The Swirl

     I see brothers and sisters as the Body of Christ, loving, encouraging, correcting in love, forgiving, and caring for one another creating a whirlpool in the River of Life. Those who get near, who are "being saved"  are drawn to this love, and want to be a part. As they peer into this phenomenon of love, they draw closer, wanting to be one of the family, they thirst for this New Life in Him. When they get even closer and on the edge, they are swooped into the swirl and taken into Christ, plunging the very depths of Him as they go under.

His Truth Reigns!!!

      I don't "speak it" to make it true.  It is true already, and so I say it.  Out of the heart (of belief), the mouth speaks. Trying to control God for our own fleshly desires, and using His Word to do it, is witchcraft. Amen.

Balancing Grace and Works

(1) When we are saved by grace we become God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has already ordained that we should walk in them (See Eph. 2:10). We are created unto good works (Eph. 2:10), zealous of good works (Titus 2:14), full of good works (Acts. 9:36), rich in good works (1 Tim. 6:18), throughly furnished unto all good works (2 Tim. 3:17), show a pattern of good works (Titus 2:7), and are careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8).

(2) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Titus 2:11, 12

 

Except from A Brother's Writing

If you know yourself — and know anything about human tendencies — and know anything about YHWH, the ONE true God, 

then you’ll realize that He will do ANYTHING to sabotage our comfort and addiction to this present age BECAUSE HE LOVES US. 

Wow. That’s a different look at it all than most take, isn’t it? 

To be GRATEFUL when your finances or job or house or sport or hobby or health or time or plans are endangered? How is THAT?

Understand that you cannot SEE the Kingdom if your eyes are not seeing it through HIS Cross, and YOUR Cross! 

Knowing THIS, you can understand why Abba, if He loves us and is intervening for OUR Eternal ultimate Welfare, will NOT let us become satiated or addicted or dulled by the world system, and it’s cares and worries and deceits without a fight! 

If we KNOW that we can ONLY “See the KINGDOM” through His Cross and by “taking up our own cross” as those “dead to the world and the world to us” — 

then we can REJOICE at His Majesty and His Genius and His LOVE 

to be willing to Intervene any way HE decides -- that we may share in HIs Glory as we participate in His Life. 

Consecration

    Besides emails, a website, posting on this blog, and "solitaire" the computer has nothing in me. About 6 months ago, I asked the Lord to help me give my mind to Him, and this was the result. I was giving it to too many other things, and His thoughts were being crowded out by the consumption of information I was putting in it.
    I wanted to love Him with my whole heart, soul and mind. It's the mind that is the hardest one to consecrate to Him, but now that these things have been removed, I am fully convinced He is occupying more of me. Not that it didn't require obedience; it did. He asked me to not spend my time looking at certain sites anymore for various reason, and so with His help, I layed them down. Use the computer, don't let it use you, He seemed to say.
     If we want to let His will take dominion in us, it requires saying "no" to many other things. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

New Every Morning

     Recently, as I see the sun rise, I hear, "Mercy" in my spirit. God is reminding me that with each new day, He is once again pouring out forgiveness and cleansing to me; the accounts from yesterday are long forgotten, even if I didn't confess each tiny, little infraction to Him. If it were dependent on that alone, it would be my memory that would save me, not Him. Once we have truly committed to Him and His will, we live in the light of His forgiveness. It is part of our salvation on a continuing basis, and when we forget that we are, and the enemy will try and tell us that with his doubtful torments, the sun comes up again.

Finding Myself Among the Strugglers

Personal Commentary on the movie, "Ragamuffin" about the Life of Rich Mullins-

Watching the movie certainly impacted my life; for some strange reason, I have been attracted to his struggles, for I too, struggle. I am wondering if all of us are Ragamuffins, but only some dare to think of themselves in this way. Would this be the same as "the poor in spirit", or the "contrite in heart" God says He will not despise? He came to heal the broken-hearted, and to set the captives free. Aren't all of us those people? And finally He says He came for the sick not the well, so wouldn't it be an advantage in a way to be sick, or to realize our second by second need for Him? Again, in Revelations He says those who say they are "rich" (self-sufficient in any way) are blind, poor and wretched but they don't know it, and He calls them to repentance. But, those who are poor and they know it, seem to be those after His own heart, as David was, and beloved and cherished by the Lord. So, is what Rich said and did, threatening to people because they don't want to look at their own inadequacies, because they love the cover-up of their perfect lives, and appearing all together? God gives grace to the humble. Yes, certainly watching the movie stimulated a lot of thoughts in me, and God used it to speak to me and bring confirmation to those things that I had already seen. He is using it to encourage me on the path He has me on, of living for His purposes with Kingdom values, and not for mine, nor the values of this "false" world, even as I struggle along.

