His Palpable Presence

Blessed are the disturbed, for they shall know the God and Father of all comfort.
The storm was brewing even before going to bed last night, it wove its relentless burrowing way deep into my inner being even after entering the land of snooze. The energizing of His spirit was already starting to get my attention before I went to bed, in so much as I felt directed to put up a new piece on my blog that deeply spoke to me.
While sleeping, a world of the unexplainable opened up to me, as it is most often that way when I dream, all I know was as I was waking this morning I was certain of these words which I kept saying over and over, “I will not apologize anymore.”

Reflecting on this and sharing it with my wife as she was getting ready for work I began to see this erosion that had been creeping into my soul, as it were a drifting away somehow from the One who is my ALL. The subtlety of this invasion was most disturbing, but sobering.
Somehow I had given over to entertaining thoughts that had nothing to do with the truth of Who’s I am, almost as if I was allowing myself to become invisible, blending in much like a chameleon does in camouflaging its-self and for all intents disappearing.

I sensed Father lovingly but most firmly speaking to me, "Is this who I have called/made you to be, are you going to settle for fear misshaping and disfiguring you? Are you going to hide behind the lies I have broken over your life, or are you going to rise up in my strength, and BE the man/son I have purpose you to be?"
In answering from deep within my heart-YES, there was awakened a surge of power/strength I knew was not due to anything I could muster up.

Your signature of love is deeply written into my being, Father you’ve called me to BE a communicator, to speak forth your heart of love and encouragement to those whose arms are falling at their side, whose knees are beginning to buckle, whose hearts are about to cave in.
As Peter launched out onto the very word Jesus spoke to him, “come” and stepped out of the security of the physical and walked on water, I too am stepping out and embracing Him and in so doing embracing His delight in ways I have yet to imagine.

Rich

An Opened Heaven

The following excerpt from Austin Sparks has sparked something wonderful in me. First I want to share a few ‘heavenly’ scriptures to consider.

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.”

“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.”

I wonder if this heavenly realm we now live in, in Christ is all part off why we need the eyes of our heart opened to see what is ours now. “God's thought is not merely that we might go at last to heaven, not just that, but that now we should know what life in heavenly union with Himself means, and what all the resources of heaven mean for our lives here on this earth, that we should enjoy now every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. That is a great word of the Apostle Paul. Heaven is something vast for present enjoyment, for present experience.”

Rich

“If there is one thing more than another which the Word of God makes clear it is that heaven is closed to man in his unregenerate state. You will find that to be the case wherever you may look in the Word of God. The very elaborate provision made for man to draw near to God at all is itself a declaration that access to God cannot be taken for granted. It is not a thing available without very special provision. Associated with everything provided for man in the Old Testament is the warning: Stand back! This is for you only on very special grounds. There is no advance. There is no approach. There is no access. I think it hardly needs labouring that the Word of God hammers out this fact, that to man in his unregenerate state heaven is closed.

Heaven is not only a place to which we may go. So many people have but one idea of heaven as the place to which you go at last if you are good. Well, it may be. We are all hoping to go there, but it is not in that particular sense that we are speaking of its being closed. The question of a closed or opened heaven is a very much greater matter than that. Heaven is a realm of God. A realm of everything belonging to and related to God; the realm of God and His things. It is the realm of fellowship with God, communion with God. Everything of meaning and value, of necessity and blessing for man's spiritual good, for man's eternal well-being, is bound up with heaven.

That is not something future, that is something for the present. God's thought is not merely that we might go at last to heaven, not just that, but that now we should know what life in heavenly union with Himself means, and what all the resources of heaven mean for our lives here on this earth, that we should enjoy now every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. That is a great word of the Apostle Paul. Heaven is something vast for present enjoyment, for present experience. The Psalmist said of Zion: "All my wellsprings are in thee." That is what the believer says of heaven, of Christ in heaven. That is heaven in present possession, and present enjoyment, and unless that is true now, before we leave this world, there is not much hope of our going to heaven at last.

These things of eternal value for our well-being, these things of God for our blessing, for our good, are not to be found in the world. Men have searched for them, and sought them in the world, but they have never been found there. They are in heaven, and can only come to us through an opened way to heaven.
But all this - and it is far more than ever we could detail, even were we to stay to speak of it for a very extended period - all that heaven means of resource and of blessing and value for time and for eternity is closed, is behind a closed door, as regards unregenerate men and women, even though they may be religious. One of the great snares which will keep multitudes out of heaven is religion. To be religious does not necessarily mean to have a heavenly life in union with the risen Lord."

Blinded by the Symptoms

One of the most tripped over words being, “obedience, only to be followed by submit,” has in my opinion successfully kept many outwardly responding to God, but a vacancy sign operating at a heart level.
It’s almost a no brainer when asking anyone as to what they think God required from Adam and Eve in the Garden, “obedience.”
I don’t doubt that God wants obedience, but maybe their disobedience was but a symptom of something He cared about far more deeply.

Reading from He Loves me (by Wayne Jacobsen) it says, “One can obey God and yet not trust him. We shall see that all disobedience flows out of mistrust in God’s nature and his intentions toward us. Thus the experience in the Garden wasn’t to demand their obedience but to incubate their trust.”

Relating to God out of love rather than obeying him out of fear is only possible where real trust presents itself, but without having the option of rejecting it, is there any real freedom?

