Category: wisdom

The Constitution of the Kingdom

To know the love and power of God in my life is wonderful for me, but only if I pass along the grandeur of it in the living out of my days will it bring glory to the Father and fulfillment of the purpose of the Holy Spirit.

Meditation Thought: “The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but the one who prophesies edifies the church.” 1 Corinthians 14:4)

There is no limit on the love of God or the knowledge of God. There is no limit on the variety of ways of God expressing His love and His knowledge.

We are to be so in tune with the will of God that we can know, moment by moment, the manner in which He desires to express His love and His knowledge to us and through us. For He desires to edify (instruct and improve) us and the church, not one or the other, for one is part of the other, as both are part of God.

The kingdom of God is not divided – the Kingdom is unified – unified, but always in a state of flux – as each part is changed as it opens itself to new revelation of love and knowledge, so it affects another part, and the Kingdom, though still the same, is also changed. The original constitution of the Kingdom remains constant, but the living out of the expression of that constitution is unique for every creature and for every moment of time and for every place and for every situation.

To edify oneself through prayer – either in known language or language of the spirit, through words or through deeds, through ministering or being the recipient of ministering – whatever the expression of the edification of the individual, it must be translated into the edification of the whole Kingdom, in one form or another, at some time, if it is to fulfill its total purpose and meaning.

To know the love and power of God in my life is wonderful for me, but only if I pass along the grandeur of it in the living out of my days will it bring glory to the Father and fulfillment of the purpose of the Holy Spirit. And only when the translation is made by the power of the indwelling Spirit, from individual to corporate, is my environment changed into what I need to fulfill the purpose for which the Father created me: both for the fulfillment of my own purpose, and for the goal of the church as the Body: the reconciling of the world to the Father.

Love Is… and Is Not

Love is delight in giving, discipline, reaching out, accepting love from another, trusting God.

Meditation Thought: “Love is patient and kind… rejoices in right… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4,6,7 paraphrased)

Love is taking delight in giving, not receiving. Love is discipline to do as you know you aught to do – even when you don’t want to. Love is reaching out to offer help despite knowing that you may get your hand bitten instead of shaken. Love is acting according to God’s will, not self-will. The resulting clear conscience is a catalyst which makes it easier to express even more love, in more ways.

Love is accepting love from another – not ignoring it if it isn’t from someone you don’t really care about, not rejecting it because of a previous hurt, not questioning it if you are puzzled by it, and not being fearful of it because you have feelings of shame and guilt and these might have to be put out in the open.

Love is trusting God, who created us and who is Love, to overcome any problems (as we see the situation) that might result from our stepping out in faith to love.

Constantly & Enthusiastically

To be humble is to become teachable. If we are teachable, God will teach us gently, thoroughly, and swiftly.

Meditation Thought: “But if we indeed judge ourselves truly, we should not be judged.” (1 Corinthians 11:31)

“Judge truly”. This is possible only in light of God’s revelation of Truth to us, that we may compare ourselves to the Pure Eternal Truth: the image of the Father, as exhibited by the Son, taught by the Holy Spirit, and revealed through the Word.

If we are willing to risk comparing ourselves to this Truth, we become humble – and to be humble is to become teachable. If we are teachable, God will teach us gently, thoroughly, and swiftly, thus fulfilling His purposes for us more readily.

However, if we deceive ourselves, either by comparing ourselves to something other than Pure, Complete Truth, or by mis-evaluating our own selves as we compare ourselves to the Truth, this constitutes rebellion in the refusing to humble ourselves enough to seek a true evaluation. And rebellion against God is the – willingly or unwillingly – with knowledge or in ignorance – to join in Satan’s plans to make us allies and to alienate us from the Father.

Thus we must constantly, and enthusiastically ingest the Word, pray for the Father’s will and guidance, seek to know every facet of Jesus Christ, and prepare ourselves to be worthy containers for holding the Spirit if we are to be competent judges of ourselves.

Am I Willing?

You can trust Him to re-make you more beautifully and completely in His image.

Meditation Thought: “…let each person lead the life (or walk in the way) that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” (1 Corinthians 7:17)

If you do not lead the life needed to complete the Plan of God, the Plan will not reach the perfection of God’s image. This is the crux: will you be willing to subject your total self to His total Plan? For you will feel the pinch of others being crowded against you as movement takes place to do cleansing, and building, and rearranging in order to undo the mischief done by self-will and Satan’s exploitation of that self-will.

If you can be soft, pliable, yielding – then God can re-shape you, move you and energize you to conform to whatever He needs you to be. If you can trust Him to re-work you – not only from what you were some time ago – but what you are at any given moment, you will have peace and joy in any circumstances, you will know the delight of being a light in the darkness, leaven in the bread, salt of the earth, the Father’s child not only made – but more beautifully and completely re-made in His image.

As a child can grow to look like, think like, and act like his father as time goes by, so you, by the willingness of your heart and the power of the Spirit released fully by Jesus’ obedience unto death, will bit by bit become more like your Father.

Do not tarry, but keep the conscious thought at all times to yield, to seek through diligence in pursuit of Word and Spirit – that the life-saving surgery, the surgery needed for improved health, and the cosmetic surgery all may be performed and completed to God’s glory and your joy.

Let Me Not Despair

No circumstance shall thwart God’s love, God’s grace, God’s will.

