Category: peace

Look!

You will then be so totally comprehending of my vast love for you that your fears and doubts and inadequacies will disappear, replaced by renewing love, unbridled hope, confidence of who you are as my beloved child.

Meditation Thought: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. Look to him, and be radiant. (Psalm 34:4-5)

“Look to Me – and not your fears. Your fears do not love you, cherish you, protect you, empower you, fulfill the desires of your heart, work good in all circumstances. Fears are destructive – they would bind you, keep your talents and your energies ineffective, perhaps even hidden. I bring to you life as I intended it to be for you – if you choose to look to me – for instruction, for inspiration, for knowledge, for truth, for unlimited and uncondemning love. Do not fear – whatever you encounter, I am in it with you, and when you look to Me, you realize I am with you. No power in heaven or on earth can harm you when I am with you: with you, not only in Presence, but in power, in effectiveness, in wisdom and in the renewing process.

If you have faith – if you believe I am your sustenance and stronghold, and no power can prevail against Me as I seek to work good for you – then so shall good be the fruit, the delight, of your life.

Look to Me: I am all that is good, lovely, peaceful, joyful and fruitful. When you observe Me, you are then able to come to be more like Me. This is what Jesus did – and what the Holy Spirit (Jesus’ presence and My presence within you) does when you choose to believe that not only is this possible and desirable, but it is the very purpose for which you were born. I created you in love – to love. Recognize yourself as My beloved. It will transform you, as it has transformed so many. When you comprehend that I love you and desire good for you in the same manner – but to even greater degree – that you love and desire good for your children – then you have joy, peace, fulfillment and understanding. This is the key to the wisdom of Solomon, the faith of Abraham, the devotion of Moses, the obedience of Jesus, the transformation of Paul and the disciples. This is the source that actually is the creating of the new creature in Christ.

The more you look to me, the more radiant you will be, for you will then be so totally comprehending of my vast love for you that your fears and doubts and inadequacies will disappear, replaced by renewing love, unbridled hope, confidence of who you are as my beloved child.

For this purpose Jesus lived in the flesh – that looking to Me would cause you to be radiant – that looking to Me would transform you from only awareness of self to awareness of Me and My relationship to that beloved self.

You are not merely a human, struggling to survive or even doing things that you believe will make you happy. Thus you are not limited to life similar to that of the animals or that of ignorant mankind. When you look to Me, you know that you are far more than animal and ignorant human: you are spirit, and your spirit is filled with My Spirit as you look to Me. It is My Spirit within one’s spirit that is so transforming that thoughts and actions are a dimension so much greater than normal that even casual observers are forced to realize that there is something powerful and productive and unique within the container of the personality before them.

Those whom the world calls “saints” are set apart by this act of looking to Me, and in realizing the magnificence and the magnitude of My love, they become radiant. They reflect My love to the world – and thus the world is converted to the Kingdom, for the Kingdom is where My love is the prevailing force, the standard of behavior, and the law above all laws.”

Star Light, Star Bright

Peace, peace, joy and hope – all found in the heavens: But never seen and never found if eyes are only earthward bound!

Meditation Thought: “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:21)

In the darkness of the night the stars shall begin to shine, one by one – and there shall come a Star so bright that night shall be as day, and all the world shall know God’s love.

He who looks for the first star – the other stars – the brightest star – shall not be dismayed at the dark, for he knows there will be light and beauty, peace and joy beyond description as the light of the stars transforms heaven and earth and all who dwell therein.

Teach me, Lord, to seek Thy Star,
Never giving up hope,
Never turning away in fear –
or impatience –
or lack of trust.

But focus my eyes, turn my head, let me find You. Enable me to see You – in the tiniest star, the galaxy of stars, the brightest Star.

Peace, peace, joy and hope – all found in the heavens: But never seen and never found if eyes are only earthward bound!

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.

Unfathomably Superior

The wold has so deluded us as to what will bring us joy that we must seek to know the truth of our own nature.

Meditation Thought:  “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)

“Love God – neighbor-self – love everyone – how! By sacrificing to do good for another! Whether it be giving of our time, our emotions, our thoughts, or the work of our hands matters not – only that we are giving. For we are ‘programmed’ to have joy in helping, joy in a clear conscience, and joy in the ministries which flow back to us as a result of our giving.

The world has so deluded us as to what will bring us joy that we must seek to know the truth of our own nature. And when we begin to know the truth, what freedom and joy it brings! No longer do we have to grasp, to manipulate, to order others to do our bidding, or to be at the mercy of others for our satisfaction.

We find peace within ourselves – more accurately, peace within our God within ourselves. And it is almost as having frosting on the cake to discover that God who gives us peace within ourselves is also in everything, every place, at every time outside of ourselves too.

And the realization that brings us to a state beyond peace – a kind of ecstasy, a transporting of life being lived on both a higher plane and the human plane – is that our God is totally loving, totally powerful, always working for our good, and at the same time never violates our free choice, respecting us as a person: This Creator, unfathomably superior in every area to all He created, nevertheless chooses to yield to us, to our decisions. He responds to those decisions, but allows us the privilege and the dignity of doing our own thinking and acting.