“If obedience had been God’s only issue, don’t you think he would have made the whole scenario far clearer? He told them not to eat from that tree or they would die. He didn’t describe that death in detail. He could have told them how it would destroy his creation by bringing sin, disease, and relational brokenness into his world. It would cause them incredible pain, and not just for them but for all their offspring for thousands of years to come. He could have told them that all they needed to do was to eat first of the Tree of Life, so that they would be eternally innocent in his presence.
But he didn’t tell them. If he had they might have been obedient, but not because they trusted him. They would have obeyed only because it served their self-interest. God would merely have become a tool for their own fulfillment. Self would have still been at the center of their choice, and self would prevent them from discovering the full vitality of life in him. No, God didn’t tell them because he wanted something far better.
Neither did he interrupt the serpent to set the truth firmly in mind again. After all, he was there, wasn’t he? Or do you imagine him busy in heaven with his back turned at that critical moment? We know what Adam and Eve could not know then. They recognized him only when he cloaked himself in some physical manifestation and walked the Garden with them. They didn’t know that this God was present everywhere in his creation.
So why didn’t he intervene? Could it be the same reason Jesus didn’t send Peter home instead of letting him follow along to Caiaphas’s courtyard and the betrayal that would devastate him? God sees something redemptive even in letting us fail. He seems less concerned about our mistakes than how we respond to them. Do our mistakes lead us away from trusting in our own strength or wisdom and toward seeking what it means to put our trust in Him? If so, then he finds our failures worth the pain they cause.”

This is good news, the Father wants to have a relationship with us based solely on trusting Him instead of our self, and this will be done with NO compulsion on his part! We are free to reject his loving offer of life and its abundance.

Rich

Additional Thoughts-Prophetic People

I want to share some additional thoughts that Father has been speaking to me about.
I want to start here as a point of reference, please read the following first, if you haven’t already.

There has never been a separation or divorce between the “letter or the spirit,” from the Father’s perspective:
“who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
We are prone to establishing things such as using a word/s to try and definitively state what we mean using that word or words, but maybe much like the line from the movie, The Princess Bride, “maybe that word doesn’t mean what you keep saying it means.”
And one of those words is ‘the prophetic.’

I want to share something from a book by Brennan Manning, and in his case he is using a word, ‘discipleship,’ that I see tying in with my thoughts. Manning is in this portion quoting William Berry. “After the cure, as Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5:18-19). The man apparently did not bemoan this ‘rejection’ as an injustice. Rather, the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And ll the people were amazed.”

Apparently, this man was not called to radical discipleship. Yet he was called, as we are all called, to LISTEN attentively to God’s first word to us. This word is the gift of ourselves to ourselves: our existence, our nature, our personal history, our uniqueness, our identity. All that we have and are is one of the unique and never-to-be-repeated ways God has chosen to express himself in space and time. Each of us , made in his image and likeness, is yet another promise he has made to the universe that he will continue to love it and care for it.

However, even when faith persuades us that we are a word of God, we may remain ignorant of what God is trying to say through us. Thomas Merton wrote: “God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of Himself. A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it. But if I am true to the concept (reality) that God utters in me, if I am true to thought in him I was meant to embody, I shall be full of his actuality and find him everywhere in myself and fine myself nowhere. I shall be lost in Him.”

With endurance and perseverance we must wait for God to make clear what he wants to say through is. Such waiting involves patience and attention, as well as the courage to let yourself be spoken. This courage comes only through faith in God, who utters no false word.
It is this highlighted part here, He has spoken once again into the deep places of my heart, and I invite those whom He, the Father of your spirit has spoken to, to share any thoughts you might have on this.

One thing I know for sure, “there is no way we can straight jacket the Holy Spirit no matter how much we would sometimes like to. The Holy Spirit is the bearer of gifts and these gifts are sometimes lavished in peculiar places.” God bestows his grace abundantly but unevenly. He offers no explanation why some are called to radical discipleship and others are not.
Let’s continue to see a new depth of understanding in the words we are so familiar with, within the scriptures, perhaps there is a fresh-new discovery therein for you and me!

Rich

The Certainty within Uncertainty

I love this image, I looked for something under the search of unshakable, and this gem undeniably spoke of its power.
The spirit of our Father speaks from and into the deep places within us, far deeper than mere logic or common sense, he cuts through the uncertainties with an assurance that He can be depended upon. Let's look at that spoken by Him, this promise for us way back then, and its living unshakable evidence for us today.

Though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen,Though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted,Though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns empty,I'm singing joyful praise to God. I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.Counting on God's Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength.I run like a deer. I feel like I'm king of the mountain!

The scriptures like life are filled with apparent incongruencies or more to the point seemingly flagrant oxymoron’s.
One thing that is becoming undeniably clear to me is the uncertainty of daily life/events as well as it being unmistakably seen in flesh and blood people.

Does one as a Christ knower, have to apologize for the assurance, certainty that becomes the very fabric of their disposition as a result of becoming a new creation initiated through the finished work of the cross?
The following words, certainty, certitude, assurance, conviction, are nouns meaning at their root, freedom from doubt.
Maybe because so few of us as a Christ knower understand so little of how God the Father designed us in our physical makeup (spirit-soul-body), we are inclined to accept that when we are outwardly tossed to and fro in an ocean of doubt, all certainty and assurance is but wishful thinking?

Is it because we have been ruled by the prince of the air for most of our lives not only before being received of the Father, but in many if not most cases long afterward as well, meaning, if our point of reference is our soul instead of our spirit and it being in a union with God who IS a Spirit, what we think, feel, etc is the basis of reality then no wonder we resemble the tail shaking the dog-us!
Peace is a person, as is Truth, Life and Love are, but, peace is NOT the absence of war, conflict, disturbances, unsettledness, or any other thing that can unsettle our fragile world.

I love what Father is etching into the hearts of His children, it says within the Scriptures: “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he rewards those that diligently seek him.” Does grace have its own built in reward system?
Is faith something outside of the believer, is it a proverbial and vague “concept,” or is faith like everything else inseparable from the person of Christ in us as us?
Maybe what is freely available to us in Christ is this, “Now faith IS the substance of things hoped for, THE evidence of things not seen”!
Could it just be that because of sin and its corrupting, blinding influence upon all of nature as well as all humans included, there would be nothing more predictable than a steady diet of uncertainties?

Maybe as Papa is permitted to continue opening the eyes of our heart we WILL discover a resident unshakable, unmovable, and confidence and certainty of His stubborn and passionate Love for us that will Be the stability in the face of every uncertain myth-understanding?!
I would like to dive back into these very deep waters in the near future and further discover more hidden wonders and treasures He has waiting in the thick of all that is labeled as uncertain.

