Dead Men Walking

I was reading from the Beyond Church Walls and read David Fredrickson’s post and wanted to share some of what he wrote about as well as my thoughts and questions to him, you can read his post here.

Rich

David said;
I’m amazed at how active my dead life can be sometimes. There are those days when I feel like my life doesn’t count for much. And then when I’m under pressure to get something done that’s time sensitive and the computer freezes, the printer jams and 101 other things are screaming for attention, he (my dead life) rears up with incredible energy. My world shrinks to dwarf size while small obstacles become Goliaths. I know I’m oozing radio active green slime and if anyone comes near, I feel compelled to call out “dead man walking!”

David,

I am pondering on what you’ve said here, as it is a most familiar and seemingly repetitive illustration talked about and I’m sure thought about re: the “dead Man Walking” scenario.
The whole “There are those days when I feel like my life doesn’t count for much” and tying that into our old life being dead, which I do agree, but! From my perspective this has yet to be unpacked in my way of thinking on a personal level not to mention for the body as well that is obviously looking at this dynamic tension of what is, but appears to be isn’t.

What I am looking at is this, yes the “old life is dead” but does that automatically presume that our soul (mind will and emotions) were like wise instantly made new in the re-birthing, this is really a rhetorical question actually?
I think we for lack of clarity get slimmed but not knowing the truth of the ongoing work of grace that is there in our being transformed by the ‘renewing of our (soul) mind!!

We are all in transition imo and I think that we are way to hard on ourselves being so impatient with, what’s wrong with me, I thought I was a “Christian” and here look at me “behaving” like this.

I would love to hear your feed back on this.

Rich

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

God’s Work Now Is “In Us”

Part 7 of 25 – God’s Work Now Is “In Us”

This is as it says the seventh part of a 25 part series my good friend Art has written, but I have taken this portion of it and broken it down into two installments, I trust you will be as encouraged as I was. Part 2 will be up tomorrow.

Rich

No believer had a part in their redemption other than to receive it as a free gift. Our redemption was solely the work of God the Father in giving His Son Jesus on the cross to shed His blood and die “for us.” Jesus died “for us,” in our stead. Jesus alone procured our redemption. Now His righteousness is counted to us by our faith in His work “for us.”
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5 KJV)
For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV)

Now I want to look deeper into the work of the cross and its effect upon the inner life of our soul. It is one thing for Jesus to shed His blood “for us,” to pay for our sins, but quite another for believers to become renewed by the power of the indwelling resurrected life of the Jesus Christ. Our soul’s renewal is based upon our 1) seeing, 2) identifying with, and 3) trust in the Lord’s death on the cross, and His resurrection…“as us.”
Considering the three parts of our being; 1) our human spirit has already been fully regenerated from the moment of our salvation by the deposit of the resurrected “spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” 2) Paul says our souls still need to be “renewed” (Rom 12:2, 2Cor 4:16). 3) Then one day our corruptible physical body will be exchanged for an incorruptible body. Thus, God is still working today to “sanctify” believers in their “whole spirit and soul, and body” (see 1Thes 2:13).

There is an aspect of the cross that works “in us” by our having been “in Christ” when He died on the cross. Paul says every believer was “in Christ” when He died our death as us, and when He rose from the dead as the new us. You see, it was our death that the Father was interested in when Christ died on the cross…as us.
Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized (placed) into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth IN ME…
Now we in our daily lives need to identify with Jesus’ death as our Old Man’s death (Rom 6:6, 7:4). We also should identify with His resurrection as our resurrection to new life.
We are forever washed in His blood that secured the remission of our sins (Heb 9:22). We are fully saved, positionally, because we were “in Christ” at the cross. The Father now sees us as a finished work – seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:5-6 (KJV) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Notice the past tense in these verses; they indicate a past finished work. This is why Christ now “sits” at the right hand of the Father (Matt 22:24). Christ’s work on our behalf is complete and immutable.

We did nothing to become saved, except to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can do nothing to lose our salvation. Salvation is to become a partaker of Christ’s Spirit and He will never leave us. We have “the helmet of our salvation,” which is secured by faith in “the word of God” (Eph 4:16).
Being assured in our salvation and secure in Christ, we can keep our head about us. Thus, we can then proceed in the life-process that God has ordained for each of us to become “renewed” in our polluted soul. Paul says there is “much more” than “being reconciled to God by the death of His Son”; there is being “saved (sozo, renewed to completion) by His life.” Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, MUCH MORE, being reconciled, we SHALL BE SAVED (completed) BY HIS LIFE. Many Christians have stopped at reconciliation, never cooperating with the Lord in the process of renewal of their souls.

