Category: Obedience

Harvest of Fruit

It is when the blessings are released that the harvest of fruit is realized that was within the seed of the Word, and nourished in your faith and obedience.

Meditation Thought: “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Matthew 13:23)

“When your mind is attuned to My Word, then your will is attuned to My will, and your faith reaches up to Me to release the blessings which are stored in My special place for you – just waiting for you to reach the stage of needing them, desiring that they come to you, and requesting them. It is when the blessings are released that the harvest of fruit is realized that was within the seed of the Word, and nourished in your faith and obedience.”

A Little Grain of Salt

Take one step at a time, having determined which direction to take the step by first counseling with Me!

Meditation Thought: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” (Matthew 5:13)

A little salt will go a long way to change the character of a food: to make it taste better, and also to preserve it. Take care to retain your saltiness, so that wherever I use you – whether to add flavor to life, or to preserve life, you will accomplish this purpose.

I can use – and reuse you as salt, as long as you retain My character by your obedience to Me. Picture yourself as though being just a little grain of salt, being a part of the desirable flavoring of the world, and a part of the preservation of the world – the world as created by Me and obedient to Me. The part of the world that has changed loyalty from Me to Satan will not be preserved: in fact, your saltiness will be painful to that part, for it is a festered sore. But your saltiness will also be a means of bringing healing to parts of that world – those who will respond to your saltiness, recognizing that the pain caused by it is also the signal that their healing can take place by this same salt.

Pray, pray, pray – only by saturating yourself in Me and in the total awareness of fellow creatures’ needs can you be effective salt. Soak yourself in My Word, reach out – and in – to My Spirit, as you are afforded opportunities to perceive it – send your thoughts, your emotions – to reach into the minds and hearts of your fellow creatures, that the one part of the Body may be uplifted and strengthened by the other, and that new strength in the form of new believers may be added.

Take one step at a time, having determined which direction to take the step by first counseling with Me! Your steps shall lead to My glory and to your fulfillment.

Superior Citizenship

Live each moment aware that later it will bring either peace or regret and there will be no changing of the consequences.

Meditation Thought: “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)

“Cling to righteousness. No matter who or what tries to pry you away from righteousness, no matter what the consequences of your ‘stubbornness’ in hanging on – persist. For your reward will be great: so great you cannot now fathom it. Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake are those who insist upon retaining citizenship in the Kingdom when others are insisting upon them changing their allegiance to the world. But they do not know the joys of the Kingdom, the power of citizenship in the Kingdom. Only by holding your citizenship through ‘thick and thin’ can you demonstrate the value of it, and thus prove both to yourself and to others that this citizenship is superior in every way to citizenship in the world.

Listen to the language of the Kingdom as it is spoken to you through My Spirit; heed the advice, acting in faith and joyful confidence that the advice is for your benefit and for the benefit of the Kingdom. One day all will know the whole truth – but it is too late then to make choices. You must choose on the basis of information available to you – only hints of the whole – in order to allow you freedom to choose. No choice is involved if the total picture is laid out and there is no struggle to find the pieces of it.

Live each moment aware that later it will bring either peace or regret and there will be no changing of the consequences. Concentrate, think, be aware of your momentary action, for it could, though you recognize it not, change the course of your life as well as many other lives.

Start this moment an intense training program of using your abilities, talents, faith, words, actions and desires to develop every facet of yourself into an exemplary citizen of the Kingdom. If you are persecuted for your loyalty to righteousness, so shall you be rewarded for your status as an exemplary citizen of the Kingdom, loyal to all of its statutes.”

Junk Food Dissatisfaction

My Spirit is the delicious ‘soft center’, which will satisfy your hunger and not only satisfy it, but give the ecstasy of it being a delight to your palate.

Meditation Thought: ““Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

“Embrace righteousness! Though the outside appearance of it may appear to be hard, and not tasty – once you taste it, and become accustomed to it, the flavor becomes very pleasant, and in fact, righteousness has an even more delicious ‘soft center’ hidden until you really start to eat of the righteousness with enthusiasm! Not only shall your hunger be satisfied, but your taste buds shall be delighted too. Your hunger for all that is good in life – spiritual and physical – shall be satisfied, for your hunger truly is the wish for the in-filling of My Spirit. And My Spirit is contained in righteousness. My Spirit is the delicious ‘soft center’, which will satisfy your hunger and not only satisfy it, but give the ecstasy of it being a delight to your palate.