Soul Healing

    Continuing with the "go with it" post  yesterday: I woke up about 2:00 a.m. with many thoughts going through my head. I rehearsed in my mind, how 3 people I have known have repelled me with either scoldings or criticisms they have made towards or about me. These people are unaware of how what they have said to me has affected me negatively, and in their minds, I'm sure what they have said to me has either been forgotten by them, or they would consider it to have been for my own good, if it was brought up to them. I know, I'm supposed to forgive, and to tell you the truth, I don't know if I have or not. I only know that I want to avoid being in a relationship with them, and I think I know why.
     I was raised in an atmosphere of  scorn, and this has had a lasting effect on me. Everything that went wrong was someone's fault, and so I accepted the fault as my own.  Who did this? Who did that? Do this! Do that! What are you doing now? Where are you going? It seemed like my life and actions were under intense scrutiny and this caused me to be careful in taking one little step. I became hyper-vigilant, trying to make sure I didn't break the rules so that I wouldn't get in trouble, or worse, made to feel guilty and shameful. I was controlled, and wasn't given much room to make decisions, and when I was, I had no confidence in making good ones.  My way of escape was to get alone and play my record player and color in my coloring books. This brought me a certain degree of peace.
     So, I know why I cannot cope with being around people who either have an attitude of scorn, or who say critical things about me, or who scold me in any way, shape or form. I have to have an environment to heal in, and that's not it.
     I've never thought it approved by God for me to just walk away from relationships like that, but now I am thinking it is o.k. for the continued healing He wants to bring to me. The people I'm referring to are good people otherwise, but what is in them is colliding with what is in me, and it's not working.
     Two of the people I currently am not in a relationship with, and it wasn't unusual for it to end as it just naturally dissolved. The other one I am in, and she will wonder if I become distant, and probably probe me about it. I won't reveal the bottom line truth to her, as her reaction will be critical, I know.  It's happened before.
     I am wondering if this is what God is trying to tell me, as I've let the feelings of sadness "have it's way in me." Is He saying for me to distance myself from people who are not nourishing to my soul's health, so that I can be healed, and to just be around positive, uplifting people who truly love me? I'm kind of thinking that. We'll see. I know that I want to be delivered from this oppression that has pervaded me for way, way too long, and this may be one of the steps I need to take for that to happen.
    

Go With It

     Yesterday a brother in the Lord and I were talking about how our state of being is affected by the cloudy weather. I commented that when the sun is out, and the temperature just right, I can "feel the presence of the Lord in the atmosphere." He agreed and knew what I was talking about.
     But, Christ is within, so it's obvious that we have not attained to the full ascendency of that reality in our growth. We still are affected by externals.
     Sometimes,  though, our feeling "blue" is an indicator of something God is wanting to show us. I am finding that if I just "go with it" and don't try and cover it up with a pretentious smile and a feigned good mood,  things go better and the result He is looking for comes about quicker.
     There is something about pretending that is contrary to cooperating with Him as He works within us. We either do that, or occupy ourselves with activities which takes us to another zone where we can ignore what He is trying to tell us.
     But, what if we just went with the sad feelings, and listened, without trying to cover them up, or act like we weren't feeling them? What might He say to us or show us? Like David, our question might be, "why are you so downcast, O my soul?" And let Him answer. We might be surprised at what He says or shows us. It may be a major key we didn't know about that is hindering His love from flowing through us, that He wants to remove.
     To wait on the Lord when these feelings come can be an anxious activity if we have been used to taking care of things ourselves with our coping mechanisms, in the past. Our cover-up reactions have been successful in soothing ourselves from having to experience these feelings, but in the process we may have missed God's intention of showing us something very important.
      So I say, "go with it" when these feelings come and see what He has to say. He may want to expose a sin that has so easily besets us which has caused a stumbling block in us for many, many years, and He is wanting to set us free!