Every believer is saved already from perdition (judgment), but we are yet being saved (sozo, renewed to completion) in our soul. Our renewal to completion is a work that occurs in our soul by the flow of the life of Christ who already indwells our spirit. The key element in this renewal of soul is the power of the indwelling “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a, 13). We have His life because we have been born of the Father’s Christ-seed that bears Christ’s unquenchable, limitless, resurrection life and nature (Heb 7:16b).
Paul says “ye are complete in Him (Christ)” (Col 2:10a). Then how can Paul say we still need to become renewed to completion? Yes, every Christian is complete from the moment of their salvation in “seed-form,” just as an acorn is perfect and complete in its seed form. Christ as the life-seed of God the Father (1Pet 1:23) indwells every believer’s human spirit. But Christ now needs to be released to renew our souls. Metaphorically, it is as though Christ is the life within the planted flower seed, and the soul is the seed’s shell covering or containing the life within the seed. The seed’s shell needs to be broken in order to release the life within the seed. Only then may the life of the seed be fully expressed in the full blossoming of the flower. Rain and light coming upon the planted seed causes pressure to build until the shell breaks and the life within is released. The pressure of the Christian’s life situations work in much the same way, to break our independent soul, that Christ’s life might flow through us.

After being saved, most of us have tried to be righteous through self-effort, but we fail. Every believer should eventually come to acknowledge there still is a problem. Though we’re complete positionally in Christ, we need to be changed inwardly, dispositionally, within our soul’s faculties of mind, emotion, and will, which were corrupted by the Adamic Sin infection in all men.
Our soul’s mind is polluted by the Adamic Sin infection within our flesh bodies (Rom 7:17-24). Our soul is led by our mindset, which needs to become renewed. Paul calls the fallen independent mindset of man “the mind of the flesh,” saying it is “at enmity with (opposed to) God” (Rom 5:7 KJV).
Romans 8:5-8 (AMP) For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. 6 Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin (noun, Sin nature), both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. 7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. 8 So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

Just Imagine

Imagine simply being me, you, no longer attempting to sell anyone on our Jesus?
What if there were no more use of words (and mere words are nothing apart from having an impetus to them) such as my ministry, or ministering, or God using me, or I had an opportunity to ‘share Christ’, with someone, and probably so many more?
Would it be like sowing up the pockets of a Frenchman, or an Italian man with their hands in their pockets, causing them to hyperventilate in no longer being able to talk?

The extent of the invasive saturation of the religion of the Matrix is mind boggling, and the inner transformation of His grace freeing us from these cheap artistic (according to us) expressions of trying at best to imitate His life is beyond liberating. OH, can’t you just feel how much lighter that even sounds?

This is not intended as an indictment or a mocking of anyone who still finds themselves sounding or acting this way, freedom is a continuous journey of restoration, discovering from the moment we had been adopted in the family of God, we had everything we ever needed to navigate through the happenings of our daily living.
Sadly though, through the infinitesimal slow but steady erosion of our being seduced into a religious mindset that subtly drew us from our only source of life and freedom, has brought us to a place of having but a form of godliness, with no power or liberation.

It truly is sheer delight hearing throughout the body of Christ those questioning just about everything they once simply dumbed down without in many cases even giving it a second thought. Viva the revolution!

Rich

Have You Ever Seen

Have you been to a grocery or department store or perhaps a Mickey D’s and seen some kid just going berserk, wailing, possibly screaming, throwing themselves down on the floor and other colorful antics? Isn’t it an almost a knee jerk reaction of wanting to go over there and straighten this messy situation up, not just dealing with the kid but the parent/s as well? The thing is, we’re not responsible it’s not our child.

To my way of thinking this sure paints a picture of God’s kids acting up, perhaps into stuff that is at best questionable and a busy body thinks it’s their job to deal with His kid/s, cause if God was really on the ball He would have done something about this mess sooner than later.
Really, isn’t this all about the lack of trust in God’s ability to grow His sons up without the aid of some self-appointed spiritual deputy? Can you smell the stink of rules and regulations or is that just me?

Our journey began in a re-birthing, it always has been and is about Life, it has nothing to do legal wrangling, and the institutional religious organizations will always struggle with this. So much of religious teaching revolves around the salvation message being basically a “get out of hell card free” the focus not having anything to do with Love or Life, but all about escape~wow!

In reality salvation is principally about an exchange or renewal of life and only secondarily about eternal reward. This misplaced emphasis on salvation’s purpose leads many Christian’s to miss the benefits of living a renewed life in this world. Many born again believers are robbed of their blessings of new life in the present time by the mistaken teachings of church organizations that emphasize rebirth in terms of the next life and reconciliation with God in terms of effort which traps them in needless worry about their salvation.
This salvation-by-grace-life thing is a forever proposition, as a result of our salvation coming through God’s working as opposed to our own, there can be NO possibility of our efforts mattering in our salvation status.

What religion and its teachers do not want you to realize is that our empowerment comes from the life of God operating in us and our salvation comes as a result of this life alone!
If any who read this want to read some great thoughts shared here on Life, my good friend Bill Landon has a few of them he shares in his book, The Life That is Real Life, as well as, My Father and Your father, both are obtainable at iUniverse.com.

Rich

The Dissonance of Grace

There's a sound reverberating throughout the earth; this incredible melodic piece of music is coming straight from the Pied Piper, the holy composer himself, leading us out of our religious stupor into life. In fact the whole universe has been choreographed to His music.

I woke up this morning with a line from a song dancing and skipping over and over in my heart, “What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me? I’m sure it had something to do with the you tube clip I have at the top that my wife had me listen to yesterday.

