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

Trouble Seeing Clearly

This is a continuation of “Another Four Letter Word,” Judgment.

What I find fascinating about what I’m quoting here from Wayne Jacobsen’s book The Naked Church, this was published in 1987, and in particular what I have already shared in my previous post about the dark clouds of judgment hanging ominously over America as Wayne related the story, could easily relate to the current financial collapse happening this hour in America. *

Further with what Wayne had to say; “Why didn’t I want God to judge the earth? Doesn’t judgment force people to see the emptiness of life without God? Doesn’t it end the deceptions that men hold over one another, rewarding the truly righteous and exposing those who have only pretended to be so? Doesn’t it restore justice and freedom to the oppressed and invite people to return to God?
Of course I wanted all those things, but I feared what it might take to bring them to pass. If God’s judgment took the form of an economic depression, my money would become worthless like everyone else’s, and I would risk having to cope with scarcity. If he judged us by the invasion of a wicked foreign power, I too would loose my freedom. And if a plague swept us, I would be involved with people tormented by it.
I was face-to-face with the truth. My priorities were vested in the material world as much as people around me who did not love God. Theologically I valued my walk with Jesus more than any other possession I had, but the others rated such a close second that I doubt whether anyone could have told the difference. I perceived God’s blessings primarily in material terms, and I didn’t want him to do anything that would put those at risk.
I had become a Christian materialist, if such people exist-and I don’t think they do except in someone’s mind. In reality, the materialist part always devours the Christian part. You can’t serve two masters.”

I so appreciate the sobriety and transparency of Wayne’s heart here in what he has openly shared.

The Father is the only one capable of knowing the truth about our motives, the attitudes and intents of our hearts; no matter how right the outer actions appear to be. Anything that is not of faith IS sin!
I personally can attest to the goodness of the Father sifting my own heart, lovingly exposing what might appear to be kosher outwardly but twisted on the inside where others can not see.
The true and growing knowledge of my Father’s love is freeing me to embrace his continued loving but firm correction. I so desire to be established in Truth not just in an outer appearance but inwardly, so whatever it takes, Lord your will be done, bring on the judgment!

Rich

As a foot note to * my wife posed a question to a good friend of ours living in the states regarding the current financial red alert and its impending continued dark and stormy weather getting even darker.
My wife asked; “Just wondering what you were thinking re: this Wall Street crisis. I overheard a newscaster last night saying something to the effect that if people thought this was strictly a U.S. problem, they were being naive. He said all nations, including China, were facing a similar problem - they were just concealing it better. So what are your thoughts? Do you think this bail-out is just a band-aid solution?”

Our friends reply was’ “It will have some effects on the rest of the world since these SIVs (structured investments vehicles), which are bundles that hold these bad mortgages, were sold off to investment companies, banks and insurers around the world. The US economy still is the consuming customer for the world's goods. So when we get a cold the rest of the world still can get pneumonia.
So in effect, the USA will be bailing out the world. I do think this is just a bandage and more is to come. There are many more mortgages that will reset at the higher interest rates over the next two years so that will bring on Act II and Act lll.
The empire is falling much more quickly than I had expected and His coming is near as the USA is more and more impotent. This sets the stage for that "man of Sin" to be revealed soon after you and I are raptured to "meet Him in the air."

Prince Charming

“When God’s presence loses reality among his people we always retreat to codes of conduct.” (This is from the Naked Church, by Wayne Jacobsen).

I remember when our children had just learned to crawl which opened up a whole new world of continued learning for them as well as for their parents.
Often in venturing out further into the larger world of our house, they would inevitably become fixated on some object that caught their fancy, usually something that was costly and precious to us, and or, harmful for them.
What became a smooth, clever and painless exchange for the potential harmful situation in taking away from them the object of their delight was done through distraction. I would take some bobble that was usually bright in colour and had a noise that it made, waved it, and rattled it in front of them only to see them instantly loose their firm grip on that which we wanted to save.

There is no possible way for our senses becoming honed or sharpened without vigorous and rigorous testing. “For everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The heart cry I believe Father God has put into our spiritual DNA is to know Him, and anything less is simply missing His best.

"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully."
The warning is as real today as it was then, becoming distracted, and in these distractions is hidden a diabolical charmer desiring to lead us astray from the simplicity of real heart to heart intercourse.
You might ask yourself, why doesn’t God simply eradicate once and for all this deceitful snake charmer, persistently trying to keep us bewitched? Folks, without these needed and necessary distractions there would be no opportunity to continue growing in grace.

I find it most astute in the flow of the language used here by Paul; “But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray.”
Our soul is under construction/transformation, it is being renewed in true righteousness, therefore the needed emphasis of hearing the voice of our Father, it being that which effortlessly cuts through that which is intended to cloud our thinking!
As I shared with my wife this morning in light of a most serious decision she is in the process of making, our security is not in what we possess materially much or little, it is only available in hearing His voice will true permanent, now and ever lasting security be hers/ours.
There are so many things, distractions the father of lies is permitted to bring to our attention whereby we are tempted to look at the instant gratification at the expense of loosing our birth-right. He comes to each of us just like I did in distracting my children to let go of their prized trophy, in my case it was to save them needles harm, in Satan’s case it is his ploy once again to get us to surrender, give up our God given authority to rule in this life and in the life to come.

Finally brethren, having done all, stand!

