Covert Complicity

I love it when you hear something that resonates within you bearing witness to the truth you are seeing and growing in. Such was that in listening to a recent pod cast over at the Family Media site. You can listen to it here; Feeling Exploited http://frmpodcast.wordpress.com/

It’s not the whole pod cast that spoke to me but if you start roughly at 24 minutes into it you’ll get the gist of what leaped out at me. I especially loved where Loren attests to how much religion is in us. I shared this with my wife and we both agreed in how wonderful it will be if and when Loren decides to see just how deep this rabbit hole of religion really goes, meaning, yes religion is very much within us all, but; what is the impetus of what we call religion?

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

Teachable Moments

It’s wonderful how thoughts are triggered, and the stimulation of those thoughts having the potential of launching us into further discovering and embracing life and what that encompasses, rather than merely surviving or existing.

What I’m pondering isn't something confined to any particular demographic – just to anyone who has 'flesh'! There are some who would say that those of us who are being awakened to His finished work are speaking against the 'holy place' (the institutional buildings) and the Law (scriptures). But in fact we are not railing against anything; rather, we are addressing the fact that there is a failure to 'recognize' the new thing that God has done and it is this: the geographic location (temple, building) has been replaced with Him being present within us as Life, ‘Do you not recognize that you are the temple of God?’, and the law/scriptures have been fulfilled in Christ-the Word.

There is no shame attached to any of us having limited objective understanding on any matter, especially in regards to those wanting to know the ‘ways’ of the Lord better. But it is a most critical matter when I (we) choose to limit our understanding because of fear of thinking ‘outside the box’ or outside of what is normally accepted as ‘truth’. Without being malleable, teachable, and receptive to further and broadened understanding and insight which is only possible (in my opinion) because of the Father’s love, we will take the posture of being combative, argumentative, and challenging.

Here is an example of what I am considering, and hopefully the setting will further illustrate what I am trying to flesh out.
Two of Paul’s traveling companions on his missionary journey were a couple named Priscilla and Aquila, a husband and wife team that made a living along with Paul in tent-making. For all intents and purposes these were two very ordinary unobtrusive people, but what was operating within them was not ordinary at all. This extraordinary insight and understanding they had regarding a ‘more perfect way of the Lord’ was in my understanding, a byproduct of them learning of the Father’s unconditional love, ergo, living loved. Nothing about this couple indicated they needed an opportunity such as this encounter with the ‘mighty’ Apostle Apollos, to inflate their languishing egos or to be recognized as VIPs in disguise!

These words from Proverbs epitomize the spirit and teachable attitude I sense within this man named Apollos:

If you correct those who care about life, that's different—they'll love you for it!Save your breath for the wise—they'll be wiser for it; tell good people what you know—they'll profit from it. Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God. It's through me, Lady Wisdom, that your life deepens, and the years of your life ripen. Live wisely and wisdom will permeate your life; mock life and life will mock you.

The fruit of Apollos’ choosing - to move beyond his limited understanding and not choosing to ‘limit’ his thinking because of fear - had the result that the message of who the Christ is was able to penetrate even deeper into the hearts and minds of many.

With the ever-increasing experiential knowing of the Father’s love, I am beginning to see how totally ludicrous it is for me (due to fear) to pick and choose to listen to only those brethren of my liking who can further expound and deepen my awareness of this awesome God and Father.

It is my opinion that the glue that appears to stick so many of us together is more a fear-based thinking versus faith working through love. First and foremost within my own life, along with any member of the body of Christ, I am longing and eagerly anticipating a time whereby we believers can mutually be open and receptive to the Father’s loving correction, freeing us to come into the ‘fullness’ of all that God the Father has for the church which is His body.

Rich

Suffering: The Human Experience

Yesterday while in Chapters book store I happened to notice a new book by Anne Rice called, Christ The Lord: The Road to Cana, this is a sequel to her first one, Christ The Lord: Out of Egypt. See here.
Also this put up by a fellow (Anne Rice and Jesus): blogger.

You can listen/watch here on YouTube for more.

To me its always exhilarating to see as it were, someone coming through the back door undetected, unannounced (much like when God (Jesus) showed up as a man) by the guardians of the sacred and holy collective body of ‘biblical writings’. I see Anne Rice to be one of these under the radar, invading delights, perhaps pointing us to a God and Father beyond what our fears have shaped within us.
I haven’t read her newest book, but I fully intend to.
Anne Rice is known for writing horror novels, mystical in content and nature.

Within Christendom I see it to be so immersed in fear rather than Love, and not a performance based acceptance love, but more in line with trying to appease a very angry and neurotic God, never knowing for sure if he even likes you let alone, God forbid, Loves you! This isn’t an indictment on my part of trying to expose what I perceive to be the nakedness within much of Christendom, but merely some measure of objectivity.

