Category: Courage

Strength Building

Is the struggle from caterpillar to butterfly worthwhile?

Meditation Thought: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

You cannot be strengthened unless you are willing to hold on to – and be held by one other than yourself.

You need to admit that you cannot perform miracles, you cannot even function well by yourself. And you need to then be glad that this is so, for it makes you willing to hold to and be held by the Father, the Son and the Spirit – each teaching, ministering, comforting and empowering all in harmony with each other that the will of the Father – the glory of the Father’s love made real – might be accomplished.
Time it takes.
Effort it takes.
Faith it takes.
Belief it takes.
Action it takes.
Perseverance it takes.
Is it worthwhile? Is the struggle from caterpillar to butterfly worthwhile? Is the movement of bodies in the heavens to produce a sunrise worthwhile? Is the joy of a response of love worth the effort which gave birth to it?

Never doubt. Never fear. Never drift.

Stake your life on the promise of the Word: do this by the quality of your choices moment by moment, day by day. A personal touch of love, of understanding, of comfort, may change a life more dramatically than any demonstration of faith which is deliberate and self-conscious – but impersonal.

To be loved – and to know it – gives courage to a fainting heart, hope to a feeling of despair, wisdom to a panicked mind. Moves the immobilized to action.

The warmth of love
melts the coldest,
most resistant life
That it may be
Re-shaped, re-worked, re-newed
To become a source of love,
Multiplying the love poured in,
And pouring out a stream of love –
of warm, purifying,
exhilarating flow
which fathers force
And moves the negative,
the sordid, the ugly,
Into an arrangement of
Positive, lovely, beautiful expression,
the kingdom moved upon the world.

Basis for Action

Trust the knowledge revealed to you enough to base your actions upon that knowledge – not upon any other knowledge.

Meditation Thought: “There you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:7)

“Go – see – confirm”. The Word has been given to you. You have been told where He is. Will you go to see Him? You go by faith and see by belief. You confirm by acting upon that faith and belief. You go from the world to the realm of the spirit; you believe by the revelation of the Spirit of Truth, you confirm by trusting the knowledge revealed to you enough to base your actions upon that knowledge – not upon any other knowledge.

Building the Framework with the Carpenter

Your limitations are not My limitations.

Meditation Thought: “Where is your faith?” (Luke 8:25)

Your help comes from the Lord, the Lord who created heaven and earth. Peace be with you. Fear not. Your limitations are not My limitations. Believe in Me in you. Trust Me in you. Call upon Me in you. Act as if you feel Me in you.

This is the building of the framework of your temple where we shall commune together, providing the inspiration for the re-creation of your days. The routine, the dull, the mundane – all changed by the light of new knowledge which gives you strength, creative thought, effective actions. I am using you to build the Kingdom on earth. This is not an easy task. Do not give up. Trust me. Do what is needed this moment: it is by this expression of your faith that you move mountains and rebuke the winds and waves. Then when you are asked “where is your faith?” shall you reply: “My faith is in my Lord who dwells within me and without me, in all that is. His love enfolds me and His power protects me and no longer am I afraid for He never fails me nor forsakes me.”

Strength for the Battle

You cannot order the world to obey your command, but you can order your own will to obey God’s command.

Meditation Thought: “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14:38)

You must grow strong in the spirit so that the spirit can pour strength into the weak body. You have the perspective of history to enable your mind and your spirit to be strengthened by faith and by example. You know the reality of the resurrection.

To foreknow victory is to give strength for the battle. Focus your mind on the results you desire through the revelation of your spirit as to the best possible outcome. The outcome must encompass a furthering of love, harmony, peace and blessings for all concerned, for these are the promises – if one believes the word of God and acts in accordance with this belief.

You cannot order the world to obey your command, but you can order your own will to obey God’s command, and the results will please you far more than being abele to exert your own will upon everyone else; God’s love is greater, God’s mercy greater, God’s design greater than these qualities in yourself. Therefore if you attach your own desires to God’s desires, you assure yourself of glorious victory: not only do you sense satisfaction of your own life ordered and at peace, but you have been the instrument by which God has accomplished this in the lives of others whom you have touched.

It is true that “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” but it is also true that Jesus has released the power of the Holy Spirit within you to strengthen your own spirit to the point that your spirit overcomes the weakness of the flesh by moving the flesh in a new direction – causing the flesh to reach out in loving ministry rather that tightening within itself. The merging of your spirit with the Holy Spirit in obedience to His soft guidance enables the flesh to overcome self-consciousness, fear, awkwardness, selfishness and all negative aspects of live.

Faith Over Fear

Nourish the thoughts which reflect the thoughts of the Master Teacher.

Meditation Thought: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. (See Hebrews 11:1)

“Behavior modification” is possible in the realm of the spirit, as well as in the realm of the physical. Each time you are confronted with a decision, seek to act as if you have the faith of Jesus.

Jesus’ example of complete trust in his Father is the way, the truth, the life. Not for a moment did he waver in his belief that his Father would care for him; and for all, if all would believe.

Be careful which seeds you nourish in your garden. Many seed-thoughts will be cast into the field of your mind. Nourish the thoughts which reflect the thoughts of the Master Teacher, and reject those thoughts which are foreign to His teachings. In this manner, do you, modify your faith behavior, and in modifying your faith behavior, you modify your faith.

No longer does your faith waver, moving, according to the circumstances it encounters, but it is strong, sturdy, worthy of holding up whatever is cast upon it it. It’s strength lies, not in your conception of faith, but in Jesus‘ conception of faith.

