Blending In

When Constantine (Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus) became the first ‘Christian’ Roman Emperor, and proclaimed religious toleration throughout the empire and in making Christianity the State religion, was it no longer a novel or dangerous thing to be known as one who followed Christ?

No more threats of persecution because it was now all acceptable, palatable, heck, everyone could be known as a Christian by blending into the crowd.
This happened in the third century A.D. Is it going to take a shorter time or longer period before the ‘free rangers; those ‘out of the box’ those outside of the institutional religious systems to become the norm as it became in A.D. 3?

Rich

An Open Heart

The following is an excerpt from Bill Landon’s book, “The Devil You Don’t know.”

The only thing that a child of God can bring to the Father to assure success in their search for Him is an open heart. It is in this truth that we can see how poisonous the religious organizations of men are to this process. The religious organizations of men work to close the heart of the believer. This is done to protect the organization’s influence, doctrine or agenda.

How can we or anyone put limits on the God of the entire universe? This is ludicrous. Only by standing in complete openness to the Father’s instruction and leading can we ever hope to find Him. I believe that the Father allows this tension between the religious and the spiritual to force us to come to Him and Him alone. The friction between these two elements (religion and spiritually) is a superbly effective way of forcing us to choose between the Father and the world. More to the point, we must choose between the Father and the world.

This is what it means to seek God with an open and undivided heart. How heartbreaking it is to see the children of God seeking the Father and failing. They do not fail because the Father ejects them and they do not fail because they are defective. Rather, the children of God fail to find the Father because they seek “another god.” They seek the god that fits in with their doctrine, ministry or agenda. They seek the God that fits their ambitions and life style. In truth, this is not the Father at all but some foreign god: Joshua 24:15. This is the same root cause for the failure of the unsaved people of the world to find the one true God.

The Father will not and indeed cannot honour such seeking. For the Father to honour this kind of seeking would require God to be less than what He truly is. He will, however, continue to call to His children to come to Him and Him alone. If we do this we will find the Father in that deep, personal relationship of a child and parent that is God’s most cherished wish for us.”

Rich

Free to Choose

We have all been indelibly stained within our thinking; the basis of truth (reality) for us is founded upon and defined in a lie, how we see/perceive ourselves according to our fleshly mind sets.
These fleshly mind sets are bummer birth marks we wish we could ignore, cover up or remove, and in fact we do our best to do just that. There is NO escape apart from the Truth.

I love the story about Gideon and how he was adamant in going ‘toe to toe’ with the Angel of the Lord who had cut through the lies he had grown up believing about himself. What nerve!
The Father of our spirit is not into flattery or trickery; he only speaks the truth of who He is and who we are in Him.
What we do is to try and set God straight by informing him of our inconsistent at best track record, usually things that define who we are in contrast to the conflicting message God says to be true about us.

In the case of Gideon, this other worldly encounter with the angel interrupts Gideon by calling him a ‘mighty warrior, or mighty man of valor,’ and this is not based upon whether or not it has come to pass yet, nonetheless it is the truth. Our Father always agrees with and rejoices in the truth.
Was it or is it any different now as it was then, was God talking about what was possible in the future, or was he telling him/me about our future?

I love this quote from Darin Hufford; “When God looks at you, He calls you by a name that has nothing to do with your present situation or mindset. Be excited about that and stop calling yourself the lying names of your present. There is a truth about you that is so wonderful and enticing that God cannot contain Himself whenever he looks at you. He sees that and only that. God truly rejoices with the truth about you.”

It is very easy to get all hyped up on a buzz we think is God especially after coming out of what my friend Dave said here: “And we know how easy it is, when once we've come through a fiery trial, to see and think more clearly and say how we should think/act/react,” but the truth our Father speaks to us is founded in reality and reality more often than not seems to violate what we think or feel. Any progress in moving forward if rooted in an emotional high of coming out on the other side of a dark night of the soul will soon leave us out of gas on the side of the road.

The truth of my future is rooted in the Truth of what Father says about me right now, this moment, and in my case He says to me, “Richard, I have not given you a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind!”
Is He asking me to agree with Him, to believe this is true based upon some emotionally charged atmosphere or because He cannot lie? I am choosing to believe it is the latter. Like wise, the choice is yours.

Rich

Every Breath You Take

Seemingly out of nowhere this alarming and persistent message washes over me like the warm summer waves as I sit by my favourite lake, “Son I so want to celebrate you and everything you do.” This just doesn’t register with how fear has shaped my thinking, or how I see myself as one deemed undesirable.
This road block is somehow being overcome within my heart by a way and means of someone greater than me.

