Maximize the Benefits

To know that I am helpless is not to know I’m hopeless – quite the opposite.

Meditation Thought: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13)

I have been chosen to saved (what care!) – through sanctification by the Spirit (how wise – I couldn’t do it on my own!) – providing I have sense enough (my free choice!) to believe the truth when it is presented to me.

‘You are no longer a baby, dependent upon your elders, you are a thinking adult with experiences and opportunities and choices. Every moment your intelligence, your conscience and your spiritual antennae guide you – unless you foolishly relinquish them to be replaced by your whims of feeling and influence of others.

You know what will serve you well in the long-term analysis, in the eternal perspective. Be imaginative in bolstering your strength to cling to your intelligence, conscience and spiritual antennae and to reject your ever-changing feelings and advice from who may have their own best interests in mind rather than yours.

There is maximum benefit to be derived from every situation, and to be aware of this and to learn how to take advantage of this knowledge is the applying of the keys to the locks on the kingdom’s doors.

The confusion lies in recognizing the difference between earthly benefits – that which are temporary – and heavenly benefits – those which are eternal. Decisions can be made to maximize the eternal benefits when there are specific principles which can be confidently applied to measure alternatives. In addition to the principles clearly outlined in the Word, and demonstrated by the Life, there is the Way revealed when the Truth is perceived by the revelation of the enlightening indwelling Spirit.

Each person will be confronted with unique choices: yet the purpose is one – to develop spirits which are reflections of the Spirit, to develop minds which function as the mind of Christ, to develop attitudes which are identical as an inheritance from the loving Father, and to develop the ability to do as well as the accomplishment of “greater works”.

To know that I am helpless is not to know I’m hopeless – quite the opposite. It is when I am most helpless that hope is born and grows. It is in the climate and condition of my recognition of my weakness that the seed of God’s power and love and mercy can grow and thrive – and my hope sprouts and grows with His seed’s growth – for my hope is a branch of His vine. Without His Presence, I am something less than I should be – but when my helplessness breaks my own self will, and I yield to His will, then my hope comes alive as His Presence is welcomed and His power and love and mercy spring forth.”

Construct vs. Repair

My power surges into you, and the burden you dreaded and feared becomes light indeed – and transformed, faithful act, by faithful act, into a crown.

Meditation Thought: “And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” (Luke 14:27-28)

Perceived as a message from the Father:

“My will is your will also – though at times you do not realize that, though your will desires fulfillment, purpose, and joy in your expression of your life, the way to succeed in appropriating them is to seek My will and to do My will.

There is a better Way to be effective in finding and performing My will than is often comprehended. You, as well as many, have adopted a mind-set upon ‘sin’, and because sin does short-circuit holy power it is necessary to consider it and correct it. However, you are taking undue time in discovering and repairing short-circuits in ‘feeder’ lines.

You should be constructing super-power-carrying transmission lines on a grand scale. This is possible when you realize that you are concentrating too much on your person and your thoughts and actions, and whether they are ‘sinful’.

You need to adopt a more positive approach to learning the secrets of the spiritual realm: focus on Jesus’ words, actions and attitudes – the concentration He had upon the Word, upon communion in prayer, upon expressions of love, upon faith in My love, My power, and My desire to work all things together for good for my beloved children.

Jesus did not sin – but He was tempted, as you are tempted. How did He resist temptation? He resisted it be using His knowledge of My principles and My potential power, and He knew about these through His concentration upon My Word and our relationship through study and through prayer.

It is concentrating upon My Word by study, and our relationship through prayer that builds transmission lines of power: this is the work I intend My children to be doing – not for your time and energy to be underutilized in minor repairs only. Repairs must be made when needed – but not many ‘breaks’ will occur when the construction is proper and strong from the beginning.

I have provided the Way do to all the repairing necessary, through repentance and commitment to become a disciple of Christ, which is to be promoted to construction worker from a repairer of minor problem spots. You are freed from your old job because Jesus Christ instantly repairs the troubles for you when you request Him to and believe that He discharges that responsibility. Then with a clear conscience and with confidence that all is well, you can rejoice in promotion realizing that you will be taught all you need to know to discharge your new responsibilities – so long as you are in an attitude of your self-will being immobilized under the constraint of the cross. The miracle is that the pain of self-will crucified is brief, and soon My will is brought to life through your resurrected self-will taking on a new form as a part – an integral, beautifully functioning part – of My eternal will.

If you would come after Christ along the Way to Truth and to Life, you must bear your cross – but not alone do you suffer it. My power surges into you, and the burden you dreaded and feared becomes light indeed – and transformed, faithful act, by faithful act, into a crown. The crown is your joy – but it is My glory.”

Unlimited Power – Hope

My power changes situations as surely as physical power changes physical environments.

Meditation Thought: “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13:34)

You were given the ability to choose that you might have joy – you are to choose wisely and well if you desire eternal pleasures.

Take time and effort to seek out every facet and phase of whatever touches your life, looking for the deeper hidden significance in each situation. Cultivate habits which are consistent with all that is extolled in the Word and in the Life.