Every time God makes himself known in a much more intimate and personal way the rippling affects seem to bring such dissonance and division to the body of Christ, why is that?
Let’s look at the word dissonance for a review of its meaning shall we: inharmonious or harsh sound; cacophony.
Music: a simultaneous combination of tones conventionally accepted as being in a state of unrest and needing completion.
Was grace only there in the saving of our spirit uniting us, making us one with the Father, or was this same grace also there to infuse us with a deep heart reality of His total unconditional love for me/us, a grace that would bring the rest of us into harmony with the perfect pitch of our composer.

The music being heard and responded to is nothing new in one sense and yet what has been hidden within this music is transforming the hearts of many who have lived as followers of Christ and yet consumed, ruled by their fears. This isn’t some second experience but perhaps much more to the point an awakening of the heart as to what his grace was fully intended for but missed.

The Pied Piper Christ has lead me and I’m sure many others out of the inner trappings of the Matrix of religion which first as always begins from deep within us, and the ongoing transformation of being extricated is all part of our continued journey of discovering that we can live ‘loved.’
But why the dissonance within the family of God settings, why does this sweet sound of liberty and freedom sound so harsh and cause such unrest to many of our siblings? Could it possible be that it has NEVER EVER been an issue of us verse them, but in fact it has and is all about choosing Life over death. Each of us is responsible to freely choose His continued offer of life or settling for a mere form of godliness.

This voluntary response to this drummer’s beat goes sideways to anyone marching to the beat of religion, we are no longer remotely interested in spiritual parlour games, therefore our dancing to the music is being highly criticized which in my opinion will turn into something far more caustic in the not too far future, but I say, bring it on baby!!

Rich

Are You Ready

Last Friday morning giving into my regular coffee fixation; I ventured up town (just minutes away) to one of several Tim Horton’s for my daily extra large double, double, and a fresh pastry, yum. After waiting in line for a bit, Diane one of the regular employees asks, “Are you ready for another exciting day?” I quickly replied. You bet I am!
Funny thing was, there was this nudge in me that this was in fact my heavenly father asking that of me through Diane, yup, right then and there in Tim Horton’s, cool. I went back home as I don’t start work until 10:15, but I pondered on the juxtaposition of this invasive question posed to me.
Little did I know at the time that what sounded like an invitation into a most exciting day was in fact going to be just that, only sandwiched in numerous road blocks, set backs etc.

Isn’t it witty and maybe this is just me, but when we think there is only one way to define adventure, excitement, that when it turns out to be something far removed from a feel good time we can so easily slip into a funk?
The more I am discovering, experiencing, the wonder of his total unconditional love for me, I am witnessing a disarming, a defusing of potential volatile and explosive reactions that had such hair triggers to them.

This isn’t me remotely bragging on any perfection, but it is me whole heartedly bragging on the perfect one in me perfectly loving me, embracing me, accepting me for who I am. This unseen but all invasive infection of his love for me (us) is turning into something far more than being governed by outer rules and regulations or codes, the transformation is simply an overflow of the root source, that God is love in Rich.

The habitual sin habit patterns that were established within my soul are being displaced not by might or by power, but by an increasingly knowable, inviting and consuming love.
What most of humanity has witnessed regarding this entity called Christianity is in fact only a partial real deal, yes having been received of/by God the Father their dead spirit was instantly revitalized in it becoming joined, one with God. But, not allowing Him to invade the other portions of our being has sadly produced a mere religious sentiment; Christian’s aren’t perfect, only forgiven!
The perfection I am emphasizing has nothing to do with us directly, but everything to do with his love freeing us to live loved, openly live before humanity that they might see and hear not just another religious mantra, but experience the invisible God living and breathing in everyday folks standing in line waiting to be served with their Tim Horton’s coffee.

“Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Rich

Get Real

Without too many exceptions getting real is easier said than done, but the reality in the love and truth of God’s heart for us beckons us to exit this make believe world and enter into one that is real.

To my way of thinking one of the most classic illustrations of not being real is the poignant story of Job from the bible. What God was looking for in this man’s life as well as I see him looking for in any of us is to be real, no saccharine carob coated niceness is going to cut it living in a world where trouble abounds.

I’m not criticizing Job, he was simple living out of the imprinted script he was born with, and this is but speculation on my part but there are those born with a most sunny predisposition of seeing the world and all that is in it with a warm and toe tapping Louis Armstrong feeling of it being “a wonderful world.”
I realize that in the original manuscripts there were no breaks grammatically, no chapters, but for conversation sake it took 38 chapters before God suddenly seems to come out from his ninja camouflaged absence and begins to speak into Job’s beginning stages of his religious melt down.

There is no way we can make God fit into anything that is fake, made up, Job like all of us are at best, great pretenders. As soon as Job begins his infant like baby steps of being real, low and behold God suddenly appears.
Imagine the nightmare only having gotten worse for Job if he had simply traded in his wrong confession for the “right” one presented to him by his three so called comforting friends. It seems that God’s highest priority for Job wasn’t about fixing him but of transforming him, bringing him to a place of knowing his deeply ingrained religious mind set was not going to allow him to cut through this insane world of pain and devastation.