I know God is Love, but in my heart, I am being awakened to see, experience the truth of what I so glibly spout. I feel at times my heart will stop because of the over load, as he whispers yet again, “Son, I cherish you.”

The video clip I’m using here is from the Police singing, “Every Breath you take,” it resonates within my spirit not as a giant cop in the sky, or a spy just waiting for my next screw up to pounce on me, but rather of a doting eager Father passionately filled with deep compassion for me, His son.

Rich

My Recent Struggles

In my recent struggles I sensed Father whispering this into my heart; The miracle of your being reborn was to BE with me, and I have made it totally possible for you to be as close to me as I am now to you. I became totally man, your brother, in order for you to believe that we can totally relate, and out of this will come forth a growing relationship because I need you.

You have yet to comprehend that when I created the first man Adam who became a living soul, I pronounced over him, “This is very good.” Son, that pales in comparison to what has been done in you through that last Adam my son Jesus Christ who has made you fully alive, so much more than just a living soul. I want you to know I have been smitten by you! I didn’t cause you to become fully alive to bring me glory, but for one purpose alone, to BE my loved and cherished son in whom I delight.

Rich

Apart From Me

Visit my ministry web site at www.allyouneedtoknowandicanhelpyou.org Funny, can you imagine hearing Jesus or Paul saying, “I have produced a wide variety of resources to help you grow in your relationship with me, and if you don’t get them, you will flounder like a fish out of water, so do it just for the halibut.”

Where the early Christians a superior breed of believers without the aid of the plethora smorgasbord availability of ‘grace tools’ we have today, or was it that they simply availed themselves of the grace that was already theirs in Christ?

Was the message of’ Christ in you the hope of glory’ or ‘It is no longer I that lives, but Christ’ something that only became an experiential reality as long as there was some anointed Guru there to lead them in a twelve step program?

Is it possible that the Church Jesus is building would be flushed down the toilet if those with their successful ‘grace’ ministries were no longer able to speak into our lives? What would happen if I was to never read another ‘Christian’ book, listen to another pod cast, scroll down my list of blogs in my reader, or fail to connect with another believer other than my wife, would it look and sound like the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz when she was splashed by the water Dorothy threw on the Scarecrow, screeching out, “I’m melting, I’m melting.”

It’s wonderful to be able to read, listen and learn from so many avenues, but Jesus said, ‘Apart from me, you can do nothing.’ Is my increased knowledge of grace causing me to grow up in Him or is it retarding it?

Rich

His Loved Child

In listening to the latest podcast from Wayne and Brad on the God Journey, Wayne was sharing how so much of what he is now involved with came as a result of trying to (listen) follow through on those ‘God nudges’ he’s received over the years. I totally agree with what he has said, but where he is at now in being able to follow through on these God nudges has to be the result or fruit of learning, discovering, growing in the total unconditional loving acceptance of God the Father. I do not want to put words into anyone’s mouth, but as for me, I am learning that there is nothing more important, or powerful than discovering experientially what it means to BE loved-nothing!

None of us has escaped the hideous birth defect of being brought into this world of conditional love, therefore learning from birth that our right performance will win/earn us some positive results as far as our flesh is concerned, yet leaving an empty hole in our heart.
How does one not misinterpret those God nudges within a mind set that has been trained to interpret everything we do out of a performance based action on our part?If the reality of the Father’s love does not break through and penetrate our inner most being, we will with sincere intentions try to buy, earn the Father’s affections when He simply wants to freely and lovingly give them to us.

In the story of the generous father in Luke 15, I see this clearly depicted when the wayward younger son comes to his senses and journeys back home (was this one of those God nudges). After speaking out his rehearsed confession of sinning against heaven (God) and his father stating he will now work as one of the hired servants to earn his father’s trust and affections, his father stops him in the middle of it only to lavishly pour out his heart of deep love and gratitude for this lost, dead son who has come home.This extravagant display of unearned and needless waste of affection according to the elder brothers warped understanding of what love is all about does not go unnoticed. He lost no time in quickly comparing his outstanding behaviour to this low life brother that tries to worm his way back into the family picture.

In the joyous celebration freely initiated by the Father for his returned son, the other son is disgusted with these inappropriate displays of affectionate and refuses to enter into the festivities. His father sees he has to address this and in so doing skips right over this son’s scripted rehearsed need to have his father recognize his impeccable track record of serving him by saying; And he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’

Without unpacking and discovering that the Father not only loves us but likes us, we will continue to try and earn, work for that which can only be received as an unearned Gift!