When you are aware of more than the temporary, the immediate, and the selfish, then you also know that I will seek to shelter you when danger appears – and your choice to come to Me as I call is your road to joy and peace – no matter what you perceive surrounding you. When you desire to take shelter with Me, nothing shall come between us. This is your hope as well as your salvation.

To know that I long to give you aid – and that I have unlimited power to do so – is to engender such hope and confidence that your faith is the “substance of things hoped for”. “Substance” is real. Your knowledge of My loving desires and intentions is the power-generating part of releasing My aid specifically to wherever it is need in your life – and My power changes situations as surely as physical power changes physical environments. When you act out this knowledge with total abandon, unbridled enthusiasm, and extreme confidence, then you will do “greater works”.

Aided Hearing

When I remember that God can work good out of what I perceive as bad, I can persevere more easily.

Meditation Thought: “And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!'” (Luke 9:35)

When I ‘listen to Jesus’, how does it affect my life?

  • I am more aware of the joy of being alive, more enthusiastic about living in a fascinating, constantly changing world.
  • My angst is diminished.
  • I can cope more easily with the ‘bad times’ – the disappointments, the sadness of making errors – especially if they adversely affect other people.
  • When I remember that God can work good out of what I perceive as bad, I can persevere more easily.
  • Although disappointment is difficult, knowing that God created us to bond with us as we bond with our loved ones helps to east the angst.

So, my Creator, my Teacher, my Helper, I pray for You to guide me on the path You desire for me to take. Help me to perceive what I am to do to accomplish Your will. I know You desire good for me, as I desire good for my beloved family – and You have the right, and the ability, to guide me as You desire. Thank you, Lord, for your blessings.

“Miracle Formula”

The formula Jesus revealed is the intent and will of the Father for a fulfilled life.

Meditation Thought: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:24-25)

“BELIEVE, PRAY, FORGIVE” The formula Jesus revealed is the intent and will of the Father for a fulfilled life. Fulfilled for whom? Fulfilled for the child and the Father of the child. How? By the power of God’s Holy Spirit pouring out into the channel the child opens in himself as he is exposed to the truth of the formula, believes in the power of it, and acts accordingly.

What are miracles? They are correct applications of the formula – the natural consequences of cooperating with the order of the universe created by God.

Over and over the New Testament reiterates the necessity of belief (faith), of prayer, of forgiveness – and of the integrity of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

When I believe, when I pray, when I forgive, then I too have integrity – I am being true to nature – to the nature and character of my Source of being. I am functioning correctly, effectively – almost effortlessly, because the process is natural, and the power is not of my own labor, but flows in to move me.

I know only in part the end result of my functioning – God is the Master Planner. But to know in part is so awesome, so exciting, so fulfilling, as to change completely the volume and quality of my output.

There is abundant evidence that when the formula is used, it produces magnificent results.

I pray that I may be inspired, upheld, strengthened, enriched, and live my moments, my days, my years, in such complete adherence to the “miracle formula” that I shall be in truth, an enlarger of the spiritual area of life wherever the opportunity presents itself to me.

Learning by Experience

Only by taking time to reflect upon what has taken place can we assess the results and decide which actions were wise .

Meditation Thought: “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.” (1 John 2:3)

There is an order to life that exists commonly to every area. First comes the light of the dawn, then the opportunity to do the day’s work, then comes the evening – the time of reflection upon the results, and preparation of mind for the next day of activity.

Only by taking time to reflect upon what has taken place can we assess the results and decide which actions were wise and which should be altered to produce better results.

As in every area, we learn by experience, so it is in spiritual matters. We begin by becoming familiar with His commandments and seeking to direct our thoughts and actions to be of a similar nature. This is our part – but we do not control all that is involved. We must realize this, and acknowledge that we must be enveloped in the Father’s will so completely that there is no longer a visible “our will” and the “Father’s will”, but there is only one will – homogeneous, composed of two wills, but so thoroughly blended together as to function and appear as one will. It is this exhibition of a “one-will” life that is “keeping His commandments”, and that is our assurance that “we know Him”.

There is a vast difference in the knowledge that a certain person is our father – and the experience of our father’s love being poured out into our life, touching us and changing us, delighting us, fulfilling us, protecting us and teaching us.

The knowledge is moved into experience when we accept what our father longs for us to receive, and offers hopefully: His love, devotion, wisdom, and constant laboring for our well-being.

Only when we realize that these are the basis for His “commandments” do we come into enough understanding to change our attitude into one of joyful obedience. We have come to know that our father’s will is not for his benefit, but for ours. How could we but desire what he desires when we are the recipients of good?

Dual Perception

The person need not copy carry a label “made in the image of God” to identify the quality of workmanship: their thoughts, words, deeds and prayers will all reveal the Source of the quality – the high quality of their life.

Meditation Thought: “But if we walk in the light, as he [the Father] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

We “walk in the light” when we commit ourselves to seeking God – to loving Him – to becoming like Him. This is the invisible, spiritual aspect of “walking in the light”. But we are also physical creatures in a physical world. It is in the physical realm that Jesus, through His own physical being and actions that He took while in the body, that we can realize the miracle of cleansing our past, as we desire to do so, having become aware of God and committing ourselves to His way.

