Category: Love

Fearless!

Who is this One who is so imaginative, creative, powerful, intelligent, loving, forgiving?

Meditation Thought: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me
    and delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4)

He answered me – because He loves me. He removed my fears – because He loves me! And He allows stress to come into my life – because He loves me. It is through stress that I seek Him. When I seek Him, then He answers – giving me guidance, stretching my perceptions, opening up new vistas and possibilities. And He proves His power – and grace.

His wisdom confounds both the faithful and the skeptical. His love overwhelms the expectant – and those who have never sought Him. Finding love, they seek to learn of whence it comes; how to keep it real and plentiful – who is this One who is so imaginative, creative, powerful, intelligent, loving, forgiving? He is our Source – yet we are part of Him as soon as we know we are His. We are inseparable. The Father lives in the child and the child lives in the Father. Joy! When we know the character of our Father, we know we have the hope of becoming more similar in character as we become willing for Him to teach us!… Teach me Lord!

Where is God?

The key to experience abundant life – now and forever.

Meditation Thought: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Luke 10:27)

If you do love the Lord your God with every part of your being, you will love your neighbor as yourself – for God is love in every one of His creations, and when you love God you love Him everywhere He is located!

This statement of Jesus’ is not only the key to inherit eternal life – it is the key to experience abundant life – now and forever.

Proven Cleansing Agent

A firm foundation in a chaotic world.

Meditation Thought: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The Word still becomes “flesh and dwells among us” – through the power of the Spirit in our flesh. When our will is yielded to the Spirit within us, then does the Word become flesh even now and “unto the end of the age”.

This is the glory and power of God: to mesh spirit and flesh, as needed to do His will – which is to reconcile the world to Himself – by inspiration not imposition. This is the majesty of the Father’s power: that He is able, in each heart, to provide opportunity after opportunity, patiently waiting for recognition of Truth do dawn – that He is a loving Father desiring His beloved child to see Him clearly for who He is, and who He is to be to them: the source of every good thing, the “firm foundation” in a chaotic world, “a very present help in times of trouble”.

It is this love that is the cleansing agent which removes the grime of sin and guilt which keeps the windows of the soul from seeing God and thus being freed from our prison of self.

Kingdom at Hand

…unfettered love, understanding, compassion, wisdom, purity, righteousness, joy and hope.

Meditation Thought: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

The time of growing, of labor, and birth is over! That which was longed for is here: God upon earth!!! God in each one upon earth, but when recognized as being present, then does a new birth occur: a birth of unfettered love, understanding, compassion, wisdom, purity, righteousness, joy and hope.

To know that God is within us – a part of every part of us, is to transform our thinking, our actions, our emotions, and our reactions.

No longer do we believe when we are ‘attacked’ that the ‘best defense is a good offense’ – but that the best defense (the one that will benefit both ourselves and our ‘attacker’) is to love him who seeks to distress us: to love him in ways pleasing to him (fulfilling his needs, in pure, righteous manners. of course).

As long as we have in our minds a concept of ‘defense and offense’ we are continuing a battle and coping with an enemy. When we are thinking in terms of loving our attacker we have already won the battle – and so has he. Enemies no longer – but friends, seeking to use energies formerly to hurt each other now to help each other. The kingdom is at hand!

Look! The Kingdom of God!

The Kingdom is here, in the midst of you – inside of you.

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

Behold: Look. Notice. Observe! The Kingdom is here, in the midst of you – inside of you. The Kingdom is not outside of you and outside of others and near all of you – it is within each, and it is as a magnetic force drawing all together. As the parts of the Body of Christ are more closely brought to one another, so are they able to more capably affect healing and superb performance in one another.

Never fear to draw near to anyone – for it is the Kingdom within each which seeks to bring you to a person. Even though this may not be recognized by the other – yet – you can know the Truth and it makes you free to move everywhere without fear, and in confidence and joy and anticipation and hope and sure knowledge, in wisdom, and with love. Is this state of being not a perfect description of “The Kingdom”?

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.

Giving Poured Out

You can have the desires of your heart, which are peace and joy, by your own decision to do so.

Meditation Thought: “But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:13-14)

Giving is a pouring out, taking pleasure in spreading joy. Thus you can have constant pleasure, for it is possible always to give, whereas you cannot control receiving. If you find pleasure only in receiving, you limit your pleasure greatly – and you limit the pleasure released in the world even more.

You can have the desires of your heart, which are peace and joy, by your own decision to do so: the price is to surrender pride to unselfish love, and sin to righteousness through the thinking of others and acting in their behalf.

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.

The Paradox of Life & Joy

It is encased in the solid, protected container of love that we find courage to move into places we once feared.

Meditation Thought: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17)

The fullness of time brings the fullness of God: His Word fulfilled, His Will fulfilled, His Purposes fulfilled. The Creator must wait for the maturity of the created to fulfill the purposes of the creation – reflecting the meaning of life to both the creator and that created.

And so came the Word, the law, the grace, the truth all manifested in the flesh, that the meaning of life might be revealed fully to those who by choice and by faith, seek the light, seek the inner core as well as the outer surface, seek the unseen as well as the seen, seek the subtle as well as the obvious, seek to know with the heart as well as the mind, who seek God rather than be limited to being self-seeking.

For the paradox is true and to be understood: He who seeks to be last shall be first, he who gives of his life shall find his LIFE, and he whose purpose is to create happiness in the hearts of his fellow creatures, has happiness thrust into his own heart while his concentration is away from his heart.

JOY shall be his as he realizes the magnificence, the depth, the glory, the sweetness, the extent of the Father’s love for him – the lengths to which the Father will go to express that love with the show of the tiniest response to that love. The realization is awesome, fulfills the longing of the heart, bringing the ecstasy of long-awaited hopes and dreams being brought into reality; a confirmation of knowing what had only been sought.

It is encased in the solid, protected container of love that we find courage to move into places we once feared, where we once had no place, where we can now move effectively because we have the secret knowledge in our heart that whatever befalls us we are protected by love, insulated by it from undue hurt – we are equipped to do our task, and therefore confident as we move to do it: and this is the key to the task being brought to a successful conclusion (pleasing to the Father and the Son and the Spirit and the created).

Faith, hope and love responding to Love are the working of the Father’s will into all eternity; how can we refuse to be a part of that?!

Jackal, Ostrich or Chosen?

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.

Meditation Thought: “Behold, I am doing a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.
 The wild beasts will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches,
for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people,
     the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.”

(Isaiah 43:19-21)

Jackals refers to deceitful people and ostriches to those who refuse to see the truth – but God’s righteousness and omnipotence will bring them to honor Him.

“Chosen people” – He would have all of His creation be His ‘chosen people’ – but some will not choose to be His chosen people and thus will forfeit that prerogative.