Narrow Way

As I was thinking thoughts unto the Lord, I was telling the Father how I wanted to get back on track with my eating habits. After a month of staying away from many carbs in January, March has found me once again going back to my comfortable eating habits and has produced the inevitable weight gain.

Thinking about how I want to simplify my life and how excesses of anything can be an outward manifestation of spiritual disharmony, I realize my 'excess' weight is an indicator of a focus on satisfying my flesh instead of dying to flesh and walking a crucified life.

I don't want that.

As these thoughts were circulating through my head, I began to picture the believer's walk as being one that goes through a passage way. I pictured the new believing person as being very bloated,  and balloon like - fleshly.

Despite the person's condition, he/she was still able to get through the gate but it was an uncomfortable, tight fit.

In order to move forward, the individual had to 'loose' some of his girth. This was fine at first but as the person moved further along the tunnel like passageway, the opening became narrower, forcing the person to stop until more of the excess 'fluff' was gone. In some instances, the narrowness of the tunnel was the instrument itself that shaved off the extra material as the person literally forced himself to move forward through the passageway.

The further along the person went the narrower and narrower the tunnel was  and more and more 'body baggage' had to be removed until the individual was now a normal size silhouette of a person, no longer bloated.

With this new shape, the individual found that the tunnel no longer felt so narrow even though it was much, much narrower than it had been at the beginning of the entrance.

This 'thinking unto the Lord' encouraged me but was also intimidating in that I realize that the further along the path I get with the Lord, He will expect a corresponding maturity and removal of those things that I rely on, lust after, are self willed over, etc.

The Father says, "Fear not for I am with you, I have called you by my name,thou art mine"

I say, 'Help me not to shy away from your chastisings Father but to receive sonship with a glad and grateful heart'

Grown up Baby

As I was lying down thinking thoughts unto the Lord the other night, I was tempted to say 'Why, Lord?'
This was in response to thoughts I was having on some difficulties I was experiencing.

Before I could go further with my, 'why' train of thought, I began to think of what it's like to be a child.

A five year old may want to eat cookies - and nothing BUT cookies - for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The conscientious parent says 'No' and the child whines 'Why?!' 'They taste good, they fill me up, they look yummy, so WHY!?'

As I was pondering this mental scene, I began to see myself in the parent's/Heavenly Father's place.

We as the mature being with experience and greater foresight understand what can occur on a diet made
up solely of chocolate chip cookies. To the child, however, we are being unreasonable if not downright
mean for denying them something that appears to be so good.

Then I thought about how I see this situation in myself and others so much.
'why won't you let me have this relationship, job, possession, etc.'

Mind you, this is pertaining to those who may even care to ask the Father His will in a given situation.

When the door is shut or we feel a 'No' wafting into our spirit, we, no, "I" feel inclined to whine 'WHY!?'
But I long to see from your perspective Father. Even in typing that sentence I feel the thought coming to me 'It's not about seeing from My perspective; it's about trusting me'

Ah, yes, Father. You who can see the beginning from the end; You who always has my best interest at heart; You who knows what I REALLY need will not deny me any good thing.

Like the five year old child, my natural man thinks it knows better. Like Eve in the garden, I tend towards believing the lie. Help my unbelief, Lord.

I just don't realize how blind I really am . Just like the child, many things don't seem to make sense so reasoning situations out according to my own understanding, or following the path of least resistance, or doing what's practical feels right - but I don't want to live by feelings; like an overgrown baby!

I want to exercise my senses to know what is right, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, so that I can be mature and able to handle 'strong meat".

You are SO good Father! Thank You for Your Holy Spirit Lord.Thank you for your loving kindness and tender mercies!

Bad Fruit

There is no help within mankind.

I was reading a blog post by a fellow God lover (http://edgeofthewilderness.blogspot.com/)who spoke about how mankind tries to pull himself up
by his boot straps and the futility of these attempts.

And how most if not all of the religions recommend that as the path to fulfillment, enlghtmenent or
whatever the 'goal' for that group of people is. (I hope I haven't mis-stated what he is trying to express)

This made me think about  a person I was dealing with the other day who is suffering from what, as far as I can tell, is some type of paranoia. Mental delusions.

I spoke to the Father under my breath and asked Him to rebuke the spirit of confusion and paranoia. I spoke to the spirits themselves and told them they had no place in that vessel for that person has said they are a believer.

I've done this before and there seems to be relief but it doesn't last.

This got me thinking about how the mind that will not yield to the Lordship of Christ is subject to it's own desires. That is NOT good!