It is the dual aspect of our very beings – spiritual and physical – that requires dual perception, dedication and behavior in order to become creatures walking in the light. Our spirits can long to walk in the light, yet the actions of our body keep us from that light. And strange as it may seem, our body taking right actions does not insure our walking in the light: good deeds are helpful, and appreciated by the recipients – but unless the powerful love of the Holy Spirit is involved, they are limited in quantity and quality, and are not the beautiful, whole miracles of the light-enlightened and light-filled child of God.

Only when both one’s spirit and body are dedicated to walking in the light does the evidence shine forth that this person truly is fulfilling the promise declared in the Word. The person need not copy carry a label “made in the image of God” to identify the quality of workmanship: their thoughts, words, deeds and prayers will all reveal the Source of the quality – the high quality of their life.

From Manipulation to Transformation

When this takes place there is the brilliant radiance, comforting warmth, and assurance of power…

Meditation Thought: “So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.” (1 Corinthians 3:20-23)

The circle of Christ’s light, and warmth of His love, and power of His being is within reach. But I must move, by my desire to be there, to that place. Perhaps I see another that has moved into this ‘magic’ circle – and I can observe the change. This makes me desire to change also – enough to take courage and move from my familiar habitat to the new area.

At first I see only the ‘greener grass’; I do not realize fully the requirements of living in this place… and by the time I do, I am willing to forgo my own ego-centered desires for the continuing pleasure of the revealing Light, the comforting Love, the moving Power.

And then the miracle: what I have willingly given up is returned to me, but transformed by this Holy Power we call God, Creator of all. I find that though desires are still a part of my life, they are not of their former character – they seem more unselfish, more flexible, more of a spiritual nature than of a material nature. And they do not seem to be at variance with God’s Word, nor His will as I perceive His Word and His will.

And thus my transformed desires are able to be fulfilled. No longer am I trying to manipulate God into fulfilling my self-conceived desires. I am desiring those things that God seeks to fulfill my life. When this takes place there is the brilliant radiance, comforting warmth, assurance of power that Jesus’ life demonstrated.

To what extent it is possible for me to live this life – or perhaps since the total possibility exists from this moment on – I should state more accurately: though I do not know to what degree I will be able to embrace this concept and this life, I am grateful to have come this far in the perception of such a life. I desire to live it. I will try to live it. I pray to God that I will be given the wisdom, knowledge and strength to live it. So help me, God! Please!

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!

With All

God seeks to bless us, to nurture us and to mature us into pure images of Himself.

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)

To “love your God” is in effect to love neighbor and self. God is neighbor and self, not limited to neighbor and self, but these are a part of God, for we are His, created by Him, for Him and in His image.

Merely because we do not perceive that all of us have a “connecting link” does not deny the existence of it. Wind cannot be seen. Emotion cannot be seen. Yet the effects of wind and emotion can be of great visibility and tremendous consequence.

We need to understand that this commandment of Jesus was not given merely because God was seeking glory and adulation, but because God seeks to bless us, to nurture us and to mature us into pure images of Himself.

The greater our understanding of who He is, and how intensely He desires us to understand so that we may share joy with Him in the fulfillment of our relationship as knowledgeable participants, the more assurance we have of a life both satisfying and yet dynamic.

Dawn: Moment by Moment

I desire that you see the pure, lovely, effective life ahead unmarred by the life that you lived up until this moment.

Meditation Thought: “ Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these [a new heaven and a new earth], be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation…” (2 Peter 3:14-15)

“I seek to lift from you the burden you have taken up which is not My choice for you to carry: the burden of fear of not thinking, saying and doing everything perfectly according to My will.

I do desire for you to do everything perfectly according to My will, for this behavior will bring you maximum joy and will be the most effective way to be My minister to the world.

But: you do not accomplish this most perfectly by being so uptight about it that you feel constrained. As in worldly matters, you perform best spiritually when you feel such rapport and love and confidence and enthusiasm that you are content and relaxed enough to move freely to express yourself naturally.

I wish for you to be your unique self – true to My Word and My principles, but trying any way which seems right to you to express them.

Jesus came to demonstrate My tolerance: tolerance to the point of forgiveness: forgiveness to the point of doing for you what you are unable to do for yourself: cleansing you completely of all sins, including the sin of not believing that you are actually forgiven to the extent that your sins never took place in My sight – and I desire that you also see by the insight which I reveal to you the pure, lovely, effective life ahead unmarred by the life that you lived up until this moment.

Yes, you will err – and when you do, take proper steps to once again find the proper Way. But do not walk the way in such fear of taking a wrong turn that you do not enjoy it and you go along at a snail’s pace. Use the methods Jesus used: constant prayer, constant ministry, constant forgiveness, constant appropriate, creative expressions of love.

How? Take time to pray, develop your mind, use your body, be preceptive and observing and appreciative. Consider each moment as a dawn: the dark cold night of ignorance, fear and rebellion is being removed by the Son breaking into the darkness.”