Rich

I Didn’t Say It Would Be Easy

“I just said it would be the truth.”



This was the truth being revealed (presented) to Neo by Morpheus in the movie The Matrix, it was so violent, so extreme that it caused him to throw up.

As much as we are convinced we are ready to receive the truth, I really wonder how much of a dream world we unknowingly participate in.
I wonder if it would be all shouting and happy, happy celebrating that we are no longer deluded and kept prisoner to an in the box religious system, only to have revealed to us that within our very physiology in our flesh, lies not only the father of lies, but the father of all religion!
You know the whole deal of escaping Egypt only to sadly discover how much of the very spirit of Egypt was in us.

As long as we are duped into dumbing down to those other voices that unequivocally denounce the believer from having two natures, then get ready for a long and continued hellish ride.
Let me say although this may sound at first like a contradiction, it is not. The believer only has one nature and that is the nature of God the Father, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. But in our flesh resides a hidden but very real nature, and that is the nature of the father of lies.
Without this dynamic tension, freedom is but an illusion, there is NO freedom without having a choice to make, moment by moment.

The greatest trick the devil has ever done is to convince the Christian that after being re-born, he is but a moot point, ergo he successfully keeps us believing our fettered institutionalized daze is over!

Father in Jesus name I ask that you would give unto your church the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the true knowledge of your Son Jesus Christ, and that the eyes of our heart would be opened and flooded with light to see and know you, the Truth.

Rich

This is Not a Teaching

Why can’t it simply be an everyday interacting, from a simple smile to an extended dialogue?
If it is Christ in us as us, then maybe as we’re simply Being these new creations He has made and is making us to BE, then perhaps He, the spirit of truth and grace is actually doing the teaching, ya think?

I love it where our brother John says; “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

Is this saying we are now a one man show, I don’t think so, but I am convinced that there is no one better equipped to hear from the Father than we are, unless of course He is not in us.
We have been duped, hood winked into voluntarily giving over that part of our birth right, hearing Him for our self. It’s the Spirit himself that is revealing this one in us as our only Life, and out this continued unveiling, all wisdom and knowledge is available to us in Christ who IS our only life! We ARE complete in Him!

Pardon my French here, but what the hell does it matter how well others appear to being hearing from the Father, as long as we are dependent upon anyone other than the Father of our spirit, we are kept enslaved. Second hand revelation is always going to keep us dependent upon the arm of flesh.
I get so damn ticked off at hearing, Bro, you have to listen to this great teaching, oh my God, you’ll be blown away, and other pathetic crap, when all the time the spirit is wanting to make real to and in us our loving Father and his closeness to us.

As long as we continue to give a mind to the Great Oz whoever that might be in your life, you're screwed.

By the way, this is NOT, a teaching!!!!

Rich

Self-Mutilation

Last week on the God Journey pod cast Wayne and Brad were discussing, “Troublesome Scriptures”, and its part of that I want to address, share the following thoughts.
The following scriptures in particular were some of those seen as troublesome. Was Jesus really describing ‘self-mutilation’ or as Wayne suggested, figurative language pointing to a far more serious form of dis-figuration?

Any fool can cut their right hand off, as well as gouge out their right eye, but in doing so I think sooner or later the sad conclusion they will arrive at is, the problem was far deeper and rooted within their flesh. Even in their maimed dis figurations, those inner inclinations were still very much in tact.

There is only one self that the Father of our spirit intends to display the wonder of His son in and through, but that transformation can be badly marred by listening and agreeing to the lies that we believe are in fact the truth.
The internal gouging, disfiguring, self-mutilation that is purposed by the father of lies within our flesh is keep the world from seeing the reality of the many forth coming sons being birthed as result of Jesus being the ‘first born’ of many sons.

We need to be as real as we know how to be with our Father.
Here is an example that hopefully will shed further light on my previous thoughts. We are told to “put on the new self” what does that look like?
If the best we have ever experienced is an unabated deep hunger every time we go to a restaurant, and while there we look at not only the description of the contents of a cheese burger deluxe, but the mouth water picture as well, is it any wonder when we leave without ordering what all of that pointed to, we go away hungrier than when we came in.

Our Father is not trying to torment us with just a pretty book; heck some even have wonderful pictures in it, the Bible.
He is inviting us to cry out to Him to make as real as only He can do, what it means to have His life fully formed in us as us.

There is a surgery that we are under going; it is with this One who has fully died only to become fully alive in order to fully form Christ in us! This ongoing and deeply necessary surgery is only going to cut away that which is trying to keep us from a deepened knowledge of the Truth. It will be this true knowledge of the Truth that will bring this self-mutilation to a halt.

Though He slays me, yet I will trust in HIM!

Rich

Truth Has a Caustic Bite

Is it really all that much different today than it was 2,000 years ago regarding how fear and lies have kept man imprisoned within an identity that serves as a coffin?
As the Father of a vast immeasurable family is awakening us, we are discovering as a result of His total, unconditional loving acceptance of us, that we in fact have a voice. Where before as in so many cases so many if not in fact all of us were gagged, our thoughts opinions were seen as being less than useless, well folks, family, that is as the song says, “The times, they are a changing”.

Gosh darn I love this; “But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!
But not everybody is ready for this, ready to see and hear and act. Isaiah asked what we all ask at one time or another: "Does anyone care, God? Is anyone listening and believing a word of it?" The point is: Before you trust, you have to listen. But unless Christ's Word is preached, there's nothing to listen to.”

