"We are heirs of the father, we are joint heirs with the son, we are children of the Kingdom, we are family, we are one." Here, the song writer in a beautiful song reminds us of scripture: to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." I love the fact that it is a familial bond. I am obsessed with it. No one can underestimate the value of the "horizontal relationship" we must have with one another to prove ourselves worthy of being called the children of God. Yet, what is even more fascinating for me is what makes all of this possible, what makes us "joint heirs with christ." The fatherhood of God!
The fatherhood of God has special meaning, especially, for those who have felt the pain of abandonment by earthly parents. I can say, without doubt, that they understand the fatherhood of God in very practical ways. Children uptown had mom and dad at the table with them; for those abandoned by earthly parents, the idea of loving parents, tenderness and caring at the dinner table, was but a dream. A friend who had this problem told me that he had to call for something that was not within him to come through the gates of his heart. He called on the Holy Spirit as a farmer to come into his heart and plant a seed. The seed planted in his heart was one of vision to see the fatherhood of God as the most dependable any human being can have.
It was offered to him. The seed germinated and bore fruits. No earthly father could compare to God. He later became a rock who consoled those who had enjoyed the care of earthly parents, but like sheep had still gone astray. When he brought them back into the fold, he consoled them; he convinced them of what he knew based on actual, real-life, everyday reliance that God's love as father was undying and unchanging. So with him we never have to fear the advent of disappointment, because it will never come! Indeed, He walks with me everyday.
Human beings fail us, disappoint us, become mouthpieces or voices of unbelievable cruelty. Earthly beings whose mouths too quickly proclaim love unleash a cruel brevity of the experience itself; it convinces us that a vision of the fatherhood of God must precede a "vertical relationship" that seeks to know the father with an incredible outpouring of the heart and an emptying out of soul. I cry out daily without restraint, "Take the passion of my heart, father, put it to work for you in this vineyard souls!" "For today, let your love, and not that of any human being fill my heart. Take me out of the prisons of disappointment and shame into your joy and righteousness until my work on earth is done. Amen!"
God bless! Keep the faith. Morning will come!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
Dreams Work!
For sometime now I have felt a heavy burden on my heart and a profound need in my spirit for Life Crowns to do a seminar that says, Dreams Work! The witness in my spirit has said Life Crowns cannot ignore this task, lest it ignore the voice of God. Take this transformative foretaste as the beginning of a great seminar to come.
Repeat after me....
Dreams work!
Again...
Dreams work!
Again...
Dreams work!
Dreams are not who you want to be, but who you already are! You don't know it yet because the lights are still out.
Say, it's time!
It's time!
To put limits on myself!
(Repeat)
It's time!
(Repeat)
To set deadlines and goals!
(Repeat)
It's time!
(Repeat)
To make my dreams come true!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
We said it seven times. Now, put on the light.Think of a light switch turned on and off every 1-2 seconds. Before you could blink it’s off, and you see nothing. Think of faith as a room, the light’s turned on one second and you see what’s in the room, but before your eyes could embrace them, it goes off. I dare you in the darkness of your ignorance (when the light is switched off) to take the hand of the God that "calleth those thing which be not as though they were." (Rom 4:16). Turn the light on. Someone blessed with wisdom from on high, wisdom from the only wise God, stated:
"Faith calls those things that be not as though they were. After teaching on the subject of faith for the past sixty-five years, I have learned that there is nothing quite so hard for Christians as calling those things that be not as though they were."
Repeat after me...
Dreams work!
Turn on the light!
(Repeat)
It's already there!
(Repeat)
It's already there!
My deepest thanks for stopping by. Don't forget, abundance is in the room with you, just turn on the light of faith.
Repeat after me....
Dreams work!
Again...
Dreams work!
Again...
Dreams work!
Dreams are not who you want to be, but who you already are! You don't know it yet because the lights are still out.
Say, it's time!
It's time!
To put limits on myself!
(Repeat)
It's time!
(Repeat)
To set deadlines and goals!
(Repeat)
It's time!
(Repeat)
To make my dreams come true!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
(Repeat)
Dreams work!
We said it seven times. Now, put on the light.Think of a light switch turned on and off every 1-2 seconds. Before you could blink it’s off, and you see nothing. Think of faith as a room, the light’s turned on one second and you see what’s in the room, but before your eyes could embrace them, it goes off. I dare you in the darkness of your ignorance (when the light is switched off) to take the hand of the God that "calleth those thing which be not as though they were." (Rom 4:16). Turn the light on. Someone blessed with wisdom from on high, wisdom from the only wise God, stated:
"Faith calls those things that be not as though they were. After teaching on the subject of faith for the past sixty-five years, I have learned that there is nothing quite so hard for Christians as calling those things that be not as though they were."