It is truly a wonder what the power of True love can undo as well as do in a person’s life, and this evolving discovery in my own life of not only who God is, whom I belong to (my true Father) but, also who I am as His son attests to this ever increasing reality.

In the book of Hebrews it talks of Jesus by the grace of God tasting death for everyone, it goes on to further elaborate on what I want to lay down here; For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.
It’s been said that as a child of God we are having as spiritual beings a, ‘human experience’, I like that, and so much so that it was as a man that the eternal God with no beginning nor end came to BE with us, to be fully subjected to the death, fear and separation that became the bummer of a birth mark we were all born with.

Jesus although perfectly God and always with God the Father (in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God) laying aside as it were His glorious attire for a season, entered (stepped) into space, time and history as a flesh and blood man, to be fully perfected, through our sufferings and clothed himself in/with humility, our humanity.

I have no problems with viewing this Christ child being anything less than God and Lord at his birth, complete God and man. The rub for me is and has continued to chaff me with what many have dismissed as the strong possibilities of Jesus, not having to be processed through his own sufferings to become fully what was meant to become our initial birthright, and as it says, ‘He learned obedience through his sufferings, as a man’.
To my way of thinking, it’s a lack of genuine security, the security of knowing His, the Father’s love that keeps many as lemmings, willing to go to their death in believing and defending these shadow belief’s.

Additional thoughts are coming.

Rich

How Does a No Turn Into a Yes

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."


Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

There’s a story Jesus told of a father having two sons, and went to each of them asking of them to work in his vineyard, the first said, I will not, but later did, the other said yes, but changed his mind and didn’t.
Which of the two Jesus asked, did the will of the father?

Pondering on this story, I think it might be possible to come to a conclusion based upon a religious math that has no power to change ones heart.
In this story it appears that perhaps this all unfolded within a day, maybe so, but then again, let’s put that aside for now.
How often does it have to be repeated, the miracle of grace, the blowing of the wind-His breath, moving invisibly touching us in ways imperceptible to our senses, and yet there He is doing the impossible.
Putting myself in this story which really is not that hard to imagine, I am heading in one direction, adamantly fixed in doing my own thing, wanting to have nothing to do with God, and BAMM, out of nowhere, I somehow find myself going in a direction, in a way, that seems to be not of my choosing.
What’s that all about?

The bible talks about the mystery of godliness, and in a nut shell, I think this touches upon this story. When, where, how long was it before the son sensed a change in course, something totally unknown and yet powerful, like a small rudder turning a huge ship effortlessly in a new direction?
The sheer beauty of this staggers the imagination, yet man always wants to boil down what only God can do, into a formula, or steps, to follow.
Like time-lapse photography, God sees the beginning from the end. What seems to us to be a tortuously long process is but an instant in his eyes, and it’s all beautiful (see link below). Unfortunately, there is no way to escape that tortuous process.

Rich

The Mystery of Divine Imprinting

Warning, long post ahead!!!!


"I personally feel that what we see in the institution of church is very much the same. The institution is like a pregnant mother whose body refuses to go into labor and give birth. It reminds me of a woman who adores being pregnant, but despises parenthood. When people are not allowed to exit the system of church and enter into life apart from that system, they begin to suffer the dangers of post-term birth affects." By the way, I love how our Father expresses Himself through Darin!
(Darin Hufford~ Inducing Labor)

In regards to these thoughts, I see the institution being but a midwife and its sole purpose is assisting in the facilitating of that which Father God is totally responsible for, the miracle of siring the re-birthing!

Unfortunately, the midwife (surrogate parent-mother/father) position has vied (lusted) for the role that only one can effectually fulfill, a.k.a., the Father of our spirit, God himself. As a matter of fact I see little difference in motive or spirit from that which invaded Lucifer's heart; (And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north.) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.)

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the carnelian, topaz, jasper, chrysolite, beryl, onyx, sapphire, carbuncle, and emerald; and your settings and your sockets and engravings were wrought in gold. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing [wings], and I set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire [like the paved work of gleaming sapphire stone upon which the God of Israel walked on Mount Sinai]. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity and guilt were found in you. Through the abundance of your commerce you were filled with lawlessness and violence, and you sinned; therefore I cast you out as a profane thing from the mountain of God and the guardian cherub drove you out from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was proud and lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I lay you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You have profaned your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities and the enormity of your guilt, by the unrighteousness of your trade. Therefore I have brought forth a fire from your midst; it has consumed you, and I have reduced you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who looked at you. All who know you among the people are astonished and appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and shall never return to being.

The institutional church is but one of countless means and ways of facilitating the Father's re-birthing and to bring us much further into his higher purposes.

'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.'

'After all, though you should have ten thousand teachers (guides to direct you) in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the glad tidings (the Gospel).'

Darin goes on to say; "It is absolutely necessary though, that there be a graduation from that time into another phase of life."

