Category: Abundant Living

Legacy

Think on this: a record of your life with only commendable comments!

Meditation Thought: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” (Luke 7:50)

“Commit your life to Me – your loyalty is not misplaced: Trust, believe, act upon the guidance of the Word and the Spirit, in loving service and the joy of My Will prevailing in your life.

Move in unstinted confidence, knowing that, right or wrong, you cast away fear, for the pure intention of your heart assures forgiveness for all wrongs which are confessed. And forgiveness erases the wrongs as though they never were – leaving only the rights as a lasting record of your life. Think on this: a record of your life with only commendable comments! Strive to move rapidly in accomplishing My works in righteousness that this record may be full of the expressions of My love through your life.”

Contrasts in Chemistry

Thoughts and actions harmonized with the Father’s will are the transforming miracles of life…

Meditation Thought: “And blessed is he who takes no offense at me.” (Luke 7:23)

“Blessed is he who sees Me with an open mind and open emotions! For I will flow into his mind and his emotions, releasing the chemistry of the living water of the Holy Spirit to re-arrange the thoughts and the actions to harmonize with the Father’s will. Thoughts and actions harmonized with the Father’s will are the transforming miracles of life defeating death, health defeating disease, joy replacing pain, peace soothing over distress, despair turned to hope, and the world displaced by the Kingdom.

When I am accepted, and not rejected, there is the Father accepted: there is His purpose fulfilled and the Word is confirmed in the deed. Know the Word and you shall have the wisdom to move in the flow of the Spirit, rather than being stopped abruptly in your tracks that you will be forced to turn in a new direction.

Let Me support you in My loving arms as we go together doing good. Our love shall be all the more precious as it is shared with all whom we meet. The glow of our love for each other will bring the desire to others to share in our love. This is the Good News proclaimed, and the Father glorified as the glow of love spreads throughout the land.”

Follow Where? How? Why?

Come let us go together to pastures green and soft – to water fresh and pure, and the safety of the Spirit – protected haven prepared for you in the midst of a treacherous world…”

Meditation Thought: “‘Follow me’ and he left everything and rose and followed him.” (Luke 5:27-28)

“Yes-yes-yes- ‘follow me’. I take you not away from your family and your duties, but deeper into them. Do not fear that I will divide your loyalty: I come to integrate one part of your being with another. You are the one who has fragmented yourself, fretting over choices, talking yourself into doing what you ‘ought’ to do when your desire was in another direction. Follow me into the sweet places of love, of delight of a child at the provision of his father for him. He does not question his right to the delights that his father provides him. He just enjoys them.

Walk uprightly, and do good – but with happy abandon, not with solemn stiffness.

Relax – I will give you what you need when you need it. Do not anticipate where you will be struggling with what may be completely alien to what will come – but deal with this moment according to My Word and Spirit. Pray for guidance. Listen fr guidance. Believe that you act according to My Will if you have done the first two steps, and then forget the action when it is over, so that you have cleared your emotions for the present moment.

Come let us go together to pastures green and soft – to water fresh and pure, and the safety of the Spirit – protected haven prepared for you in the midst of a treacherous world…”

Happy Birthday!

…transforming you from selfish to considerate, gloomy to optimistic, fretful to relaxed, and haughty to humble, rejoicing that it is so.

Meditation Thought: “But now we are delivered from the law… that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.” (Romans 7:6)

Compare the birth of Jesus (within you) with the birth of a new baby: a complete change takes place in the lives of all of the members of the family. The new member, small as he is at the beginning, makes a big impact, and that influence grows more with the passing of time.

Jesus born into your will, your mind, your spirit! This babe who grows into manhood within your spirit, as you nurture His Presence! As His Personality exerts more influence, generates more love, raises the level of your performance as you seek to please your beloved who has come into your life, so this little one grows into the most influential aspect of your being, transforming you from selfish to considerate, gloomy to optimistic, fretful to relaxed, and haughty to humble, rejoicing that it is so.

You are no longer living according to the law only, having difficulty in controlling yourself to conform to it, but have the Presence of this beloved new member of your family to inspire you to control in a new and desirable ability to exercise more adherence to the law. You can act more firmly due to your new love and desire to provide the best of yourself for your beloved.

You act no longer from obligation, but from burning desire, total commitment to the welfare of your beloved, and with newly awakened thoughts and emotions prompting your actions.

