Category: journey

The Father’s Kingdom Revealed

It would seem that upon His act of proving life beyond the flesh, He also revealed the “place” of His Father’s kingdom…

Meditation Thought: “I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:29)

The “next time” Jesus ate (and presumably drank) with His disciples was after His death and resurrection. This would indicate that He considered His “Father’s kingdom” where He and the disciples were eating together – which was in Galilee, which was in the world, where the disciples were – where Jesus had requested they meet Him.

It would seem that upon His act of proving life beyond the flesh, He also revealed the “place” of His Father’s kingdom: the place being wherever the resurrected Christ meets a believer. Or perhaps, more accurately, the place where a believer meets the resurrected Christ, as he proceeds according to directions given to him by Christ.

The directions for us are “spelled out” in His direction to His original disciples. His teachings concerning God and God’s kingdom were intended for all: this was His very purpose of birth and death and resurrection in the flesh.

As was true of the disciples, we can be with Him only by joining Him – and He is in the Father’s kingdom. This is where we shall find Him: not in a church building, nor in another’s faith – but in our own inner spirit and mind, with a contrite and searching heart. Only when we begin to grasp the awesomeness – and the power – of the resurrection can we have the courage and fortitude to find the kingdom where we can meet our Lord, and allow Him to teach us about our Father and our Father’s kingdom.

This kingdom is so unlike our physical environment that it takes adjustments in many areas to even begin to comprehend it. It is more like traveling to a new planet than a new country. Not only is there a difference of language (consider how many ways Jesus attempted to describe what the kingdom is like – there seemed to be no adequate words in our language to reveal it accurately) – but a difference of cultural values, of perception of priorities, and a totally new environment, requiring a different style of living in every area.

No wonder it takes us a long time to have even a remote conception of what we are encountering in this kingdom where we meet Him!

It is made even more difficult to stay with Him as the world attempts to get us to remain focused upon it, and remain concerned only with the physical and with the self-interest aspects of life. Only by conscious, consistent effort are we able to stay focused on Christ and thus remain in His Presence in the kingdom.

We simply do not have the stamina to do this alone: we must admit we do not have that much power within ourselves, and ask Him to hold us close, and lend us His strength to do all that we need to do as the Father’s children – obedient and reflective of Him in character and in deeds. This is the only way that it is possible to be with Jesus in the Father’s kingdom.

In one respect, it costs us dearly – our pride must be paid as ransom – but in another respect it is free – Jesus has paid the ransom for our sin of rebellion against the Father.

When we are able to be willing to pay the pride and to accept the gift, we have found the key to unlock the gate to the Father’s kingdom. April 26, 1983

Perception, Thoughts and Emotions

What is the key then to life enjoyed, appreciated and welcomed?

Meditation Thought: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

The thoughts of the mind, the emotions, are not seen yet these are the “substance” of life: it is these which determine the quality of life whether life is welcomed, appreciated and enjoyed – or whether it is a burden and despised.

It is our perception of life itself that determines our thoughts and emotions – but our thoughts and emotions determine our perception.

What is the key then to life enjoyed, appreciated and welcomed, if there is not a “starting point” – if we are already “in the middle” – caught up in a perception affecting thoughts and emotions – and caught up in thoughts and emotions affecting perception?

The key is an absolute outside ourselves: The Truth – the whole Truth of life. Though that absolute of whole truth exists with or without our perception  of it – it is in the perception of it that we interrupt the “merry-go-round” existence we have been living, and become “new creatures” moving on to find new vistas – this gives us a sense of discovery, a new hope, and at one and the same time our perception enhances our thoughts and our emotions, and they enhance our perception.

God constantly “stops the merry-go-round” to give us opportunity to get off – if we but notice; if we are not too preoccupied with our own entrenched position to perceive the change of pace. The “stopping” can come in an infinite variety of ways – anything which is designed to jolt us from our focus on ourselves and our immediate position is an opportunity to jump off the merry-go-round. It can be a thought proposed by another, a circumstance good or bad, an observance of beauty – or ugliness in nature or in action, or participation in a situation which brings out our best – or our worst – thus causing us to analyze it.

Jesus’ message was the most jolting stop of the merry-go-round of which so many were aware. To this day, the awareness of that stopping affecting those of His days on earth make us able to recognize the stopping for us in our day. For Jesus opened up the eyes of those who had become blind to God’s intent by going round and round on the inertia of the law instead of seeking to move on to finding new vistas beyond it.

Today the Holy Spirit which Jesus brought continues to jolt us, asking us to notice that there are places beyond our routine path, our circling path of sameness, which we coast under the the inertia of self and of entrenched habits of perception and thinking and emotions.

We may look “silly” to those who see us suddenly jump off the merry-go-round and run off into the unseen places beyond  – but if they are alert enough to wonder, rather than falling back to their own entrenched position, they too, one day, will jump off to discover what lies beyond.

