Living in a Dream World

The following are more of my thoughts that have become very real to me while away for the past two weeks on vacation, it was there afresh I found myself being awakened and finding myself strangely disoriented and wondering why I was once again right smack dab in the middle of a raging war.

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.”

You can read some earlier thoughts here.

From the movie The Matrix, Morpheus asks Neo; “Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?”

The reason I sooner or later come back to quoting so often from this movie in particular, is because of how I so identify with Neo and all those still wide awake living within in their designer fashioned dream world, but at the same time, totally oblivious to what is really happening in the real world; a person who has lost all levels of consciousness, right down to their identity, is said to be “alert and oriented times zero.”

In Neo’s case the truth is something he says he wants more than anything but does he really? “What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this; [ holds up a Duracell battery]. Neo staggers back saying, No, I don't believe it. It's not possible.” Morpheus replies, “I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.”

When a person becomes a follower of Christ aka, a Christian, it can be much like being awakened from a dream world as well, and the truth as it begins to shine within our hearts comes into direct contact with the lies we have grown up believing as was with Neo; “The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”
Neo asks; “what truth?” Morpheus who is in my opinion much like the spirit of truth clearly begins to pull back the veil and says; “That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch, a prison for your (heart) mind.”

The choice is always ours as it was for Neo; “I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it.”
Our continued detoxing is as much about knowing whatthe lie is, as it is in knowing the Truth; “The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see, Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters? The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.”

I need to stress that our enemy is not with flesh and blood; “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (working through flesh and blood.”

A lot of life and living can be very unclear, in your life, what are you perfectly clear on? So much of what was promised to us in responding to the Gospel message has in fact only left us mostly dazed and confused.

Rich

Connecting the Dots

In our coming through the portal of grace into a new and living world, what lies ahead of us has never been seen or heard of before. It has not yet fully dawned on us what is ours. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”.
Up to this point in being a human being we have only really known a two dimensional existence, all along thinking we’re actually alive.
In the re-birthing we received what was meant to be our “birth-right” that which even Adam and Eve did NOT have or ever experienced!

In a heart beat everything we knew changed and yet appeared to be the same. The finished work of the Father from before the world began as well as in space, time, and history was instantly ours, we became completely His sons and daughters. We were complete and yet this completeness had to be worked out in the area of our lives that was still totally unchanged, our soul.

The sinner from the beginning, Satan, the one who held us captive, we being dead in our sins and trespasses, instantly lost his death grip on us the moment we responded to this loving God and Father of grace. The Scriptures describe this as, “Being translated out from the kingdom of darkness into the marvelous kingdom of light, aka, the family of the Father.”

The kicker is, although completely set free in our spirit, our soul was now the targeted battle zone where, as the battle ensued, all of us will be tempted to believe the LIE that in fact nothing has changed in us at all.
We are now living in two realms at the same time, the spirit realm where we are seated in Christ at the right had of God, and yet we’re still here in space, time and our geographical locations. What’s with that?

Salvation is just another abstract concept seen, experienced apart from the God and Father our Salvation. The Father’s ultimate intention was never to free us from hell only to give us a front row seat in heaven, but in saving us to complete us, spirit, soul and body.
The spirit dimension of our make up was instantly made complete in the re-birthing, the body aspect is something that awaits each of us on the other side, and it is my opinion, from the beginning the body was always meant to be ‘disposable’. Now that leaves us with one last component of our being, our soul. This is where it gets very interesting!

The father of lies is very much alive and well within a component that was added to the original creation of man after the fall, called the ‘flesh’.
It is from this unseen, but very real vantage point he continues his hellish best to attempt at bringing and keeping us although gloriously re-born (saved) ruled by the dictates of our fleshly yet un-renewed soul, mind-will-and emotions.

I want to say here, that I am not trying to come across as someone who fully in any estimation entirely sees or knows about this subject matter, but what I do know is that what I am seeing and growing in IS the truth. The beauty of Him, Christ Jesus being the Truth, we each must discover through His grace alone at a personal and experiential level the truth for us.
Other wise, we will be deceived into becoming an outer display of an inner distortion, having only a form of Godliness, but without the substance, NO power.

To be continued…

Rich

Seeing Clearly

The beautiful and painful reality with coming to know the truth is that any objectivity on our end is going to be because of the Father breaking through our self-deceptions. There are so many things from within as well as from without, trying to obscure from us that which is our “Birth-Right.”

We have all been locked into a performance based approach to serving, seeking God. In not relying upon His life in us and in turning to our self-effort we will not loose our permanent status of being his child, but what we will forfeit is our rest and peace.
If we insist on relating out of our own knowing and efforts we not only will not see the truth but we cannot see it.

As much as we say we want to know the Truth (and I do believe we are sincere) we are totally ignorant of the hellish antagonisms that will be triggered within our soul-consisting of various aspects of the residual effects of having lived in sin, such as, being intensely self-protective, denial, hypocrisy, and self-justification just name a few.