Just as the life of the Father in His son Jesus, became a huge threat to the gate keepers of religion in his day, so it is today.
Jesus talked plainly, clearly about this; “All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
Please read the whole tenth chapter of John 10 if you have time, fitting in the quote used here takes on a much fuller dimension in its proper sandwiching.

The hidden motives and agendas are being exposed in every life, but especially within His church, and folks, this is GOOD news. “And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed-- and a sword will pierce even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

“For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.”

One of the greatest areas of opposition is in the authority of the Father’s love freeing us to speak forth the TRUTH, not my truth verses your truth, but the one who IS the Truth.
The liar within all flesh is being exposed for who he is, and in particular, hidden within the flesh of those not seeing themselves in opposition to the will of God for us, His church.
Deception runs rampant and one expression of this is depicted in those who have become surrogate, foster parents/father’s to those still stuck within the lie of believing if they do not ‘submit’ to ‘God’s anointed’ then their very soul is in grave danger, please excuse my French, what a load of crap!

I was watching a World War 2 documentary recently (I am deeply fascinated with this time in history) talking about two great minds/personalities that had/were shaping the minds of the world. One was Adolph Hitler and the other Sigmund Freud. I love it when Freud said, “there was a time in history where it would have been me they would burn alive, and not just my books, what I have written.”
To be forewarned is to be forearmed, as more light, revelation continues to transform us the true Church, the death grip that Satan has on the church through those blindly being used of him, will rise up and in God’s holy, righteous name surgically remove what they deem a cancer (us) from it.

Rich

Life Has a Mind of its Own

Yesterday my wife and I went out of town for special day of just being with each other. Lately there haven’t been any real good movies, but we saw one we both liked so very much, “Ghost Town”.




If life is a language spoken from the heart, then the message spoken through this movie definitely spoke deeply to ours. When grace becomes more than just a five letter word, one seems to see the magic happening all around, it’s truly amazing!

As I witnessed the main character in the movie, a man completely self-absorbed slowing coming to experience the power of love bringing him into a sober realization of all that he had missed, I too not only celebrated his awakening, but mine as well. This is one for the heart!

Also before the movie they showed the up coming movies, and this one is one my wife and I will see for sure. The Soloist. One word that is a constant in this up coming movie is the word Friend, and how that is fleshed out when two extremely different lives crash into one another.

Rich


“Love works in miracles every day: such as weakening the strong, and strengthening the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of fools; favouring the passions, destroying reason, and in a word, turning everything topsy-turvy.”

Osmosis

Here is a peculiar thing: many Christians claim that any change they experience in their lives comes as a result of ‘osmosis’. Who is this Osmosis, anyhow? Moses’ shape-shifting twin?
Is the outworking of what our Father has perfectly worked in us (salvation) happening because of this mythical personality of Osmosis, magically setting us on a course of never having to choose, make any more choices or decisions? It’s all going to happen if I like it or not.

Just look at the goodness of our Father, right from the beginning in the garden, when He gave man the choice to become fully ALIVE, or to choose death, resulting in a form of godliness. The Father knew that the state these two, Adam and Eve were living in was one of innocence; this was not meant to become a substitute for becoming FULLY alive.
In being re-born, this is just the beginning of a life time of further choices we will continue to make because of His grace being fully available as it was in our spiritual re-birthing.

This idea of ‘osmosis’ is something that sounds so delightful, somehow actually believing that all further growth will be an effortless work of God in us without our willing consent, and from what I can see this choosing to move forward is totally available as we respond to His ability.

Is this what would have happened in the garden had they chosen life over (death) knowledge, having arrived, made perfect? Or is it out of that perfect work of the Father in our spirit, we are experiencing the continued perfect work of grace, now saving and transforming our soul?
I heard it said regarding our kids, what perfect little angles we have, only until their will is crossed, and then we wonder where these little devils came from.

Without understanding how the Father has designed us, spirit, soul and body, is it any wonder we have all been seduced into accepting, believing in another gospel, a gospel where we do not actively engage in.
I intend to elaborate on this further in another collection of thoughts on my other blog.

Rich

Shadow Boxing

What I have shared many different times and places on my blogs is but a growing increased knowing that is in my opinion the complete and objective understanding of the grace, Mystery Gospel given to us the church. And this is dealing with ‘the father of lies’ the unseen, undetected enemy of us all in the faith.
I know that apart from the Father’s timing, without Him bringing the continued revelation and discernment, at best much of what we see is in an abstract conceptual blurred perspective.
This reminds me of one of the many, the Father brought sight to through Jesus, and in this particular case it would appear something was off in that this blind man seemed to need a double hit of healing, or did he? See here.

Without an ongoing, ever expanding, deepening relationship with the Father, knowing and growing in His total unconditional loving acceptance of us, we will desire revelation only to make us look good, and folks that is not what it is about.
The story I have pointed out here is a story that speaks to me of, ‘In Him we live, move and become more and more His expressed will on earth as it is in heaven.’
Without the growing true knowledge of the Father’s love for us, we WILL get caught up in some wonderful side eddies, but miss out on the ocean of who He is.

