Cosmetically Cosmeticized

I wonder how much, if any, stock is given to the warning, admonition to “not let the world squeeze us into its mold?” We are being conformed into the image of Christ, but that transition is not happening without pain and difficulty. We had so long beheld a false identity in our spiritual mirror that we have no comprehension of who we really are in Christ, and ‘self’ desperately wants to hang on! The impetus behind self, the diabolical entity that has molded our self image, is passionately resolute that we never get to the place of knowing who, and Whose, we are.
It is my contention that a most serious cross road has to be addressed in our continued extrication from the Matrix of religion.

Jesus assured, gave us his word, that in continuing to follow Him, we would progressively know the truth and the truth would further set and make us free. Before there is a grateful disillusionment, it must be preceded with being painfully and greatly disillusioned, and it is this very nerve I wish to touch upon, hold still, the pain is only monetary!

For those who have been led out of the religious system it is important to realize that there remains within their flesh the source of the religious system, many unfortunately see their being outside of the religious ‘box’ as being free, much like those led out of Egypt into the wilderness as being free… free at last, thank God almighty, we’re free at last, but hidden from them in their flesh lies the liar, the father of lies and religion!

Without the continuous renewing of the mind (soul) and because there are no vacuums, there will be a morphing, a thinking, acting, living out a lie, living contrary to who and whose we are. This potential morphing I liken to that of a chameleon, it has been designed genetically to display the colour of its surroundings. Likewise our soul in a similar fashion is going to display the governing spirit we give a mind to. This is not some new phenomena I am speaking of, right from the get go within that which became known as the “church” which is His body here on earth, we can see based upon scripture the dumbing down, the charming bewitching corrupting and trying to impede the Christians continued growth in the grace and true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The misnomer that was spelled out by those not living by every word (revelation) proceeding from the mouth of God the Father unfortunately established this equation, “Jesus in, Satan out.” Nothing could be further from the truth, and believe it or not, this is all tied in inseparably from what it means to be in Christ and to have Christ in us.

I want so much to further flesh this out and will do so as time and grace permits.

Rich

The End of our Rope

I love the picture here I’ve chosen for this piece, the caption under it read: “This was actually the poster shot for a work I completed in 1997 called "Faith". The idea was the examination of the fragility of life... we all dangle so precariously at the end of our rope... hanging by a thread, so to speak.”

“Along this journey you will notice that every good thing he has imprinted in your heart came at your most difficult moments. I don’t think for a moment that God orchestrates these times, because the consequences of living in a fallen world will provide ample opportunities. What amazes me is how he uses the most hurtful moments for his purpose.
You’ll even see him use what others intend for evil to purify your heart and teach you to depend on him even more.
Much of the curriculum for this journey lies in the very circumstances you’re begging God to change. This journey is at once more painful than you can imagine and filled with more wonder than you can contain. Don’t think it a broad road, for it is not. You’ll find even your dearest friends in Christ may not understand the most difficult places in your journey. But trust him to take you through them and he will. In doing so he will make you a little more like him.
I don’t know that we’ll ever get comfortable at the end of the rope, but at least we don’t have to dread it or think it proof he has abandoned us.” (He Loves Me-Wayne Jacobsen).

Rich

The dance of faith.

Smiling on the Outside

Late last night I was on Face-Book, a medium of great interest to many demographics, only because someone wanted me to include them amongst my friends. I did not know this person at all, and in trying to maneuver around in Face-Book which is very awkward for me, only because I’m hardly ever there, I saw a chat thing pop up and my son wanting to chat.

My son lives out on his own and not far from us in the same city. Because of the sensitive nature of what he wanted to talk to me about, I will not go there, other than to ask those who know me at least through this medium of the www, to please pray for my son, as our Father would speak to you.

What happened last night seems to be just one of many cascading continuations of what Papa is making real in my heart these recent days. So often I feel as if my heart is going into a melt down, sensing how much He cherishes me.
As I said to my wife, how can I NOT cherish you, or our son, or our daughter, or those around me in light of what I am discovering about being loved and cherished myself?
All the languages of the world could say the word ‘cherished’ and yet not touch me in the depth of how He is defining what cherished really means!

As crushing and painful as it was, hearing my precious son divulge is internal devastation, there was a deep knowing, an assurance this was not meant for death, but for LIFE.
Because of the chat feature on Face-Book cutting in and out, I decided to call him, only because of the nature of what he was sharing with me. He did not answer his phone, but came back on the chat device and said, no, I don’t want to talk on the phone, I only want to talk this way, I said ok.

I believe with all my heart Papa allowed me (in my total, complete helplessness) to speak Life into my son, and sensing that once again the Lord’s indestructible life would soon come forth from this death experience my son was buried in.

He is our Living Hope, or its all just Bull Shit!!

As I have reflected on what Papa wanted to say to me about this hellish night mare last night, he brought back to my remembrance this story. This part in particular is what gripped my heart for my son; “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." All that he can NOT see right now, only because of who God my Father is, can I see for my son, and on the basis of that alone, I can by His spirit in and through prayer, begin to see that anything and everything that would try and keep him buried alive, will be pushed aside as the Father’s life not only raises him from his death, but into the fullness of his awaited Birth-Right.

Right from the get-go when I was apprehended of the Father, a dimension of his heart that seemed to become a very natural expression of Him in me as me, was ‘encouragement’. If there was ever a time to be an encouragement to His body, which is the Church, is now.
I know this is not some isolated thing being spoken to me alone, I know the same spirit is nudging, prompting many to BE His encouragement to those being awakened from the Matrix sleep of religion through out the earth.
This transition of grace I have likened to in the following; "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.”

