Category: journey

Willingly

Do you believe that you are commanded to worship Me because I seek to honored as men seek to be honored – for vain glory? Oh, no – I seek to be first in your life because as your father, I place your welfare first in My heart. I love you!

Meditation Thought: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” (Luke 4:8, quoting Deuteronomy 6:13)

“First things first. ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ Do you believe that you are commanded to worship Me because I seek to honored as men seek to be honored – for vain glory? Oh, no – I seek to be first in your life because as your father, I place your welfare first in My heart. I love you! I love you, spirit of My Spirit! And I seek your love that you may trust Me, heed Me and reap the benefits therefrom.

Who knows you better than I?
And who knows every child better than I?
Who knows what is Truth better than I?
Who knows the condition and circumstances of the world better than I?
And who knows how to bring all into peace, harmony, fulfillment better than I?

You know – but to hear Me you must tune out the clamor of other voices: Hear Me first, then can you judge which pleas to heed, and which to refute. You will be able to discern which will serve Me – and which will serve another.

Be strong in the strength of My might: by My Word shall My Spirit give you strength, wisdom, courage, and power.
To move mountains.
To feed the hungry.
To heal the sick.
To clothe the naked.
To take the good news to the poor.
To open the eyes of the blind.
To bring sinners to repentance.

Expressed in only one way: Love. Not with disappointment, judgment, condemnation, lectures. But with sharing love, sharing all that is good within you. Giving what is precious to you – that it may be multiplied back to you. Hoard no treasure; give it away that it may be enhanced and returned to you – to be given away again to be enhanced – ad infinitum.

The flowing river is the pure water, not the stagnant pool of collection. Build the temple of your life upon the Word of Truth, that it shall stand against the storms of strife. That the light from within shall dispel the darkness without. That all who come near may rejoice and be glad they took the path that brought them near to you, for in being near to you, can they find Me if you have built your temple to be My dwelling place.

I seek to dwell in hearts of unselfish love, of minds thinking upon the Word, of spirits seeking My Spirit.”

Suggested prayer: Father, please accept
my yielding of my will to you,
my yielding of my mind to you,
my yielding of my spirit to you,
my yielding of my body to you,
my yielding of my emotions to you,
my yielding of all I ‘posses’ to you:

I give them willingly, trustingly, joyfully, knowing that they shall but be enhanced by your possession of them. And as you return them to me, then shall I become the image of You. You place your mark upon them, that I may know, and others know, that I recognize You as having first place in my life.

I pray in Jesus’ name that I may understand precisely what this commitment means at every moment of my life. Amen.

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.

It’s not too Late to Learn

If you enter into the wonder of it, are willing to commit yourself to learning the nature of it, and cooperating with it, you will be changed inside and out.

Meditation Thought: “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)

If you understand the meaning of a word it is far different than the technicality of reading a word. The scriptures must be understood if they are to be alive and active as a force in your life. They can be understood only through:

  • becoming familiar with the words
  • learning the meaning of the words
  • incorporating these words into your vocabulary, enriching it by their frequent use
  • seeking all the uses for the words; they have various meanings for various placement in the context of other words, other situations.

To a child the word ‘truth’ may connotate only ‘not telling a lie’, but to an adult, ‘truth’ can be many things, and cover a wide area. Learn to understand scriptures as an adult, not a child. Study.

The power of God is not hidden from anyone but frequently it is never discerned. The only way to recognize it is to look for it, believe the evidence of it, and accept it as fact. Once you recognize it, it becomes easier to perceive other manifestations of it.

If you enter into the wonder of it, are willing to commit yourself to learning the nature of it, and cooperating with it, you will be changed inside and out.

Faith Over Fear

Nourish the thoughts which reflect the thoughts of the Master Teacher.

Meditation Thought: “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40)

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. (See Hebrews 11:1)

“Behavior modification” is possible in the realm of the spirit, as well as in the realm of the physical. Each time you are confronted with a decision, seek to act as if you have the faith of Jesus.

Jesus’ example of complete trust in his Father is the way, the truth, the life. Not for a moment did he waver in his belief that his Father would care for him; and for all, if all would believe.

Be careful which seeds you nourish in your garden. Many seed-thoughts will be cast into the field of your mind. Nourish the thoughts which reflect the thoughts of the Master Teacher, and reject those thoughts which are foreign to His teachings. In this manner, do you, modify your faith behavior, and in modifying your faith behavior, you modify your faith.

No longer does your faith waver, moving, according to the circumstances it encounters, but it is strong, sturdy, worthy of holding up whatever is cast upon it it. It’s strength lies, not in your conception of faith, but in Jesus‘ conception of faith.

Where is your faith? If it is embraced in the faith of Jesus, it is embraced by the love and power of the father. If it is anywhere else, it is non-existent, only word, not substance, not evidence.

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.”

Wells in the Desert

You will hardly be able to contain your energy…

Meditation Thought: “God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:7-8)

“Yes, I will provide water in the wilderness and streams in the desert to give drink to My chosen people. Heed My directions in leading you to the deep artesian wells I want you to uncover and release in a gushing of the Living Water to renew the parched earth of the resting places of My seeds – My people scattered, waiting – waiting to have their embryonic state burst open into full growth – into the inheritance I gave them which will come to be expressed in their own unique expression of Christ on earth in this time frame to bring glory to Me and the fruit of My seed.

You possess My “Divining Rod” to discover the hidden wells needed to release growth: I will teach you to use it if you will seek My wisdom and knowledge, in faith and trust – and act upon My instructions. Do not leave one well uncovered by being distracted, inattentive, allowing feelings to wrongly overwhelm you. Ask, and it shall be given you, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.

Take my Divine Rod in your hands, and let Me energize it at the places you are to dig: if you set your will on obeying, you will have the excitement and the joy of “bringing in a real gusher” time after time after time. You will make the desert bloom to your delight: the blossoms will delight your eyes, the fragrance will overpower you with glorious feelings of ‘heavenly aroma’, you will hardly be able to contain your energy as you realize that you are bringing beautiful life into that which appeared desolate as you allow Me to guide you from glory to glory.