Only as the reality of His unconditional love for us continues to permeate us, will we be able to go on in this inner journey of being freed to live out of our new identity verses that which has and continues to try to manipulate us living out of the old.

Rich

Unfolding Mystery

I said to my wife this morning after sharing the quote I have here, it is so liberating to me to hear His heart and voice for me and it doesn’t matter how that miracle comes to my awareness, but as it does, it continues to be in me the absolute forbearance needed as the continued transformation (metamorphosis) unfolds in my life.

It has always been the imprinted desire of my heart to KNOW HIM, nothing less will do and after reading some of what Dena has put into print from her own ongoing transformation, my newly discovered delight in Him (embracing His delight in me) is catapulting me forward into all that is mine.
As Oz Chambers was fond of saying, “Never look so much for the person who can tell you something new, as much as the one that simply puts a name and face to that which has been initiated
by Him working in you.”
This in fact is being done in hearing His heart beat for me through Dena. It feels as if a damn has been broken afresh in seeing and hearing this One who has called me to BE His very own.

Rich


“Transformation is not only terrifying to those who go through it, but to those who witness it. Transformation upsets status quo ... it can throw relationships off-balance - particularly if the relationship was invested in following a script (subconsciously, of course). When our equilibrium is threatened, we tend to self-protect ... to shut down, to hold back, to go within. So it can be in relationships when one is transforming in a particular way, and the other is not. All too often, the relationship can be sacrificed, in favor of feeling "safe and secure" with what's familiar. I wonder how many transformations have been cut short and abandoned, because the one transforming couldn't take the abandonment of those who didn't understand...? How many quit the journey, in favor of conforming to group-think?”

Stranglehold of Acquiesence

If the foundational and fundamental building block in our lives in those who profess to be Christian is that “God is Love,” then where and how does all of the other shit fit into that indisputable reality? Either God is full of crap and a full blown liar or, there is someone who continues to infiltrate and unknowingly influences a (Christian) person through the ‘true lies’ they have accepted as their reality.

I know in my life and relationship with the Lord, these buried and undetectable lies that continue to try and influence, run, and rule me, are being exposed, causing them to surface and in so doing causing great consternation within my thinking, but I am beginning to see them in a whole new light.

It is as easy as in a learned behaviour to simply acquiesce to the inbreed lies that continue to superimpose a distorted and twisted way of seeing things and in the process keeping one a spiritual quadriplegic. I am beginning to see these lies for what they are and whose they are that have and continue in measure to define me, my worth, value, and my identity!

The covert and obscure workings of the Matrix of religion are not easily detectable in the Christian’s life, why, they have been groomed from their first birth in the natural wherein the lies they were told even in the womb are the basis and only reference point they know for certain. Anything contrary to this deeply inured fusion of true lies within them is seen as a personal assault which must be aborted rapidly before there is a system over load.

In becoming re-birthed, these embedded ingrained true lies we have believed and in my case acquiesced to, were not and are not instantly vaporized. Ergo, the required effort on our part which is all part and parcel of Christ working in us to both, ‘will and do’ of His good pleasure, to continue the very necessary ongoing transformation required by being renewed in the spirit of our mind (soul).

I want to say this regarding the internal struggle and battle I face of these inbreed learned behaviour patterns in light of God being Love, if others have faced this and more and have somehow been removed, extricated from it and not pointed to the power of His grace being the impetus for their deliverance, then what the hell is there any need to look to Him being my I AM????

Rich

The Invisible Third Strand? Some Musings

We are the physical manifestation of our DNA – the double helix that defines our unique physical and biological characteristics and which carries genetic information from one generation to the other. This is why we as parents (both of us being brunettes) produced two brunette children.

Richard and I have a theory that some sort of spiritual DNA exists as well. Here’s our reasoning: scientists know that there are certain genetic markers on each DNA molecule that denote predispositions to a host of inherited conditions, Parkinson’s disease, for example. They also know that if people depart from a diet their ancestors consumed without deviation for eons, that they develop diseases unheard of in previous generations. On the same note, those whose ancestors were alcoholics have a genetic marker or predisposition to develop alcoholism themselves. In both these examples, diet and alcohol abuse seem to have somehow insinuated themselves as genetic markers on the actual DNA makeup over time. This is very intriguing!

Now here’s a wild thought: what if in the cataclysmic tsunami called the Fall of Man (and all have sinned fallen short of the glory of God) an invisible third strand intertwined itself to that DNA? For this strand to become attached to our biological DNA could not have happened in a vacuum. A choice had to be made available to Adam and Eve to accept or deny such an inclusion. Could it be that the choosing had to do with which fruit appeared most attractive to them - the fruit adorning the Tree of Life or the fruit adorning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

When the scriptures state we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, it means our introduction to a fallen world began in the womb. This is articulated with succinct clarification in the following verse: “By nature we were children of wrath, sons of disobedience.” Apart from Christ the Word becoming flesh, not one person ever escaped this internal prison of religious bondage. When Adam and Eve ingested the forbidden fruit, it permanently altered, in a metaphysical sense, their genetic makeup. This is what we are referring to as “the invisible third strand”.