His spirit is working now, in you in me, no set of circumstances or situations are able to stop, prevent Him from making His heart known, and trust me on that.
He is ‘opening’ closed eyes to behold Him right where we are.

I love this heralding trumpet sound of grace coming from the heart and lips of our dear brother Paul; “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
There are so many times Paul referrers to himself as, “I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus, not the prisoner of Rome.”

Dear friend, brother, sister, you are NOT a prisoner of your circumstances or situations in light of the Truth, my prayer for His body, the Church is to SEE, and in seeing, we are FREED!

All of creation is standing on tip-toe, with baited breath and beating within their heart is a knowing, the long awaited manifest sons of God are coming to liberate them from their imprisonment.

Rich

Pulling on Our Heart Strings

Isn't it truly amazing, the unconditional love of God the Father, in how he freely gives to us such wonderful and rich opportunities to really know, and experience Him. Although some of these if not many of them seem to come disguised in a lot of hurt, pain, stretching, confusion, darkness, and a sense of being all alone, but in it all we are free to choose Him and not the lack of experiences or clinging to a plethora of previous and wonderful experiences.
Neither can ever compare to truly knowing Him, so, we plod, we trudge onward. Yeah I know this sounds really sensational, but are we willing to be led out of everything and anything that is competing for this heart to heart connection with our loving Farther that is only possible because, He SAYS SO!

The following is something that deeply touched my heart, it is from a friend I haven’t connected with for a while now and because of her name coming up in a conversation with a mutual friend the other day, I decided to at least email her to see how she was doing. This is in particular is what so genuinely impacted me from her email reply.

With all the books and blog’s I've been reading and pod casts I've been listening to I'm realizing that even though I love what I'm reading and hearing it's all about revelation from the heart of the Father to my heart. I can't get it on my own and no one on this earth can make it real to me. It has to be him.

I thought what Oswald Chambers had to say here fits in nicely with the flavor and aroma of my thoughts.

If you try to dam up the Holy Spirit in you to produce subjective experiences, you will find that He will burst all bounds and take you back again to the historic Christ. Never nourish an experience which has not God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you try to lord it over Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? He must be Lord over you, and you must not pay attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. There comes a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience - I do not care what I experience; I am sure of Him. Be ruthless with yourself if you are given to talking about the experiences you have had. Faith that is sure of itself is not faith; faith that is sure of God is the only faith there is.

Rich

I Must Turn Aside and Look Into This Matter

In some of my recent thoughts (on both of my blogs) I have shared about the inevitable struggle-grind we all are confronted with.

It was in becoming flesh that God in the person of His son Jesus Christ fully entered into our plight/struggle, and transformed it, and in so doing has established a living hope for all.

From the book, Amazing Grace, (A Vocabulary Of Faith), Kathleen Norris shares this: ‘I am grateful now for that experience of pain and struggle; it makes my present enjoyment of worship all the sweeter.’

And this: 'I didn't do living right, at first. When I was six months old, I nearly died. All wrong, for an infant, to be so caught up in the last things. Naturally, the hospital was called Providence; in all likelihood, as I was in danger of dying, a nun baptized me there. My official baptisim came four months later, in the arms of my grandfather Norris, a Mthodist pastor. Six months of age is too early to learn that one's mother and father are helpless before death. But the struggle that took place in my infant body and still-forming, pre-verbal intelligence was between life and death, and I am convinced that a sense of something vast, something yet to come, took hold in my unconscious and remains there still.'

Rich

No Escape

In the making of bread, you might have all of the right and exact components and yet miss having the key one, yeast. Without this explosive and corruptive ingredient all of your work will be to no avail, the dough will be just that, dough.
Its within the yeast itself that lies this dynamic power to not only cause the bread dough to rise, but define it as in a particular shape.
I liken this, the life of God, to the yeast, something as an external matter brought into (play) the settings of the dough.

I’ve talked about this before in other posts on my blogs, but I want to reemphasize it even more. We were all came into this world as still born, dead in our sins and trespasses, by nature children of wrath, sons of disobedience, cut off from the life of God, alienated from Him.
The spiritual imprinting of sin and its invasive corruption was total in its design. Jesus said, ‘You are of your father the Devil, and when you hear him speak, its simply a matter of agreeing with the inward dynamics of the sin imprinting you were born with, it isn’t an anomaly.

Yesterday in the life of my son, we, my wife and I were seeing into the unseen realms first hand all over again, the real and violent clashes of the Truth exposing the innate lies not only what my son has believed, but all of us!
It talks about the god of this world having blinded the minds (eyes) of those living in this world, preventing them from seeing the Truth.
I see this pointing to the fossilized, fixed, unmovable imprinting that sin and its influence has accomplished in all of humanity.
There is NO way any of us can see outside of this prison we are jailed to; there is NO escape apart from the grace of a loving Father.
As my wife and I had a few moments this morning to reflect and think out loud on some of what I’m sharing here we saw afresh the power our Father has invested in us as His own, giving us first of all a growing experiential learning first hand of what it means to Be loved, and within that reality, learning as he directs to PRAY for ALL men.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful, designed to assault those things of the sin matrix imprinting and as it were, to breach through their illusionary shackles.

Even in the lives of the ‘saints’ I see this dynamic still very visible, and I’m starting with myself first, then moving out into a much broader vista of observation.It says we have been ‘born again’ not of the will of man or the will of the flesh, but by the word (sperm) of God, and out of that miracle has come a whole new race, a new man as the scriptures put it.

Our DNA as it were has been totally altered, the sin matrix imprinting has been addressed at the core level of our being, and yet, because of our soul, especially our mind that is in the process of coming into alignment with the Truth, will more often than not revert to its former state of imprisonment, and it is this issue I will endeavor to further elucidate upon, later!

Rich