My Church is going through the "Grow" series.. and it talks about 6 stages of our faith:
1. recognition of God – come to know God2. life of discipleship – beginning to learn more ABOUT God3. the productive life – serving and doing things FOR God4. the journey inward/The wall – Things that you normally do doesn't work anymore in this stage...5. the journey outward – you brave it through the wall/stage 4...6. life of love
Last week, Pastor Mark Conner gave us a brief introduction about all six stages of faith. And yesterday, Lynn Moresi lead us through JUST about the 4th stage/wall.. where actually so many years of my faith. I have never hear a single church speaks about this stage of faith. I heard alot about stage 1,2,3, and 5,6 but "4" SEEMS LIKE A TABOO! or how chinese usually tries to avoid number "4" and so are we?! :p just joking.
Anyway, stage 4 is like.. "dark night of my soul".. it can be due to loss of loved ones, loss of job, accident, betrayal,divorce, break ups, etc, .. what you normally do on stage 1,2,3 (eg. pray more, fast more, read the bible more, have more faith, serve more) .. just doesn't work at this stage 4. You tried.. but it just doesn't work! The faith that you used to know and experience doesn't work at stage 4! You desire and so want to go back to stage 3 but is not the same anymore, you use to have all the answers on stage 2,3 .. but now, You have more QUESTIONS Than answers. Lynn said she went through stage 4 for 7 years and have friends that said to her " have you been spending quiet time with God?" or " Are You even a christian?". This stage can be very lonely and many times you will have alot of Job's friends surrounding you because for people who are at stage 1,2,3 they just .will not .. understand what stage 4 is like. Their comments are always you just need to pray more, fast more, read the bible more, spend more quiet time. COME ON! Whats wrong with you!! or even have people think that we are crazy, lost, unfaithful & maybe alot like the prodigal, hoping we’ll come back home as soon as possible.
This stage 4 is a must to go through to stage 5, 6. During stage 4, there are mainly three kinds of response:
because stage 4 is like a wall, people:
1. bail out - they walk away from Christianity, backslide, many times from the many books Lynn read, is due to people on stage 4 is in a church environment that doesn't encourage people to speak on stage 4, or they have too many Job's friends around and no real genuine friends that truly understand, accept (BELONGING COMES BEFORE BEHAVING FOR JESUS) and support and help them through stage 4.
2. Bounce back - they saw a wall, instead of "brave it through" the wall, they bounce back to stage 3.. most of the time, they felt that if they stop serving, they will "loose it". so, they just keep serving and serving and serving.. and for people like that, they never really .. walk through stage 4. and Lynn said most of the time, they are leaders, because for leaders, they need to stand tall and know most of the answers thus, for them to go through stage 4, is even harder. So they choose to bounce back to stage 3 and ..never experience stage 4.. and because of that, they can never "walk people through stage 4 and that creates a cycle/ ripple effect that.. stage 4 is a TABOO. You can never talk about it or go through it.
3. BRAVE IT THROUGH - how can we brave it through? during this stage 4. Real friends are vital. Preferbly, people who walk through stage 4. Take time to grief, to mourn, to heal, have a SAFE PLACE To talk about your real feelings and what is going through your mind.. It is important to have those friend/friends, because they will come along side us, walk through with us, remind us not to loose heart, pray with us and for us.
STAGE 4 IS REAL. HOWEVER, IT IS WORTH IT. Don't let it be a Taboo anymore, people.. let us who walk through or walking through stage 4, help many many around us that are going through stage 4!! :)
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