Rich

I had already posted this new entry before seeing this from He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen. What I’m quoting here was the result of a tremendous battle Wayne was going through with nagging bouts of insecurities and as he said;

“Though I could sustain the increased burden (of redoubling my efforts to be more committed) for a few weeks or months, I NEVER had any certainty that the things I was doing were enough to cause him to be delighted with me.”

It was because of a fresh revelation of the perfect work of God the Father on the cross through His Son that produced the following.

“That’s when it became clear. It is not the fear of losing God’s favour that takes us to the depth of fellowship with him and transforms our lives with his holiness. It is the certainty of knowing his unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness, and failure, that leads us to fullness of his life.Fear had never taken me to the depths of his life or his transforming power; discovering his delight has. I now know that the key to God’s favour doesn’t rest on what I give him but on what he already has given me.”

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

Look at me Dad

Even as I begin to write these words, I can barely see through the heart brokenness within spilling out through a flood of tears. Not tears of shame or guilt but of a sobering reality of my loving Papa saying to me, “Son, look at ME!”

How many of you that have kids and maybe there all grown up now remember back through their growing up years would reach out to you by saying, “Look at me dad?” Weren’t they wanting to see mirrored back to them through our hearts, eyes and waves, I am valued, I am special, my dad just said SO.

I missed out on mirroring back to my two precious children that total loving affirmation and acceptance of them for who they were and not for what they would be or could DO.
I was a father needing so badly a father to love me, I was alive but dead in not knowing I was totally loved, this prevented me from giving what I did not possess.

In reading more of He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen, I suddenly heard the voice of my heavenly Papa saying, “Son look at me, I’m here for you, I have never taken my eyes off of you, you are and have always been in my heart and thoughts.”
I sensed in a new way Father saying, “keep looking at me son, see mirrored in my heart/eyes, everything you will ever need. Son it is my delight to make known to you in the deepest places of your being, how pleased and proud I am of you, let’s explore together all that is, and yet to be yours.
As you learn to freely drink deep of my love, freely you will have me as your source to liberally give away!"

I feel very much like a small child learning the wonder of crawling, and yet hearing my Papa shout out, “That’s my son, look at him go!”

Rich

What’s Love Got to do With it

I am so enjoying the book He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen, the words from so many different songs are chiming within me, “Love is all you need.”

As Father continues doing what he alone does best, opening eyes to the reality of Him being Love, suddenly we begin to discover in Him in us as us a substance/evidence (Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen) we tried to obtain in having the right terminology/theology/facts!

As Jesus was soon approaching why he came, the cross, he succinctly and clearly pours out his heart to his disciples/friends about the necessity/urgency of his soon departure. Here is a sample of Jesus not wanting to leave them in the lurch. “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

From He Loves Me: “Could the invitation be any clearer? Jesus told his followers about a house, with a Father who waits for them to come and take their place in his home. Does this sound familiar?
We so easily miss the point of his words when we mistakenly relegate them to the distant future involving a second coming and mansions in heaven.”
The cross stands as the pivotal event in opening the door for us to dwell in the Father’s love.
He was going to open a door and return after the Resurrection to show them how to live in his Father’s house-the place in the Father’s heart he’s prepared for each one of them.
The disciples, however, couldn’t make sense of his words.

He went on to tell them they knew the way and where he was going. One of the disciples spoke up, “we not only do not know where you are going, but how can we know the way?”
The quick to the heart comment by Jesus: I am the way and the truth and the life!
He knew they were confused. He knew they didn’t understand all that he spelled out for them. But he cut through their fear based paralysis by saying, “You know me! I will get you there.” Notice how he focused not on the process they would have to follow, but on a person they would need to know. He took it right back to relationship again. “Stay with me; you’ll know everything you need to know.”

Is it really any different this side of the cross/resurrection, meaning if we do NOT know we are loved, is it any wonder that we resort out of fear and cling to establishing the right answers, theology having a great form but experiencing little to no substance?
Maybe it has never really changed, Him calling us into a living vibrant growing learning of him relationship. See the following.
Without knowing the author of the scriptures, is it any wonder why we flounder like fish out of water merely quoting what He said verses hearing Him the true and lasting Peace in us as us, in a world of turmoil/trouble?

Peace I give unto you!

Rich

Is it Just a Head Thing

A bloging friend/sister, free spirit has posted something I believe needs looking into, “Where Are You in All This.”

In reading her heart cry this morning, I saw not by my physical eyes but a much greater sight, the Father of her spirit doing the impossible within her, transforming her from within, freeing her to BE like a simple, trusting child-His! Actually it was as if I was seeing what it must be like when a woman becomes pregnant and the life of another beginning to be formed, put together within her. As David said in the Psalms, the inner, secret workings of the Father is all about knitting our unformed substance into fearfully and wonderfully expressions of His Father’s heart, one in who His declares before heaven and earth, “This is my beloved child in whom I AM smitten by, and I rejoice over your birth and re-birthing!”

“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works; And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skilfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written; The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are; your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”

The secret things belong to the Lord and unto those He chooses to reveal them to. Is there anything deeper than His unfathomable love for us-No!
It is imprinted, stamped within our spiritual DNA, the cry for Truth-Reality, it is all part of our ‘birth-right,’ the Father of our spirit is making Himself REAL to those who will NOT settle for anything less than Knowing Him, whatever it takes, its almost as if one is possessed in this holy/wholly pursuit.

Once again from our brother David; “Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of white-water rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then GOD promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God's prayer.”

I want to speak into some of what free spirit was longing for, the reality of His closeness, his embrace, not merely a vicarious relationship with Him via mere truthful speak.
For those who have read in my earlier posts some of what Papa has been doing within my dear brother and friend Ron’s heart, as he has stayed here with us for a period of time, this is one of those sudden real, living, tangible expressions of Him coming into what we call the ‘real world’ and embracing us.
Ron had left our place last Saturday evening to go back to his home town (actually our home town) to visit with family and cam back here early yesterday morning.
Father has done so much in such a short while in establishing a friendship between us that has far exceeded anything we have known in 26 years.
While we were sharing before he left to go back to Nova Scotia, there was a strong sense within my spirit that what I was about to say to Ron was more than just a warm fuzzy feel good inspirational buzz.

