Category: Encourage

Education for All

If you are conscious that at all times you are being taught, and that the school is tailored to your particular needs of the moment, you can have peace and confidence.

Meditation Thought: “I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me.” (John 8:28)

This moment is the classroom. This circumstance is the curriculum. The Word is the textbook. My Spirit is the Instructor.

You are in a school which is not limited, but teaches all subjects, and will keep you as a student that you may ever learn and grow in wisdom and knowledge in understanding and especially in the perception of the spiritual dimension and its relationship to all other dimensions.

Your faith is the tuition you pay, your will is the transportation to the school.

If you are conscious that at all times you are being taught, and that the school is tailored to your particular needs of the moment, you can have peace and confidence.

Think of your Teacher as using three methods of helping you:
– The Father-Method imparts knowledge by revelation,
– the Jesus-Method imparts knowledge by example,
– the Holy Spirit-Method imparts knowledge by taking you and guiding you personally – as a teacher might put a hand over a student’s hand to guide it in the task.

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.

Think Lovely

To think on that which is lovely is to produce that which is lovely.

Meditation Thought: “Whatsoever things are lovely… think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

The seen reflects the unseen. The body reflects the mind. Actions reflect the will. You can control your will: will to reflect the image of God to the best of your ability at any given moment. The most effective way of perceiving God’s images in order that you may reflect them is to observe the evidence of Himself in the world: that which is lovely – ‘love-ly’, pertaining to love; not just beautiful in an aesthetic way, but reflecting the qualities of love: willing to think of others before self, considerate, orderly and not chaotic, effective in adapting to other’s personalities and needs.

To think on that which is lovely is to produce that which is lovely: both in that which is observed and in the observer.

Do not concentrate on a flaw in either another person, an object, or yourself – concentrate on all that is pleasing according to God’s definition of pleasing; this definition is clear as revealed by Christ. Delight in the Lord and all created by Him, and the qualities of His nature revealed in the Word and in the Man! This is to ‘think on lovely things’!

No Anxiety

…the key to releasing faith that works, converting it from passive faith of possibility into active faith of moving mountains. 

Meditation Thought: “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

If you already have everything you desire, how can you need to seek? To ask? To question? To move on? Life is movement; death is still.

It is good to need to request, for in the process the relationship is strengthened. Always – in heaven and on earth – appreciation is heart-warming, and creates an atmosphere of acceptance on both sides.

When we can turn in prayer for everything in our lives, confident that our prayers are heard and answered, then we are not anxious, but thankful. We are able to be thankful before our petition is granted.

The appreciation for what we already have, and the confidence that our Father desires good to continue and increase in our lives by His power and grace, is the key to releasing faith that works, converting it from passive faith of possibility into active faith of moving mountains.

Delightful Freedom

Oh, the excitement of knowing we are loved and cherished.

Meditation Thought: “Rejoice in the Lord.” (Philippians 3:1)

To rejoice in the Lord is to think about the Lord, thank the Lord for blessings, trust the Lord to protect, guide and be with us. The concentration of our joy on the relationship with our Lord is to release joy in every other area: for ourselves, for all whose lives we touch, for the Lord also.

Oh, the excitement of knowing we are loved, we are cherished, not for our position or what we do, but because we are spirit of God’s Spirit.

We must move from the position under the law of forcing ourselves to do right out of fear, to the position under grace of accepting our freely-given love and forgiveness and then in delightful freedom from sin’s burden and recognition of love’s beauty, rush in eager anticipation to do right. Thus doing right moves from a resented, “poor me but I’d better do it anyway” attitude to “I’m so lucky to have the privilege of doing right because it’s such fun and the results are fantastic – for me, and for others too!”

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.

Big Brother

…my big brother Jesus would know what to do in this situation. Let me check with Him and I know then I’ll be taking the right action.

Meditation Thought: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:50)

“I’m a relative of Jesus” – what a statement to be able to make! Of all the name-dropping, that has to be the ultimate statement. And, yet it is true – as we, through faith in Jesus as Savior, accept our Father as our guide, our Creator, our loving, indulgent parent, and we obey Him as such, we are born into His Kingdom and His family just as surely as we are physically born into this world. And His Son is surely part of His family!

Maybe we should think more in terms of making decisions, going through a process such as saying to ourselves: “Well, now, my big brother Jesus would know what to do in this situation. Let me check with Him and I know then I’ll be taking the right action.”

The heavens rejoice at the expansion and maturing of the family of God. It is enough to know that this is so; we do not need to know why it is so. We rejoice because our Father rejoices as He delights in our obedience. Our delight and joy become contagious to one another; we want to continue this happy time, this happy relationship. There is only one way to do  it – we must do as our Father requests – in a manner of trust, pleasure, reliance and eagerness, as well as performing as competently as we are able.

Voice in the Din

There is so much joy and peace and pleasure and excitement and fulfillment to be distributed.

Meditation Thought: “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.” (Matthew 10:27)

“I would whisper to all if they could but hear me above the din of the world – but all cannot hear, for they do not yet know to listen for a voice apart from the din. I need you to work within the din, to get attention so that you can then attune others’ ears to my voice.

Be sure you listen carefully to My voice, heeding my instructions, before you call attention to yourself, that you might be using the most effective manner of both getting attention and then re-focusing that attention to Me. There is so much joy and peace and pleasure and excitement and fulfillment to be distributed – I want to blanket the world with it, but I cannot force it, or the pressure will smother instead of provide comfort.

People must reach out for the “comforter” – My Kingdom – but you can call their attention to the gift being available for their asking. Start to automatically work in each relationship, no matter how casual the encounter, to fulfill that aim. Relax, smile, enjoy the gift that you posses, and I will guide you each moment to speak and act appropriately to the heart of everyone you meet.”

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.”