Papal or Paper Worship, No Bull

Papal or Paper Worship, No Bull

Did Jesus say of the coming Spirit: "He shall guide you into all the truth"? Surely to be guided into all the truth is something more than having the truth presented, conveyed, and written down!

Did Paul pray for believers that they might be given "a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (i.e. Christ)? Surely that is an imparted faculty, ability, in the believer, and more than natural equipment!

For anyone who may not listen to the God Journey, the last pod cast (The Doctrine Police) certainly fits in well with the thoughts expressed here by Austin Sparks.

It seems man at his best will inevitably wrongly (try to) separate, divorce what God has perfectly joined together, the letter of the scriptures with His quickening spirit, ergo, “And so we could repeat the story in numerous instances. That 'The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word' is not disputed by many, but sometimes the breaking forth may prove revolutionary for one whose apprehension has been quite mistaken.”

Whether it’s the misguided worship of that chiseled into stone, or that printed onto paper, the end result is anything but a living expression of the One claiming to BE the Way, Truth and Life.
The need today is no less than it was 2,000 years ago when Jesus in his post resurrected body (it says He appeared to his disciples in another form) joined in the conversation of those who claimed to know the scriptures and yet were barely alive carrying within their souls such grievous dashed hopes of Jesus actually really being who he said he was. (For anyone interested, the words of Sheryl Crow~If it makes you happy, sure fit in here) It goes on to say, after drawing their hurt hearts out into the open that he opened their minds to import the hidden weight and truth that the mere letter knowledge failed to rescue them from.

Rich

A few additional words from A Sparks flow nicely into this picture.

One of the greatest needs of our time is to plough our way down through the heavy and tangled growth of Christian doctrines to the virgin soil of spiritual life and reality. A master-stroke of the great subverter, in his purpose to neutralize spiritual effectiveness against his kingdom, has been the resolving of Christianity into an endless system or series of doctrines, most of them in conflict with each other. By these Christianity has been crippled and frustrated, turned in on itself, and a state of civil (or uncivil) war has been created.
The Church cannot move, as an integrated and single-fronted body, against a very powerful and wily foe, because it does not believe together; its mind is divided into so many conflicting interpretations.
This means that authority has almost entirely disappeared. Men have repeatedly tried to correct this by forming creeds, confessions of faith, principles and practice, etc., but these only serve to form groups, widen breaches, harden antagonisms, create superiorities, and foster complacencies; they never solve the problem of spiritual dividedness. They engender suspicion, breathe an atmosphere of fear, and stimulate a mentality of heresy.

One Size Fits All?

Is it possible for grace to be talked about, but in reality it being nothing more than a law in disguise (A wolf in sheep’s clothing)?

Here’s the deal, I have no problem extending ‘grace’ to anyone with regards to their seeing (say for example) one day being more important than another day, such as today Easter Sunday, or two days ago, Good Friday.
Really it can touch on just about anything for that matter, home schooling vs kids going to the public schools, in vs out of an institutional setting, eating meat, vs being a vegan, but does ‘one size (really) fit all’?

If grace is being extended to those (as it talks about in the New Testament) that are ‘weak in the faith’, wouldn’t it stand to reason that grace might be graciously reciprocated back?
There are a whole slew of thoughts that would appear to be incongruent or at odds with one another, for example, the following; especially verses, 4, 8, 16-23, and; pretty much all of chapter 14 of Romans.

I love how chapter 14 ends with this encouraging word: So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Rich

What’s Your Name: Who’s Your Daddy?

The best any of us can do, is judge by what we see, judging a book by its cover sort of thing. It is a very easy thing to mistakenly come to a wrong conclusion about some book based upon its cover, but it’s a whole different and much more serious issue when it comes to misreading (wrongly judging) a person.
The word ‘judgment’ is a word that conjures up some very negative, caustic and painful reactions from a lot of people, especially those who have been falsely accused (judged). Read part 1

The scriptures are full of seemingly blatant contradictions, (judge not lest you be judged) but maybe it’s these apparent in-congruencies that need to be held in tension to see for sure what we do NOT fully see yet, ergo the word ‘judgment’?

Simply because a word that points to a real and literal action such as judgment, has been so terribly misused and abused by so many, of course we should simply stop trying to do what we were never designed to do-right, wrong?!
The judging we are told to do is one of righteous judging, not according to our natural senses, why, well, as Jesus pointed out how he operated in and with judging there will be a redemptive conclusion rather than a smug look on the face of the one who blew out the flickering light of the one only to make themselves look better.
“I can do nothing on My own initiative As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”
For what its worth in matters where judgment is required it would appear that we aren’t doing this to make ourselves look good.