Meditation Thought: ““And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into slavery in Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him from all his afflictions. He granted him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who put him in charge of Egypt and [of] his entire household.” (Acts 7:9-10)

“sold him… but God… rescued him, gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh… who made him governor… and over all his household.”

No circumstance shall thwart God’s love, God’s grace, God’s will.

No person shall rule over God.

If we know this, if we set our trust, and our obedience on the course of God’s will, we shall not only be at peace in all places, in all circumstances, at all times, but we shall see harm transformed to good, hate transformed to love, ignorance of God transformed to knowledge of God, and famine yield to plenty. For nothing is impossible with God. (See Luke 1:37)

My prayer: “Lord, take my spirit, my mind, my body, my emotions, and all resources, both material and unseen, and conform them to your will this day. Let me not despair if it appears that I have been ‘sold to Egypt’. If I trust You wherever I am, whatever I do, You will work good for me that I might work good for many to Your glory and my joy.” Amen.

Which Way

Through faith we are one with God – not equal with God, but enmeshed with God.

Meditation Thought: “ The one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive wages in proportion to his labor. For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building…. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:8-9, 16)

Through faith we are one with God – not equal with God, but enmeshed with God.

What we think, what we say, what we do, cannot be separated from God: it represents Him to the world, it does His work – or hinders it – it spreads His love – or represses it – it reveals His nature – or conceals it – it changes directions of people – toward seeking God – or toward fleeing from Him.

The following was perceived as a personal message but I believe it is also meant for any of us that seek to follow Jesus: “Oh, My child, sense My love, receive My mercy, heed My admonitions and I will bless you and all who know you. Be sensitive to your greater knowledge of Me when ministering, and aware of how little you know of Me when ministering. The Spirit indwelling shall guide you surely if you provide the joyful atmosphere of love, obedience, service and seeking of Truth. ‘Fear not, for lo I am with you always.’ “

Graceful Yielding

‘There’ in the palm of His hand, close to His heart

Meditation Thought: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)

Nothing is too hard for the Lord – but He has created in love creatures who can facilitate His works, or obstruct them and slow down His perfect timing if He chooses to allow them to do so as a means of teaching. And this seems to be Standard Operating Procedure.

“Seek first the kingdom and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33) is not only a wonderful promise to us – but a graceful yielding on God’s side to let us choose to seek the kingdom.

Nothing is too hard for the Lord – sometimes we just think it is because what we desire to happen when we desire it to happen doesn’t occur. But God knows our hearts, and all of the facets of the situation – including where He wants us to be, and what He needs to do to get us there – ‘There’ in the palm of His hand, close to His heart – willingly staying close and enjoying it and desiring it above all else.

Whether we perceive it early or late, or not at all, that is His aim – He states it in His Word, He works it in His will, He empowers it through His Spirit, and He implants it in our heart.

Accept the Power

The power is not in you but you are the vessel which either accepts or rejects the power.

Meditation Thought: “After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. (Genesis 15:1)

“Do not fear any task which I assign to you, for you already have the means of accomplishing it – you need only to use what I have already provided. Ask Me, listen to Me, obey My commandments and My advice, and your reward will be great because you have brought glory to Me, fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, and the recognition of your relationship as My child, with all of the power and privileges which that implies.

The power is not in you but you are the vessel which either accepts or rejects the power. When you accept the power by cleaning yourself out through confessing sin, through seeking to obey Me through reading and heeding My word, through loving ministries, through forgiving others, through confessing Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life – then the tasks are a witness to My love made manifest to the world, and the revelation on the nature of the Kingdom within.”

Yield to a Better Way

I could not do this in my own sinful, rebellious, ego-centered nature no matter how long or how hard I tried. I must allow it to happen, but I cannot cause it to happen.

Meditation Thought: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)

In view of the mercies of God present myself as a living sacrifice. I do not have to present myself by my own effort. Instead, if I humble myself and yield myself to God, then He will do the preparation needed for me to be presented holy and acceptable. I could not do this in my own sinful, rebellious, ego-centered nature no matter how long or how hard I tried. I must allow it to happen, but I cannot cause it to happen.

It is my job to give the loaves and fishes; it is God’s job to feed the 5,000. (See Matthew 14:13-21)

A Twist on Stem Cells

This is the reason that thoughts are critical to life – or death; to peace – or agony; to fulfillment – or discontent; to health – or to sickness; to richness of lifestyle – or poverty of lifestyle.

Meditation Thought: “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” (Romans 8:6)

A thought is the tiny first cell of the growing expression which will take form in many mediums and influence many others. This original cell-thought has within it all the genetic features needed to multiply it into a huge far-reaching form.

This is the reason that thoughts are critical to life – or death; to peace – or agony; to fulfillment – or discontent; to health – or to sickness; to richness of lifestyle – or poverty of lifestyle.

God seeks to illuminate our understanding that we may recognize that thoughts seeking relationship with Him are the key to the fulfillment of our creation both spiritually and humanly.

To come to the realization that God- almighty, all powerful, all loving, all creating, all righteous, all beautiful, all orderly, all reconciling, all accepting, all encouraging, all giving of freedom to choose His offer of companionship, of fellowship, of fatherhood is our Father, is to be completely awed, completely, happy, completely obedient.

We do not expect to do as well as our Hero (Jesus) in expressing our life in our humanity, nevertheless, the determination to do our best to adopt the same thoughts, the same attitudes, the same type of language, the same type of actions, and the sure conviction that our Hero was and is real and is able, by our belief in His realty, to empower us to become more like Him.