As I began to get the words out of my mouth, I turned and said, “Ron, I believe this is not a thus says the Lord thing, but you need to hear and know this, you have failed big time, but NEVER has your Father ever, ever seen you as a failure-NEVER!" Ron’s eyes welled up as his heart was invaded with just what he needed, and mine too, the reality of His intense closeness!

I so want to encourage my siblings in Christ to become His fool, no matter what it takes, no matter how you appear in your own minds reflection or in the eyes of others, be like that salmon that gives into that innate inner compulsion to do the impossible swim up stream knowing full well it will cost you your life. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus!!!

Rich

Prophetic People

I don’t know about others, but for me I have seen over the years in my own life a tendency to throw out the baby with the bath water.

It is truly amazing how easily we can take a word and petrify it making it to mean only one thing, and at best a static lifeless thing. Such a thing/word is this one, “Prophetic.”
In finishing up reading the Naked Church by Wayne Jacobsen which I have thoroughly enjoyed, I have been drawn to something Father is making clear to me that I have unintentionally thrown out with the bath water long ago dealing with the prophetic.

In my past I was used heavily in the so called prophetic, it was a common experience for me and I gravitated with those of a kindred disposition.
I will be right up front here; much if not all of whatever the Lord might have been doing through me in this arena was me trying to fit in, trying to establish an identity based upon this phenomenon happening through me. Who knows how many other things I have like wise dismissed in coming to know Him as my life, bottom line is, I am learning that my identity is and has nothing to do with what I have or don’t have but has everything to do with Who has me!

I want to quote from the Naked Church things that Father is greatly exciting me with dealing with the Prophetic.
“In our day heaven and earth are on tiptoe waiting for the emerging of a Spirit-led, Spirit-empowered people. All of creation watches expectantly for the springing up of a disciplined, freely gathered, martyr people who know in this life the life and power of the kingdom of God. It has happened before, it can happen again. (Wayne quoting Richard Foster).
You can’t have a hope like Richard Foster’s if you also don’t share his assessment: Individuals can be found here and there whose hearts burn with divine fire. But they are like flaming torches scattered in the night. As yet there has been no gathering of a people of the Spirit….Our century has yet to see the breaking forth of the apostolic church of the Spirit.”

“God desires to equip a generation of believers who can be what I call a prophetic people.
By that I don’t mean they are fortune-tellers, or angry people screaming about God’s wrath, but those who move outside the safety of church structures and terminology and into our starving world.
Church people think about how to get people into the church; kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; kingdom people work to see the church change the world.”

“Prophetic people recognize that the work of God always begins in someone’s life, where they are.”
“Prophetic people are preoccupied with Jesus. Regretfully, Christians often get sidelined by various aspects of the Christian experience. They jump on bandwagons such as spiritual gifts, apologetics, pet theologies, or specific methods of prayer or ministry.
Jesus in the believer is what this prophetic people are pointing to, He is the main attraction!”

“Prophetic people are of necessity courageous people. They are always going past their own sense of personal ease or competence to obey the Spirit. He wants us to touch the world with his power. This doesn’t mean that prophetic people are never afraid; they’re always afraid, but they find the courage to obey in spite of their fear.
The flow of God’s spirit lies beyond our own personal comfort. What Jesus did for us wasn’t comfortable, and if we don’t risk discomfort ourselves we’ll never discover the wealth of God’s power or the fruitfulness of incarnational ministry.”

“Prophetic people are led by the Holy Spirit-not plans, formulas, or learned techniques. In becoming prophetic this means I will be speaking what God is speaking. The gift of prophecy is the gift of insight. They Are learning to bring God’s insight into situations.
This is the heart of being a prophetic person: We bring God’s mind into the very situations in which we are involved. And the only way to do this is to be led by the voice of the Spirit.”

We are here so that others might see Him in us. None of us can escape that call, but if you’re growing in intimacy you won’t want to.

There is so much of His heart he longs to make known to us. The secret things belong unto the Lord and unto those he chooses to reveal them to.

Rich

A Special Work

Reading from Oz Chambers, this was one of those laser beams thrust into the nether regions within my heart, you know that hidden land where the motives and intentions and attitudes of the heart reside!

“There are no nations in Jesus Christ's outlook, but the world. How many of us pray with out respect of persons, and with respect to only one Person, Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced by distress and conviction of sin, and this is the harvest we have to pray that labourers may be thrust out to reap. We are taken up with active work while people all round are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord's time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father's life, in your brother's life, are you there as a labourer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? "Oh, but I have a special work to do!" No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ's own, one who is not above his Master, one who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest," and He will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.”

How many special things have identified me, a special work, I have a calling to do thus and so, continually being defined by still seeing myself after the flesh. It’s amazing the bull shit lies we are all so quick to imbibe in.
Any secret hidden faults undetected by us within our soul will become a landing pad for the lies of the enemy of our soul to bring us into his captivity! Those lies are always going to be dressed up and exude a tantalizing desire from within us to reach out and take whatever is being offered.

“There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way?
Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.”

“Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.”

If there is any other love other than His working within my heart, it’s only a matter of time before we wake up in just another expression of imprisonment/bondage.

This is NOT being shared with a underlying message of fear laced tactics, I see it being a wake up call to allow our hearts to BE engaged with his! This is pointing to Him our Prince of Peace, thing is, He has a very sharp sword in his hands, and he is most skillful in its application to that within our hearts!

I want to close with this freeing, but sober picture, and know this in what Father is saying through our brother Paul is an opportunity to experience the freedom from the deceptive inner heart divorce and simply going on doing all the “right” stuff, but totally lifeless!!!

“Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ.”