Jesus was quick to point out that those who unwittingly agreed with Satan’s thoughts and suggestions (Peter, the believing Jews, Pharisees, etc.) were under the influence of Satan. He wasn’t trying to be insulting; He was just stating a fact! After all, sin had resided within them since their conception. They had become so familiar with the voice of their father the devil that they mistook it for their own voice. As spirit speaks to spirit, so does flesh speak to flesh. The Light was exposing the invisible third strand on their DNA – not to condemn them but to save them! The point is that Jesus came to bring sight to those who were blind, but to those who claimed they could see their judgment would be that they would remain in their blindness.

Consider John 8. What in my opinion appeared to be a showdown was in actuality Jesus trying to open the eyes of those who were totally blinded so that they could see that they had been born slaves to sin. That’s why it’s so essential that we allow our minds to be transformed and to have Christ formed in us. If we don’t, we will continually be susceptible (in our souls) to the leading of the father of lies and may not learn to recognize the voice of our Heavenly Father when he speaks.

It is essential to remember that the arena in which we are attacked is located within our soul. Our spirit (if we have been born again) is permanently indwelt by Jesus’ spirit and will spend eternity in heaven. However, because we have been given free will, we have a choice in how much or how little we allow Christ to be formed in us in our soul - our mind, will and emotions.

We welcome your thoughts!

Rich/Margo
<')))><

Mind Over Mattress

Every morning it’s a gargantuan feat defying gravity just getting out of bed, or as I like to call it “mind over mattress”. In the spirit sense, the parallel would be rising from the muck and mire of our previous ‘stinking thinking’ in order that our minds be transformed: “Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus”. This phenomenon doesn’t ‘just happen!’ as if by osmosis. It requires effort – usual considerable effort. How so? The scriptures describe the miracle of God’s grace impacting our lives as thus,
“For the law of the spirit of life has freed us from the (gravitational pull)of the law of sin and death.”
However, it kills me every time I hear of someone dismissing this vital aspect of our being as if at the point of conversion we were instantly made perfect in our soul. I wish! In the nasty now-and-now of every day living we are being confronted with a stark reality that another component of our being has yet to transformed or altered, that being our soul, our mind, will and emotions.
Is it possible (as I hear all the time) that we might in fact be experiencing perfection in motion, i.e. becoming fully perfect? And I’m not talking about human perfection here, but a perfection that we already have in Christ within our spirit union, but NOT yet within our needy soul.

If I didn’t know better, it would appear that some believers are on “auto-pilot” or “duct taped” to a permanent ‘on’ position. Let me elaborate (and this all comes back to my original illustration of ‘mind over mattress’): everyday we are confronted with issues that force us to make a choice, my way versus His way. If there were no choice where would there ever be an opportunity to expect any further growth or maturation in my walk with Christ? We learn, grow and mature by our choosing. We learn to cooperate with his grace in these instances.

Although a believer is no longer operating or living out of the flesh, he still has sin within his members, and the impetus for that sin is the sinner from the beginning, Satan - the father of lies who continues to assault the believer through a lack of experientially having the truth fleshed out within his/her soul.

There is nothing missing in His amazing grace in as far as it as been applied to our lives in being reborn, or “birthed” by the spirit of God! Instantly within our spirit there was a resurrection as it were, the Spirit of God being united (becoming one) with our state of deadness, quickening us and making us to become fully alive within our spirit. That area has obtained perfection, but our bodies are yet to obtain that which is yet to come - a new glorified earth suit - and it’s a promised deal, just another display of His life transforming grace transforming the corruptible into that which will ever be incorruptible.

Rich

Is Being His Enough

In listening to the recent pod cast on the God Journey-“Thoughts on Structure” I was jerked up straight when I heard Wayne saying to a couple of folks he was recently with, even though you are not wearing the official badge of being a “pastor” you are pastoring these people you are engaged with.

Look, let’s cut to the chase okay, what the hell does having an official or unofficial name-title have to do with being His?
The pastoring, equipping that is being done in the church which IS His body, is being done in and through us (that’s you and me) as us.
I’m convinced it’s only because of not knowing whose we are that we need someone to confirm to us by saying stuff like this that we are pastoring, equipping the saints even though we wear no official name tag.

Folks it’s the gifted One in us as us that is doing this miraculous further transforming work of grace in each of our lives.
Is He not fully able to touch, impact, arrest, and get their attention through you, through me as you, as me?

I love what Paul has to say, “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.”

In another translation it says of the Christ, “But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.”

More and more I am wondering if Jesus just might have known what he meant when he said, “He also told them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

Folks I want to say this as lovingly and truthfully as I know how, it’s NOT a seminar, it’s a revelation of Whose we are, and only He is able to make that yours personally!

The reality of His life this new wine is that which is wanting to transform us fully into His likeness and image, spirit, soul and body from the inside out, and in the process of being processed folks will be drawn to Christ in us as us, without any official or unofficial tags or titles except for BEING His!

Rich

Oh, I Know That!

Do you really accept the message that God is head over heels in love with you?
“Oh, I know that, it’s old hat.”

We believe so much, but in the bump and grindings of every day living, where is this One we say we love and trust?

I so love how the Father of my spirit is always calling me unto a far greater revelation of the unlimited insatiable love He has for me.
The following words from Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel) have been used to freshly pierce my heart in the upward call, “That I might know Him!”