As we walk in  the fruit of our own self directed desires, we are led further from the Truth of God and become subject to demonic enticement. There is no good thing in our flesh, Paul tells us and our minds need to be renewed so we can think thoughts after the Father.

For all mankind, even those who say they are believers, if we continue refusing to yield to the gentle inclinations of the Spirit that direct us to die to self, take up our cross, yield ourselves to the various chastimsents the Father allows for us, renew our mind through the Word and whatever else speaks of new life in Christ, then we expect nothing else but an eventual consuming of selves into a black hole of self delusion, mental/emotional anguish and hopelessness.

The Father doesn't want it this way.

WE are choosing these destructive paths that eventually may lead to an eternal separation from the Source of Life - is it any surprise though? We won't choose life on 'this' side of immortality so we receive the fruit of our doings on the other side; and the separation is made complete.

Mankind must cooperate with the work the Father desires to accomplish in us - for our OWN good!
He won't force Himself, and those of us who are trying to be His disciples, we can't force people either.

We must:                            
In meekness instruct(ing) those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth (2Tim 2:25, KJV)

Notice the emphasis; it's GOD that must move upon the person to repent and acknowledge what is true,

Clear - Part 3

I was sitting with a woman the other day in a government facility awaiting my
turn to get help with tax paperwork when she said, "Look at that."

I looked at where she was pointing and saw a small bit of wadded up gum wrapper
laying underneath the water fountain.

Then with a smirk in her voice, she said, "someone is supposed to be cleaning around here!"

I would not have given the small piece of paper a thought if she had not pointed it out.

I know a few other people like her. Every perceived 'wrong' is talked about in disdainful tones
and the people who have commited these 'wrongs' are vilified.

I felt sorrowful in my spirit and said to the Lord, 'Why do people have to concern themselves with
such minor, insignificant things?'

I was going to go on with another stream of thinking when this wafted into my mind:

"To the pure, everything is pure, but to the defiled, everything is defiled."

I recognized this as a verse from the bible although I didn't know chapter and verse. I have
since found the verse in Titus1:15 and in the KJV it says:

"Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled"

Corrupted or polluted is used in place of defiled in at least a couple of versions I looked at.

Then, a comment about another verse came to my mind: "We see splinters in other's people's eyes because we are actually witnessing the plank in our own and projecting it outwards onto others."

Then came: "The evil one comes but finds nothing in me."

Ok, the Lord had my attention. He knows I want to be a 'Clear' (see this post about being a clear) so I was excited about Him bringing these thoughts to me.

I told the Lord in my mind as I sat there, "I don't want to be 'unclean'. I want to be pure. I know that because I am seeing this trait in someone else that it most likely is present in me (ok, not most likey, IT IS),

Later that night, I thought about how Jesus said that it is not what goes into a person that makes them unclean but what comes out.  I told the Lord again that I want to be clean/pure on the inside but that I don't know how to do it. The verses came to my mind that talked about how shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed to the Word. And the verse where Jesus told the disciples, Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken to you. So I agreed with the Lord that His Word will make me clean.

I thought too, that it won't just be the written Word but the internal Word that the Father speaks to me by way of the Spirit. 

Part of me being able to hear the Lord clearer will depend on me allowing myself to be washed by His Word and coming in line with what He intended for humanity to be. It's a circle process: The Father speaks to me His Word, I submit and am cleaned; as I'm cleaned I hear the Father/His Word better and I'm cleaned so I can hear even better....

I love you Lord. Continue to accomplish your will in me in conforming me to the image of your son.

Difficult People are MY problem, not Theirs

I was reading on Crossinthewilderness.blogspot.com and the author, Bonita, was talking about how the trials we go through can show us where our weaknesses are.

This got me thinking about the current difficulties in my life and what the Lord is showing me and how my weaknesses must be submitted to God for His enabling Grace to do its transforming work.

One of the things I have been asking the Lord about is 'how do you deal with difficult people?'

After having this thought in the back of my brain for a couple of months, I felt this thought coming to me:
"I deal with YOU, don't I? You can deal with others the same way I deal with you.'

Oh.... o.k....

 I had been so focused on how OTHERS personalities are so difficult or trying and how they should try to change how THEY act, but I forgot about the plank in my own eye.

Then I thought about how we as people deal with young children. We are patient (for the most part) with their fumblings and mistakes; we deal compassionately with their little personalities.

I felt like the Lord was showing me that that is how he dealt with the disciples and how he also views us modern day disciples.

The Lord's flesh and soul were under His submission through the Spirit. People didn't 'rub him the wrong way' with their personalities because that type of reaction emanates from flesh and soul. He sees humanity with an eye of love and compassion, like a Father to his children.

