Category: journey

The Baton is Passed

What trust They have in me!

Meditation Thought: “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High… will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” (Psalm 91:1-2)
“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him…” (Psalm 91:14)
“ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)

The commitment of four personalities is involved in the fulfilling of the Father’s promise to His children:
– I must choose to dwell in the Father’s home which He makes available to me (the kingdom) and to hold fast to Him in love.
– The Father must act as my deliverer and
– The Son as the Father’s message-bearer and instrument by which the Father acts to deliver me from harm,
– The Spirit comes to me in order that I may ‘be in the right place at the right time’, and respond properly to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as they act.

I must also have prepared myself through knowledge of scripture in order that I may perceive accurately just what is taking place. If any of us fail to act responsibly, the process breaks down and the desired result of the Father’s promise to me is not fulfilled.

There is no doubt that there is only one place where the breakdown could occur – that is in myself, for I am the ‘variable’, the one who can choose to accept or reject the Father’s, Son and Holy Spirit’s actions, who can determine the fulfillment of the promise by either taking up the ‘baton’ which They hand over to me for my completion of the ‘race’, or by refusing to accept the baton, or dropping it or refusing to run, I can lose the race for all of us.

What trust They have in me! Can I really disappoint such marvelous Friends? – not friends – Family? Not if I am aware of Who They are in character, and what They desire to do for me through my completion of the race.

Prayer: Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit – thank you for already doing so much of the preliminary preparation for the completion of the race – and then giving me all possible support as I do my own part.

Enable me to have courage strength and fortitude that I may not fail You nor myself. In Jesus Precious Name, and in gratitude for the Father’s love, the Son’s shed blood, the Spirit’s sweet, soft touch, I pray. Amen.

Challenging & Fulfilling

When God’s favor is upon us, what joy this brings!

Meditation Thought:
“Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.
 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.
 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!”
(Psalm 90:15-17)

“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us – and establish the work of our hands”: the two could be reversed – for if God establishes our work, then His favor shall be upon us as we do His will. And when God’s favor is upon us, what joy this brings! It’s the kind of joy Paul had – knowing he was doing work established by God, and knowing God was pleased by his work, he could observe, despite terrible persecutions and difficulties, the fruits of his labor. He knew he was not running in vain. His work was challenging – but fulfilling.

Many times he was tired, discouraged, disappointed and in pain physically and in spirit. But he persevered in doing God’s work. And he developed a spirit, an attitude, an outlook, that could claim “whatever state I am in I rejoice.”

The Success Factor

Only through a will totally yielded to the Father’s will is it possible to spark the power that explodes love of such magnitude that it lights up the world, and brings the power of the Spirit to transform the world into the kingdom.

Meditation Thought: ““Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

“I tried to teach ‘them’ – to enlighten them – to love them into an awareness of the life of the Spirit, the love of God, the power of God – the longing of God to have them know Him and love Him. But they would not understand. Their hearts were hardened, their minds set, their emotions set loose in rage more appropriate for animals than for men.

Do not condemn them. The very behavior they exhibited is the reason that I came to dwell in flesh, that the opportunity to know Truth might be given. And many did open up their minds, and give their love, to the ultimate commitment – totally loyal, willing to sacrifice themselves for Me and for My Father.

You know that you have not understood, you have had a hardened heart, a stubborn mind-set, and rage loosed in inappropriate ways. It is only by grace, by prayers of others for you, and by examples set before you, and the Father’s many works in your life that you have sought, and found, Truth. Truly you could say of those who condemned Me, ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’

Therefore do not criticize nor condemn those who now reject My teaching. Follow My Way: Love, heal, do not fight back nor argue your case. Your strength and power to live the Life lies not in your human abilities, but in your faith in My Teaching, and your obedience to its wisdom.

Your hope does not lie in circumstances, but in the Truth which has been revealed to you.

The very act that brought despair and sorrow to My followers so long ago was also the act that brought transformation to them, and through them, to millions through the ages. It brought the kingdom upon the earth wherever a faithful heart believed that it did, and today that very same transformation takes place.

To believe that what I taught, and what I lived, and how I died is the transforming power of God made available to His beloved children is still difficult, as it was difficult during My sojourn on earth.

Yet Truth shall prevail as the Father’s will shall prevail. Would you choose to be with God – or rebel against God? To insure that you do not reject the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, you must adhere to the Way, live the Life, and seek the Truth.