Repeat after me...
Dreams work!
Turn on the light!
(Repeat)
It's already there!
(Repeat)
It's already there!
My deepest thanks for stopping by. Don't forget, abundance is in the room with you, just turn on the light of faith.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Twilight: It's Late and the Sun is almost Down "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
I can hear the fading voice of Jesus in the distance: "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." There you are standing in the midst of life, and perhaps, a midnight experience, dreams dashed, hope in a casket, family broken, wife/husband stricken with disease. Age 50 or even earlier taps you on the shoulder. It says it's twilight, come on, the sun is almost down. Knowing what he is talking about you don't question him. Now, of course, you know the story, I'm sure you'll say to me, "The first thing I would do is ask him, where to?" He'll probably say, "Where else? Into the setting sun." You can't shake the persistence of messengers from the valley of the shadows of death; they stand behind age 50, making ugly faces at you. You then say nothing. You let your mind do the moving around, restlessly, you've been trained to hide emotion. Or maybe not, in which case your pertubation is visible. The messengers from the valley and the big 50 are having a nasty blast at your expense.
In your confusion, you are attempting to take stock, take account of what you've done. Oh, "Did I bury my talents? Everytime I built, it was as if a pig showed up and blew the whole thing down..." The point is, you are nervous, frantic, and at points, even hysterical. The sun is almost down. What have you spent life and time doing? Being massaged by temptations to become romantically involved with the physical world. Do we ever pray for spiritual gifts? We pray for material things, but do we pray for spiritual gifts and blessings. Or, is it a waste of time? The first responsibility is to seek first the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the world; first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be addded unto us; even peace in the twilight. I can hear the fading sound of Jesus' voice: "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The fading sound is harrowing, this proximity must be closed!
In your confusion, you are attempting to take stock, take account of what you've done. Oh, "Did I bury my talents? Everytime I built, it was as if a pig showed up and blew the whole thing down..." The point is, you are nervous, frantic, and at points, even hysterical. The sun is almost down. What have you spent life and time doing? Being massaged by temptations to become romantically involved with the physical world. Do we ever pray for spiritual gifts? We pray for material things, but do we pray for spiritual gifts and blessings. Or, is it a waste of time? The first responsibility is to seek first the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of the world; first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things will be addded unto us; even peace in the twilight. I can hear the fading sound of Jesus' voice: "...be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The fading sound is harrowing, this proximity must be closed!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Broken Bridges of Ease "In the world ye shall have tribulation:but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to "Life Crowns." Friends, have you ever reflected on broken bridges of ease? Ease... I often wonder what "ease" means. Does it mean one kicks back, relaxes, chillaxes, and enjoys life? What does ease sound like? Close your eyes and whisper it to yourself...e-a-s-e... The sound prompts me to relax the muscles, uncurl the toes, even slow down the breathing, take deep breaths etc. So even if we did not check the dictionary, we would know what "ease" means. Also, we know "ease" is not "happiness."
In the midst of our most tumultous experiences, we can access ease by a deliberate mental and spiritual effort to pull back from the problems that arise, the furnaces of anxiety that threaten to burn every shred of peace left in the shadows of life. Without this, life would be impossible. I am as sure of this as I am of the fact that I am sitting here.
But "ease" is not "happiness." Happiness is a dream we pursue. Indeed, Christ can bring us to that reality. The despairing heart says Jesus can do it, but it is still a big dream. A friend once quipped that even the profound words of Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence limited us to the "pursuit" of it, not its attainment. The founding father could have declared, "...life, liberty, and happiness" as the inalienable rights, but he chose to stop at the "pursuit of happiness." So happiness itself is a big dream!
I have found that what most people ask for each day is not really happiness, but ease! The ability to exhale after a long day. We want to be able to work hard and hope that even if some of it falls apart, some stays in tact. Some have lived ten, twenty, thirty years before death shakes their bodily frames. Others live a hundred years before they are called to drop their robes of flesh. In all of the time we spend in our journey through earth, what we ask is often not too great; we ask for "ease." But then, bridges of ease are broken, but life still asks us to access ease. The first instinct there is to ask: "Who is out there, playing a cruel game with us?" We wonder how much longer we can take it. The bridges of ease are broken, but we must still get to ease?