The mystifying magic of imprinting is a wonder to behold, for example: say for whatever reasons the parent bird (goose) has been either killed or abandoned her eggs, when those eggs hatch - if the first thing the goslings see is a dog, cat or person, the baby birds will instinctively see that object as their leader-mother.

In not recognizing or listening to the voice of our Father within our spirit, we will be conformed by the world’s deceitfulness, squeezing us into its mold, why? Because there are NO vacuums. The only other option is to BE renewed in the spirit of our mind, the true conforming (transformational) is seen in the Father bringing us lovingly into His higher purposes; Those who He foreknew, he predestined them to BE conformed into the likeness and image of his only begotten Son.It is NOT enough that He is in us, but he is to BE fully formed IN us as well.

Is it any wonder the real Father-Son appears to be lost in the hazy subterfuge of religious garb manufactured by the masterminds of Vogue fig-leaf designer, one size fits all?
There is an awakening of unfathomable proportion and its source, its origin is entrenched in the heart of the Father clearly expressed through the words of the Son; 'And I will build My church, and the gates of hell will NOT prevent its appearing'!



Re: Imprinting (submitted by my wife Mgo)

This term has really sparked my radar, so to speak.

It is common knowledge that, particularly as it pertains to birds, the first thing they see upon hatching is who/what they perceive to be their parents. Sometimes it’s an animal; more often it’s a human being. More on that follows, but first:

I teach Kindergarten. When I ask my little boys what they want to be when they grow up, they most often reply they want to be a super-hero. It truly is a phenomenon. So, I began to wonder…why is it that little boys, in particular, are so irresistibly drawn to the super-hero, the good guy who defeats the bad guys, who rescues the helpless or defends the downtrodden, who swoops in to save the day? My boys’ heroes include Superman, Batman and Spiderman, and I thought, isn’t that a shame? They usually know absolutely NOTHING about Jesus, the only real, true super-hero. I mean, what better super-hero could there be than the one who spoke the world into existence, who hurled the planets into outer space – who defied death – who can walk through walls unscathed? The bible states that the knowledge of the existence of God has always been in people’s hearts. So, could it be that IT WAS GOD HIMSELF who has put that insatiable desire in the hearts of little boys to emulate, to want to model themselves after, to want to be just like…their only one true Father, the original Super-Hero?

Yet, when all of us are born into this fallen world, is it God’s face we first see? No. We quickly become imprinted into becoming something that we’re not, something twisted, and it often takes a lifetime to find our way back and to discover the truth about our parenthood. In the meantime, we stumble around in an alien world, fearful of venturing outside its polite, acceptable societal confines, dumbing ourselves down in the process.

It seems that God is always trying to communicate with us in one form or another, particularly as it pertains to nature. Take the real-life story of ‘Fly Away Home’, the story of a Canadian inventor who became the imprinted father-figure to baby Canada geese. Here’s the Wikipedia synopsis:

The film was loosely based on the real-life experiences of Bill Lishman, a Canadian inventor, artist, and ultralight aircraft hobbyist. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lishman openly wondered if geese and similar birds could be taught new migration patterns by following ultralight aircraft onto which they had been imprinted. In 1993, after several years of logistical and bureaucratic setbacks, Lishman successfully led a flock of Canada Geese on a winter migration from Ontario, Canada to Northern Virginia, U.S.A. Of the 16 birds that participated in the migration, 13 returned to Ontario the following year – entirely on their own.

So getting back to my question: was it God who put the longing into every little boy’s heart to aspire to be (for lack of a better term) just like the one and only genuine Super-Hero – God himself? I’m inclined to think so! And could it be that He can work through any medium to entice us to seek Him? For example, I’m sure comic book writers would be astonished to entertain the thought that perhaps God has infiltrated their craft. For instance, did you know that:
Superman (actually a survivor of a blast that destroyed his home planet) was raised on earth from infancy by John and Martha Kent, a devout Christian couple who raised him according to their faith?
That Superman, who epitomized everything good, brave and noble, was actually killed off in the nineties while trying to defeat the evil monster “Doomsday”?
That after his apparent earthly death, he defeated demonic powers which were trying to cast him into hell, and in the process remembered his true identity?
That when Lois Lane went to check on Superman’s casket to see for herself that he was really dead…that it was empty?
That Superman came back to life but wasn’t recognized by many until much later, and that his regenesis in the comic book was entitled ‘Born Again’?

Interesting, huh?

Getting back to “Fly Away Home”: although the hatchlings perceived that their parent was Bill Lishman, and emulated and copied his human ways, he was able to RE-imprint them because in their hearts, they discovered they really were geese! When they began to perceive it, they began to act like it. So it is with us. Are we willing to cast aside the imprinting that has kept us earth-bound all our lives to discover our true identity?

Rich and Mgo

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