Rich

Awakened but Still Asleep

This morning I sensed Father saying too me, “That word you keep using, ‘awakened,’ maybe that doesn’t mean what you think it means.”
In fact I have used that word a lot and because of Him getting my attention, you know those crazy nudges he uses I am beginning to see what I was not seeing, in a much fuller way.

I heard this illustration a long time ago and it speaks graphically of what I want to open up here for further thought and conversation amongst my wonderful siblings.
It’s the story of a ship Captain who has become derelict in his duties and gotten himself so stone drunk he has passed out. Not realizing he has abandoned his role as the captain and not recognizing the seriousness of his ship floundering at sea because of a strong wind that has suddenly turned into a vicious ship eater.
Panic grips the hearts of the crew, where is the captain they yell out in desperation. One of the officers goes down to the captain’s cabin and finds to his horror the captain is in a drunken sleep. Shaking him violently he yells, the ship is about to crash upon the reef, we have to do something immediately sir. The captain although still intoxicated somehow understands what is being said, he then proceeds to the upper deck to assume his role of captain.

I’ve deliberately stopped the story here to further illustrate my point regarding the word awakened.
The reality of impending doom was soon realized by the captain, but simply being awakened did not automatically save the ship, he needed to act now that he was awakened.

Through out the body of Christ so many are being awakened, but this does not guarantee that they are or will take the needed and necessary steps of addressing the seriousness of their situation, whatever that might be.
Who are they turning too? “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"

The burden I am experiencing regarding this awakening in the body is first prayer, and secondly when and where possible pointing those being awakened to their source, Christ in them, their only Life!
I’m going to throw this in here for a rhetorical question. When baby ducks come out of their shells and there is any water close by, how long of a pre-swimming course do they enroll in before taking that big plunge?
If you have ever seen this humorous site of these little puff balls running their little legs off and diving into a foreign substance (water) that hey have never been in before and swimming as if they are pros, you know there is a inner knowing they have built into them to do this.

Why do those who have been awakened from their sleep need anyone to instruct them to now work out what Father has worked into them, working out their own salvation?
There is something drastically wrong when we have to take the responsibility to instruct those whom the Father by His spirit has written into the DNA of his children how to live as His child, something far more powerful and glorious than that stamped into a little duck that instantly after hatching swims.
Let’s trust Father to open our eyes that much more to Know that we already have all that is needed to keep stepping forward in Him.

Rich

Divorce

I find this subject to be one of great consternation. As always, the hypocrites trying to point out the sins of others such as divorce, the separation between a husband and a wife and the derailment of collateral damage that ensues not only in their lives but also in the children’s lives and on it goes.

If the natural things speak of the invisible realities, maybe the outward picture, expression of divorce is simply pointing to an already depleted divorce, separation that long ago precipitated that seen outwardly?

I love what Jesus said here, and folks, this isn’t just to a select group of people, this is as applicable to them as it is to any of us,
“And He said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.”

Has there ever been a time where the divorce rates have risen to this degree, in and out side of the church? As I said, the natural visible things are being used of Father to point out those unseen but very much more undetected realities that are even far more serious.
How often has a divorced person received at the hands of another Christian more often than not, a good kick to the nuts, of course that’s what Jesus would do, right?!

Here’s the short and long of it all, how can a people, “god’s people” bull shit their way through life already divorced in their hearts from the reality of who He is, but continue going through the outward religious motions, and not receiving God’s judgment or wrath, turn around and in the name of God piss all over those who were perhaps divorced inwardly from their mate years ago, but now it shows up on the outside.
What’s wrong with this picture folks?

Isn’t Papa appealing, wooing those who have dumbed down, of their own free will chosen to settle for a form of godliness, but making the true condition of their poverty stricken state known to them why, that he might shame them, no, but in order to say there is a way of escape, its called humbling yourself, man up to the inward divorce between your heart and mouth that I plainly see before it goes to the next level and is then seen by all.

The long suffering and patient loving heart of our Father, quick to forgive, ever extending his heart, gracing those who choose to humble themselves, but always resisting the proud!

There may not have been any more sudden death illustrations like as with Ananias and his wife Sapphira who had divorced themselves from their hearts, but continued to try and worship God with their mouths, but I will say this as surely as I know anything. When we begin to move away from the Truth and Him wanting to establish us ever deeper in the Truth, if that closeness, that reality begins to wane, the easiest thing we know is to slip into a religious cover up of continuing by going through the motions.
Hear me, you will NOT miss out on heaven, but in choosing an inward divorce, you will miss out on ALL Papa wanted to do by fully forming His son in you as you, to be seen and embraced by the world He died for.

Chose Life, or choose death, He is the One who offers us His best, what will you choose?

Rich

Assured and Reassured

Recently while driving from point A to point B I had a flash thought shoot through my mind. I viewed a closed business that has been closed seemingly for ever, at least for most of the 19 years we have lived here. In my mind this scenario unfolded. I was imagining a business man seriously considering going ahead after having purchased this building, totally renovating it and then planning on opening it, but then, according to him, a nagging thought came to the fore front of his thinking. Maybe it might be a good thing to hold on for 6 to 12 months before proceeding any further with going ahead with his plans in lieu of the extremely shaky and unstable financial situation.

Somehow I knew this was not anything more than an illustrated and highlighted picture Father was using to speak into my heart.
What he began to say to me rocked my world, but isn’t that the way that it should be, heck, the God and Father of the Universe longing to engage me, one of His sons in a heart to heart interaction.
Before I go on I want to say even though what I will be sharing here will to some appear to be the soundings, ramblings of an alarmist or extremist, it is neither!

Since the fall/rebellion in the garden, but specifically in the heart of man, sins invasion has infiltrated this entire race called, “human,” not to mention the entire planet.
“All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”

For an instant I became acutely aware of an inner knowing of an impending and foreboding forth coming. I am not an animal, but this must have been as close as anything that could be depicted within certain animals that are able to detect the embryonic vibrations of soon to explode, earth quakes and tsunami’s and other such phenomena.
Within this flash of these thoughts I could see and hear a reasoning that went something like this.

