Spirituality is how we live out the story. In our faith tradition, we have a tendency to live out our faith with great human effort. Human effort is good.
We are called to hold to (abide) the teaching of Jesus. But Jesus makes it clear that we don’t need to abide alone (we can’t). Rather, he’s given us the Holy Spirit as a helper so we can live for God and in God.

One of the features of Thread is a focus on spirituality. We want to become more Spirit-reliant as we live out our faith. Everyone has a spirituality, even people who don’t seem very “spiritual” or who reject the faith.

In this lesson, we examine some of the distinct features of your spirituality (how you live out your faith).

Human (non-spiritual) efforts to follow God are tempting because we remain in control. If we, as individuals, or as church leaders and churches, try to
have too much control over our experiences with God, we can feel like we’re being active and effective in our faith, even though such efforts don’t
take much faith, if we’re honest.

Jesus describes the Spirit in John 3 to Nicodemus as a wind that blows where it pleases. The Spirit takes the lead and the spiritual life is wind-blown.
It’s powerful and it’s often out of our control.

Prayerfully consider who is in control in your life and leadership:

• In what ways are you controlling things?
• How are you allowing the Spirit to lead your life?
• How are you making space for the Spirit to work in your church?