Category: Abundant Living

A Compelling Mystery

No longer must we plod along, confused, not knowing where to turn  – discouraged by set-backs, lacking hope of better things to come.

Meditation Thought: “… a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 2:16)

We are not justified by mechanical acts – but by the inspiration of the awareness of our spirit to the revelations of the Spirit, and an appreciation of what these revelations mean to us: totally new life. No longer must we plod along, confused, not knowing where to turn  – discouraged by set-backs, lacking hope of better things to come.

For Jesus came from the Father to teach us the meaning of our existence – and the extent of it: not just our physical self and environment, but the glories and joys of the spiritual self and spiritual environment.

No more that the surgeon’s observation of the physical parts of the brain can discern the thoughts and memories contained therein, can our pursuit of the physical aspect of life reveal the meaning of life – the purpose toward which it leads.

To be touched – however lightly – by the significance of Jesus’ sojourn on earth – is the beginning of the possibility of life in a totally new dimension. If we have the energy and the courage to respond to this touch, we are started on a compelling mystery, a constant challenge, and a revelation of knowledge and feelings and actions previously uncomprehended.

Our hope is in Him, our strength is in Him, our knowledge is in Him, our love is in Him: The Father gave Him to us, and He came, sacrificing willingly all His power, glory, will, that we might be saved from sin and reconciled with the Father. He came to show us the way back to the Father and of the Father: we cannot deny our inheritance: we are born of the Father.

 

Float Trip

Living with Jesus is like floating on water – we let Him support us. We can only succeed in floating by being completely relaxed, letting the water do the supporting – and our arms need to be outstretched – we cannot just hug ourselves.

A Hospitable House

It’s a bit scary to think that we are housing the Creator of the universe! If we ponder that for a while we will certainly need to keep our house clean and pure and hospitable!

Meditation Thought: “But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house…” (Hebrews 3:6a)

If we are “God’s house” then God resides in us! It’s a bit scary to think that we are housing the Creator of the universe! If we ponder that for a while we will certainly need to keep our house clean and pure and hospitable!

How can we make a house that welcomes God and pleases Him? Surely we must seek His Word and His counsel through prayer.

Flying Lessons

Do you know that I created you to love you, to interact with you, to have adventures with you?

“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, the will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31)

“I am here. Do you believe Me? Do you realize that you could not exist if I had not created you? Do you know that I created you to love you, to interact with you, to have adventures with you? You do? Then base your thoughts and your actions on these promises. This is the key to the kingdom.”

 

Construction on the Base of Mercy

Do not look back to the old; that is now buried.

Meditation Thought: “For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand saying to you, ‘fear not, I will help you.'” (Isaiah 41:13)

“We will take all the trash which has accumulated in your life and I will bury it with my mercy so deeply that it will not surface to ruin the shining new life to be built on top of my base of mercy. Do not look back to the old; that is now buried. Take the new materials of construction which I hand you: they are far more beautiful than the materials you were using before.

You will need to work hard to learn to use new tools and new materials – but what a beautiful, glorious edifice is built when you come to me for tools and materials. It is so lovely, so appealing, that none can resist wanting one as lovely – and when you are asked how to build such an edifice, you can lead them to Me that I can give tools and materials to them also. And so, a community of lovely edifices is built – one enhancing the other, all to My glory and My pleasure – all to the peace and pleasure of the builders.

Dream, work, and enjoy – think of these separate activities as cogs in the whole, content at the movement of the moment yet award that there will be other moments, other pleasures – but all pleasing to Me and to you.”

What was Impossible Becomes Possible

You must see yourself as part of a great Body, able to accomplish miracles which would not happen if you think of yourself as an isolated cell.

A sense of response to meditation on several verses and a devotional:

“My strength shall pour into your limbs, into your heart, as a transfusion. What was difficult before shall become easy, what was impossible shall become possible. The ‘greater works’ shall be done through you and through the other members of my Body as my strength surges through that Body.

You must see yourself as part of a great Body, able to accomplish miracles which would not happen if you think of yourself as an isolated cell. Seek that interconnection with the other parts of the Body and coordinate with the rest to cause the whole to function as it was created to function. The Head wants the Body to function, it does not want it paralyzed! Respond to the impulses from the Head so that the Body will be active – not only active, but vibrantly active.”

Choose the harvest by choosing the Seed

Once we know the Truth – our relationship with our Creator, our dependency on Him, and the glories of being totally His child, then we know what seed to sow to reap the best of harvests: peace, joy, love and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Meditation Thought: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

As the parables are the echoes of the principles, so are the material laws echoes of the spiritual laws. The elements of everyday living are really a school we are attending – once we recognize that we are attending a school in which to learn, we change our actions accordingly. We have purpose, we seek knowledge, we become alive and aware in a new way.