I’m not sure the ‘ways of God’ are going to ever be made known to a person who has crossed the line of merely asking God to further explain and help to understand, to becoming someone who stands in the place of an interrogator of God sitting Him in the hot seat and demanding from Him, ANSWERS!!!

The placing or giving of a name to our children and the name given to us is something of utmost importance in my opinion. I see it tying in with our spiritual birth-right in coming to know our true father (the father of our spirit), not just our biological parents.It is too long of a story to unload here, but suffice it to say in naming our daughter Laura, (victorious spirit-overcoming spirit) the grit, the embedded, hidden as it were dynamics within her recreated spirit would facilitate her becoming what her name pointed to. Like wise with our son Matthew (gift of God).
As I said in part one of, What’s Your Name , because of sin entering the world through the human agent of man, everyone has been stamped, imprinted in their DNA aka, the sin-matrix-imprinting, and that dictates every thought and action we take.
I find it sadly amusing remembering from the original Matrix movie, # 1, how when Neo was being awakened from the Matrix it showed a scene where he was cocooned in a pod-like container along with additional humans too numerous to count.
Although the pod-like cocoon was the same for all of the imprisoned humans, each person according to the sin-matrix-imprinting was scripting for them a so called reality that they were living out a fully productive life somewhere in the ‘real world.’
Is this not in fact what sin has done in all of humanity?

I want to try and bring this together in concluding here, and in so doing, I think what I read this morning about Jacob and his wrestling match with the angle of the Lord just might fit in. Especially that later part of the chapter vs. 24-32,
In the wrestling altercation Jacob is crippled, but is about to discover what he has never know, and it begins to unfold in one penetrating, explosive question, ‘What’s Your name?’ Jacob was determined to not let go until he was blessed, but little did he know what that really encompassed, nor do we~ha!
All his life he saw himself shaped, cemented in an escapable merciless taskmaster mind set, (the sin-matrix-imprinting) but suddenly bursting in upon his consciousness a whole new vista was about to be implemented.

True judging based upon the love of the Father frees us to see and know at a distinct and intuitive level what is required, and in my opinion, it will always unbind that which has been bound all its life.

What a far out thought, by His grace being made free to BE the person He called us to BE, living out of our true identity (DNA) embracing and encountering all that awaits us without fear.

Rich

The Great Escape

It’s interesting, using that title, how it brings back memories of that classic war movie called by the same name, The Great Escape with Steve McQueen in the lead role.
Within that setting, captured soldiers from different countries who were subjected to the same imprisonment, sought diligently discovering ways and means of finally escaping from their Nazi German jailers. Freedom was a costly option for so many of these men that ended up in the loss of many lives, but then again, is freedom just another word for, fill in the blank _ _ _ _ _ _?

We are encouraged (admonished) to stand fast in the freedom wherein we stand, no longer subjecting ourselves to our former slavery. Truthfully and wonderfully said, but, the working out of this is where the rub comes in, and especially when our minds are still under the subversive influence of the old sin matrix imprinting, that continues its attempt to make null and void what God has done within us.
None of us can manufacture or produce this growing ability to stand fast apart from a continued discovery of who our Freedom is.
In taking my wife to work this morning, we continued talking more about this and as she was voicing her insights to me, and I turned to her and said, in everything you just said which I totally agreed with, there was one word that was pivotal, (fulcrum-apex) and that was, we are learning! Additional thoughts.

In the out workings of grace and its powerful tsunami effects upon us I see not only in my own life but in others the terribly seductive ensnarement of thinking; simply because we are ‘set free’ from fears influence aka trying to control others, or whatever the wonderful spin offs of grace’s redesigning is accomplishing in us, we think have LEARNED something, and there is never any chance of a relapse, why because we’re ‘free’ of course.
To that I say balderdash! Any ability to no longer get irritated, pissed off, or fearful or whatever is only because of the miracle of His present grace working from deep within, and the fruit it produces is NOT designed to make us look like some self-righteous prick….oh, look at me, I use to be this, but NO longer, and what the hell is wrong with those poor bastards that seem to keep crawling back into their fear cages??
In my opinion I see it is very easy to exchange one form of bondage for another, oh we may not be tripped up as easily as we once were, and maybe we no longer get stuck in (the muck) what so many still seem to be doing, but is it possible we have forgotten Who it was that set into motion our liberation?
Is it possible that in forgetting, not only was it grace, but it continues to be grace that keeps us free, and one of the biggest snares I see grace wants to keep us free from is becoming an arrogant self-righteous prick shaking our heads in disbelief as to why folks seems to love living in fear or whatever bondage.

