Category: grace

Choose Now; Choose Wisely

You can choose now; you can choose at other ‘nows’ – but a time will come when you recognize that the time of choosing is in the past.

Meditation Thought: ““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” (Matthew 24:42)

Your Lord is here. Believe this, be conscious of this, act according to this. Your Lord is with you at every moment your faith believes He is with you. One day the Lord will be seen by means other than faith, and all will know that He is Lord and He is with them.

The Presence of the Lord is instantaneous as your will and your mind desire His presence. It is similar to your call to a loved one in another room – you call, they come. They were not far away, but were waiting to come to you until you called. They did not intrude, but came when our desire for them was made known.

The righteous rejoice in the Presence of the Lord, but the foolish and unrighteous fear His Presence. Nevertheless, at some time, at some place, all see the glory of the Lord and rejoice or tremble. You can choose now; you can choose at other ‘nows’ – but a time will come when you recognize that the time of choosing is in the past, and the present is your time of judgment. You do not know at what moment choosing has yielded to judgment: prepare for this eventuality by presuming that this moment is the “judgment moment”.

(See also Hope)

The Definition of Peace

Many are willing to do some things My way – but few are willing to do all things My way.

Meditation Thought: ““For many are called, but few are chosen.” (Matthew 22:14)

“Do it My way! If you seek to have Me be your sure guide, your loving host, your caring companion, your power in the journey of your life in human form – do it My way! Not the world’s way or your way – but My way: the way of the Word, the way of righteousness, the way of love, the way of forgiveness, the way of giving, giving, giving – and then giving more.

So few are chosen because so few choose My way totally. Many are willing to do some things My way – but few are willing to do all things My way. Only one tiny flaw in the whole can ruin the whole: this is why you must not pick and choose areas to do it My way or your way, but in every area do it My way.

My peace I give to you when you yield your will to mine.

My love I give to you freely.

My grace I give to you freely.

My blessing I give to you freely.

But My peace I give to you only as you yield your will to Mine, as you seek My forgiveness for the unyielded parts. For My Spirit within you must be at one with your spirit to bring harmony with Me – and harmony with Me is the definition of pease.”

Your Purpose

My kingdom is not based on waste, but on harvest.

Meditation Thought: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21:43)

“‘Use it or lose it’: My kingdom is not based on waste, but on harvest. It is given, that it may be added to, passed on, shared. What you receive, you are to appreciate, cultivate and share. If you do not appreciate your gift enough to seek the purpose of it, it will be taken from you and given to one who will appreciate it and fulfill its purpose.

Heed My Word! I speak to you as a citizen of My kingdom and as a citizen of the United States. My creative and supportive powers are available to you and to all who believe in Me. Come, be loyal to Me, as I am loyal to you. Be gracious to Me, as I am gracious to you. Give me your power, as I give you My power. Give Me your love as I give you My love.

We shall weave ourselves together, making a tapestry to beautify the world, to give warmth where it is cold, to inspire and to teach truth. Trust Me, obey Me, and you shall rejoice with Me.”

Mercy’s Boomerang

Mercy is the reflection of My grace; how you need My grace! How others need your mercy!

Meditation Thought: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)

“Boomerang”: As you think, as you act, remember the boomerang you are sending will return to you! All of My Word reinforces this concept: many words are used to teach this one truth, for it is the key to the laws of the Kingdom. Be merciful – despite your feelings of: hurt, chagrin, anger, betrayal, withdrawal. Every time you overcome your feelings which would decry mercy, you move along the path deeper into My Kingdom. The closer you are within the center of My Kingdom, the more protection you have from all that would harm you in the world.

Mercy is the reflection of My grace; how you need My grace! How others need your mercy! Overcome evil with good through mercy. Reflect upon the vast quantity of words devoted to the results of mercy – or the results of withholding mercy – in My Word which is to be your guide through life.

Mercy is the concrete evidence of My will worked in the world: Mercy is the opposite of devotion to self. “Mercy is the sign of devotion to Me.”

Patterns Changed

To be treated kindly when one has not been kind is to prick the conscience, rethink the situation, and change the pattern of behavior.

