Jim and Jan Sharp, creators of the weekly remote study group, “Good Good Life,” know the battle believers can face understanding how to live as spiritual beings rooted in Christ.
The couple has walked through health challenges and spiritual battles, and now teach from their personal experiences to help believers live in the Spirit.
A shared passion for their faith in God inspired the Sharps to begin Good Good Life, which explores how believers can embrace the meaningful, abundant life God intends them to have.
Elements of the study are based on Jim’s book, “The Journeyman: Our Spiritual Journey to Experience God’s Love,” and learners discover how to live in the Spirit by first understanding they are spiritual beings made in the image of God. Then the group explores a believer’s spiritual identity and Christ’s transformative power for overcoming anxiety, stress, fear and other spiritual strongholds.
In a recent TAB Amplify podcast, the Sharps explained how to employ five spiritual skills: adopting an eternal lens, developing a heart of gratitude, controlling one’s thoughts, listening to the Holy Spirit and putting on the armor of God.
Adopting an eternal lens
Children often formulate their identity from labels placed on them by others, Jim noted, creating a paradigm for how they view themselves and the world around them.
“God [wants] us to shift that to view things more from His perspective instead of ours and [learn] how He views other people,” Jim explained. “I can look at somebody and [say], ‘I don’t know if I really like that person.’ But God’s … not a respecter of people. Acts clearly says that God loves everybody. He loves all of us unconditionally, so that really becomes the paradigm at the core of this eternal lens.”
An individual’s view of themselves and the world filters everything they do in life, from their actions and choices to how they respond in relationships. Learning to view life from God’s perspective guides believers to see themselves and others through the truth of His Word, Jan said.
Developing a heart of gratitude
Developing a heart of gratitude can have physical and spiritual effects, reducing aggression as well as improving sleep and overall psychological health, she noted.
“You actually have more and deeper social connections when you can have this heart of gratitude,” she explained. “It enhances self-esteem when we can focus on the things that we are grateful for, the people we are grateful for, and we’re not so focused on what we may not have or what we wish we had.
“Gratitude is going to help improve our own self-esteem and then it will improve mental strength. So not only is it good for our psyche, but it can make us sharper, better decision-makers.”
Controlling one’s thoughts
Controlling thoughts is vital to living in the Spirit, Jan added. Thoughts can act like a control tower for what believers say and do, but by asking the question, “Where are you as a result of how you’ve been thinking,” believers can discover how thoughts drive their actions and sometimes lead to bad decisions.
“We have to be very cautious every day about the decisions we make, about the choices we make, because God gives us free will,” Jim noted. “That is a gift He’s given us. But we make the choice — as Paul says in Romans 8 — we make the choice every day to either live in the flesh or live in the Spirit.”
Some believers battle loneliness, Jim continued, and the COVID-19 pandemic forced many into isolation. Without connection to community, individuals can lapse into negative thoughts, feeling a void only the Holy Spirit can fill.
Listening to the Holy Spirit
Hearing from the Holy Spirit requires intentionality, awareness and practice, Jan said.
“It comes from a place of humility.”
“We’ve got to be in a place of humility and tranquility to hear from the Holy Spirit,” she reflected. “[It] is not a fleshly intuition or desire. … It’s all about being in His presence. So we have to quiet the noise; we need to silence the voices that are around us.”
Putting on the armor of God
Believers often feel as if they are under attack, Jim noted, and wearing the armor of God enables them to stand strong against the enemy’s weapons of deception, accusation and temptation.
“We like to look at it as a tug of war between us and Satan, we’re battling back and forth. … [The battle] was won on the cross. We don’t have to defeat Satan. That’s not our purpose of wearing and carrying the armor of God. It is to protect us and to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to protect us.”
To learn more check out the Amplify podcast at thealabamabaptist.org/podcast.