Something that got my attention today was in seeing that there is a perfect harmony between the objective clear instructions in the Bible, the Scriptures, and harmonically in sync with the flow of revelation ( subjective intuitive knowing) from the Father.
“It is the combination of revelation, and the written word that transforms the Bible from ‘words on paper’ to the living word of God.”

Unfortunately what will happen is a potential refusal on our part to continue to turn to Him. If we do have a contradiction between the scriptures and revelation, then we know there is a problem with our perception or it is only an apparent contradiction that will be resolved as we receive further teaching from the Father.
If by His grace we’re not standing before Him in open surrender to further teaching, if there is a personal agenda in seeking Him other than wanting to know Him, no mater how persistent we are, we will not hear the Father’s voice in our spirit, nor see His truth revealed in Scripture.

What lies ahead for each of us is so connected with taking that next step of faith-trust, right in front of us, ergo we learn what it means, to turn to Him.

Rich

Maelstrom

Part Two

So, I got to thinking.

This is what occurred to me: can it be that God actually means what he says? I’m not joking! Most of us live our lives as if God doesn’t exist or if he is, he’s totally impotent. Why is that the case? Because, if we get down to the real nitty-gritty, when we cry out to God and he doesn’t appear to hear, when we feel lost, abandoned or alone, when we are stressed out, burdened to the limit and weighed down by the cares of the world and we succumb to discouragement, depression or disillusionment, what we are actually saying is that God (pick one):

didn’t tell the truth when He said He’d supply all my needs

doesn’t care about me

likes to see me suffer

can’t relate to what I’m going through

is teaching me a lesson

can’t work because of my unbelief

etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum
Let’s face it: if God really did care, he wouldn’t leave me in this mess! He’d rescue me! He’d scoop me up like Superman! Where is He when I need him most?

So – getting back to the sad fact that I couldn’t think of even one Christian who has really learned consistently how to overcome in the maelstrom of the battle…

This is what occurred to me: can it be that God, who promised that ALL things work together for the good for those who love the Lord, is allowing these soul-sapping battles to buffet us over and over because He wants us to discover a mystery? Why does He say things like, "Do not be alarmed at the fiery trials…", "Endure hardship as a soldier of the cross", "Count it all joy when…"? Is He advising us just to think happy thoughts, like a big celestial Pollyanna? Or could there actually be a solution we have not yet seen?

I’m beginning to wonder if the reason we get repeatedly buffeted is so that we’ll finally get sick and tired of getting sucked into the maelstrom and learn to fight! Do you remember the scene in "Christmas Story", when Ralphie finally exacts revenge on the neighbourhood bully? That victory accomplished something in his soul!

I don’t believe for one second that God wants us to pretend our struggles don’t exist (that would be stupid). On the contrary, I think that He is trying to teach us that we don’t need to get sucked into the vortex of bewilderment and despair when we sense white water approaching. How? In times of desperation, we need to declare God’s truth. I see this as an act of warfare. What is this truth? The truth is, HIS life indwells us! HE is the victor, the mighty champion. HE said we could do all things through Christ who strengthens us. By declaring the truth, we acknowledge the absolute perfection and holiness of HIS character. He IS good. He DOES love.

Declaring the truth is not without precedent, but it does come with a price. Satan approached Jesus at his worst moment, when he was famished and weak after his fast in the wilderness. What did Jesus do? Despite how he felt, despite how easy it would have been to give in, Jesus consistently declared the truth…and the scriptures say the devil departed from him! Accordingly, as we do the same, no matter how bad things may appear, our minds will be transformed as we deliberately flood the darkness of our soul with light. This will not be easy. We’ve spent our entire lives inclining our ear to the voice of the enemy (see #s 1 to 7 above).

As I said, I don’t know a single Christian who has broken through this spiritual sound barrier. The enemy of our soul is intent on keeping us from discovering the truth of the power of Jesus’ spirit indwelling us; consequently, many of us are filled with despair and anxiety to the core. However, God does not judge us for our failures. The following excerpt from "The Shack" by Paul Young illustrates this:
(God speaking)

"Remember, Mackenzie, I don’t wonder what you will do or what choices you will make. I already know. Let’s say, for example, I am trying to teach you how not to hide inside of lies…And let’s say that I know it will take you forty-seven situations and events before you will actually hear me – that is, before you will hear clearly enough to agree with me and change. So, when you don’t hear me the first time, I’m not frustrated or disappointed. I’m thrilled. Only forty-six more times to go. And that first time will be a building block to construct a bridge of healing that one day – that today – you will walk across."

As for me, I trust I am beginning to "hear clearly enough to agree with [God] and change" so that when I sense the next maelstrom approaching, I’ll learn, by allowing my mind to be transformed to the truth, how to avoid getting sucked into the vortex.

Margi