After wrestling with the evil of poor choices and bad decisions, humanity stops and starts to repair and rebuild. We do it with earnestness, sincerity, and a genuine (and unrelenting desire!) to stand still no more. I even remember the great statement of a child of God, at least, one century back: "Time becomes an ally of the primitive forces of socio-stagnation." So I work hard in each twenty-four hour cycle, and hope at the end of the day, I can exhale with e-a-s-e.
Transitioning from noon to twilight, humanity prays, "Please God, even if some of our work, our well-considered choices, well-researched decisions crumble, please...please...preserve something of it so at midnight we can exhale with e-a-s-e. All we ask is e-a-s-e." The work you do daily; what you do from minute to minute, whatever your corner of life, is part of a process of building bridges over which you can get from expectations in heart and mind, challenges before you, confrontations in your doings along the way, humiliation in your actions or interactions, all the way to e-a-s-e.
So the question becomes, what does one do when it seems that productive actions taken for a long time are destroyed and a chance at mere "ease" is destroyed? I put ease before peace and happiness. But you always have even a bare thread of your spirit left. Imagine that thread of spirit as if it were something physical that you can grab a hold of. Now, imagine that thread as tied to the wreckage of all your efforts, see those efforts as your broken bridges, then, scream: "I won't ever let go because Jesus has overcome the world!" Now, think: perhaps, the seemingly unrestorable brokeness of bridges is an illusion. We'll pick up here next time.
God bless. We love you. Keep the faith!
In the midst of our most tumultous experiences, we can access ease by a deliberate mental and spiritual effort to pull back from the problems that arise, the furnaces of anxiety that threaten to burn every shred of peace left in the shadows of life. Without this, life would be impossible. I am as sure of this as I am of the fact that I am sitting here.
But "ease" is not "happiness." Happiness is a dream we pursue. Indeed, Christ can bring us to that reality. The despairing heart says Jesus can do it, but it is still a big dream. A friend once quipped that even the profound words of Thomas Jefferson in the American Declaration of Independence limited us to the "pursuit" of it, not its attainment. The founding father could have declared, "...life, liberty, and happiness" as the inalienable rights, but he chose to stop at the "pursuit of happiness." So happiness itself is a big dream!
I have found that what most people ask for each day is not really happiness, but ease! The ability to exhale after a long day. We want to be able to work hard and hope that even if some of it falls apart, some stays in tact. Some have lived ten, twenty, thirty years before death shakes their bodily frames. Others live a hundred years before they are called to drop their robes of flesh. In all of the time we spend in our journey through earth, what we ask is often not too great; we ask for "ease." But then, bridges of ease are broken, but life still asks us to access ease. The first instinct there is to ask: "Who is out there, playing a cruel game with us?" We wonder how much longer we can take it. The bridges of ease are broken, but we must still get to ease?
After wrestling with the evil of poor choices and bad decisions, humanity stops and starts to repair and rebuild. We do it with earnestness, sincerity, and a genuine (and unrelenting desire!) to stand still no more. I even remember the great statement of a child of God, at least, one century back: "Time becomes an ally of the primitive forces of socio-stagnation." So I work hard in each twenty-four hour cycle, and hope at the end of the day, I can exhale with e-a-s-e.
Transitioning from noon to twilight, humanity prays, "Please God, even if some of our work, our well-considered choices, well-researched decisions crumble, please...please...preserve something of it so at midnight we can exhale with e-a-s-e. All we ask is e-a-s-e." The work you do daily; what you do from minute to minute, whatever your corner of life, is part of a process of building bridges over which you can get from expectations in heart and mind, challenges before you, confrontations in your doings along the way, humiliation in your actions or interactions, all the way to e-a-s-e.
So the question becomes, what does one do when it seems that productive actions taken for a long time are destroyed and a chance at mere "ease" is destroyed? I put ease before peace and happiness. But you always have even a bare thread of your spirit left. Imagine that thread of spirit as if it were something physical that you can grab a hold of. Now, imagine that thread as tied to the wreckage of all your efforts, see those efforts as your broken bridges, then, scream: "I won't ever let go because Jesus has overcome the world!" Now, think: perhaps, the seemingly unrestorable brokeness of bridges is an illusion. We'll pick up here next time.
God bless. We love you. Keep the faith!
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