As our Teacher inspires us as we learn in one area, we begin to see an interrelation of which we were ignorant, we find knowledge of fields which were completely unknown to us before. But every field has one thing in common: the results are based on the action, or in other words, the harvest depends upon the seed sown. Once we know the Truth – our relationship with our Creator, our dependency on Him, and the glories of being totally His child, then we know what seed to sow to reap the best of harvests: peace, joy, love and communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

 

Presence = Fullness of Joy

When I am concentrating on being where You are, then no matter what scene You are in, and I am in with you, I am content – fulfilled.

Meditation Thought: “Thou dost show me the path of life;
    in thy presence there is fullness of joy,
    in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

“In thy presence there is fullness of joy” – in thy presence  – when I am concentrating on being where You are, then no matter what scene You are in, and I am in with you, I am content – fulfilled. For it is not the place, the action, that is important to my life – it is the Presence – the Presences that:
assures me of total confidence,
shields me from harm,
brings me joy,
raises my hope,
delights me,
excites me,
relieves boredom,
surrounds me with love so powerful that all else pales beside it,
being as nothing as I bask in the closeness of My Lord’s Presence and all that Presence brings to me. It satisfies every need, every desire – even those I was unaware that I had until after they have been fulfilled.

Alive and Thriving

the way to have more riches of the kind that will bring peace and joy is to recognize that there are spiritual laws in operation also.

Meditation Thoughts: “ I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15:5) “ It is possible to give away and become richer.” (Proverbs 11:24)

It is possible to give away and become richer because of the interconnection of vine and branches – nourishment taken from one flows into the other – so that, although the nourishment of one kind flows out, it is replaced by nourishment of another kind flowing in. The beauty of the flowing, rather than each being self-contained, is that what flows out is an enrichment by the entity of what flowed in, and then if flows out as an enrichment to the receiver. In the meantime, the “outflow” is constantly being replenished by an “inflow” from the connecting part.

As long as there is an interchange, each is nourished and thrives. But when one part starts to receive only, and stops the outflow, the other part dies – and when it dies, its outflow stops, and this kills the part that originally stopped the outflow. One cannot live without the other. We need to have that inter-dependency to keep the vine and branches alive and thriving. We cannot just take and not give; God’s creation was not structured in that manner. The more we understand that as we give, what we give is transformed into something even richer, and then as another gives, we receive the enriched gift back in the form which we need at that time, the more in harmony with our intended nature we will become.

We send out the gift of our raw material, and it is just what someone else, who is serving as a manufacturer at the moment, needs – he produces a finished product, which he then returns to us. Sometimes – maybe most times – there is a complicated exchange of raw materials and manufactured products – but the principle remains the same. Only by being willing to give away our raw material can it be changed, and added to by others, to be returned to us as a more desired form than when we let it go. The more we are willing to let go of our “better” raw materials, the more we will receive “better” finished products.

All through the Bible it is made clear that hoarding is a short-sighted self-defeating attribute. Though it might appear by physical laws that to hoard is the way to have riches, and this is true as far as it goes – the way to have more riches of the kind that will bring peace and joy is to recognize that there are spiritual laws in operation also. As these are perceived and acted upon, the riches that satisfy will then start to be piled up in the storehouse. There is no fear that they will be stolen, as there is with hoarded riches, for the riches flowing in from the observance of the spiritual laws cannot be stolen. Would-be thieves are not even aware that some of these riches exist, and even when they know of their existence, they find that if they try to steal them they disintegrate – for they cannot handle them properly, being unaware of the spiritual laws which are needed to handle these riches. As they try to grasp them with the crushing grasp of greed, the riches crumble.

Unexpected Transformation

…our loving Father… will never shortchange us! 

Meditation Thought: “Honor the Lord with the thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.” (Proverbs 3:9)

“Honor” – a way of giving respect, of indicating how special someone is to us. It’s easy to say words – they don’t call for sacrifice – but when we give of our substance, we are denying ourselves in order to bless someone else. This takes more thought; do we sacrifice our pleasure for the pleasure of someone else?

When we “sacrifice” we find that our “sacrifice” is transformed into a “blessing” – it may take a number of forms, but nevertheless, there is an exchange. We give a gift, only to learn that the transaction was actually an interchanging of gifts, and when we are having transactions with our loving Father, He will never shortchange us!