You choose the food you eat; you can indulge in ‘junk food’ of ego-building thoughts and deeds, of thoughts and deeds that take advantage of others – or you can feed upon the righteous, love-giving, self-sacrificing thoughts and deeds which serve as the containment of My Spirit. You may temporarily be deceived, or you may not resist the junk food at times – but if you are determined to pursue the healthy diet of My righteous food, you will partake of great quantities of it – enabling you to, as you grow in Christ, become expert at determining it by appearance, and also be able to develop a stronger will-power in resisting the ‘junk food’ and reaching for the righteous food.”

Still, Small, Powerful

Help me to sow and reap – and rejoice, not in the harvest, but in the love of the One who provided the seed.

Meditation Thought: “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything. In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.” (Ecclesiastes 11:4-6)

The constancy of the Word is to be your basis of desire and motivation and energy to sow the seed – the good seed of loving kindnesses, righteous deeds, helpful ministry, honesty, integrity, devotion to doing your work well.

Do not be preoccupied with your own thoughts and concerns or you will be so distracted that you will not realize that the harvest is ready, and needs only for your effort to gather it in.

Become alert to each moment – not only the happenings, but all subtle nuances. Learn to understand other’s viewpoints. Learn to appreciate and understand nature and natural laws. And – most of all – cultivate the art of listening to the still, small voice within you, and heeding it.

Though you do not know the work of God, you do know God: you know God is Love; God is creative; God is righteous; God is orderly and acts in orderly ways. God is powerful and God has shared with you, His child, His secrets that are hidden from those who ignore the still, small voice. God does not want His ways to be secrets – He does all He can to reveal His ways – but until the children seek to learn what the Father is doing – and have confidence enough to sow the seeds and look for the harvest, the Father is frustrated and the child is frustrated. Once the first breakthrough comes, however – once the still small voice is recognized, both as existing, and as to the knowledge that the voice imparts – then, as long as the child sows and reaps, the Father’s ways are revealed more and more clearly. And since Father is the head of the household, and the King of the Kingdom, to follow His ways is surely the way to peace, contentment, fulfillment and joy. Even when the harvest is disappointing, trust in the advice of the still, small voice will give creative thought and energy which will turn that harvest into a blessing: perhaps a new discovery will be made in how to use the particular species, or the need for this particular species will not be as great as was supposed. God is not defeated by any problem; therefore we need not be defeated either, for He is eager to tell us of His solution to the problem if we will only be alert and listen and heed.

Lord, help me to sow and reap – and rejoice, not in the harvest, but in the love of the One who provided the seed. Amen.

Higher Education

Recall how much I love you…

Meditation Thought: “Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.” (Psalm 25:4)

The key to My teaching you is your willingness – your eagerness to learn. I am with you, constantly encouraging you to learn My ways and to know the paths which will be our delight to walk together.

You are aware of the places where you can best learn: in My Word, in yielding to the Holy Spirit within you. So long as you stay in these places, not straying to worldly places where thoughts, activities and attitudes block the learning of My ways and My paths, you will learn.

With each bit of information, each time there is revelation, and whenever there is inspiration, you will become more of a companion who is taking on My ways and is walking closely beside Me on My chosen path.

When you waver, not sure that you can – or even desire to – forego the satisfying of your ego’s clamor, recall how much I love you – how diligently I have tried to help you find a better way and a lighted path, the depths to which I go in order to save you from that willful ego which could destroy you if you allow it free reign.

Rich in God

This will bring Him more pleasure than anything else: my grateful heart, and responding love, are all that He is seeking.

Meditation Thought; “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:19-21)

You are to be rich in God. The Bible refers constantly to King and Kingdom. God is wealthy, is in authority, is all that an earthly king is, and infinitely more, has all the earthly king has, and infinitely more. I am His child, and thus am an heiress to the kingdom. It is fine for me to recognize this and to rejoice in this. What I must not do is to believe that I am worthy to be in this position because of my own doing. I am in this position because of God’s doing. I need to be grateful – and to live out this life that has been given to me in the way most responsible and pleasing to my Father – and to be glad to do so, to enjoy doing so. This will bring Him more pleasure than anything else: my grateful heart, and responding love, are all that He is seeking. He isn’t trying to beat and badger and coerce me into being a child that resembles Himself – He’s trying to love and encourage and empower me into that child! When I realize this fact, then I am released from the prison of my own making. If God – who is so great – is satisfied with me as I am in Christ – even though I’m not perfect as the Father is perfect – why should I be so critical of myself?