You know how to do these through the wisdom and knowledge of the Word, through revelation from prayer, and through actions based upon unselfish love. Yet none of these are possible to be real in your life unless you yield your will to the Father’s will – this is the discipline which is the ‘success factor’. This is the key to the reality of the kingdom overcoming the world. This is the transforming catalyst, or the conduit which brings the Living Water into the desert and brings new forms of life out of seeming death. This is the lesson and the example and the help which I made clear to all who would believe when I allowed Myself to be placed upon a cross. I suffered for you – willingly, yes – but not of my own initiative. It was our Father who requested it of Me, out of love for you. And I gave myself over to His will out of love for Him. At that moment, His love for you became My love for you, and the glory of love was released in fulness that is beyond human understanding.

Only through a will totally yielded to the Father’s will is it possible to spark the power that explodes love of such magnitude that it lights up the world, and brings the power of the Spirit to transform the world into the kingdom.

All the words in all the languages ever spoken cannot describe this miracle, cannot explain it, nor bring understanding of it. The only way to comprehend the miracle, and to experience it, is to become the fuel (self-will consumed by eternal will) that is lit by the Energy of the Spirit.

At first there is pain as the fuel is converted from one from to another: however once the combination of Spiritual Energy and a yielded will have united and exploded, the new form of being a part of a glorious Whole which is lighting and transforming vast areas is pure joy to the personal spirit. It is this action which I demonstrated, and whoever seeks to duplicate the experiment shall have the same results. Many who followed Me through the ages have confirmed this, and even the world who will only observe and not experiment, recognized these people and one day term them ‘saints’. But that day comes long after the world has done its best to impede the very experiment it observed, and would not accept as proper and right to do.

When you waver and want to stop being an experimenter and join the skeptical world – remember the impact of a Peter or a Paul, who, though weak and frail, doubtful and full of fear, did as I bid, not understanding – only trusting – and their faith was justified. The Holy Spirit’s power did light the spark from the fuel of their yielded will, and the light and transforming love is still exploding, still transforming the world into the kingdom.

What will the impact be if all of the Father’s children yield to His loving will? Do your best, as did Peter and Paul, who followed Me – I who followed the Father’s requests to the ultimate sacrifice of self-will – to use your circumstances, and your personality, your energy and your power of choice to be the most efficient and the most transforming energy engendered on earth.”

Pace-Setter

The transforming grace of Love changes every thought, every word, every deed.

Meditation Thought: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Message perceived to be from Jesus:

“If you are willing to follow Me, I will take you with Myself – holding your hand when necessary, doing all that you need to be done and cannot do for yourself along our journey.

To walk in the darkness of mere physical life is discouraging to you – and limits your potential. If you will follow Me, I will light your path, revealing many things to you which will be opportunities to use your talents, fulfill your dreams, and bring joy to many. Is this not what I did on earth? I suffered but I was a dynamic force and I knew the joy of obedience to My Father. I knew the joy of healing the sick, giving hope to those in despair, and setting the pace for all who would run the race of life – if they would follow Me, they would develop in similar character, in similar works.

Many desire to make a mark upon the world – but unless it is I whom they follow, that the Way may be that leading to the Father, the impact will be satisfying to neither that person nor to the world – certainly not to the Father.

But the Way is not easy, for self must be subdued – at first a difficult sacrifice – but when self has been crucified, then is the Holy Spirit raised up off that cross crucifixion, and the new creature is formed in the old body, and old mind and old spirit: the transforming grace of Love changes every thought, every word, every deed.

It is I who will give you the courage and the strength to crucify self that the new creature may emerge.

My bodily crucifixion ‘set the pace’ for the crucifixion of self-will and the sinning involved with it. But My crucifixion did more than ‘set the pace’ for those who follow in the race. I return from My running of the course of physical life to be the Light for all who run, and who desire Me to accompany them. My Light, as does the sun, provides warmth needed for growth, and energy needed for movement as well as visibility of Truth, that all things may come together for good: that the race may go, not to the swift, but to the enlightened.”

Temples of Truth

Free from fear, from ignorance, from prejudice, from illusion.

Meditation Thought: “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’ ” (Luke 19:41-44)

Do not be confused by the strange and unfamiliar – but, in confidence of the Love which lives in you through faith, follow the opportunities opened to you. Do not be rigid in your thinking or perceiving – be rigid only in your faith, keeping it steady by day and by night – by rest and by seige.