Rich

Are you talking to Me?

I love how Father is able to cut right through the malarkey in our lives that tries to keep us looking so good on the outside, but in fact says, 'Hey I want to open a window here in this moment and air out the stink~ha!

Here is a quote from Oz Chambers that triggered the above thought; "I can be so rich in poverty, so rich in the consciousness that I am nobody, that I shall never be a disciple of Jesus; and I can be so rich in the consciousness that I am somebody that I shall never be a disciple. Am I willing to be destitute of the sense that I am destitute? This is where discouragement comes in. Discouragement is disenchanted self-love, and self-love may be love of my devotion to Jesus."

Rich

Sharing Life

Every summer ever since we moved into our new neighbourhood three years ago, usually in July we get together for a block party/meal/get together.
It is always a wonderful time to say the least. I always go away so deeply impacted by the wealth of richness each and every one of these dear people has experienced in their individual lives, and how that spills out into our conversations over a pot luck meal lovingly shared together.
On a surface perusing you would simply miss out on the wealth of how they have been shaped through the good, bad and ugly of every day living.

Somehow in our once a year get together it never seems to be an issue of detailing our identity’s, ‘what do you do.’ It’s more of a free flow melding of enjoying life and freely sharing it amongst each other.

I'm use this illustration to point to something just as important that has bothered me for some time.
Much of my reading, interacting is with fellow family and friends those outside of the institutional settings, not saying that connecting with those still in the institutional settings is not possible, but! More often than not any sharing that would take place is usually a channeling of what their Priest, Pastor, or Rabbi has said that usually eclipses anything that they would ever think or feel as being meaningful or important.

I so want to try and get this out where I can see what I’m trying to say, as I see it being most important.
Why is there in the minds of so many this groupie, personality worship thing anyway? Meaning, is it not the same Spirit, Life, Seed, Christ in all who have been reborn, then what makes one life more important than another simply because one has a prefix of Dr, Reverend, or Pastor before their name?
What are they afraid of, is not simply being one of the guys enough for them? Is there a ‘status’ bestowed on them that exceeds what we all have in Christ?

If we are to NO longer know anyone after the flesh, even those as Paul said who walked with the Christ as Jesus of Nazareth, we are to no longer relate with one another in this worldly manner.
Please hear my heart if you dare, I love reading, listening to pod casts etc, but in my doing so I am simply hearing, listening to the voice of my Father expressing Himself uniquely through these people no differently than those who have NO callings, anointing, podiums to promote their weekly pod casts, books or seminars or webs sites.
Unfortunately as my wife shared in my last blog entry it seems that it is a given when the name of a certain individual is dropped, it appears to be synonymous with God himself speaking, rather than the Father uniquely speaking, sharing His heart through His body which IS the Church!

I love seeing and hearing how the Father of our spirits is making Himself ever so real, causing such a vibrant living reality to be theirs without any need to acknowledge any one other than the Father himself working through a myriad of ways. I am thrilled we can learn of the Father through anyone and not just through the ‘pedigreed professionals.’

“And I will build my Church”!

Rich

Kindness

Kindness has a force behind it that literally crushes the power of fear and jump starts the heart.

One of my favourite quotes from the Shack.

"Mack, if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."

Religion

One of the most liberating benefits of coming to know or experience the unconditional love and acceptance of God my Father is in becoming more and more ‘me’, the person He purposed me to BE.

One of the things I have struggled with for a long time now in knowing it is His love alone that not only brings definition and fulfillment into our lives is this: why is it that those who were once heavily involved within the religious establishments as ‘leaders’ quickly pick up labels that point back to a former definition of who they were? How can one NOT come to an erroneous conclusion when they still see themselves having a ‘ministry’? How can this not establish a preferred status as being those who are ‘anointed/called/having a ministry’ and those who are but ‘followers’ of Christ?

How much religious activity is able to make the guilt and shame a person faces go away?
Is not knowing who’s we are, and who we are, the sick reasoning behind having to be still know as someone that is somehow not just a mere follower of Christ?

Why is it that if it is the same, only true life, wisdom, discernment, knowledge etc. available to ALL, that there is this needed, “Hello my name is not just a believer” but?

Rich

Ultimate Good

It has always been the Father’s intention that we experience His heart beat, Life and life in its fullness.

