemnation or persecution to rob us of our newfound freedom in Christ. It was our flesh that sinned; it was no longer me! How could this become a strategic truth that we needed so desperately? We studied, we searched, we gleaned from Bruce and our spiritual elders, and eventually, we wrote our 2 Natures Study, so that our children had this wealth for their journey with the Lord.
These 4 foundations of our personal discipleship journey with Christ have helped to transform us from glory to glory. It has taken hard work, time, commitment, diligence, perseverance, humility, confession, repentance and more hard work. Add to this nearly 1000 books and studies read, tens upon tens of seminars and conferences, and hundreds of hours of gleaning from spiritual elders wherever and whenever we could.
We have made discipleship our way of life, in every way we could, and will continue to make this our mandate till we draw our last breath. Our revelation of the Strategic Life Journal (SLJ), which Dennis encourages us to implement in our lives, is how we track our progress through these 4 foundational tools and our journey of discipleship. It is how we disciple others.
Of course, it should go without saying, but I will say it anyway. All of this comes secondary to our commitment to study and be in His Word, to be in His fellowship and companionship, and to being in guided community with other believers, especially those with a deeper, greater and more mature understanding of our faith than David or I possess.
Complex problems require complex solutions. Unfortunately, in our fallenness and sometimes arrogance, we allow our complex problems to become complicated – and in their complication, we naively believe that we can find a quick-fix solution. So many times, we have had people ask us – “so what can we do to fix this problem, fix my marriage, fix my children, fix my finances, fix my health, fix my ………”.
They are desperate enough to ask a question but not desperate enough to do the Kingdom work in the basics, over and over again.
Our final encouragement to you today is to ask the Holy Spirit to humble you. To have Him show you where you are stuck in sin, (missing the mark) in your walk with Christ. Confess this before one another (James 3:16). Repent and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Then, and only then, ask Father for your basics. Maybe you wish to use what we have done above. Maybe that will be the Holy Spirit’s leading for you. It has certainly worked and continues to work for our family. Perhaps you need to define your own foundational steps with the guidance of the Holy Spirit and your spiritual family.