I believe what the Father is allowing me to see is NOT something new or special, (It’s new to me) it is all part of knowing Him as our only Life, and yet without this being ever more deeply etched into the core of our being, the other father, the ‘father of lies’ will continue to reek havoc within the lives of the believers.
As long as I have been a Christian I have heard and seen the best doing what I call a Mexican hat dance, dancing all around the bush as it were in speaking out, pontificating on what is but in my opinion, beating the air-shadow boxing!

Wow, what an arrogant ass you might be thinking, well, hang in there before it’s over you might have a few more choice words for me~ha.
Through out the body of Christ in our being fully identified with our elder brother Jesus Christ, we are beginning to see and know, experience what mere words have pointed to but left us feeling left out from the substance these words spoke of.
Jesus himself repeatedly made it clear that it was only because of the oneness of Him and his Father and out of that abiding reality; he only said and did what the Father communicated to him. The son of man can of himself do ‘nothing.’

Because of our soul has not been fully transformed, we are most susceptible to being invaded by a foreign intruder and that source is the father of lies.
The Father of our spirit has purposed to leave this liar within our flesh whether we know it or not, and believe me, most of us do NOT even know of this liars unseen, hidden within us, activity.

Nothing that Father does is without purpose, now in this present time, and through out eternity. Here is an example; “For everyone who continues to feed on milk is obviously inexperienced and unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]! But solid food is for full-grown men, for those whose senses and mental faculties are trained by practice to discriminate and distinguish between what is morally good and noble and what is evil and contrary either to divine or human law.”

There is a plethora of wonderful and descriptive places within the Scriptures that bring us to an understanding that the voice of God our Father is a matter of life and death. His voice brings into the life of the believer an inner illumination, exposing what show to be real from the shadows that have kept us perpetually locked into shadow boxing with what we think is us.
The father of lies will never be detected without this inner work of the Spirit, and until He does, the tail will continue to shake the dog, aka, being ruled by our flesh and the impetus is our unseen adversary, Satan.

Am I being devil-demon conscious, seeing a devil-demon under every bush, I don’t think so, but what I am being is, I’m becoming intensely more aware of what has plagued me all my Christian life and those around me, the exposure of the one I contend with daily.

In closing, I love what our dear brother Paul says; “Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary. But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit].”

I have more thoughts to share, but later.

Rich

But Speaking the Truth...

In the process of everything that can be shaken being shaken, there is an inner release within the believer a realized maybe not fully yet, voice, and that voice being the voice of the Father of our spirit.
Can you say emancipation-freedom with me?!

The picture I choose for this entry spoke to me in a violent and powerful way. As you will notice the tape on the mouth of the young girl, gagging her from exercising her ability to speak freely, is a visible metaphor depicting where the church has been for a very long time! That is changing rapidly, not by might, nor by power, but by a revelation of the total unconditional loving acceptance of God the Father.

In a few blogs I peruse frequently, I am being blown away in seeing the head of the church (which is His body) the same head over us all Christ Jesus, doing exactly what he said he would do, “And I will build my church”.

We have all been seduced to one degree or another coming out from under the opiate drugged influence of the Matrix of religion and then set out to discover the “Holy Grail, a perfect expression of how to do ‘church’ or, whatever else is vital to our perceived understanding of what it truly means to be a Christian. Pursuing what we feel is a holy cause, isn’t it always, we are being lied to and even distracted further from trusting the Father of our spirit to open the closed, blinded eyes of our heart.

In coming to know the Word, you know, “n the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” yes that Word, the Scriptures have never been or looked the same to me.
Here in Ephesians 4:14-16 is laid out what I am seeing first hand. As the Truth Himself is making His heart known to his children, out of that inner explosion of love, realty they in turn are speaking forth the Truth in Love, ergo, is causing the growth of the body to come together being built up in and through love.

I will only sight two examples of His heart that I am seeing with regards to the Truth being spoken in love that is making, setting the captives free.
Over at “The Best Parts” Tracy is expressing a tangible view of the Father’s heart for His church.
Over at Amy’s blog “Walking in the Spirit” she as well is being given a voice to speak the truth in love to His body.

In being privy to what the Father is making known, often the picture from the Old Testament where God says to a prophet, “Son of man, can this valley of dead bones return to life,” the prophet replies, “Lord only you know.”
The Lord then said to prophesy to this lifeless heap and stage after stage what was once a lifeless pile of rubble became fully alive.

To my way of thinking this was a shadowy metaphor for what I am witnessing in this hour of the church, His body no longer being tossed too and fro by every wind of doctrine, cunningly devised by demonic persuasion to keep it mute.

Rich

My People Love it This way

When and where did what God pointed out start becoming more important than that which it pointed to?
Didn’t Jesus come to a decrepit, defunct, bankrupt system called Judaism that had replaced the one this religion was supposed to be all about?

Isn’t it always the same way, those seeing themselves as the anointed door keepers of the truth being willing to go to the death defending a lifeless thing.
How many times has the Father initiated in the heart of a person, something so full of life, so fluid, so beautiful and freeing, only later to be turn into a canned container of Florida sunshine.
It usually wasn’t the one who simply received the revelation of His heart that wanted to start something, like as in steering it into a ‘movement’, or making it more presentable to more folks, as in a building, heck, let’s not stop there, let’s turn it into a denomination for crying out loud!