To have a rigid faith is to provide the foundation on which to build the Truth. And Temples of Truth are the place where God dwells, and where God dwells, there no enemy shall overcome.

If you base your life – every facet of your life – upon this knowledge, upon this wisdom, then you shall be free: you shall be free from fear, from ignorance, from prejudice, from illusion. Being freed of these inhibiting ‘enemies’, you shall be fulfilled as you energetically build the kingdom – that the ‘city’ where you dwell may be more beautiful, not destroyed. The place where God dwells is impregnable from all forces which would destroy – and if you welcome God into your heart and your will and your mind and your body and your situations, He will dwell with you and you will dwell with Him in the kingdom: It becomes more lovely with every obedient response to God’s soft request. His hopeful longing that you will understand and obey, in trust, in faith, in love.

Map to the Kingdom

It was – and is – confusing to understand the directions to a ‘place’ which is not physical, but must be reached through prayer, thought and faith, and through actions which reflect the wisdom and knowledge gained through them.

Meditation Thought: “…the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” (Luke 17:21)

Perhaps Jesus meant by this remark that the kingdom of God is wherever Jesus is – wherever He has awakened a mind and a heart to who the Father is. Wherever the faith exists which is of the quality of Jesus’ faith, wherever a mind and will are seeking and set upon the Father’s will, wherever a heart reaches out in love, wherever desires are sacrificed to please another, wherever there is a forgiving attitude, patience and understanding, wherever love abounds – there is the kingdom.

The kingdom is ‘found’ as soon as it is perceived as Jesus perceived it. He used many forms to teach the Way in which it could be found: His thinking, His praying, His choice of activities and choice of companions, His parables and admonitions, His attitude – His behavior in every way was for the purpose of revealing the location of the kingdom.

It was – and is – confusing to understand the directions to a ‘place’ which is not physical, but must be reached through prayer, thought and faith, and through actions which reflect the wisdom and knowledge gained through them. We are forced to deal with our physical environment and our physical nature. We are requested to deal with our spiritual nature and spiritual truths: this is the nature of the relationship with our spiritual Father: we can choose to acknowledge the relationship and to strengthen it – which brings Him joy, and brings us joy too. Or we can ‘block out’ the spiritual part of our being, rejecting our relationship with our Father. This doesn’t change the fact that we are related – but it does rob both of us of the joy of the relationship.

It is the strengthening of our relationship with the Father that was and is Jesus’ mission, and His position is Revealer of Truth, sure guide along the Way, and the Light of the kingdom shining from within, wherever He is embraced as Savior and Lord.

Maximize the Benefits

To know that I am helpless is not to know I’m hopeless – quite the opposite.

Meditation Thought: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

I have been chosen to saved (what care!) – through sanctification by the Spirit (how wise – I couldn’t do it on my own!) – providing I have sense enough (my free choice!) to believe the truth when it is presented to me.

‘You are no longer a baby, dependent upon your elders, you are a thinking adult with experiences and opportunities and choices. Every moment your intelligence, your conscience and your spiritual antennae guide you – unless you foolishly relinquish them to be replaced by your whims of feeling and influence of others.

You know what will serve you well in the long-term analysis, in the eternal perspective. Be imaginative in bolstering your strength to cling to your intelligence, conscience and spiritual antennae and to reject your ever-changing feelings and advice from who may have their own best interests in mind rather than yours.

There is maximum benefit to be derived from every situation, and to be aware of this and to learn how to take advantage of this knowledge is the applying of the keys to the locks on the kingdom’s doors.

The confusion lies in recognizing the difference between earthly benefits – that which are temporary – and heavenly benefits – those which are eternal. Decisions can be made to maximize the eternal benefits when there are specific principles which can be confidently applied to measure alternatives. In addition to the principles clearly outlined in the Word, and demonstrated by the Life, there is the Way revealed when the Truth is perceived by the revelation of the enlightening indwelling Spirit.

Each person will be confronted with unique choices: yet the purpose is one – to develop spirits which are reflections of the Spirit, to develop minds which function as the mind of Christ, to develop attitudes which are identical as an inheritance from the loving Father, and to develop the ability to do as well as the accomplishment of “greater works”.