This same spirit must be manifest in ME through the Spirit - die to flesh and submit my soul to the direction of  the Holy Spirit within.

Consuming Fire of Love

"As you go through the history of the early church you will see
suffering, sacrifice, hardship, persecution and spiritual opposition,
mixed with joy, humor, hope, not a little determination and an almost
inconceivable commitment to the cause of Christ. And all of those
things taken together illustrate one all-important dynamic that I believe
has been mostly lost over these past two thousand years of practiced
religion - a true, life-changing reality of Christ in the hearts and lives of
believers!
And, I believe this reality can only be found in the atmosphere and
activity of His true church. It is a reality of Christ that can only be
found in a moment-by-moment relationship with Him, where He is the
first thing we think about when we wake up in the morning and the last
thing we think about before we go to sleep at night. It is a reality that
melts our hearts as we experience His love and a reality that makes us
eager to know His purposes and willing to obey His every word. A
reality that demonstrates the depths of His kindness and mercy, the
scope of which constantly amazes us. The reality of a Lord that is so
great that we know our constant praise of Him will never adequately
define His greatness! A reality that takes us from glory to glory
(actually from one personal experience to the next), transforming us
into His wonderful image and a reality of Christ that constrains and
consumes us. Then finally, it is a reality that causes us to know with
certainty that His church is not comprised of some group that meets
together on Sunday morning in the big building on the corner to enjoy
their multimedia presentation, promote their programs and perpetuate
their traditions and rituals. It is, instead, made up of people all over
the world who meet with Him continually and individually, striving to
maintain a personal relationship of intimacy with Him."

Oh, my goodness! This is the heartfelt expression of Ken Brown from the introduction of his
chronological arrangement of the New Testament.
Parts I REALLY like:

"It is a reality of Christ that can only be
found in a moment-by-moment relationship with Him, where He is the
first thing we think about when we wake up in the morning and the last
thing we think about before we go to sleep at night"
My heart is on fire with Love for you Lord and you
truly are on my mind from my first waking to my laying down of my head at night.

and:

"The reality of a Lord that is so
great that we know our constant praise of Him will never adequately
define His greatness!"
 It is frustrating to be limited by my meager vocabulary in proclaiming my praises to my great God.

and finally:
The part that he put in italics at the end. How naive to think that our 'services' can ever substitute for the fullness of a life lived out on a moment by moment basis in the presence of the Father! The traditional, institutional mind frame has us viewing 'church attendance' as the 'main course' of our fellow shipping with the Father when in reality, he desires to make our whole daily existence a buffet that both us and Him are continually partaking of.

Gimme that old time religion-but not THEIR way

I was thinking earlier today about all the many, many churches that you can find on the street corners of  our cities. Many of them have been there for years.

I started thinking about one church that I had heard about which recently celebrated their 100+ year anniversary. At the time, I thought 'wow, they've been around a long time' and didn't give it too much more thought.

But today, I started thinking, why would a 'church' boast about how long it's been in existence?

It seems that the Father was always on the move, in both the Old and New testaments. It appears that His notion of progress for His people was to initiate a project but after His purposes were fulfilled, He moved the individuals on, reorganized various people into different groupings and then began a new project for a season, after which he moved individuals on, reorganized various people into different groupings....

This pride we take in an assembly's (not 'church', WE as people are the church) longevity, I believe, is not good.

It speaks, at the least, to a  lack of discerning the Father's will and at the worst to a rebellious and \hard heart.

The fluid, amoebic nature of the Body of Christ prevents it from being nailed down, boxed in, institutionalized. Each member must be free to move about this life as the Spirit gives expression - just like the Spirit Himself, This makes establishing some set-in-stone weekly, monthly, yearly programming difficult if not downright impossible.

For example, if one individual is being used of the Lord - during one season in their life- to tend to an elderly aunt's needs, however and whenever those needs arise; if another individual is led to walk among the homeless and serve them; if a family is led to take to the road and serve those the Lord brings across their path, If - on and on and on. How will these individuals (or think about even an assembly full of these type of Spirit led individuals) be able to maintain or even attend some type of set programming week in and week out?

Being tied to a weekly,monthly,yearly 'program' without allowing each individual/family the freedom to be used in this world the way the Father desires will produce a calcified, dead, powerless 'church' - isn't that what we are seeing? We make up for true 'life in Christ' by filling out ossified 'churches' with lots of activity giving the appearance of life ..."but denying the power thereof'. We become the tree Jesus cursed that had leaves but no fruit.