Lord I want you to assure me that by trusting in you, you will keep me from all harm, I want to know that I can count on you to do this so that I can be in control.
Before I finish what I was privy to, this needs to be highlighted in a bold and sober way. I heard Papa say the following, “in the past, in wars, famines, floods, hurricanes and many, many other natural disasters, there have been many who have been killed and many who going through the very same things, have been spared. What is about to unfold in and upon the earth is unlike these previous out of control disasters, there is about to be released something so unimaginable that NO one will go unaffected, or unscathed by this.”

If it ended there, I’m not sure I would be convinced I was hearing from my Papa, but he went on to say this, "as you know, sufficient unto the day are the pressures, evils therein. I am making my heart known to many throughout the earth, and in doing so I have given my assurance, and I will reassure as many times as required or needed within the hearts of my children, of one thing, an establishing in the true knowledge of my total, unconditional, unchanging, never letting go of MY love for them! There will be NO escaping what is soon to be unleashed upon the earth and ONLY the reality of being now in this moment rooted, established in the inner knowing of my committed loved for them will this be their only way of escape."

I urge implore you to turn to Him, the Father of your spirit, and allow Him to examine you to find out whether you are even in the faith as our brother Paul has said. Do not settle for anything less than asking Papa to assure you and reassure you of the complete sufficiency of His love for YOU!
With all my heart I believe stamped into the DNA of our being is a hunger that compels us, those who will simply yield to this inner prompting to know Him the Truth, and to discover that He is well able to completely establish you in the true knowledge of that which will see you through to the end of your course.

Fight the good fight of faith; endure hardness as a good soldier of the cross.

Rich

A Malleable, Pliable Heart

I love the word ‘malleable’ but becoming what this word means on a personal level is definitely not traveling the road of least resistance.

Our ability to move forward in our journey with Father is not happening without great and at times extreme pressures. Our brother Paul said at one juncture in his journey, “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us.”

In being processed * by our Father, there is an impatience that rises to the surface in our soul, and the father of lies enjoys working through this opened availability and will try to get is side tracked, disillusioned or whatever it takes to lose site of Him in us as us being fully able to handle what we are facing. Again, it’s a revelation, not a seminar!

* "God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; its training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.”

One of my favourite sayings is, “Blessed are the flexible, (pliable-malleable) for they shall not be broken.
I so want to encourage the body of Christ with the dependability of His abiding faithful commitment to us. These hope, love empowered words speak of the wonder and majesty of this One who is being fully formed within us. “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

I want to further encourage those who are going through or facing what ‘appears’ to be more than they can handle. These God breathed words from Os Chambers. "And the parched ground shall become a pool." Isaiah 35:7

We always have visions, before a thing is made real. When we realize that although the vision is real, it is not real in us, then is the time that Satan comes in with his temptations, and we are apt to say it is no use to go on. Instead of the vision becoming real, there has come the valley of humiliation.
"Life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And batter'd by the shocks of doom
To shape and use."
God gives us the vision, then He takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way. Every vision will be made real if we will have patience. Think of the enormous leisure of God! He is never in a hurry. We are always in such a frantic hurry. In the light of the glory of the vision we go forth to do things, but the vision is not real in us yet; and God has to take us into the valley, and put us through fires and floods to batter us into shape, until we get to the place where He can trust us with the veritable reality. Ever since we had the vision God has been at work, getting us into the shape of the ideal, and over and over again we escape from His hand and try to batter ourselves into our own shape.
The vision is not a castle in the air, but a vision of what God wants you to be. Let Him put you on His wheel and whirl you as He likes, and as sure as God is God and you are you, you will turn out exactly in accordance with the vision. Don't lose heart in the process. If you have ever had the vision of God, you may try as you like to be satisfied on a lower level, but God will never let you.

Rich

Laughter Is the Best Medicine

In order for us to be a part of His order we will have to stop trying to convince God and ourselves that He has to bless what we think is to be blessed.

God had originally spoken to Abram and said he was to become a father of many nations, at the time he didn’t have even one son. So when push meets shove, he and his wife Sarah agreed (concocted a scheme) that by Abram having sex with Sarah’s concubine Hagar, that in fact this could very well be His order coming into play, ergo, a son.
Anyone who knows this story knows the devastation this brought into the world, but that is a distraction from where I intend to go.

Bottom line, long after the son, Ishmael was born, and long after Sarah and Abram reach the physical point of no return of being able to procreate, God once again comes with great, good news, lets listen in shall we. “I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before You!"

And later God also said; “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?" And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?”

The son that was miraculously born from their union was called, Isaac, and the root meaning of this name is ‘laughter’!

Papa is doing the very same, long after we have experienced such shattered hopes of ever becoming fruitful He comes to those He has emptied and says, I will now fill you with the true knowledge of My Son in you, and you will come to see it is His life in you as you that the world is going to see. Once again birthed in our bareness or lifeless womb, we seem to be hearing peels of laughter, but what is so funny we ask ourselves? Just the living One asking us, “Is anything to difficult for Me to accomplish within you?”

The spirit of the Father is slowly getting our attention, “Turn away from all that you don’t see, your dead, lifeless womb, turn to Me, I will open your eyes to behold Me the fruitful one and as you allow me to make love real to and in your heart, prepare for a bountiful harvest, now and throughout eternity.” I am the True Vine, let me fill you to overflowing-laughter, it is my medicine to you.

Rich

Loneliness

This is a precious quote from Wayne over at the Lifestream Blog; “We often try to fill the God place in our life with others and thus miss how he wants to do it. So literally put him first. Find your life in him, not in your friendships with others. Learn the joy of waking up in the affection of Father each day, even if it takes months to learn.”

I love what Jesus says here, “HE HAS FILLED THE HUNGRY WITH GOOD THINGS; and sent away the rich empty-handed.”

Those of you, my fellow siblings, shout for joy in the midst of your loneliness, bareness, emptiness, blindness, deafness, for He is the only One who is able to fill that empty void in you with nothing short or less than Himself. This is the hour, the time/season of His grace, no longer Christ for us, or with us, but now for Him to be in us as us. Rejoice, and again I say rejoice!