The birth of Jesus into your consciousness (the baptism of the Holy Spirit) is the beginning of a transformed, redeemed, righteous life, set in a new direction, leading to a different destination: to the Kingdom, and to the power and the glory that are the evidence of that Kingdom, the standards and the proclamation of it. Your citizenship embraces it more fully, and manifests itself more surely as you study your obligations and privileges of having made your allegiance to this place, and committing yourself to its good.

A Place of Refreshment & Renewal

His pain is the labor by which you are given birth into the Kingdom.

Meditation Thought: “…not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

“Expand! Be flexible – allow Me to stretch your abilities and talents – not by a forcing on My part for your good, but at My touch, yield willingly so that I may expand you gently. Do you not understand the message sent by My Son? His pain is the labor by which you are given birth into the Kingdom – as soon as you acknowledge Him as your Savior you are thrust into My Kingdom. My Kingdom is not a hostile environment for you: it is your place of refuge, your home, where you can be refreshed and renewed between bouts into the world.

My will is that you take advantage of all I offer you as the provider and head of your Kingdom-home. You must be willing to reach, to stretch, to give in order to be able to mature as a knowledgeable, effective member of My family. That is the meaning of “not what I will, but what you will.” If My Son, who is an integral part of Me, perfected in obedience, must struggle with choice, can you be excused from choice? No – you must struggle, must decide; but you have His example – follow it as an assurance of the working of my will in your life. The working of My will is the fulfillment of your heart’s desire: not your whim of the moment, but the deep, soul-longing need to be at peace and harmony with Me.”

The Table of the Spirit – for You

You swallow spiritual truths into your being as surely as you swallow food into your body – or you refuse to swallow truths as surely as you refuse to eat food placed before you!

Meditation Thought: “your faith has made you well.” (Mark 10:52)

“Your knowledge and acceptance of My mercy has made you well (no longer sick with sin). You are functioning properly, having the disease of sin no longer within you, but removed by taking the medicine to counteract it – which is the acceptance into your spirit and mind of My sacrifice being the purifying medicine, and the ingestion of it into yourself as you swallow it with your spirit and mind focused on Me and My mercy. You swallow spiritual truths into your being as surely as you swallow food into your body – or you refuse to swallow truths as surely as you refuse to eat food placed before you!

The table of the Spirit is set before you; but you must see it and acknowledge it in order to be able to partake of its food.

As you learn more surely to see clearly and believe that the table is for your delight and nourishment, you shall reap more of the health of spirit, mind and body which it provides, as you enjoy feasting from it.

Oh, the variety to tempt your palate! And all of the various nutrients you need are included. You may need to learn to enjoy particular dishes, just as you learn to enjoy foods you at first have no taste for. But keep tasting whatever is offered to you, knowing that if it is on the table which has been prepared for you, it is for the benefit of your healthy body, mind or spirit.

And so as you trust your Chef and Waiter, you receive the good food which We prepare for your enjoyment and your health! The Chef has prepared the food, the Waiter is eager to serve you: will you walk to where the Host waits to show you your own special table so lovingly prepared for you? Once you set your will to seek the Host, to follow the Host’s leading, then do you assure yourself of obtaining the feast of Life: life temporal but transformed and life eternal. No longer are you weak with the desires of sin or starved for lack of knowledge, but strong with the works of the Spirit and the wisdom of the Word.”

Divine Power

To have meaning in your life you must believe in something…

Meditation Thought: “All things are possible for one who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

“All things are possible for one who believes because believing opens the lock in the dam of sin which has impeded the flow of divine power.

Accept the truth of the Word: believe the Word, have courage to stake your very life on the truth of the Word. Every thought, every act which expresses your belief in the Word opens the lock in the dam a little more.

To have meaning in your life you must believe in something: choose the Way. It is not the easy, downhill path – but it is the path along which you will find excitement and beauty and inspiration. Throw every facet of your being into the Truth as revealed to you, that the lock may be thrown open fully, and divine power rushed into your life:
cleansing,
thirst-quenching,
life-sustaining holy water.

The difference between stagnation and a resurrected life;
a born again life;
a new life;
life no longer in flesh only but transformed by the Spirit of Living Water.”

The Desert Blooms

I am a loving Father, wise and perceptive – I know you better than you know yourself. I know how to teach you, encourage you, protect you, nourish you. You need not fear.

Meditation Thought: “Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
    Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
    and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants. (Isaiah 44:2-3)

Do not fear _____ (insert your name here), whom I have chosen. I will renew your strength; I will make the desert bloom, and bless you and your family forever more.