Meditation Thought: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,” (Proverbs 25:21)

To be treated kindly when one has not been kind is to prick the conscience, rethink the situation, and change the pattern of behavior. Thus it is wiser and more productive to be kind to enemies – and since this behavior is also pleasing to God, it reaps additional reward from heaven. Thus to not give in to ill feelings is to receive far more satisfaction than venting anger. But the character must be built to have strength to do this – the mind must rule the emotions, and the Spirit of God must rule the mind if this type of behavior is to be exhibited, for it is human nature to cause harm to our enemies and to attempt to defeat them. Jesus was a master at living out the examples of feeding and giving drinks to enemies – and His consistency in doing so won over many – even some of those who had caused his death were won over after his resurrection, as the became converted through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

We may not be as successful as Jesus in consistently feeding and giving drinks to our enemies – but if we really try to do this, we will have some success – and that is enough to change at least some peoples and some situations for the better. If we can each have even moderate success in this God-character being revealed instead of human-character, the world will be far more pleasing – to God and to us.

New Beginning

A new beginning! Oh, how we rejoice!

Meditation Thought: “Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ” (Luke 24:45-47)

A new beginning! Oh, how we rejoice whenever a new understanding has made us long to undo what our old understanding has wrought, and then the opportunity is presented to negate the old results, and start fresh with the new understanding!

Christ has brought us a new beginning. But we must first negate all of the wrong attitudes and actions and results that permeated our life before the revelation of Christ to us that we can start over. We rectify what we can, and ask forgiveness for the rest. And that is the end of it. We can accept the past as no longer being a millstone around our neck because Jesus removed it the moment we sincerely requested Him to do so.

We are as born again: we can have the innocence and enthusiasm and energy of children combined with the wisdom of our loving God working in our lives. The results should be miracles!

Why do we restrict God’s work by refusing to believe the good news? We hinder God by our stubborn clinging to the “oughts and shoulds” that other interpreters of the Word and the Spirit have either imposed upon us or we have sought out of laziness in learning for ourselves who God is, and what He wants to do in and through our life.

The only way to know who god is and what He wants to do in each person is to personally so search His Word and seek His Spirit that we receive His particular words and suggestions intended exclusively for us.

Fellowship is good and needed, shared information is good and needed – but the only way a child can have close companionship and understanding with his parent is to come to spend time and to converse honestly and deep from the heart with the parent. No matter what his brothers or sisters tell him about their parent, it is not going to bring them into intimate fellowship. It takes personal contact, with mutual communication to accomplish this.

Inherited Character Traits

Character is an expression of the attitude of the mind and the spirit – and that attitude exists for every aspect of life.

Meditation Thought: ““Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)

Your character is made of a solid piece: no matter what circumstances penetrate it, the consistency is the same. It is either love – or selfish, honest or dishonest, giving or taking, thoughtful or unkind, perceptive or obtuse. But the fact that it is of a consistency does not indicate that the consistency is unchangeable.

The enlightenment by the Spirit, the teaching by the Word, the response to the Father’s proffered love, all can totally change the character.

And this is the significance of Jesus’ walk upon the earth: the living Example of the perfect character. The perfect character is available to anyone who seeks it: who is willing to die to self and live in Christ. The two become homogeneous – the Christ character replaces the believer’s character, yet each spirit and personality remains unique in expressing Christ’s character.

As parents’ traits are reflected in their children in a common manner – and yet each child remains unique, so each believer reflects the Father’s traits through the inheritance passed from Father to Jesus to believer. The difference is that physical traits are passed along by genes, and spiritual traits are passed along by the spirit. Only when we recognize that we are both physical and spiritual, can we have the traits of the Spirit of God passed along into our spirit fully: it takes our cooperation to express the spiritual genes to any great degree, whereas physical traits are more evident without our consciousness of them.

Character is an expression of the attitude of the mind and the spirit – and that attitude exists for every aspect of life, whether it is of great influence or of little consequence.

Therefore, if we are to become fully expressive as children of God, we must seek to reflect the Father’s attitude toward all of life.

Only through the mind of Christ and the Spirit of Christ being infused into our mind and spirit is it possible to reflect the Father’s attitude, and thus express in our character His character.

The Best Gift Ever!

You need only ask…

Meditation Thought: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)

You delight in giving your children what you can, but your heavenly Father is able to give a gift ranking above all other gifts: the gift of His love and power actually transferred to be implanted within His beloved children. You need only ask and you will receive.

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.”