I’m speaking here primarily to those who have had an encounter of the most holy kind, having been reborn. At one time as the Scriptures succinctly put it, we were, “by nature children of wrath, and son’s of disobedience.”The only source of guidance we had operating within us before being reborn was the moral guidance from the father of lies, ‘you are of your father the devil” Jesus said.

There are many who see it this way in being reborn, Satan out when God comes in. Unfortunately I do not see the devil being vaporized in our being saved, but his moral guidance was NO longer our source for living. Nonetheless he is very much present within our flesh, and if we so choose to not abide in Him our only life, then because there are No vacuums the amoral soul-self will be governed by the one who use to be our father, the devil.
It is important to realize that Satan never was a real father; in fact he was the one who usurped the rightful place of God in our lives through our free will choice.

The knowledge of good and evil has so corrupted our thinking we are no longer able to discern or recognize the truth apart from having to discover it as a result of going a way that appears to be right, only later to discover, how could I have been so blind to not see?
This is usually after much hurt and pain that was self inflicted through our blinded choices we made in trying to live independently from the life of our Father.

I was finally finishing up a book by Paul Anderson-Walsh, ‘Until Christ is Formed in You’ when I came across some thoughts that seemed to confirm what I believe I am seeing to BE the truth of Christ being fully formed in us.

“Of all the grace lessons I have ever had to come to terms with, this is certainly among the most difficult. I was so wedded to self-effort and self-authentication that it was necessary for Him to allow me to be swallowed up with the pain of trying to make my life work apart from Him before I would turn to Him.”

“The only desire of the Lord is to bless us but He blesses on His terms and herein lies the conundrum- what He calls a blessing, we often think of being accursed and vise versa.”

I am seeing more and more the wisdom of my loving Father allowing me full freedom to choose His way or mine, and often it does come down to wanting my way. The beauty of this is He is not neglecting me, but knowing full well that there will BE consequences to those choices, and hopefully the intense pain and anguish from this will be a wonderful motivation in turning from self-reliance to Him, a goal He is ruthless in His pursuit of.

Rich

Darkness

Part one is over here.

The blindness of the world, both Christian and non-Christian, comes from within ourselves. Out of our desire to be ‘righteous’ through our own efforts we create blackness. It is through the desire of the self to see itself as moral and upright that we are led into the deepest deception.

In this regard those people who elect to follow Satan openly are possessed of a clearer vision of what they are about than most of humanity. Witches and Satan worshipers at least openly acknowledge and understand who it is they serve. They are deceived only in the understanding of the true nature of the one they serve.

Most of humanity serves Satan without knowing or admitting it. The unsaved world serves Satan while they think they are “looking out for number one.” Even Christians unwittingly serve the evil one when they insist on abiding in a physical orientation (practicing carnal Christianity). In all these cases the prop that Satan uses for his disguise is “self.”

When we allow the independent self to operate unchecked, we are allowing the leading of Satan to provide our moral direction. The self that is directed toward the flesh and primarily concerned with the physical world is influenced by the evil one. This is what Paul refers to as the “sinful nature”: “For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.” (Galatians 5:17).

Remember that Paul is addressing these comments to Christians and not to unbelievers. The only creature that desires what is contrary to the Spirit is Satan (John 8:44). The term “sinful nature” in the NIV rendering of this verse is translated more literally in the King James as “the flesh.” It is a hard truth but when we stop abiding in the Christ in our spirit we must seek elsewhere for our moral guidance. Once we turn our attention to the world we are open to the direction of Satan in our flesh.

Before we despair, we should remember that Christians have an advantage over the rest of the world in this matter. As Christian’s, we are advantaged over the world in this struggle in two key areas. First, we have the leading of God available to us. We have the life of Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit resident in our spirit. This is the only cure the Father provides for this situation. The cure is provided but we must avail ourselves of it. Second, through the teaching of the Holy Spirit, we have the knowledge of the truth of this spiritual situation available to us. Again, however, we must avail ourselves of that truth.

Some of these thoughts are mine, but most are from my friend Bill Landon, from his book: The Rise and Fall of Self

Rich

Identity Crises

Taken from, The Life That is Real Life

The plan and purpose of the entire creation is about life. To put it another way, we do not do to be—we do what we do out of our surrender to our being (nature). What I mean by this is that the life we are submitted to determines our actions and not the other way around. Every living thing produces actions that are consistent with the nature that operates in them. The born again are a little different in this aspect of living because of our free will. We still produce actions consistent with a nature; however, we can choose a nature to obey.