This isn’t a new phenomenon, when Jesus wanting one more time to make known the Father to his disciples took three of them up to a mountain top where he was transfigured before them. Long story short after all of the spectacular stuff subsided, Peter not being short on words says, “Lord this is the coolest thing ever, we should package this, box it up, heck right now I bet ya if I looked around us we could find enough materials to make three churches here, one for Moses, one for Elijah, but of course Lord, the nicest one would BE for you!!

Like clock work, down through the centuries, time after time the one, who delights in revealing His heart of love for us is soon aborted, exchanged for the shadow instead of Him alone. Every time someone has a personal encounter with the Lord (this is supposed to BE the norm by the way) and they begin to see the truth, they start living out of that truth, expressing the reality of Him as the truth.
Soon some one comes along and says, ‘you know that revelation that dear brother had, we need to preserve that for ever. Let’s build a box and put that revelation in it, heck, we’ll even call and name ourselves after that revelation just in case some would sadly mistake us for someone else, God forbid.’

Our uniqueness only fully comes alive in knowing our heavenly Father on a one to one basis. We are re-born for LIFE, not to become canning jars that hold lifeless past revelations pickled for posterity sake.

Here’s where it gets dicey folks, has grace once again, the revelation of it become what is worshiped rather than the Father of all grace?
Folks it doesn’t have to be some wild vile wicked thing that turns (steals) our hearts from Him, remember all the good and bad come from the same source, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

This breaks my heart every time I read it; "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. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything."

The light that is shinning ever so bright in this hour is not grace, but Him our Father of ALL grace, let’s love the one who loves us!
In Him we live, move and find true freedom to BE.

Rich

Can God be This Real

In hearing what Father was saying through Brad and Wayne on the last God Journey pod cast, (no need to validate) addressing an email sent to them from a brother/pastor Dave, from Alabama, I want to share what I am learning about that very reality.

Can God be that REAL, YES!
Wayne went on to say to Dave, ‘you may not hear from Brad or me, but you need to hear in your heart from the Holy Spirit that’s saying, yes!
Asking, Jesus would you just show me the way forward.

I love this thought from a brother, “Many catchwords are used by God's people, both Scriptural and homemade, to express the highest aims of their goal in God: some speak of the fullness of the Spirit, or entire sanctification, or power for service, or the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, or full salvation, or victorious living. All these are useful but we would like to speak the basic, simple all-inclusive word of Scripture, that was such a favorite with the Saviour: Eternal Life; or rather, just ''Life,'' for, as we shall see, nothing but this is Life. ''I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,'' said the Saviour; and Moses put it in the plainest terms to Israel: ''I call heaven and earth to witness this day. . . that I have set before you life and death.'' Not a religion, not a philosophy, not a way of life called Christianity, but LIFE. And we are to discover that there is only one Life, all else is death. It is absolute in definition and experience, ''straight and narrow'' as the Saviour said; there are no deviations, no alternatives; and it is foolproof in every conceivable situation or problem. Also, being life, it is entirely natural, not something strained, or rather hopelessly aimed at; but just lived, and lived exuberantly.”

Without partaking of our birth right, feasting on Him, our loving Papa, the true bread from heaven, we will simply continue going through the motions, maybe even establishing a even better form, but lacking and knowing the substance of Him, our only Life.

I want to say this as well, unless the Father of my/your spirit definitively addresses you as His child, because there are NO vacuums, we will be defined by something or someone else, that’s a given.
Because of the ingrained imprinting of who we once were, born dead in our sins and trespasses, there is no way of escape from this no matter how much right scriptural, biblical good stuff we say we believe.
There must be revelation from one source, our loving Father, and in receiving a revelation of the One we are joined to, the Truth Himself, and as that true knowledge increases, that which use to bind us begins to loose its hold on us from the inside out.

So many believe in so much wonderful, great, true things, but without revelation, its but window dressing, simply a form of godliness.
Our Father wants to establish us in the truth of whom He is and who we are in Him.
How many of us as His children believe that what happened to our brother Paul was for him alone? The revelation that he received of Jesus was as he put it, not taught of/by men, and he did not receive it from men, but by His Spirit alone.
It was a revelation of Christ in him (Paul) as him, that he might share Him where ever he was directed by the Father.

There are two father’s operating within our lives, one, the Father of our spirit, the other, a usurping deceiver, the ‘father of lies within our flesh’.
Nothing can hinder or impeded the continued spontaneous intuitive flow of revelation into our lives apart from choosing to give a mind to the flesh, ‘the mind set upon the flesh is death!’

In my life He is becoming more and more a living sobriety.
As I was sharing with my friend Dave the other day, where it says in Proverbs 1:7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding, wisdom, or in Galatians where it says to, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. What if this fear thing was seen in the light of sobriety instead?
I took the bother of checking out the word ‘sober’ in the epistles of Paul alone, finding at least 12 different places being sober is mentioned, I think this is pointing to the One who IS our only sobriety!

This is getting way too long, so I will ramble on more, later.

Rich

Revelation

It's a quote that actually raises several questions.
What place head knowledge or heart awareness?
A few people respond to a revelation 'out of the blue' - and I've known a few who then started attending 'church'. One attended for 15 years and has since spent some 15 years coming out again!
I've spent so many years in dead traditions but then came freedom and liberation from the slavery of legalism - but that was ten years ago. Why has it taken so long?

For those wanting a lead in to this conversation that has been going on here for a while, please read here.