There is only one way to find the courage to move beyond our “safe”, or at least “familiar” place: it is to call upon our faith enough to believe that there is One who cares, who cares for us wherever we go: that He would not encourage us to leave where we are if there were not better places for us to be.

Trust This Force of Love

God is pure love, and I am His. Hallelujah! I cannot have any basis for fear; I am the beloved of Pure Love!

It appears Mom’s journey is very near the end in this realm and will soon begin in the next. We visited with her last night. – it’s so difficult to see her in what appears to be a state of complete unawareness of everything and everyone around her. Then I grabbed one of her journals ‘at random’ (praying for God’s guidance as I was reaching) from my sister’s shelf this morning and it all makes so much more sense! This entry feels like a gift and a celebration – Mom describes who she is in Christ – and it has absolutely nothing to do with her disease! Oh Jesus! Thank you!

Meditation Thought: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

I am strengthened by God’s might in my inner spirit. Christ dwells in my heart through faith. I am rooted and grounded in love and have power to comprehend everything God desires me to understand – God is able to do far more abundantly than all that I ask or think. THEREFORE I SHALL NOT BE AFRAID. I SHALL NOT BE ASHAMED OF MYSELF. I will trust this Force of Love within me – through my faith and works of faith I can trust my Lord to see me through all the happenings on the Way for we walk together – no – we “shall mount up with wings like eagles, we shall run and not be weary, we shall walk and not faint.” We walk by faith – in Truth, not by sight of circumstances. God is pure love, and I am His. Hallelujah! I cannot have any basis for fear; I am the beloved of Pure Love!

Guideposts: God’s Will Revealed

We are shown clearly the guidepost we need now, where we are, and trust the other guideposts to stretch on into our future, whether we can see them clearly from this place or not.

A meditation image:

“I saw telephone poles going off into the distance. We see the close ones so clearly, and only as we travel on do the ones in the distance become clear to us – and then we see more in the distance that were not even visible at all initially.

It seems God’s meaning for our life is revealed in this manner – we are shown clearly the guidepost we need now, where we are, and trust the other guideposts to stretch on into our future, whether we can see them clearly from this place or not.”

A Tide, River, Iceberg and Prism

In our lives we cannot continually give treasures of ourselves without returning for periods of renewal to receive these treasures in order that we might share them.

Back in 1974, when Mom first started her journals, she had several ‘images’ in her prayer and meditation time that helped her see some of the ways God works in our lives:

Like a Tide: In our lives we cannot continually give treasures of ourselves without returning for periods of renewal to receive these treasures in order that we might share them. (Just as the tide goes out and collects shells, etc., then brings them to the shore.)

Like a River: Our lives alternate periods of a flurry of activity and periods of involvement in harassing situations, and if we will just flow along, accepting that as time moves on, we will come to a wide, shallow, peaceful place in the river of our lives, it all has perspective.

Like an Iceberg: The part of us that others see is only the part above the water. Underneath is what is supporting that above – and the stronger the underneath part, the more steady will be the top as it is buffeted by the wind (circumstances of our lives). The  lower part is strengthened through faith and obedience to God.

Like a Prism: As a prism focuses a beam of light into separate colors, so God sends His power through His believers (who act as the focusing prism) – using their prayers for others to send the solution for the particular need. In this concept it would seem logical that the more people praying for an individual the more ‘rays’ would be concentrated on the one in need, perhaps explaining the effectiveness of group prayer.

Glimpses of Heaven

Fret not that there are rocky paths and high mountains. I am here to help you move around them and over them. Do you understand that I traveled them first? I am an authentic, competent guide. Trust Me!

Meditation Thought: Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” Mark 14:38

“Watch. Be conscious of who you are and where you are and what you are doing. Be especially aware that you are not alone. I am with you. Fear not. Fret not. Regret not. Simply walk with Me, communing in harmony, moving constantly toward a more perfect relationship and a more perfect understanding of what is taking place and My guidance in that situation.

Remember our past walks together – many roads frightened you – but it was these roads which let us commune in a more vital and closer way. So it shall be again. This road is difficult for you to travel – but you are not travelling alone, nor are you travelling without a perfect destination for you and I to travel to and revel in at the end of the journey.

You are fascinated that you experience more than the physical qualities of life. You love “coincidences” that bring joy to you or to someone else. Do not forget your inspirational moments and the results of them. These moments are not the only moments you are to experience. Trials are a part of life on earth – but trials are also a way of moving closer to heaven – not simply heaven after death of the body, but glimpses of heaven while you are on earth.

TRUST: It is a pattern of life that the one who needs knowledge must seek it to find it. You are on the Way; fret not that there are rocky paths and high mountains. I am here to help you move around them and over them. Do you understand that I traveled them first? I am an authentic, competent guide. Trust Me!

 

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