Two men went into the holy place, one a self-righteous prick, smugly intoxicated in his own importance, high on himself, looking to see if God was thankful to have such a catch as him. While not far from him was another man, who somehow recognized that he was not only in a holy place, but it was only because of a holy God. The story goes on to say, this one saw his true worth, value only as a result of being loved, having nothing to do with his performance.
Jesus summed it up by asking, ‘Which of these two men went home justified?’

I love this beautiful picture of the Son saying to the Father, ‘Father I thank you, that you have hidden this mystery from the smart asses, and made it known unto the children.’Maybe there is SO MUCH more yet to discover about this amazing word called, Grace!

Rich

The Purpose

The Purpose - The Expression of a Testimony

(a) Life in the Midst of Death

"The testimony of Jesus" is a phrase that sums up a very great deal in the book of the Revelation. Indeed, it sums up the whole Bible. Now supposing, for argument's sake, that the object of the Church's calling is a testimony to Divine life. (It is no supposition, though, but a reality. "In him was life" (John 1:4): "I came that they may have life" (John 10:10): that is the testimony of Jesus.) Supposing then the testimony of Jesus is the testimony of Divine life: what is necessary in order that our experience and history should tally with Divine purpose? It is that we should have a setting in which we are assailed continually by death. Life becomes a very real thing when death is all around and very active. So, if the purpose is the manifestation of Divine life, then those who are called according to that purpose will have to have a history of conflict with death. That is simple and obvious. If, therefore, you and I have such a history and such an experience, are we to stand back and say, 'Oh, this is all wrong! Would that we could get out of this!'? We should rather say, 'This is in accordance with the object in view, there is a consistency about God's ways with us.'

The mystery of life is one of the supreme features, if not the supreme feature, of the whole record in Scripture. I am not attempting to deal with it exhaustively here, but only to bring out the point that immediately concerns us. What is the mystery of Christ? Many men besides Jesus Christ were brought up in Nazareth. Stand them all in a row. Can you discriminate between them other than by purely natural features? No. And yet there is a difference between Jesus and the rest. What is the difference? While outwardly He looks like the rest, there is a mystery about Him, there is something there, He is not the same. People tried to deal with Him as they dealt with other men, but they found they were dealing with someone unique, in whom there was something different. "The mystery of Christ" (Eph. 3:4), who Christ really was!

The mystery of life. "Called according to his purpose." Supposing then that the Church is to be a manifestation of the life, a testimony to Divine life, then the Church will be set all through its history in scenes of death, with the forces of death raging against it.

(b) Light in the Midst of Darkness

The same is true of light. "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). But there was no glow about Him, no halo round His head, nothing outward that said to men, 'This is the light of the world'. But vital union with Him by the Spirit later meant that those in union had a wonderful illumination in their own spirits. In that way, not physically, they became luminaries for those who were seeking the light. There was a mystery still about it. No one could discern it except in a spiritual way. Supposing then the calling is this - to manifest the light. Then we shall be placed in darkness again and again for the testimony's sake.

"He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake". He must suffer in order that the Name may come out in all its glory. The cause of all is to be found in the calling and election, and the effect of the calling is to be seen in suffering, a setting that brings out the reality of this calling. "...to this end..." Have you yourself a sense of this? Then check up as you go along and see if the ways of the Lord with you are not after all perfectly consistent with the thing that He is after.

For further reading

There is so much that I love about this article, so rich and full are its contrasts, and in my opinion clearly showing that perhaps so many believers are trying to get out of what He has designed for our lives, being surrounded by death that His Life might become evident to us and to the world around us.As well as with Light, again more often than not finding ourselves seemingly entrenched in times of darkness, why, so that His light might be seen?????

Rich

Open My Eyes

Unless you are born again, you can NOT see the kingdom of God.

Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom." "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit. "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?" Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?

Why not? Because of the matrix, of having been born in sin and shaped (formed) in iniquity. An imprinting of complete and total grotesque invasiveness.
The nature of sin in its imprinting is the only basis we have in relating to our world as we think we see and know it.