Hi Pete,

Please here me, these are by no way definitive hammered into stone answers, merely one brother reaching out to another, wanting with all that is in me to continue to grow in the grace and the (TRUE) knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I like what my brother Warren Litzman shared once, it was his understanding that ‘we ALL have to go wrong before we learn to go right’. Saying that to say this, because of the innate indelible residual imprinting within our soul, (mind-will-emotions) working wonderfully through the ‘knowledge of good and evil’ we have come to the solid conclusion it choosing to do things the ‘right way vs the wrong way.’ Into that soupy mix, I would ask, what about His Way, is that even a consideration, I don’t think so.

In my opinion the right way and the wrong way are one in the same, disguised and morphed into a blended mix of evil, through and through.

I do not know of too many that when they received revelation of His heart wooing them and then choosing to respond to his invitation to become part of His 4 ever family, aka being re-born, shortly there after finding them self learning from a surrogate, foster parent within some religious club.

It is my opinion that after Joseph died, after having his entire family brought to stay, live in Egypt, that any real substance to the reality of God actively being a part of their daily lives, God raised up another Pharaoh and brought the children of Israel into captivity, why, because they no longer knew Who’s they were or who they were.

Our birth-right and all that it encompasses has never been revoked, it is held in good hands, our Father, waiting for the fullness of time, e.g. Galatians 4:1-3 “NOW WHAT I mean is that as long as the inheritor (heir) is a child and under age, he does not differ from a slave, although he is the master of all the estate; But he is under guardians and administrators or trustees until the date fixed by his father. So we [Jewish Christians] also, when we were minors, were kept like slaves under [the rules of the Hebrew ritual and subject to] the elementary teachings of a system of external observations and regulations.”

I see these scriptures being most relevant to what has happened since the birthing of the church, Christ in us, the hope of glory, although fully received of the Father, heirs and joint heirs with and through Christ Jesus, as long as we think as a slave, Papa keeps us under the tutelage of the institutional settings until the appointed time of the Father for each and everyone of us!
Once again, these are very fluid in flux thoughts, not intended to become a new and missing but just discovered epistle to the church.
I trust this will provoke us both unto love and good works as we look to Him to breathe upon what might be mere abstractions to us.

Rich

New Wine, Old Garments

It's a Revelation, not a Seminar!

I was reflecting on a memory from the past today; when I was still in the institution, I remember one Sunday morning going to my pastor after he had finished teaching and saying, “Jerry, I think it would be wise to consider that not everyone who is able to hear your voice and what you are sharing/teaching even understands grace.” He replied, "thanks Rich, you’re right, good point, I will do a series of teaching on that very subject of grace."

I am not sharing this to slight, or defame my brother, he (although the pastor) like all of us simply didn’t see any better than those like myself who had been taught by the ‘blind leading the blind’.

I know confession is good for the soul, even better than chicken soup. While in this vain of thought here, I love how Father has spelled out and made His grace available in the horizontal, relational setting, perhaps an availability to a dimension of grace that will establish us in an increased vitality of mutual love for Him and one another. See here.

I mean no disrespect or wish to be vulgar, but I am so thankful I am NOT a ‘bastard’. The proof of the father’s love is His loving but firm correction, and that is something that cut into me deeply today as I read further into Wayne Jacobsen’s book, ‘The Naked Church’. The following quote is one of many that has my heart in a vice right now.

From page 56 and 57, “Reality demands effectiveness. If we are going to say that salvation in Christ offers people a personal relationship with God, then we had better see them through to it, since this doesn’t just automatically happen. I know many people who have gone forward to receive Christ and who yet continued under a deep weight of guilt, or else they admit that their spiritual life is empty. Abstraction tells them to just press ahead, ignore their feelings and accept their new relationship “by faith.”

Reality cannot accept such a misapplication of theology. How can the King of Glory ride into someone’s heart unnoticed? When I meet someone like that I usually assume that Jesus hasn’t entered his heart-yet!”

It dawned upon me how true this is, when a new born child moves from its warm comfortable house within its mommy’s tummy, being born into the visible world, usually through what must feel like a great violence, there is usually some tell tale sign that it is alive, and that spelled out in crying.
If this is a natural human expression in the physical birthing of a new born child, why should it be any less real in being‘re-born’?

On the heels of Wayne’s wording here, “How can the King of Glory ride into someone’s heart unnoticed,” How can the spirit of God the Father invade our lifeless spirit, infusing it with His life, and there being NO evidence of that reality apart from some person saying, ‘you simply have to take it by faith, you are his.’

The scriptures clearly and succinctly say, see here and here.

I am slowly seeing, discerning, that what has happened from since the beginning of the church’s birthing, that mere mental assent, form, has always been a viable substitute for the reality of knowing Him, the substance of all that is meant to BE real, Him in us as us!
If ever there was a time to evangelize those thinking, believing they are ‘saved-born again’ is today.
I want to dive into so much more that is in plain sight regarding appearances verses substance in later thoughts.
I look forward to hearing from others as well that are seeing what IS real because of the veil having been rent/torn from top to bottom.

Rich

Clouded Minds

The following are some comments I made on Tracy’s blog from this entry.