Those who are having their inner senses opened by His spirit are discovering a world of differences with regard to how easy it has been and will continue to be conformed to this present age, verses being in a state of continually being filled with His spirit and being transformed within their soul.

The insatiable longing, hunger, that He has awakened within you is a miracle of His grace, he has lovingly with divine purpose worked a work within you of emptying you of so much that held you back from His living loving reality becoming all part of the norm in you as you, your “birth-right.”
The father of lies resident within us, yes, sorry to inform you, he Satan was not vaporized in your being re-born, he is hell bent on trying to bring you back, charming, bewitching you once again to become entangled in living out your life from the flesh.

I urge you to embrace this time, season of loneliness as His gift, a token of His love to and for you. It is within this unknown, un-chartered setting you along with all those being led by His spirit will try once again to fill the emptiness the loneliness of not having others being with you for a cheap substitute, and that can be defined in many good things, but none the less, mere substitutes.

It is the Father’s intention after emptying you to now fill you, those who He has made hungry with ‘good things’ and those good things He alone will define, make clearly known to you, that’s a given.

In Him we live, move and have our being!

Rich

God’s Power

These words gripped me this morning as I am finishing up reading The Naked Church by Wayne Jacobsen.

He has been talking about “clothed with power,” and this stood out so real to me.

“Not only does God’s power flow through our relationship with him, but it is also the conduit that lets us share that power with others. Often when Jesus healed people he was motivated with compassion. What moves us when we pray for others? I know I’m often bombarded with an awareness of how bad I’m going to look if nothing happens. God’s power doesn’t move freely in that environment.”

“At other times I’ve prayed for a miracle specifically to avoid more costly personal involvement. My prayer was not an extension of my compassion but a substitute for it, like asking, God to heal the beaten man on the road in the parable of the Good Samaritan because this would be easier than bandaging the wounds and paying for his stay at an inn. The early church regarded selling their property to help one another in financial need as a miracle just as real as multiplying the loaves and fishes. Until we’re moved enough to spend our resources, chances are we’re not ready to rely on God’s.”

I look upon this not as a condemning thought but in fact I see it pointing me to the One who makes this totally possible.
No longer having to try and suck up the where with all to be caring, loving etc.!
What liberty and freedom knowing, silver and gold I might not have, but I can honour and care for others in my path this day only because my Father knows no shortages.

Rich

Chasing the Wind

From the time the Lord apprehended me in 1972 up until 1994, I was chasing the wind, not ever realizing that within me was what I WAS looking for. Twenty two years of being a child of light yet living in total darkness to the reality of Christ in me as me, wow, go figure.
Maybe that’s why I’m stuck on redundantly repeating, “It’s not a seminar, it’s a revelation.”

It is what it is and it takes what it takes to bring us to see, but for sure it will never happen apart from the Truth being pointed out to us. It’s the spirit of grace and truth that takes the truth and applies it to our lives. Too many want to piddle around trying to use some litmus test to see if a person is able to grasp, understand what it is we’re trying to share with them, as if had anything to do with our natural prowess.

The natural minded man sees the things of the spirit being utter foolishness, in other words what the Father communicates is spiritually discerned, understood.
For three and a half years Jesus was constantly sharing the heart of the Father with the twelve, and not until He was crucified and raised from the dead and His spirit poured out, did they begin to GET it!
Jesus like any of us today totally relied upon the Holy Spirit to penetrate the heart and cause the truth to explode from the inside out.

I see so much religious BS being used by the father of lies in keeping so many as spiritual quadriplegics all because they are still firmly convinced their identity is all about what they know, their calling, anointing, gifting etc, it breaks my heart.
I will be sharing with a friend this question regarding what I’ve said here above. “What if there never has been a calling, anointing, gifting or will there ever be one?”
What for example if I were to stop today and never (talk or share Christ) write another word, never share, speak another word via Yahoo Messenger, or Skype or email, or snail mail, would I cease to exist, would I loose ALL worth, value and significance, would I be like the wicked witch in the movie The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy threw some water on her friend the Scarecrow whom the witch had set on fire and some of the water accidentally got onto her, and screamed out; “I’m melting, I’m melting?”
I don’t think so!

I am fully cognizant of the insidious lies the father of lies is using in those, especially those who have determined they are “called” of God. It is Satan using their knowledge of scripture and the many different experiences they have had to keep them blinded from not knowing how this stuff is preventing them from hearing the TRUTH. I hope this makes some sense.
It is a wonder seeing folks especially those believing with everything within them that they are called of God to do thus and so, using their vast knowledge of scripture to substantiate and validate their calling, and yet their lives are crumbling along with their marriage and family into entire ruin.

If it were possible the very elect will be deceived Jesus said, without a recognized foundation of the Father’s love causing us to be rooted and established in Him alone, the master of disguise, the angel of light, Satan, will obligingly use the plethora of biblical knowledge the believer has to securely keep them as his prisoner.

This has nothing to do with missing out on heaven, it has everything to do with being taken out of action in the here and now of every day living.
It’s not a correct theology or doctrine Jesus is asking for when He comes to us and asks’ “Who do you say that I AM?!”

Rich

The Sublime and the Ridiculous

Man oh man, I can’t believe how long this bloody line is, and all I want is a simply coffee to go.
Yes those thoughts did fritter across my brain waves this morning as I wanted to stop at our local coffee shop before heading out of own to see a movie.
Years ago before the do-nut shops turned into a food circus, obtaining a simply coffee was usually a minor issue, but not now. You look around and there seems to be enough employees to look after any line up.

While standing there Papa starts speaking to my heart, “Son am I patient enough to deal with this minor hold up in your life?” Ah, yeah, sure Papa!

How do any of us who have been reborn ever get to experience the reality of our living as the result of another’s life in us as us, except to be brought into situations such as I described here, from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Is His life adequate, sufficient enough to deal with, address whatever we are faced with? Or is it all about us trying to be ‘like’ Christ, damn, look at how impatient, unloving, critical, unforgiving, prone to pout, short tempered I am?