The Threshold of Your Tomorrows

Recognize that whomever you meet and whatever happens to you today is the threshold of your tomorrows.

Meditation Thought: “I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.” (Luke 20:13 – in context the parable is Luke 20:9-18 and The Owner refers to God.)

Recognize that whomever you meet and whatever happens to you today is the threshold of your tomorrows. Think clearly, seek wisdom and understanding that you may recognize the effects of your actions: take heart that you have been given what you need  to enable you to perceive that it is by the character of your greeting of the Son and your treatment of Him that you shall be judged when the Owner calls you to account for your stewardship.

The Owner desires to reward you for your stewardship, but you must seek to recognize that He is the owner and you are the steward, and there is no way you can usurp His right of ownership – be not deceived into believing that rejection of His actions as Owner can result in your receiving ownership.

Only by the acknowledging of Him as Owner, and accepting this fact graciously can you bring great benefits to yourself and your loved ones. Align yourself with the Owner and His loved ones, and you receive the rewards you seek, while at the time of waiting for the rewards you have the peace of righteous actions and clear conscience.

Have confidence that patience and right thinking and actions will bring your desired rewards, for it is in your confidence that you will find the strength and the power to assure the desired results.

Choose the Weight of Your Burden

The burden of sin is far heavier than the burden of the cross!

Meditation Thought: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 4:27)

“To follow Me is to die to the self” – this is the cross to bear: the loss of “playing God” in your own life. At first the cross seems heavy – really unbearable – but as you persevere, the experiences serve as rough places which take off pieces of the cross, making it lighter and lighter.

The longer you follow Me, the more intimate we become, the dearer to each other, the more oblivious you become to the cross. You no longer are conscious of the cross, but you are conscious of Me and our relationship. You become so excited, enthused, fulfilled in our relationship and the activities we do together that you give no thought to the cross; it neither slows your movements nor occupies your thoughts. Your acceptance of the cross has actually resulted in a whole new dynamic, satisfying way of life.

Stand firm against any who would relieve you of the cross! If you relinquish the cross, you revert to your selfish, sin-burdened state, and the burden of sin is far heavier than the burden of the cross!

The Secret of Joy and Revitalization

Emerge as one wise in the Word and joyous in the Spirit.

Meditation Thought: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

Note: Marie perceived this message as being for her personally (see About This Blog) – however, there is such wisdom here – a road map even –  that I believe we can all apply the lessons. (The term handmaid refers to a close, personal servant.)

“According to My Word so shall it be to you. How you love My Word! That is because all you have experienced as you have tested it has proved it true. And so you know what is expected of you – you know what is needed to give you peace and joy. You know now what you want to learn, and so shall you learn if you continue in your “school of prayer”, in the deep intention of your heart, in your determination to delve more deeply into the joys of service and the revitalizing effect they have on you.

The Word shall start in your mind, but shall travel into every part of you: spirit, body, emotions – transforming, re-designing; a “new birth” – as if you shed the old ignorant, sin-ridden mind and attitude and body, and emerge “spanking-new” as one wise in the Word and joyous in the Spirit. Always will you need to learn and grow and change: but you will have a speeded-up visibility of results of obeying My Word and My Spirit. Keep your will firm to be my handmaid, for it is in this context that you will find fulfillment of all that pleases you.”

Sow the Wind or the Word

You will be nourished and satisfied and have abundance to share, that others, too, may reap the benefit of your bountiful harvest.

Meditation Thought: “For they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.” (Hosea 8:7)

If you sow the wind (the priorities of the world) in your mind and in your heart, you will reap the whirlwind of selfishness, greed, dissatisfaction, anger. The good seed to sow in your mind and in your heart is the Word, and watered by the Spirit, it produces the good fruit of love, joy, peace.

Do not look to the seed your neighbor sows, for your harvest is to be your own food, and you want it to be good for you. Persevere, seeking the good seed wherever you are led, taking the routes marked in the Word, and heeding the signs placed by the Spirit along the way.

The effort you make to seek good seed will be rewarded many times over, for when the harvest is gathered, your joy will be full. You will be nourished and satisfied and have abundance to share, that others, too, may reap the benefit of your bountiful harvest.

Keys to Soar: the Secrets of Life

Set your will and your mind on the Father’s Word, the Son’s Sacrifice, the Spirit’s power. If your mind and will are thus set, so shall your spirit soar in faith.

Meditation Thought: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” (Mark 7:20-23)

Let the sacrifice of Jesus purify your heart so that what flows out is love, mercy, kindness, generosity. Set your will and your mind on the Father’s Word, the Son’s Sacrifice, the Spirit’s power. If your mind and will are thus set, so shall your spirit soar in faith, released from the burden of sin and guilt, doubt and weakness. There is a perfect fit of your spirit into the Father’s plan: seek this place and determine to re-shape yourself as needed that you may complete His work.

A renewed mind, a right spirit, peace of the forgiven: keys to unlock the secrets of life. Use them.