There is NO ability within us to sort out, sift through, or distinguish the difference between what is real and the false. He, God alone in the person of his son Jesus, is the fullness of all that is true and real, and by definition is able to sift or separate within us that which is of the spirit and that which is but Flesh, and oh how terribly deceived we all are by the many chameleon shape shifting forms our flesh can take. Maybe thats why David saw his need because it was loving pointed out to him....You desire truth in my inward parts: and in the hidden parts of me You shall make me to know wisdom.' (The word of God is sharper than any laser, distinguishing-separating-rightly dividing between the flesh and the spirit)

It was long before the finished work of the cross that David the King of Israel spoke those words I quoted in my opening sentence; 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.'
Sure sounds an awful lot like what Jesus said, "Those who worship the Father, it must be in spirit and truth, for God is a spirit." As well as this, 'The Father himself is seeking such true worshipers.'

Apart from an internal invasion from the Spirit of the living God, we will remain dead in our sin-iniquity-matrix imprinting, that's a given. The thing is no one has to be excluded or exempted from receiving Life, its there for the receiving.

The kicker in my opinion goes way beyond this though. It is in not seeing or knowing the depth of this imprinting and its collateral and residual damaging influence within us that we as re-birthed believers more often than not exchange one form of bondage for another, of course in our eyes it is NOT seen as bondage.
In fact simply because we have experienced a measure of release from fear, and its hold upon us and its influence which more often than not exhibited itself in us trying to control life and people around us, is no guarantee that there are no more areas of hidden undetected bondage in our lives.

Sort of like the man who said he was the humblest person in the world, but was secretly proud of that fact. Hmm?

Rich

Freedom, Moment by Moment

The mystery and miracle of the Father’s love invading my soul is beyond my ability to articulate well, but as in the record of the blind man healed by Jesus, he confidently stated, ‘I once was blind, but now I see.’

I too am being drawn out from my prison house of fear, shame, and prolonged atrophy of the heart.
One of my favorite sayings is; ‘Even a blind man can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the orchards in one seed.’
I trust in His grace and love to set into motion those rippling effects to undo in the lives of those dear to me what has caused such hurt and pain, He indeed has my attention.

The following is but a few snippets of life’s derailing, and learning in and through it all I can BE set free from being one of the many soulishly trained dogs of Pavlov.

I’m jumping way down the road in this even with our daughter, there was so much more that preceded this.

We got home this afternoon and we each got on our PC's to find a email from our daughter stating how after having to wait for over 3 hours to get her Mac back (the hard drive crashed on it) she took it home and had to locate the reinstall Cd's she needed to finish up the new hard drive that was put in under warranty. She had made a cup of tea and was coming over to work on her Mac when I guess she tripped and spilled her cup of tea all over the keyboard, she immediately turned it upside down to get rid of the water, she said it instantly shut down, her friend that was there helping her with the reinstall Cd's said that, that had happened to him once as well, and after letting it dry for some time, it seemed to work ok. We contacted apple for her to see if this kind of thing was covered under any of her extended coverage, it wasn't, so she is pretty bummed out right now to say the least, and we aren't able to contact her yet as she went over to a friends place to chill out because of all of this.

Even though this is her problem the Lord is using it to enlighten me, let me tell you...the mind set of not long ago is there in the throws of this situation to come down hard on her for what I saw as her carelessness, instead of responding to her hurt, and frustration in loving compassion. I am slowly recognizing only because of seeing my need for his loving care and patience for me, to respond in love vs reacting and throwing gas on an already blazing fire.
*********************************


As Margi and I were coming home from supper last night, we were talking about the issue of God opposing-resisting the proud but giving grace to the humble. I got looking into those scriptures said or inferred in others saying pretty much the same thing and I was led into a very disturbing but needed x-ray of my own soulish attitudes that were not embracing the humble One in me, not sure this will make sense as I feel I am stumbling over me words here, but I began to see how just such annoying derailment's in life, being inconvenienced, put upon, etc was His way of wanting to grace me, or to bring forth His Son in me as me and introduce Him to a suffering world who only knows how to react to life's assaults.
I said to Margi there was no condemnation in my heart attitudes and motives being exposed, just a sense of it being such a deep and penetrating gift of his love for me, (Caustic Grace) wanting to bring in deeper assurance to my hurting and troubled soul, that He could be trusted.
******************************************