To know that I am helpless is not to know I’m hopeless – quite the opposite. It is when I am most helpless that hope is born and grows. It is in the climate and condition of my recognition of my weakness that the seed of God’s power and love and mercy can grow and thrive – and my hope sprouts and grows with His seed’s growth – for my hope is a branch of His vine. Without His Presence, I am something less than I should be – but when my helplessness breaks my own self will, and I yield to His will, then my hope comes alive as His Presence is welcomed and His power and love and mercy spring forth.”

Aided Hearing

When I remember that God can work good out of what I perceive as bad, I can persevere more easily.

Meditation Thought: “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!'” (Luke 9:35)

When I ‘listen to Jesus’, how does it affect my life?

  • I am more aware of the joy of being alive, more enthusiastic about living in a fascinating, constantly changing world.
  • My angst is diminished.
  • I can cope more easily with the ‘bad times’ – the disappointments, the sadness of making errors – especially if they adversely affect other people.
  • When I remember that God can work good out of what I perceive as bad, I can persevere more easily.
  • Although disappointment is difficult, knowing that God created us to bond with us as we bond with our loved ones helps to east the angst.

So, my Creator, my Teacher, my Helper, I pray for You to guide me on the path You desire for me to take. Help me to perceive what I am to do to accomplish Your will. I know You desire good for me, as I desire good for my beloved family – and You have the right, and the ability, to guide me as You desire. Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.

Learning by Experience

Only by taking time to reflect upon what has taken place can we assess the results and decide which actions were wise .

Meditation Thought: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3)

There is an order to life that exists commonly to every area. First comes the light of the dawn, then the opportunity to do the day’s work, then comes the evening – the time of reflection upon the results, and preparation of mind for the next day of activity.

Only by taking time to reflect upon what has taken place can we assess the results and decide which actions were wise and which should be altered to produce better results.

As in every area, we learn by experience, so it is in spiritual matters. We begin by becoming familiar with His commandments and seeking to direct our thoughts and actions to be of a similar nature. This is our part – but we do not control all that is involved. We must realize this, and acknowledge that we must be enveloped in the Father’s will so completely that there is no longer a visible “our will” and the “Father’s will”, but there is only one will – homogeneous, composed of two wills, but so thoroughly blended together as to function and appear as one will. It is this exhibition of a “one-will” life that is “keeping His commandments”, and that is our assurance that “we know Him”.

There is a vast difference in the knowledge that a certain person is our father – and the experience of our father’s love being poured out into our life, touching us and changing us, delighting us, fulfilling us, protecting us and teaching us.

The knowledge is moved into experience when we accept what our father longs for us to receive, and offers hopefully: His love, devotion, wisdom, and constant laboring for our well-being.

Only when we realize that these are the basis for His “commandments” do we come into enough understanding to change our attitude into one of joyful obedience. We have come to know that our father’s will is not for his benefit, but for ours. How could we but desire what he desires when we are the recipients of good?

Dual Perception

The person need not copy carry a label “made in the image of God” to identify the quality of workmanship: their thoughts, words, deeds and prayers will all reveal the Source of the quality – the high quality of their life.

Meditation Thought: “But if we walk in the light, as he [the Father] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

We “walk in the light” when we commit ourselves to seeking God – to loving Him – to becoming like Him. This is the invisible, spiritual aspect of “walking in the light”. But we are also physical creatures in a physical world. It is in the physical realm that Jesus, through His own physical being and actions that He took while in the body, that we can realize the miracle of cleansing our past, as we desire to do so, having become aware of God and committing ourselves to His way.

It is the dual aspect of our very beings – spiritual and physical – that requires dual perception, dedication and behavior in order to become creatures walking in the light. Our spirits can long to walk in the light, yet the actions of our body keep us from that light. And strange as it may seem, our body taking right actions does not insure our walking in the light: good deeds are helpful, and appreciated by the recipients – but unless the powerful love of the Holy Spirit is involved, they are limited in quantity and quality, and are not the beautiful, whole miracles of the light-enlightened and light-filled child of God.

Only when both one’s spirit and body are dedicated to walking in the light does the evidence shine forth that this person truly is fulfilling the promise declared in the Word. The person need not copy carry a label “made in the image of God” to identify the quality of workmanship: their thoughts, words, deeds and prayers will all reveal the Source of the quality – the high quality of their life.