Yes, Christ in the flesh did understand the Father completely and did obey perfectly. And I have not. But that does not mean that I cannot – for my will yielded to Christ who lives in me through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit does understand the will of the Father, and my personality yielded to Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit does obey perfectly.

The key to having my heart be with the treasure of the kingdom is unwavering faith that prompts me to search in every possible way for the knowledge that the Father seeks to give me.

A Chain of Events

Our hope lies in Christ, who makes possible our claiming of our rightful inheritance.

Meditation Thought: “[when] we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15-17)

Christ suffered, not because He obeyed God – but because other men would not obey God. To obey God may, for a short time, bring suffering because not all do obey God. But none can defy God and defeat Him – therefore, our position as being obedient will lead to a place of glory from the the place of suffering. And the disobedient shall see the errors of their thinking and actions, and shall be encouraged to repent, thus paving the way for renewal. Any one of us can be at any of these places, at any time – depending upon our understanding of God’s will and our degree of obedience to God’s will.

Our hope lies in Christ, who makes possible our claiming of our rightful inheritance, when we had thrown it away by our sin. He made arrangements with the Father – more accurately, He obeyed the Father’s request – to make our action of refusing our inheritance disappear – it simply was no longer a valid transaction. In accepting Christ’s contract made for us with the Father, we arrange to receive our inheritance. He has done for us what we were unable to do for ourselves. It has the effect of erasing our dishonorable actions as completely as if they were a dream and not reality.

We have been saved from what we feared would be our fate as we realized the magnitude of our rebellion and disobedience. Coming to know how powerful our Father is, we finally realize that it is best to obey Him – not out of fear for His wrath but out of the recognition that His requests to us have been in our own best interests. It has only been our inferior intellects, our lack of faith in His love, and our insistence on being the sole dictator of our life that has kept us from understanding the Father desires us to receive His inheritance. But He cannot will it to us unless we are going to be responsible in administering it. He must know that we will use it as He Himself would use it before He dares let us have it. And the way He knows we will administer it according to His principles is to know that we have His character reflected in our character. The only way we are able to do this is to be obedient to His teachings: the only way we can be obedient is to have Christ living in us through our faith – through our yielding the scepter of our ego to Christ that He may be the guiding force within us. When we do this, we share His fate – His leading us in obedience do the Father’s will does result in our suffering from those who are not under His leadership. But His leadership also results in miracles of healing, of renewing, of creating, of beauty, of love, of power – all bringing such glory to the Father, that He shares His glory with the Son, and the Son shares it with us.

We cannot know where Christ will lead us. But we can trust that every path leads to glory: to peace, to joy, to fulfillment, on faith through the ministrations of the Spirit, and in the kingdom through the reality of our spirit being at one with His Spirit.

A Paradoxical Pattern

Safety lies in the words and indwelling Spirit – not safety from all physical harm – but safety from paralyzing fear, and safety from doubts.

Meditation Thought: “…when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21:31-33)

These words are true for each generation. The storms make the complacent fearful and thus cause them to think and to search for safety. Safety lies in the words and indwelling Spirit of the Son of man – not safety from all physical harm – but safety from paralyzing fear, and safety from doubts.

There comes a time in a person’s life where he must choose: Self or God. And he must not be deceived, but perceive the Truth: the last shall be first, and the first last. And he who cares for others assures the Father’s care for himself. The signs are clear for all to read. Woe to he who will not heed them. He brings destruction upon himself.

But to those who seek to know the Truth, shall the signs of the times be clear. To them shall be heaven on earth although they suffer from the hands of the unjust, joy shall be theirs; joy now and joy forever.

Praise be to God who can create and sustain a universe which combines freedom and obedience, order and variety, suffering and joy.

3 Steps to Moving Mountains

Think before speaking and pray before thinking.

Meditation Thought: “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)

“Treasure My knowledge in your heart until My Spirit prompts you to act upon it – for My timing quickly fulfills My purposes, but your timing, with your limited view, prevents all from working together.

Pray, listen – then act. Do not act then pray, for the effect is far less than My aspirations for you. When you do act in haste, ask for forgiveness and pray – but develop a better way: think before speaking and pray before thinking: this is the meaning of your little faith being able to move mountains: your little faith – used rightly – moves you to pray before thinking, thus enabling My Spirit to stir within you to direct your thoughts – thus directing your words and deeds as well.

It is My Spirit that moves mountains, for My Spirit is one with My Will and My Word, and only the omnipotent power which created can re-create!”

Pray – Think – Act