I have been and probably am still so very much in a hurray to get to where I want to Be, and do what I want to do, and maybe missing out on a lot of good stuff because of it?
Friday I was inside all day at work as I was for most of the week instead of going out on a route, because of trying to avoid antagonizing this cold I was trying to see to its end. In the many different things I had to do yesterday I found myself in a reflective mood, musing, as I was running here and there doing designated work assignments for my boss I found myself actually looking, thinking, asking myself why I always seemed to be in such a hurray?
For whatever reason/s, I started slowing down, not racing-driving like a mad man to get to the next point, for what?
As I am now looking back at this I trust it will become a more solid (natural) and definite expression of Him in me as me in my newly chosen route I will commence on Monday, as it will be one of traveling all over the city in the process of delivering many more parcels than I have ever done before. I sure hope I'm making some sense here bro, maybe when we get the chance to talk, I can further elucidate.
*************************************


There were (Today) as there will always be until I go to be forever with my heavenly Father other wonderful insights of experiencing His amazing grace, setting into motion dynamics of loving and living in the moment that have so not been a part of my life.

Papa, I so love you!

Rich

Your Door is Ajar

Sharing with a friend today, talking about the ongoing workings of the cross and its applications in our progressive transformation; I see it to be what catapults us as it were through the faith portal.
Man’s ingenuity in devising tools of torture such as the cross Jesus died upon, was designed to put an end to the life of Jesus, but God the Father used it to infuse us with Life that flowed out of its hellish work, talk about using the foolishness of preaching to confound the so called wise.

Yes the door is ajar, it’s been a door previously closed, you know where it talks about the One, (and no, I’m not talking about Neo from the movie The Matrix,) it is written about, ‘I am the one who closes a door no man can open, as well as He that opens a door no man can close.’ As a matter of fact Jesus referred to Himself as being the door we are to pass through, cool.

In this world we are going to experience troubles with a capitol T, and those trouble are meant and designed by God be the tools to exercise their powerful effects in the inner transformation of our barren (womb) soul.
Further in our sharing today with my friend, these thoughts flowed together; in my opinion if pouring out our heart propels us forward, rather than simply being HONEST, (and using our honesty to justify not moving forward) then I see that as real growth.

David was just like us, with sin and Satan in the flesh, yes he was more real-raw than most, but he somehow found-discovered the wherewithal to be propelled into so much more of what the father had for him, maybe this speaks of why God called him a man after his own heart, just a thought!
Am I, are you being catapulted forward, or hiding behind being honest and using it as an excuse to stay a spiritual quadriplegic?

I am sensing the sufferings we are allotted to experience may not come gift wrapped in shinny, or pretty paper, but none the less a treasure in disguise.
Is complaining allowed, sure, its optional, but to resist His grace brings in total paralysis.
I wonder if this comes close to what so many have said before; ‘Either shit, or get off the pot’?
Could it be that God is using these shitty, chaffing and painful irritations to bring forth the needed changes in my heart and mind?

There are things happening in my life work-relationally related, that are hard to put into words, but I know no matter how difficult they are He will not allow me to wallow too long in any of it, he has made and is making Himself more attractive to me than wanting to settle for cheap grace tricks.
Somebody said once, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’, well the reality of the finished work of the cross and its applications to our lives isn’t a magic show nor about trickery, plus I ain't no dog.

I really wonder about Love, meaning in a relationship between a man and a woman or vise versa, maybe its much more to do with being in love with our loving feelings, and bring that over into the spiritual realm in our so called relationship with God; are we just in love with our feelings of love?
Maybe that’s a huge part of us being diss-illusioned, cause He just don't seem to want to keep making ME feel good!
Through the caustic applications of His grace the kicker in my opinion of growing in the knowledge of His love is that it transcends our soulish emotional highs and lows, and that in and of itself is a huge thing to process.

Wrapping this up I want to share this from Amy over at

http://firstcomeslove.wordpress.com/ “How Are Ya Ralph”

See, it’s so simple in her illustration, we can acknowledge and be honest, but not get morbid about it, that’s what I am sensing. How amazing is that!

Rich

Grace or Gimmicks

Before I get carried away, today’s thoughts from Oz Chambers in my opinion fits in well here.

http://www.rbc.org/utmost/index.php

It's a journey not for the faint of heart... but there's grace enough for the fainters to catch up. (Quote by Dave Aldrich)

Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.