“Several years ago I made a 30 day silent retreat in the snow-covered hills of Pennsylvania. One word sounded and resounded in my heart throughout that month. Jesus did not say this on Calvary, though He could have, but He is saying it now: I’m dying to be with you. I’m really dying to be with you. It was as if He were calling me for a second time. I realized that what I knew was straw. I had scarcely glimpsed, I had never dreamed what His love could be. The Lord drove me deeper into solitude seeking not tongues, healing, prophecy, or a good religious experience each time I prayed, but understanding and the quest for pure, passionate Presence.”

Rich

Un-Blinding

The ‘main man’ in our life is to BE none other than the man Christ Jesus - period! “For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.”

Over the years, off and on, I have pondered a great deal about the unfolding scenario of umbilical cords being disconnected from the matrix of religion and being joined to Christ. Allow me to elaborate regarding the expression “matrix of religion”: I see that, prior to Christ apprehending me and even afterward, the ‘god’ of this world had totally blinded me to any other reality than that which the father of lies (Satan) wanted me to see. It’s important to understand that when the scriptures forcefully stress that the whole world lies under the direct control of the wicked one, it is not mincing words. That is the only other so-called reality available apart from Christ!

What stirred this up afresh was reading some things Barb has been writing about on her site: “A Former Leader’s Journey” specifically, her posts: “Closets and Leaving,” Closets and Keeping a Record of Wrongs or Not Forgiving,” and “Hope Deferred-A Heart Flat Lined."

While shoveling snow this morning, I sensed Father speaking to my heart regarding this convoluted, perverted lie that has permeated all flesh (yes, the Christian’s flesh as well) of trying to establish an identity apart from Christ.
We just do not see nor understand the spiritual power in and behind spoken words. Hang on here - I’m not referring to the “word of faith” stuff; I’m simply saying that we are all sightless to the influence of the spirit in and behind words that conspire to infect and affect us.

I know first-hand, having been in ministry for a good portion of my life, how the leaven of lies corrupted my desired walk with Father. For example: I was led to believe that I needed to be teachable, pliable, and malleable, otherwise others would not recognize me as being fit for leadership. So I did whatever it took to comply with this template, to show myself as being all these things, in order to facilitate the longing within my heart. Little did I realize how this was further corrupting my soul, because although all these things were ‘good’, the Word admonishes us to “receive the engrafted word with meekness”. However, I was striving to show myself ‘teachable’, etc. in order to advance my own selfish plans.

“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

I was so blinded at the time that I simply could not see. What I failed to realize was that all attributes of meekness (being teachable, pliable, and malleable) are direct manifestations of His life operating IN me, AS me. The believer has nothing to do but relax and let Christ’s life flow out of him/herself. On the contrary, what I had been striving to do was to pummel and strictly discipline myself into being pliable! How stupid is that? Yet, until our eyes are opened to the truth of who we are in Christ, we all are guilty of adding to the resident corruption of our souls with more religious, dead efforts at the hands of the ‘Minister of Righteousness’, Satan himself in order to steal the heart affections of believers unto himself.

"And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds."

I say all that to say this: so many have left organized religion with a victim mentality. These believers rail at the institution for all the wrongs that had been committed against them – as if those in leadership in their former churches had been conniving and scheming to keep them blinded. The truth of the matter is, the leadership was blinded also! They too have been beguiled and led away from the centrality of the truth of the gospel by the father of all religion. And make no mistake, Christianity as a RELIGION is no better than any other religion on the face of the earth. What makes the difference is having eyes opened to seeing Christ as LIFE.

Rich

Like a Tree Firmly Planted

See some of my first thoughts over here.

“And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].”

Lord help me now, I’ve buckled my seat-belt even though my name isn’t Dorothy (see the movie, “The Matrix” to understand this inside humor) cause Kansas is going by-by!

From “Unto Full Stature”

“A little boy had listened attentively as his father explained the natural laws which God had built into the universe. He was especially fascinated by the law of gravity. A few minutes later as they were walking in the garden, he questioned his father, “Why do those leaves on that plant point up when gravity is surely pulling them downward?”
As they stood looking at several plants the father explained, “It’s because God has built a higher law of life into that plant which lifts its leaves upward to the sun. This is not exactly defying gravity, but in some strange way is transcending that downward pull. You see, this next little plant has one leaf which failed to draw from the plant’s resources and has become limp; (wilted) therefore the law of gravity has taken over. Only God really understands how the plant’s metabolism lives according to the law of life and thus transcends the law of gravity.”

“The same is true in our bodies. God has designed us to live according to a strange and wonderful law of life which is something imposed upon us from without, but is built into our very being. It merely requires that we be yielded to Him as His tender plant. Even as the plant is alive to the sun, so every petal and leaf of our being should continually be living unto Him. When this is so, our whole physical being is transcendently over riding every downward pull. As the law of Life is constantly operating within we are vibrant by sharing divine resources. As surely as our physical turns its “Sun” it will as surely become limp and succumb to the downward drag. Might we suggest that most failure or breakdown is simply proof that we have not heeded the divine law of Life and the resources which become available.”