“One of the things that hit me powerfully was the look into Skedgell's life as a child and teen. If you want to know how to set your kids up so that they'll want to join a cult, her home life can point you in the right direction. Her childhood set her up to be manipulated, used, and abused by leaders and members of TWI. It's an important point to consider when talking about spiritual abuse. What is the set up in a person's life that allows them to be drawn into a cult? A look into her childhood spells it out pretty clearly.”


Also comments that tie in with this entry as well.
“VanVonderen talks about when anyone has been spiritually abused one of the things that has to be addressed is brainwashing. He says: There has to be an aspect of brainwashing in order for them to keep receiving this. You almost have to deprogram people, and the way you do that is with graceful messages and graceful relationships that give people permission to be in the struggle.”


Tracy, I’m quoting from different entries on your blog, I hope you can make sense of my comments relating to them?

This will tie in with this quote and the one below, I think. Because of the father of lies being permitted to enter into the human race through the pare in the garden freely giving him their consent, all of us in my opinion were born into the matrix of religion, and Satan being as it were, ‘the father of all religion.’
This religious world of sin we have been born into is nothing but abusive, its economy is solely established, rooted in Law, performance based approval-acceptance. None of us have ever, apart from God the Father experienced total unconditional loving acceptance.

Because of being born in sin and shaped in iniquity we have all from the womb, been brain washed, it has indelibly polluted and stained our in-look as well as our out-look, our ‘world view’.
I love it where Jesus is trying to carry on a conversation with Nicodemus , a highly respected professional, who at best, scratched his head, saying, duh, what do you mean, I have to be born again? It’s interesting to note here that this man wasn’t some Palestinian ditch digger. I am not be crude or bigoted by saying his, but if this learned man couldn’t grasp what Jesus referred to as the elementary things, then how could he ever see or comprehend the more, Jesus had for him?
Why is it, and I’m asking this more as a rhetorical question, that so many that had 3-D dramatic conversions all without too many exceptions, got sucked almost immediately right back into the local institutional expression of the matrix?
We are ALL being deprogrammed, (transformed)) by the renewing of our mind (soul) and without the same grace working within our soul ,missing heaven is not e worst thing that can befall the believer.

Having gone through the portal of grace and into His family, we are ALL adjusting to what is REAL, and discovering for the very first time, what really is normal.
These were some quick thoughts that came to mind, I welcome any feed back, at best I am thinking out loud, definitely not chipping this into stone, yet.

Rich


This was Tracy’s reply to what I commented on, her blob.

“Rich, you are making totally sense, and yes I follow the quotes and your comments easily. You are so completely so right on with this sentence:

"Having gone through the portal of grace and into His family, we are ALL adjusting to what is REAL, and discovering for the very first time, what really is normal."

That is one powerful sentence, brother--you should definitely put that one on your own blog! That's been my journey for the past 11 years...adjusting to what is REAL!

Thanks for taking the time to think, share, and write. You're helping me immensely on this journey.”

Learn of Me

Here is something that vividly stands out to me, borrowed from Tracy over at.

“It's sort of sad, really, that we even need to be taught this. But the reality is that most of us were raised is some pretty dysfunctional families. We were either taught: To never acknowledge there was a problem: Or we were taught how dangerous it is to dare to bring up some issue that might raise conflict: Or we lived in constant conflict that was never resolved.”

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

We are learning from/off Him, poor grammar maybe, being learned by Him, will dismantle the identity the matrix of religion, that each of us has been plugged into and still operates within our soul in many cases long after being re-born.

This quote here; “But the reality is that most of us were raised is some pretty dysfunctional families.” The multiplicity of sins dysfunctional manifestation in all of humanity is never seen for what it truly is. The father of lies is the substance to this illusion, he resists exposure at all cost.
There is NO one who is ‘good’ the so called ‘good’ we think we see in flesh is but an elaborate cloaking device trying to keep us locked into the Land of Oz indefinitely, meaning all blatant bad-evil and good is but from the same source apart from the Life of the Father in us as us, coming from the knowledge of good and evil.

Again from Tracy; “This week I read this line and it brings me to fresh tears just reading it again now: "Wounded souls often have no history of other people fighting for the relationship...." (page 96, Come Follow Me workbook, Thrive Ministries). I think that is the power I feel when we gather. Finally, finally, finally to be meeting with people where we will fight for the relationship. Not fight with each other or take flight from each other, but fight for the relationship. To say, by our words and actions, You are worth it. Every human being is a wounded soul and we all need people who are willing to fight for the relationship.

I wonder if I'm alone in having had so little of this in my life? I've had it with my husband and with a few friends along the way, but on the whole, I find it a very rare and precious thing that I am experiencing right now. Have you had many people in your life that were willing to fight for the relationship? Have you been part of groups or churches where this was common practice? Or has your life been much like mine? I'd really love to hear your stories or experience in this, if you'd care to share them with me.”

Regarding my propensity on quoting others, here is a comment I made to Tracy.

“This quote so moved me, thank you.
I love quotes and quoting others and what stands out to me, like seeing a beautiful arrangement of wild flowers and wanting to take few back to share the beauty and warmth I experienced with others.

But I know that if it’s just quotes without detecting the living spirit of the Father in and through them, then is it any different than trying to fill up on looking at the wonderful pictures on the restaurant menu?
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they shall be filled.

I feel so much like what our brother Nehemiah must have felt like in being brought into a horrific sight of devastation, debris, and rubble. What was ahead of him was a mammoth task, and he knew this.
Out of the complete holocaust of sins devastating destruction within my soul, I am seeing Him the one who says, “The glory of the latter house will far exceed the glory of the former one, and we are His house.”