Am I a pain freak, (a sadist) delighting in the pain I am experiencing along with a world of people experiencing so much of it as well?
I know it might appear that way especially when one of my friends hears me say, I am so excited for you, this is wonderful, what incredible beauty, and its usually in the thick dark and painful times in their lives.

So much seemed to pour out of our conversation last night, connecting with my Brutha Dave is always a rich treat. I am so delighted in seeing (sensing) and hearing (and by that I don’t mean by the natural senses) of the Father’s handy work materializing in his life.
It was out of that time shared together last night I am attempting to place some of our mutual understandings of the scriptures used above.

From the Father’s perspective the journey and the destination has been totally consummated, it’s a done deal. According to scripture, it says, ‘Seated in Christ’

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%202:5-7;&version=65;

‘He is your Life’
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%203:1-3;&version=65;

None of us is seeing clearly enough to become the fourth part of trinity, so lets just cool our jets a bit and be open to the ongoing Amazing grace mosaic Father is unfolding before our very eyes.
The one word that seemed to jump out at me was, ‘But those who wait upon God’! Forget for a moment that it continues to say, ‘get fresh strength’.

What I think I see in this first of all is, waiting like any other thing we think we are to DO, or try to DO in and of ourselves is us still missing the point all together.
Food for thought on this, I believe we are the femaleness to His maleness, all of us included. We were re-birthed to bear (because of our spirit-union) only that which He alone is capable of producing within the life of the child of God.
So, maybe this whole issue of waiting is not us resorting to some cheap grace trickery.
Maybe it’s all about us basically being brought there as a result of Him using all things in our lives to indelibly etch into our hearts the true knowledge that we are LOVED!

I am seeing (sensing) that it all flows out of His love, us being loved that frees us to be, the femaleness to Him alone, knowing from deep within, nothing of our fleshly efforts can manufacture real authentic fruit, which when you think about it, the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, and all of the other colors and flavors that are exhibited are further delights of that LOVE.

I am most pregnant and rejoice in my absolute and total barrenness, knowing there is a most fruitful one I am joined to, and I'm discovering that rest is but one more expression of His divine love making.

Rich

It's Not Happening

Where there is a will, there is a way.
That adage has many spin offs attached to it, good and bad. I do believe there is a will and a way, not my way or your way (the right vs. the wrong way) but His way, aka Jesus~the Way! His will and Way work harmoniously together and needs none of my suggestions or assistance. He may indeed be the Ancient of Days, and it may appear that He has not put me on hold but in fact, has He forgotten all about me.
I love overhearing my boss (friend) saying from time to time while on the phone, 'you can put me on hold, but please don't put me on forget'!

Getting back to His 'way', there will never be a harmonious marriage between that which is born of the flesh and that born of the spirit. This is clearly highlighted in different places by the apostle Paul. Loosely paraphrased; 'even though one may be re-birthed, as long as the mind-set is on/of the flesh, the things of God will be utter foolishness to them, and to all intent and purposes could be perceived as merely a natural man without the Spirit.'

The foolishness of God causing the so called wisdom of man to be seen for what it is, an illusion. For i.g. 'The Prince of Peace says, "I have NOT come to bring peace but a sword, and I will BE the source of division and that reality will be visibly seen within the family unit."
"I've come to start a fire on this earth—how I wish it were blazing right now! I've come to change everything, turn everything right side up—how I long for it to be finished! Do you think I came to smooth things over and make everything nice? Not so. I've come to disrupt and confront! From now on, when you find five in a house, it will be— Three against two, and two against three; Father against son, and son against father; Mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; Mother-in-law against bride, and bride against mother-in-law."

I wanted to jot down a few of my own thoughts and tie them in hopefully with what Tina shared on her blog dealing with a very similar thought.

Rich

And then God had Abram waiting. A long time. And Sarai, his wife, started thinking maybe it was time to make something happen. So she told Abram in Genesis 16, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her."

Do you see how we take God’s promise of connection with fellow believers, and if we don’t see it happening, we take matters into our own hands? Perhaps I can build a family through…. my own works.

"And God let them go ahead with that plan, but it didn’t work too well. Ishmael, the child of the slave girl, became the father of descendants "too numerous to count," but they were not God’s chosen people. Finally when Abram was NINETY-NINE YEARS OLD, God said it was time. And Sarai laughed at God. Oh, now you’re going to tell me that it’s time for me to bear a child? Now? Do you know how long it’s been since…

Sometimes we might have to wait for our expression of God’s promise, in this case fellowship. Don’t be nervous. Don’t be concerned what they say about you. Don’t settle for the slave child, for Pete’s sake. Let’s keep reminding ourselves that a real move of God is worth waiting for".