With the born again, we choose to either follow a false life nature (the flesh) or our true life nature (Christ in our spirit). The important point here is that we never produce a nature by doing. Rather, our nature dictates the doing of our life. You cannot grow in the life of the Father by doing. You can only grow in the Father’s doing by growing in your living by the Father’s life.
The problem with the view of much of Christianity in this topic suffers from an error in sequence. Our doing can only properly come out of the life we have in us. We do the work of the Father only as we let our doing flow out of the influence of the life of Christ in us.

This is the doing that arises out of the spontaneous living of the Father’s life. This kind of living cannot be directed by an external organization or by another individual or even by oneself. When we are engaged in the Father’s business we are letting the life of Christ rule over us. The important thing to remember is that our doing comes out of our life and not our life coming out of our doing. This is why you cannot work your way into God’s favor.

In this we see the same principle at work in each individual as it is at work in the universe. Remember, God will correct the problems of the world by replacement and not by repair (Revelation 21:1). The father does the same thing with each person. We are saved from our original life condition by replacement. Every person comes into the world with a flawed life—a life directed by the flesh. When we accept the gift of life through Christ we are made new by the transforming power of a new life in our spirit: (2Corinthians 5:17). In salvation we have a replacement of our old life situation by a new life opportunity. This is entirely Christ’s work and none of our own.
The only thing that is acceptable to the Father is the Son. This is why every born again believer is right now totally and eternally acceptable to the Father. Do what you will; you will never be more acceptable to the Father than when you consented to let Christ become your only life. If you have never submitted to letting Christ live in you then the converse is true. Without the life of Christ in you no amount of works or doing will make you acceptable to the Father. Your acceptability to the Father is a result of the life that now operates in you. This is exclusive of any doing.

Rich

Blinded by the Light: Addendum

In my last blog entry, I included a link to Kent’s site, Faithfully Dangerous. I wanted to illustrate some thoughts I had, and it was not intended to be a criticism to what he shared. More to the point, it was an opportunity for me to put forward many new thoughts I had that his comment triggered, so thanks, Kent!

His blog entry was entitled “Hope In Our Brokenness”, and the key word that leapt out at me was ‘brokenness.’ Because of not seeing clearly and by that I mean allowing our Father to open our eyes to the truth of what a ‘nature’ actually is comprised of, it is only natural that we define this. For clarification, brokenness is that which has permeated all of humanity. None have been born into this world escaping that inevitable brokenness - none.

The title, ‘Blinded by the Light’ is a graphic illustration of what actually happened in the garden when the ‘angel of light’ a.k.a. the serpent, offered an eye-opening temptation, that Adam and Eve could become their own god. Funny thing is, this alleged illumination totally blinded them from seeing and knowing just how incarcerated they had become to the flesh.

It is out of this blindness that we have defined our position on what is good and bad behaviour. But wasn’t that the same mind set back in Jesus’ day when He was disparagingly accused of being a ‘friend of sinners’? You know, the ‘broken ones’ - those who’s badly flawed behaviour indicated that they needed professional help. Of course these self-righteous ones were only too obliging to bring these misguided sinners under their imposed control.

Like then, the deception that still keeps us all bound, especially those of us who do NOT see that apart from His nature (no matter how flawless our living appears to be), a bad nature (tree) cannot produce good fruit.

Maybe it’s time to ask the only One who is able, to open our blinded eyes to see unmistakably and NO longer to appraise (judge) anyone after the flesh!

Rich

Why do You Call me Good

The following are some thoughts included with those of my friend Bill Landon from his book, The Life That is Real Life.

The video clip is one I chose to visually illustrate this opaque matter of actions and motivations.

Rich




We may pride ourselves in being perceptive, the fact is that many times we don’t know enough about the whole picture to know what is good and what is bad simply by outward appearances. One major reason for this deceptive appearance of our actions is motivation. We often do things not because they are good but because we want to look good (have a good reputation). On the other hand we do things that are wrong simply because we want to do them. If our actions are self-serving or just wrong we justify or rationalize the wrong of those actions in our own minds.

I like how Jesus addressed/undressed the display window ‘righteousness’ worn within the religious establishment of his day. (Matthew 23:27).

The art of illusion is capable of causing us to believe what our eyes are witnessing could not be anything but the truth, or is it?
Many actions that appeared to be good or charitable seen at first glance might later show up being profoundly evil or at best self-serving.
The only truly good act is the deed done from a pure heart in surrendered obedience to the Father’s will. This is the first big clue we have that the there is a good deal more to doing than we have been led to believe by the religious organizations of the world.