Where is your faith? If it is embraced in the faith of Jesus, it is embraced by the love and power of the father. If it is anywhere else, it is non-existent, only word, not substance, not evidence.

Flooded with Sunlight

If you surround the darkness with your protective shell of rigid ideas, selfish motives, and fear of change or challenge, then the light cannot penetrate to dispel the darkness within.

Meditation Thought: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

“You are curled up in a tight ball of self – of inward introspection. Let Me enable you to relax, to stretch, to unfold yourself – exposing yourself to all of the wonder and the glory of the Kingdom on earth. Fear not – your protection lies not within yourself, but within the love with which you were created.

It is possible to seek life on a new level – that is the awakening of a ‘sinner’. Those who are smug and sure that the level where they live is the only ‘proper’ one and that everyone should come to their level are welcome to stay there. But it is not the level where I intend for anyone to remain. It is but a stepping-stone to a level of new consciousness: think of it as comparing the landscape as the sky is overcast, and the difference in the same landscape when it is flooded with sunlight. The sunlight gives a clarity, a purifying element, a beauty which was previously lacking.

It is through the light given off by the Son touching earth that the landscape of your life is enhanced. The light was created by the Father, but directed by the Son to wherever light could reach to dispel darkness. Darkness cannot be dispelled unless light is brought where it is.

If you surround the darkness with your protective shell of rigid ideas, selfish motives, and fear of change or challenge, then the light cannot penetrate to dispel the darkness within.”

Jump-Start

If we go about allowing God to guide us in releasing His power to charge each other, we become a community of highly-charged vehicles of God moving on earth, bringing His blessings from heaven.

Meditation Thought: “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” (Isaiah 40:29)

When sin and sorrow have brought about a spirit which has lost power – a “dead battery” spirit – the love of the Father, the sacrifice of the Son, the power of the Holy Spirit are the “jumper cables” to bring new life – but they must be attached to the dead battery spirit: who will bring the power? Someone who believes the jumper cables will revive the battery. it could be anyone – a most unlikely one. We must constantly look to the spirits of those we meet to determine if they need “re-charging” to be powerful once again. If we go about allowing God to guide us in releasing His power to charge each other, we become a community of highly-charged vehicles of God moving on earth, bringing His blessings from heaven.

Self Help Turned on its Head

You are God’s paternal dream fulfilled!

Meditation Thought: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

In Christ you are a new creation:

  • Righteous, for your sin is forgiven and forgotten
  • Bold, for fear is replaced with confidence in your Helper who is with you forever
  • Content, for your longing for peace and fulfillment is satisfied
  • Excited, for you know that in Christ the works of the Father are constantly being done, and done with enthusiasm, good results, and often in surprising way.

You are experiencing love and giving love, you are more alert, your talents released, your joy boundless, your eyes perceiving beauty everywhere, your mind connecting all that comes into it into a pattern never before even suspected: that which is unseen becomes as that which is seen, and that which is seen becomes as that which is x-rayed and magnified and intensified. Christ is as all of the most potent effective medicines and vitamins and beauty aids and creative thinking courses and pleasures washing over you, pouring into you, transforming the dead entity of your self now willed to Him into the Fathers image: His precious offspring, spirit of His spirit – His paternal dream fulfilled.

Life-Style Upgrade

But as money must be spent to change a life-style, so the Spirit must be active to change the style of life.

Meditation Thought: These are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)

The gift of the Spirit as the means of affecting every area of a life can be compared to the gift of money in the world: the money can be applied to purchase goods which can be completely life-changing as to the style of living. And so the Spirit changes the style of life, not just a minute area. But as money must be spent to change a life-style, so the Spirit must be active to change the style of life. The knowledge to activate the Spirit is easy to find: the difficulty lies in our willingness to deny our human willfulness to dictate what we will think and say and do, and instead to yield to God’s will, and especially to accept the manner of His teaching.

We would choose to learn with little effort having our lessons all laid out before us, without our research any commitment on our part. But this is not the way we learn in depth, in a depth that takes the lesson learned beyond the ‘head knowledge’ and extends it to ‘heart knowledge’, making it a part of our actions as well as our mind.

It is the Spirit that keeps us researching, who leads us to new discoveries and resources. We must ask His help – and accept it and heed His instructions in order to learn the lesson, and having learned it, to make it a life-changing element in our lives.

No Division – Only Multiplication

Will you hand it to Me that I may warm it in My Spirit and expand it into fulness?

Meditation Thought: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31 & Romans 13:9)

You shall minister to your neighbor as yourself. In every thought, every word, every deed, it matters not who is the recipient; the action is to be as unto Me. When you care for your body, you care for Me;
When you enrich your mind, you enrich My glory;
When you say words of encouragement to your enemy, you praise My Name; When you sacrifice your desires to minister to others, you sing the songs of angels exulting in the fellowship of My Presence.

Do you understand now? There is nothing separate on earth or in heaven. Your choice must be for good, for your God’s will, if you desire good for yourself. For the measure you give is the measure you receive; your cast-out bread will return.

As you pour yourself out in all the means available to you, when you pour yourself through My Spirit rather than pouring directly into the world, My Spirit enriches your expressions and makes them blessings multiplied on earth and in heaven. It’s like a kernel of corn puffs up in the heat – and the volume expands and overflows to the point that what you poured out is then gently returned to you in a new, more desirable form.

Until this concept is learned, the sin of selfishness and pride of possession keeps the kernels of corn your only possession. Do you dare to trust Me with every kernel in your life? Will you hand Me each one that I may warm it in My Spirit and expand it into fulness and bless your neighbors and yourself?