Daily being drawn into seeing this Glorious One, Christ IN us the hope of glory, causes my heart like ripened wheat to bow in the deepest gratitude….Abba-Father.”

Rich

Is it Christ-Life, or Church-life

I was on my way home finishing up my mail route when this thought burped up into view.
Am I being loved of the Father because “It’s His ministry”, or am I being loved for who’s I am?
I can just imagine the looks on the face of my wife, son and daughter when I tell them, you’re so loved by me, why, because it’s “my ministry”.
They look at me and ask, ‘what ministry is that dad,’ to which I reply, surely you jest, why of course it’s the ministry of I’m so full of myself I can hardly stand it!

Right from the get-go I know I am not stupid enough to think for even a nano second that I am going to write some definitive treatise on differentiating between one word and another. In this case the difference between the Life of (Christ) the Father and church life.
Words are, and always will be synonymous with meanings that might be true to a person, and yet when one believes white is actually black and vice versa, does that make it so-true?

It takes what it takes to slice, cut through the deception and blindness in us all, none of us has escaped or gone unscathed being born in sin and shaped in iniquity, none!
The disentanglement taking place within a believers life is an inside job, the One who has called us is the same one saying the same thing, “If you continue to follow me, you will KNOW the truth and the TRUTH will set/make you free.”
Truth is only relative as long as it is not evidenced in a person, the Christ as Jesus.

More and more I am seeing ‘ministry’ being a cheap substitute for something that will impress others with who I am. Only the love of the Father is able to bring definition and completeness in and to us, and make us living expressions of His heart for this world. Why would I want a ministry when His grace has opened a door no man can shut, a door he has opened wide to know this One who has called me to BE His.

I remember my former pastor saying to me in light of sharing some of things Father had been making real in and to me, “Rich, we are saying the same things.” I went away shaking my head in bewilderment; we were NOT saying the same thing. White really is Not black.

A table is not a chair, and a chair is not a table, oh the desperate need for the eyes of our heart to be opened, that He would flood us through and through with His wisdom along with the spirit of revelation and continue to pull back the (curtain) veil, that we might SEE Him and no longer confuse His life in us as us, for the best that flesh can do calling it the church!

Even so Lord, come!

Rich

Friend's and Friend's of Friend's

Please read Pete’s response to me first (here) before reading what I have shared here with him.

Pete,

I so love your heart, it so exalts the one who is our Life! A friend of mine once said, “I know God is no respecter of persons, but maybe He is a respecter of hearts”

As far as my ‘former ministry,’ looking back, what I now see was my trying to be someone something other than whom He had purposed for me to Be, and without a revelation of His unconditional total love for me this could have easily turned into a greater nightmare than it already was.
Prior to Him burying us, my wife and family and I alive, I was rich in some of the most incredible experiences a person could encounter, and that all followed my very powerful and dramatic re-birthing.

The day before I was (euphemistically) ‘let go’ from the ministry, I along with my fellow colleagues were together in one of our weekly staff meetings, I won’t bore you will all of the details, suffice it to say, when we opened up in prayer, I was immediately aware of the Lord wanting to show me something, so I mentioned this to the others as we were praying, they encouraged me to go further into seeing where this might lead to.

What followed was almost like something from a science fiction movie.
You have to understand what was unfolding before me although wild; I was use to encounters like this, only this was far different.
In my spirit I saw Jesus in a shadowy silhouette approaching me and as He got closer I could see/make out he was holding a communion chalice, and it being filled to the brim. He was not saying anything with his lips, yet I could hear His words in my heart.
He motioned that this cup he held was for me, and somehow I knew that I could receive it and drink it or I could say no thanks, and somehow I knew His love for me would be the same.
I could see in His eyes/heart a love for me that was so foreign to anything I had thus far experienced, I choose to symbolically reach out and take this chalice/cup from him under No compulsion, putting it up to my lips, and drinking it all.
Then for the first time He spoke to me, and this is where it gets wild, He says, “I now give you permission to enter into the fellowship of my sufferings.”
The next day I was called into the senior pastors office to be informed, I was being let go~yikes.

This set into motion my being brought into what I call, ‘the school of the spirit,’ I was being brought into a living encounter with the One who had called me to BE His, not a call to be someone apart from Him. When I was let go from the ministry, I was not only being stripped of my many colored coat, much like Joseph was, but SO much more. We were living in a postage stamp sized house, renting it, why, because we lost Everything, another story to be shared another time.

I slowly began to see and learn of a Father that was smitten by me, this was unfathomable to my thinking, but He had my attention big time.
As I learned and am learning of His love, I have been awakened into an understanding of His grace that is so transforming my life, I no longer resemble the person I was for so long, even as ‘a Christian.’
I dare anyone to ask my wife and my kids as they are able to cut to the chase and speak the Truth re: this progressive ongoing transformation in my heart, thoughts, words and actions.

Pete my dear brother, there is so much I could share, but won’t right at this time, only to encourage you as you have done to me. You are such a priceless and vital living expression of His hearts purpose and to us His body, and for that reality I say, thank you Papa!
I love your rambling please never stop, many would be greatly refreshed and encouraged of His spirit living in Pete, as Pete.

Rich