Our view at best is but the tip of the ice-berg regarding the motivations of a person interior; they are hidden from our observation. In the end, the motivations of our hearts are an issue between each of us and the Father. We can recognize the purely evil deed but beyond that the picture is obscure. This lack of clarity comes from the fact that all actions are a combination of the act itself and its driving motivation. In our lives what we do and what we see others doing is a collection of deeds that are “good bad” (good act, bad motivation), “bad good “(bad act, good motivation), “bad bad” (bad act, bad motivation) and “good good” (good act, good motivation).

Unconditional Love

The whole basis of the Father’s love is its unconditional nature. God loves because He is God and not because of anything we do or fail to do. It is sad that we can make statements like if we do something nice in the world then God does something nice for you. This sounds strikingly like blackmail or extortion. This is such a gross disservice to our Father.
We have been mired in the organizational and worldly ways of acting and understanding for so long that they have clouded our thinking. As a result of this muddled thinking we can’t seem to come beyond our worldly understanding. This is not to say that our actions don’t have consequences. Everything we do has some sort of repercussion---good or bad. Make no mistake about this; the Father will let us deal with the consequences of our actions. This is not a question of rewards and punishments but rather the actions of a loving parent. If we don’t have to deal with the consequences of our actions we will never have any opportunity to learn and grow from these situations and circumstances (both good and bad).

Rich

Unpredictable

Often the predictability that is offered in organizations especially within the religious ones is something that deeply appeals to our need for a sense of control in our lives, but is that living, or existing?

I’m putting together some thoughts on this matter taken from my friend Bill Landon that he has made available in his book, The Life That is Real Life.
And some of these thoughts are in my opinion tied in with and addressing some of the lengthy conversations taking place over at With Unveiled Face-I’m Still Lookin’…

In trying to keep things visually clear I will delineate what Bill has to say by italicizing his quotes and leave my thoughts in there original font.

One of my favorite sayings from the Scriptures is, “In Him we live, move and have our being”, the life of the Father is alive, active and it wants to fully animate us in ways we have yet to experience.

The life of God is active and moving. There is no way we can pin down God’s life or codify it in a static teaching. Just when we think we have God all mapped out and nailed down He disappears and pops up in another place and form. Organizations, as static entities simply do not have the flexibility or mobility to keep up with a living God. We must remember that organizations themselves are not living entities. However, they do take on a kind of life. The kind of life organizations have is a “dead life.” A dead life is an existence. Organizations exist but they do not grow and move moment by moment.
Most religious organizations are proud of how long they preserved their traditions. This in the end, is the purpose of religious denominations: To preserve a tradition, not to grow and spontaneously live.

I especially like these thoughts Bill shared; The most frightening thing about a living relationship with the Father is its spontaneous nature. After we clear the hurdle of experiencing God’s love firsthand we must confront this challenge. I know that God loves me and does not seek my destruction but rather my ultimate good. Unfortunately, I do not know what constitutes “ultimate good.” Only the Father knows the ultimate of anything. This makes my relationship with the Father unpredictable.

It is important to note here that the unpredictable nature of living relationship with the Father does not arise out of any changing nature of the Father. The Father is unchanging and this is the rock upon which we all stand. (Hebrews 13:8) The problem is that we know nothing of ultimate realities. In this, we must live by trusting the unfailing love of the Father. You cannot have a living relationship with the Father and at the same time demand to never be surprised. This is a result of both our limited knowledge and God’s sovereignty. We must accept a changing life condition because we are not yet completely made into the fullness God intends for us. (1John 3:2)

It is for the purpose of introducing predictability into our living that we establish religious organizations and the doctrines that define them. A doctrine sets bounds and parameters on life and our relationship with the Father. The reality, however, is that the Father is boundless. Our relationship with Him is also boundless. Any attempt to doctrinalize God or our relationship with Him is therefore doomed to failure. The Father’s desire for all of us is that we will live in boundless relationship with Him. It is only in this way that God can fully be God in our life. It is only in this way that we can fully experience the life that is real life.

On the flip side; people, in many cases cling to organizations because these institutions are predictable. The religious organizations of men offer a solid, unchanging, predictable routine. With an organization I know what is expected of me. I can plan out fifty weeks or fifty years ahead. Unfortunately, in life the only things that never change are God as the base of all life and the things that are dead. Not a plant or animal or any other thing in the living world remains the same—if it is alive. Life is a changing condition. We may not like this reality but we will have to come to some level of acceptance of it because it is true.


Rich