“But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's! (Romans 8:9-11-The Message).

“If our controlling conceptions are wrong it is because have not truly passed through the rectifying work of the Cross. Apart from a Calvary crushing and seeing, no one will give up his little kingdom building or ego feeding to be released into that new plane of physical quickening by God’s Spirit.”

All I know is, that there so much more available to us then what we have settled for, whether in or outside of any so called box. It’s in Him and a knowing of this reality, that will save us from professing so much and experiencing so little, our leaf shall not fade nor wither.

Rich

I Have Heard, but Now I See

Is it meant to be an ‘either or’ proposition coming to know the truth of our identity in Christ, as in what came first, the chicken or the egg-hearing verses seeing? What are your thoughts on this?

The first thing that comes to mind on this line of thinking comes out of a prolonged, divine reckoning taking place between God and a man named Job, let’s listen in shall we.
Job answered GOD: "I'm convinced: You can do anything and everything.
Nothing and no one can upset your plans. You asked, 'Who is this muddying the water, ignorantly confusing the issue, second-guessing my purposes?'
I admit it. I was the one. I babbled on about things far beyond me, made small talk about wonders way over my head.
You told me, 'Listen, and let me do the talking. Let me ask the questions. You give the answers. I admit I once lived by rumors of you; now I have it all firsthand—from my own eyes and ears, I'm sorry—forgive me. I'll never do that again, I promise! I'll never again live on crusts of hearsay, crumbs of rumor."

Is it possible that without a true understanding of who the center of our universe is, much like what unfolded in Galileo’s or Copernicus’ day debunking the long held belief that the universe revolved around the earth, rather than it revolving around the sun, although saved, we move out of sync with the truth?
A clouded mind (no matter how insightful one thinks they are), sees nothing.
If our center in being re-birthed has not become observable (knowable) to us in everything pertaining to us in further “knowing Him,” is it any wonder that “Christianity” is seen as just another of the vast menu options displayed on the buffet of religions already long established?

I am seeing that perhaps the reason there is such blurred, distorted perceptions within Christianity is because of not allowing God the Father to renew our thinking based upon a surgical operation he successfully accomplished in the heart of everyone he has received into His family, by joining us to Himself. “He that is joined to the Lord IS one spirit.”
One would think this ability to accurately see would be the norm now that we are no longer of the world, only in it, but sadly we are misguided and there still resides within us such great and undetected ignorance!
The continued transformation our lives coming into sync with our true center is not happening by osmosis, it is no less than His grace going beyond merely saving our spirit, this work of grace is being fought, contested every step we take. There has been designed by God imprinted as it were into our spiritual DNA a longing for the truth of who’s we are to be unmistakably seen among our fellow human beings.

It is very important to see how our dear brother Paul was being lead into such profound and liberating clarity of inner sight by the spirit of truth wherein he saw this. Read here, and here.
It is only in Him making the truth known to us individually that we will ever walk freely with Him and with the body, into so much more he has hidden for us to discover out of the overflow of this divine and sacred romance of the ages.

Hearing this message of life is great, but seeing it walked out relationally is the longing-cry within our hearts why, because He’s put it there, let’s be those living patterns-examples to those who have only heard the “Good News.”

Rich

What are your thoughts?

Through the Eyes of a Child

Reamonn - Through The Eyes Of A Child
by dragon02a

Thoughts from 'Unto Full Stature':

"Let it be said straight off that Christianity is not a healing cult; its primary purpose is not to keep our bodies in repair. God is not a cosmic convenience, dancing attendance on our bodily comfort. That would make us use God. And we can’t use God; God must use us (for a lack of better wording I am using the word use for now). And incidentally it must be said that Christianity is not a happiness cult. Its primary purpose is not to make us happy, as many happiness cults would imply or state. Happiness does come through the Christian faith, amazing happiness beyond description. But if the end of the Christian faith is to make us happy, then we are again using God-we are the center, not God. This means self-idolatry. Happiness is a by-product of God’s using us.

So the Christian faith is not a success cult, a happiness cult, or a healing cult as so many today have sought to make it. Its central purpose is-having redeemed man from his fallen condition-to bring man into that Fullest participation with God in that ultimate intention he designed in the beginning. Of course in realizing God’s highest, man will enjoy (as by-products) true happiness and true health. But if we seek health first-or anything else-we shall lose it-it will evade us; but if we seek first His heart’s longing, then all these things will be added to us."

What I am seeing ever so dimly is beyond captivating me in awe. It is a God-wrought compelling that I cannot resist and I will not stay mute of the wonder to which He is opening my eyes (unless He instructs me otherwise). Much like Lucy, the youngest of four children playing hide-and-seek in the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia-The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” finding to her amazement the old, covered wardrobe which she believes is a perfect place to hide, only to be transported into what at first is perceived as but her childish imagination, but in fact is a whole new world waiting just for her! In returning through the wardrobe, she knows she has been gone for hours and wonders why her siblings failed to seek her out in the game they were all playing, and as she shares what she has seen and where she has been, it falls upon deaf ears and blinded eyes.