We are in Jesus

Just A Concept

I'm curious about something regarding the Truth, and by that I mean, truth being synonymous with the only one who said, I Am the Truth-Life and Way.
It is a very curious thing to me in hearing so many (this is not a cheep shot at anyone) speaking of truth purely as a 'concept' (conceptual thing).
One of the meanings of the word 'concept' is; Something formed in the mind; a thought or notion.

Is Christ as the Truth, simple giving us greater and bigger heads, sharper minds, purely nothing more than warm fuzzy God concepts?
Or, His the transformational workings of the same grace that apprehended (re-birthed) us now working to establish, fully form Christ IN us?
Is this merely some wild acid trip concept man? Or is the reality of Him (Christ) not only being in us, but Him becoming fully formed within us, the reality that is to facilitate the needed transformation of our soul (mind, will, and emotions)?

Hammering out my thoughts with a brother yesterday (its Hammer time) this was some of what I was processing.
Does the Truth not become the truth as long as say you or I can not grasp the 'concept'? Or does the Truth exceed and transcend intellectual prowess? In my opinion conceptual thinking speaks of me finally getting a handle on something vs the Truth making Himself known to me because of the intuitive flow of the Life of the Father in me? click here
That imo transcends all barriers! If its all about clever sharp mindedness, then maybe it isn't level and equal ground we all stand upon in Him. (Except you becoming like a child, Jesus said)
From what I am beginning to see its that intuitive flow of His life in us that scares the B-Jesus out of us, why, because its so far beyond our ability to establish control.

Is truth merely an academic expose on conceptual thinking?
How does conceptual fit in with, All I know is once I was blind, and now I see,such a concept... far out, this Jesus guy is.
Or, how about this one; I did not receive this concept from man, nor did man teach me this concept, it was a revelation from the conceptual Jesus Himself?
My faith? Sure, let me tell you about my relationship with my concept of God that I have.

Is he merely the God who was or perhaps, maybe the God of who will be, but in the mean time, hopefully my conceptual Jesus will keep me happy.

Rich

fellowship on the magic bus

The means of transportation may vary, train-bus-car-ferry, but simply traversing with the collective heard doesn't (imo) constitute 'fellowship.'


Reading from the following blog greatly encouraged me to launch out with a few of my own thoughts on this subject.

"We Are in Jesus" by Tina

Is it any different taking the magic church bus ride?
Whether in the established box or living free-range, 'true fellowship' is only possible through its primary connection, and out of that overflow, we DO have fellowship with one another.

What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Resistance to the collective good (the joint belief system) is futile, but maybe as this frustrating futility works its work into the life of the believer, as in so many other irritating-chafing ways, true life and fellowship is entered into?


Any thoughts?

Rich

Life's Illusions

"The first man to see an illusion by which men have flourished for centuries surely stands in a lonely place."

In light of moving from Christ being in us to having Christ fully formed within us, I see at no time when there will be no more illusions that need to be dissed!

Being known for who we are vs. who we aren't, must allow for this unfolding reality no mater who you are or how long you have been seen as one that is recognized (and heard) as some great white bwana-guru.

I don't care what or how great any truth has been made to you, it will never this side of glory, be made a moot point (null and voided out) of the just having to, 'walk by faith.'

In my opinion one of the greatest areas of being awakened from a dream world where, especially Christians have been asleep most of their lives is in regards to the Love issue,you know, God is love stuff, and how perfect love casts out all fear.
The kicker is, I see 'God is love', being something many have nailed down pat as a wonderful belief system, but in fact, have experienced so very little of it themselves.
If in fact I am experiencing how much God does love me (unconditionally) does it not stand to reason, I like wise will love others unconditionally?

The unfolding process of being awakened to the real world (be transformed by the renewing of your mind) is a glorious reality shaped like very sharp-pointed pins pricking our illusion balloons.

Rich

Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

Morpheus: What is "real"? How do you define "real"?

Agent Smith: Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where none suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program. Entire crops were lost. Some believed we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world. But I believe that, as a species, human beings define their reality through suffering and misery. The perfect world was a dream that your primitive cerebrum kept trying to wake up from. Which is why the Matrix was redesigned to this: the peak of your civilization.