I am a loving Father, wise and perceptive – I know you better than you know yourself. I know how to teach you, encourage you, protect you, nourish you. You need not fear – even your own feelings. I will give you all you need to be my servant – no, my child who serves. The serving is not to enhance Me, but you. It is in serving Me that you come close to Me, and being close to Me is the way your spirit is nurtured. It is the way you obtain the attributes listed throughout the Word as those which are becoming to the children of the Living Lord.

Remember that seeds do not produce a harvest immediately. You must patiently wait, till, and observe constantly until the moment to harvest arrives, and you receive your reward with joy.

All of the times you read the Word, spend time in thinking of Me, or praying, or meditating or ministering to my Creations, you are tilling seeds that are growing into harvests of joy.

Even when the ground is dry, you must do your part to prepare it properly – for I shall not allow the seeds to wither when you are attending them. The water of My Spirit shall refresh and spurt growth. Your efforts are never in vain when they are devoted to pleasing Me by attending to My garden – My garden, yet you are the one who will enjoy the harvest, and it is your enjoyment of the harvest that gives Me pleasure.”

The Counter-intuitive Key to Abundance

You carry within you joy, peace and hope, for you carry within you the Holy Spirit of God who is joy, peace and hope.

Meditation Thought: “Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.” (2 Thessalonians 3:13)

Joy! Peace! Hope! These are the gifts you carry and the gifts you will find will give meaning to your life when you distribute them.

Remember, there is such a thing as a “second wind”. If you will force yourself to keep moving even when you are exhausted, you will reach a point when your “second wind” – the movement of the Spirit – will relieve you. Your will to keep moving is your faith and your faith is the mover of the power of the Spirit.

Look not at the road, or at your feet – but at your goal.

Inspire your mind with the vision of the goal before you, renew your strength with trust in the Word, lift up your emotions by receiving the gentle Spirit into your heart and cherishing Him, delighting in His company.

Seek the example of Jesus as to how to most effectively pursue your goal.

You carry within you joy, peace and hope, for you carry within you the Holy Spirit of God who is joy, peace and hope. No one can take this priceless gift from you. Only you can choose to throw it away – by rebellion, by laziness, by ignorance.

You can also generate more of this gift by giving it away to others. This is the key to the kingdom: sharing, caring enough to share all that is pure and good and true; not hoarding the treasure you find, but giving it away in joyful abandon, knowing that the more freely you give, the more abundantly you will receive.

Do you understand that as a pruned tree actually produces more fruit, so your removing all the gifts that are given to you from your own storehouse into the service of others causes an increase in the production of the gifts into your own storehouse?

If you understand this principle, and apply it in every area of your life, then you are not only perceiving the goal – total communion with and commitment to your Father – but you are rightly following the example of Jesus, who promised abundant life to those who would follow Him.

You see, the whole New Testament is but this story in many forms: although to the world it appears the way to a large harvest is to keep all you have, to the Kingdom the knowledge is given that in taking away, the opportunity is then provided for a multiplying of the branches and fruit.

All are given the opportunity to try this method, but only those who have courage to actually allow the trimming are produces of the abundant harvest.

Set your will on trust in the Lord and not trust in yourself only.

I would cultivate an orchard fair,
With blossoms blooming everywhere
Not sparsely scattered from nature wild,
But multiplied by the Spirit’s care:
Welcome, welcome, lonely tree,
The One who Ministers love to thee.

Abundant Farming

The faithful sow with the Word, till with Truth, water with the Spirit and feed with love.

Meditation Thought: “But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 3:6-8)

Trees are planted for the purpose of bearing fruit. It is natural for them to do so – nevertheless, the knowledge that their bearing fruit is not automatic (drought, pests, floods can interfere), makes the successful harvesting of a good crop a cause for rejoicing.

The pattern exists throughout all of nature: the planting, the growing – safely, or in peril – and either a successful harvest or disappointment at the appointed time.

The farmer, however, has options – he can choose to put himself out, giving of time and energy, to promote a better crop.

And so it is with the Kingdom. The faithful sow – and then till, water, feed: yes, sow with the Word, till with Truth, water with the Spirit and feed with love, into the soil which is each person’s spirit.

And so the soil determines the fruit. But the original condition of the soil is changed in character by the tilling, the watering, the feeding. Thus the farmer must never give up in the cultivating if he wishes to have the best possible harvest of fruit.

The harvest of any fruit in rocky soil is cause for joy, as the harvest of a bountiful crop in rich soil is the cause for joy. All farmers are confronted with various conditions of soil and of weather at different times: the joy lies in having enough trust and hope to do the best job possible given the particular circumstances, knowing that without our efforts the crop will be far less or non-existent.