Father is opening the eyes of the blind - a sightlessness that is so much more than mere physical optical blindness, but far more serious is the loss of sight of the heart.
Those like Lucy who are being transported through the portal of grace into the reality of His life, are tasting/entering into a living experiential knowing that eclipses what has passed as “Christianity” and the heart-beat and voice of the Father beckons our fellow siblings to go with us without knowing, and likewise discover His ultimate intention and purpose for their being here on this planet.

A child shall lead them! Even so, Lord, come.

Rich

Famine, is A God Thing

When you begin to hear repeatedly the same thing, it might just be God?!

I want to share some recent thoughts from others that are registering within me, much like what the scientists are still trying to figure out regarding the abnormal behaviour in some animals that they know are inwardly picking (registering) up the initial signals of an impending tsunami or earth quake.

This is from a friend/brother Ravi, something specifically he sensed Father speaking to his heart.


Satisfied on the Day of Famine

"They will be satisfied on the day of famine"! I felt the Lord speaking this to my heart as I was seeking Him for directions in this coming new season. I felt the Spirit of the Lord saying that even in the midst of uncertainties, calamities and disasters; the Lord will supernaturally sustain those that lean upon Him. If He feeds the bird of the air and clothes the grass of the fields, He can and will do much more for His people. What is needed is faith...SUPERNATURAL FAITH! Supernatural faith not of the individual, but of Christ Himself! When we unlearn the conditioning of religion, which teaches us self-motivation instead of pure faith and inputs guilt upon us for lack of faith, when the supposed 'promise' does not come to pass; and understand that we are simply the branches and that He is the vine that sustains the branches, we will prosper, even in times of famine.

John the apostle says that we shall prosper and be in good health, even as our soul prospers. There is a greater famine than the famine of material things. That is the famine of the soul. I felt the Spirit of the Lord speaking to my heart that many of the people who love Him are experiencing this famine in the soul. They experience this famine for they have substituted the Rivers of Living Waters, for a stagnant pool. I hear the Spirit saying realize that the famine of the soul is so because you have allowed these counterfeit waters to water your soul. And because it is not good waters, instead of creating life, it has created death. You shall prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers. To proper in this season of famine, our soul first needs to prosper; and we need the Rivers of Living Waters, the Word of God who is Christ Jesus Himself, to cause our soul to prosper.

In this new season, the Spirit will give many that love Him a major discernment. A discernment to understand the subtle counterfeit; a discernment to realize the substitutes. And even as we are made aware of this substitutes and counterfeits, the Lord will call us to make a choice to choose the real stuff. The choices may call for difficult decisions. But when we trust Him enough to make these difficult choices, the Lord shall surely cause us to prosper in this season of famine for the world.

I have often quoted this as I see it is a “God thing,” that He lovingly brings into our lives.
"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it.”

For the longest time the best that most of us have seen operating, better yet masquerading as His life is but the remnants of the first Adam. To better highlight what I am fumbling with in trying to illustrate this, please read the following from Os Chambers.


"And Every Virtue We Possess"
“All my fresh springs shall be in Thee.”
Psalms 87:7

Our Lord never patches up our natural virtues, He re-makes the whole man on the inside. "Put on the new man," i.e., see that your natural human life puts on the garb that is in keeping with the new life. The life God plants in us develops its own virtues, not the virtues of Adam but of Jesus Christ. Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification, and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through a drying-up experience!
The sign that God is at work in us is that He corrupts confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but remnants of what God created man to be. We will cling to the natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us into contact with the life of Jesus Christ which can never be described in terms of the natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people in the service of God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them, depending on what they have by the accident of heredity. God does not build up our natural virtues and transfigure them, because our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every bit of our bodily life into harmony with the new life which God has put in us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.
"And every virtue we possess
Is His alone."


Watch how God will wither up your confidence in natural virtues after sanctification, and in any power you have, until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through a drying-up experience!



Rich

Not Recognizing It’s His Doing

Preparation is not so painful when you consciously choose it, but what makes it hard is when you don’t recognize it for what it is. If God were to say to us, “I am behind all of this; what is happening to you right now is my way of refining (perfecting) you,” the whole ordeal would be more bearable. But as a rule God doesn’t do it that way. He just puts us through test after test, refining us and shaping us. Only later do we see what happened to us was His own planning.

In each of our lives there is extraordinary preparation going on in light of his amazing plan for us in this world. When God puts us through an extraordinary trial, nothing should be more encouraging, for God doesn’t mock us. He treats us with dignity and prepares us according to the task ahead. He doesn’t hurl us from A to Z but leads us from A to B, B to C, and so forth, following his own design for us.

All of this ongoing transformation is happening in the mundane, redundant, repetitious monotonous events of daily living. Therefore, it might be a great idea to NOT despise the day of small thing (beginnings)!

The promising things that God brings about often seem so insignificant at first. For example, a lackluster event may eventually be treasured. Nothing about it signaled, “Ah, this is going to be significant.” This is the way God frequently operates. The person who turns out to be of immense importance to you may not have impressed you at first sight. No lights flashed, no bells rang, and no voice uttered, “That person will be very special to you.” Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Many of God’s preparations for us are simply aimed to get our eyes off ourselves, to lead us out from our self-pity.

Rich