Formulas

A lot of the time I just find that spiritual teachers just write about what is happening in their life: what they are led to say or do and what seems to happen to them as a result of that. The idea is that by these spiritual teachers writing down their experiences – we can somehow learn from them.

Unfortunately, we can tend to make formulas out of the experiences of someone else. Someone might write about the way in which they were led to pray, back it up with scripture and write a wonderful testimony of an experience that seems to tie-in with that. We then assume that we can pray the same way they did as a means of getting blessed the same way they did. But it does not work like that.

An Example of a Formula

An example of a formula can be found in Kenneth E. Hagin’s book, Zoe. The God-Kind of Life. In this book, Hagin recounts the way in which he was unconsciously led (authors exact words) to pray according to Daniel 1:17. As a result of praying this prayer each morning on the way to school, Hagin was given supernatural ability. Hagin got straight A’s in tests from that moment on and he also developed a photographic memory. Now, we could all start praying that prayer with the same expectation.

But notice how Hagin was unconsciously led? I don’t believe it was just an idea that Hagin came up with himself, apart from God. In other words, it was the Holy Spirit who prompted him to pray that way. Who says that we can all be blessed like that if we pray that prayer? Sure, we can learn something from that experience I suppose. But we cannot make that experience into a formula to receive a blessing.

There are also many other formulas used in self-help practices. An example of this is the classic self-help book, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Dr. Joseph Murphy. Throughout his book, Dr. Murphy provides anecdotes, which may or may not be true-life incidents. In these anecdotes, a formula will be provided, describing what what affirmations they used, followed by positive experiences which followed.

Principles and the Old Testament Law

Many years of principle-teaching can become very frustrating and can harm a person's self-esteem because they are given standards to fulfil which they find they cannot reach. For this reason, the teaching of principles can be likened to the teaching of the law in that its only purpose was to show men how guilty they were and how futile their efforts were when it came to living an effective life:

19 Well then, why were the laws given? They were added after the promise was given, to show men how guilty they are of breaking God's laws. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of Christ, the Child to whom God's promise was made. (And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who then gave them to the people;

Galatians 3:19 TLB

Many Christians believe they have been given righteousness as a free gift by believing in Christ. But Christians tend to vary as to what that righteousness entails: some say that when a person is made righteous by faith, they no longer have to keep rules; but the majority of Christians believe that God has made them righteous by faith, but now they have to work towards maintaining various principles – which become another subtle form of rules, and therefore, futile self-effort.

It is often believed that if a Christian fails to maintain these principles, then God will withdraw His blessings from that person. Worse still, some Christians believe that a failure to live according to certain standards of holiness will actually cause them to come out of relationship with God and they will forfeit their right to enter into Heaven.