Is it supposed to be like it was long, long ago that when the Spirit of God would come upon a person and turn them into the most patient, loving, caring person on earth? Or is this all a wonderful opportunity to trust Christ in me to come forth from me as me?
I guess I could zone in on asking Papa to MAKE me more patient, loving, kind, and caring, but then why would I need Him? Maybe we pray these foolish things because we still believe He is separate from us. But then what do I do with that wonderful theology of, “It’s no longer I that lives but Christ, nevertheless I do live but I live as a living unique expression of Christ.”
Folks we have already been recreated, reborn, we are now given the opportunity to work, walk out each and every day who we really are in Christ.

This morning standing in line waiting for my turn too get my coffee, I found Christ not only very patient in me as me, but while waiting He was good enough to dial me in on needs all around me of those who were in the same line up I was in. Who would of thought, right there, right then that Papa wanted to love up on these people, heck I thought I was there for my coffee.

Rich

I See the Forest, I See the Trees

This is a continuation of some earlier thoughts over here at, “Seeing the Unseen.”

There seems to be no end, no shortage of stuff, targeted at the believer to increase, improve, sharpen, enlighten and so many more good things, to perk up his or her relationship with the Lord.
The kicker is that all that we are looking for is already ours if in fact we have been re-born.
We are not use to things such as revelation, an intuitive knowing, seeing, as a matter of fact when ever this has or does happen, one gets tagged real quick as ‘mystic’ or some other ill fitting tag to label this out of the ordinary behavior.

Without the Holy Spirit opening up the eyes of our heart and because there are NO vacuums, there is only one other course of action to take and that is to see ourselves after the flesh, no different than how we saw ourselves before being re-born.
So much carnal thinking permeates the believer, so many vain imaginations keeping us locked away while all the time what we are longing for, what we’re looking for is there in us as us, Christ Jesus the Lord.

This journey, walk we are called into is looked upon at best as something that is impossible except for a few really, really anointed ones that can do it. And all the time the only anointed One there is, in the believer as the believer is hidden from our sight, why is that?
In the Old Testament times it was a common thing for the Spirit of Lord coming upon a person to accomplish some Herculean feat, but that is not going to happen today no mater how long one chooses to wait.

So many times when the Father healed a person through His son Jesus, Jesus would often ask the person to do something according to all common sense and logic looked totally asinine. For example, the man with the withered arm, Jesus says to the man, “Stretch forth your arm,” can you imagine the chagrin on the face of this poor invalid, “What did you just say Jesus, maybe you need to take a closer look here, I’m paralyzed in my arm, I can’t move it.”
That is only one example, but is it any different today? We are not relating to an external Jesus, we are joined to Him, we are one with Him, it doesn’t get much closer than this.
Our Father is working within us to cause us to begin to see, and not seeing like we have up to this point, I mean seeing in the unseen, seeing that which is really real. No longer being ruled by what our soul and its senses are dictating to us.

As I said in my earlier thoughts, as long as we keep believing the lies verses the truth, our thoughts, our living, our voice will be mooted, gagged. It is through who you and I are in Him that this supernatural natural life is to operate, flow through us as us.
It has nothing to do with becoming kinder, more loving, caring, understanding, patient, laying my life down person. It is only one thing, and that is to see Him as all of these things and so much MORE!
We have no idea of what power is operating in and through us as we simply BE His child, He is invading the unseen realm, world of darkness where so many are imprisoned.
I am dumb enough to believe as Jesus said, “He who believes upon me as the Scriptures declare, out of his inner most being shall spring forth rivers of living water, life, hope, freeing the blind, deaf, lame prisoners.”

You are complete in Him!

Rich

Is It Any Wonder

From day one until we go to be with the Father, it will always be nothing more or less, but revelation. I don’t care how you slice or dice it folks, no matter what persuasion or flavour you hale from, it’s going to be the goodness of God bringing you to see.
We cannot see apart from Him opening the eyes of our heart, and that is but a continuous unfolding celebration of Life!

“The spirit of this world has blinded the minds of those who do not believe, and prevents the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, the image of God, from shinning on them. For it is Christ Jesus as Lord whom we preach, not ourselves; we are your servants for Jesus’ sake. God, who first ordered light to shine in darkness, has flooded our hearts with his light. We now can enlighten men only because we can give them knowledge of the glory of God, as we see it in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Last weekend while enjoying a movie with my wife, as usual the trailers for the up coming movies came on. One of them was a movie entitled “Blindness,” when a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city. The story goes on from there, I hope to see it.
Point being, we were all born blind to the reality of God, the true God and Father of total unconditional love and acceptance. Without this reality invading our world, is it any wonder we are so screwed up, not just before the light and truth of seeing Him for the first time entered our lives, but for many a very long time afterwards as well.

It is this issue I want to share some thoughts on.
Concern over relationships among Christians is a healthy sign. This can be understood when you consider the absolutely wretched state of relationship in the world generally. We have never known a time when human relationship was in such a miserable state as it is today. Even so, this aspect of the human experience is not even an issue for most of the non-Christian world. It is an encouraging sign, therefore, that at least Christians are concerned with their interactions with each other.

As with every aspect of human existence, relationship consists of much more than is apparent in the physical. The health of our relationships with one another requires both healthy motivations and healthy responses to those motivations. Healthy relationships with one another require a healthy, working relationship with the Father. Too often relationships between people appear caring and loving when, in reality, the prime motivation of the relationship is using. Often, one or both parties in a relationship are consciously or unconsciously using each other. We as Christians are often unable to bring ourselves to see and admit the true state of our relationships. We cannot admit that we interact with each other based only (or partially) on what we can get from each other. One of the terrible consequences of this inability to face the truth about our relationships is that Christians as a group, have become justifiably infamous as users.

I’m going to stop here for right now, there is so much more on my heart dealing with the truth as the Truth Himself is dealing with me, stay tuned, don’t touch that dial.

Rich