Category: Encourage

Blessings Bestowed

He loves us enough to encourage us to seek the blessings He can bestow in response to our request.

Meditation Thought: “And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.” (Mark 6:56)

“As many as touched it.” They touched it. They activated their faith by reaching out. Although Jesus attempted to instill a desire for healing, apparently He never healed anyone except as a response to the expressed desire for healing – either by the one needing it, or someone asking Jesus on their behalf.

Our God is not a tyrant; He seeks to let us be free. But He loves us enough to encourage us to seek the blessings He can bestow in response to our request.

Suggested Prayer:
“Father, I thank you that your love for me prompted You to send Jesus to my rescue from sin and from all evil, and also to give a clear indication of just Who You are in character and in relationship to me.
Jesus, thank you for loving me enough to take on all the limitations of life in human form, and the sufferings involved in that act of obedience, so that I could reap the benefit of your sacrifice.
Holy Spirit, thank you for never intruding by force, but hearing and responding to the slighted whisper that I make when I need You to help me. Usually I think to request Your help after I have botched the job without it! But You never refuse to come, even if I’ve slighted You.

I don’t understand much about any of you – but You know all about me – and You obviously have my interests at heart, so I hereby request each of You to be my close friend – my mentor, teacher, guide, companion, guard, defender, and most of all, the transforming influence in every area of my life. Help me to move back into the pure image of the Father, unadulterated by sin, or willfulness, or selfishness, or pride, or obtuseness, or unbelief, or a sense of inadequacy, or an unforgiving spirit. Help me to so focus on all the characteristics of my inheritance from the good Father that any other factors will be nullified and simply neither desired nor appropriated into my life.

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit is this possible – and I seek this power to be the power above all others in my life. I know now that this was the intent of both Father and Son from the beginning.

As the power of the Holy Spirit moves in every area of my life, each area is transformed, changed so as to be more recognizable as a characteristic of the Father. “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.” (John 14:7)

Through the power of the inheritance of the Spirit, through the power of the example of the Son who was the Father’s pure image, through the child’s desire to imitate their Father and the perfect Son – in fact, their determination to do so – does it become apparent to everyone that this child is the image of His Father. (The world says “spittin’ image” when a child looks as his earthly father loos. What is desired is that our spirit becomes the “spittin’ image” of the Father’s Spirit).”

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.

Humanly Possible vs. Divinely Possible

If we assume we already know what we need to – if our pride and our own will keep us turned to our own self instead of God, we limit what is possible in our lives to what is humanly possible.

Meditation Thought: “…all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:27)

The only source of all knowledge is God. Only through coming to God with a willing attitude to learn from Him can we have all that we need to know revealed to us. If we assume we already know what we need to – if our pride and our own will keep us turned to our own self instead of God, we limit what is possible in our lives to what is humanly possible.

But, if in our faith in our Father – rather than ourselves, we seek to learn from Him, we release what is divinely possible in our lives. This difference places our lives on a new plane, a new dimension, living according to “new rules”.

If we do not adapt to behaving in ways appropriate to the new knowledge, we do not realize nor release the power of that knowledge. If we continue to think in old habitual ways, act as if we are only human, and the only controlling force in our lives, then we are not heeding the Word, learning the lesson, giving God permission to reveal, to guide, to influence the course of our lives. We remain chained to the limitations of the world, rather than availing ourselves of the miracles of the Kingdom.

Perspective for Unity

You can unite opposing forces, if you will see from the Father’s perspective.

Meditation Thought: “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” (Mark 3:24)

Learn to move yourself into a different perspective when you realize you are opposing anything.

Focus on the Word, the Spirit, and move in accordance with these who work all things together for good

You can unite opposing forces, if you will see from the Father’s perspective. The Father’s kingdom is united by love; deflect any weapon wielded against you by the power of love. Wield no weapon, but carry the soothing ointment of love.

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.”

Love in the Silence

Realize how much more effective a demonstration is if it is not detracted from by too many words describing it.

Meditation Thought: “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” (Mark 1:44, italics added)

Do not dilute the effectiveness of the healing miracle within you by loose talk about it. Be aware: express the reality of it appropriately – in manners which bring the good news to others as an awakening of their perception to the Father’s call to them.

Give an ‘offering’ of yourself in thanksgiving, in prayer, in service to others, in sharing of your worldly goods.

Realize how much more effective a demonstration is if it is not detracted from by too many words describing it. You want to respect those watching by allowing them to discover knowledge concerning it. This will bring the point to them more effectively, and also more palliatively. They are far less likely to reject the demonstration as applicable to themselves if you do not try to force the issue.

And the process of allowing each to discover the meaning for themselves brings an order to the ministry of the Spirit which will be lacking if you press everyone by words to jump immediately into attempting to duplicate your demonstration.

Let your love speak for itself.
Let your joy speak for itself.
Let your faith speak for itself.
Let your peace speak for itself.

The Evolution of a Fish

That which you concentrate upon, you become similar to.

Meditation Thought: “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17)

Perceived as a message from Jesus:

“Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men. I follow the Father only – and if you follow Me, you follow the Father. That which you concentrate upon, you become similar to: this is the method by which you shall become an image of Me, an image of the Father. And this is the method by which those who follow you (caught in the net of your love and concern for them) will come to know the Son and the Father and the Spirit and the Truth.

By My Words I shall inspire you and instruct you, by My Presence I shall empower you, and by My Spirit I shall lead you. We have the net of love, we go the where the fish are, and we shall gather them into the net – yes, they shall die to themselves as fish – but their re-birth into the Kingdom is of a higher form: the form of the image of the Father as developed by the aid of the Son.

If I am the Head, and you are part of My Body, and I sit at the right hand of the Father, are you not also with the Father? Do you understand now that you have followed Me directly to the Father? Is it not better to be caught in the net than to escape the net? The net appears to cause the fish to lose freedom to go where it will, and so it does, but what appears to the fish – at first frightened by what is happening to it, (a change of environment, a change of form) – to be a disaster, becomes the life-changing experience that elevates it as a form so removed from a fish-form as to be totally transformed, re-formed, according the the preformed Pattern of the Father which is duplicated by the Son and the Son’s followers through the power of the Spirit uniting the Son and the followers.”