Tag Archives: Faith

THAT QUICKENING MOMENT: Part 2

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YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN

Rebirth means coming out differently than you went in.

If you want to enter–

–to know

–to percieve

–to experience

the realm of the spirit,

the kingdom of God,

you have to spiritually be born anew, regenerated, from on high.

The only way to do this is to hear, see and encounter truth,

truth about who you are, why you’re here and where you’re going.

The moment you wake up, it’s like a new birth, as if you’re spiritually coming alive. This is that quickening moment.

Some quickening moments happen in an instant. Some happen over the course of time and as a result of culminating events, but regardless of how it happens, you will never be the same again.

In the New Testament, book of John, third chapter, Jesus does the best job I’ve ever heard of describing the quickening to Nicodemus. Let’s look at what he says.

In the following passage, I am using the New International Version with the King James of the Book of John as a reference. I’m also reading from the Greek linear Bible and consulting Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Bolded areas are my own thoughts.

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FLESH IS FLESH. SPIRIT IS SPIRIT.

That which is born of flesh is flesh. That which is born of spirit is spirit.

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 

2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

He came to Jesus at night because Nicodemus was a religious teacher of Judaism and Jesus had no credentials in the religious or academic circles of his day and culture. In other words, Nicodemus was a member of the “experts” and Jesus was just a guy from Nazareth.  

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see (perceive, comprehend) the kingdom (realm, way) of God (the Supreme Divinity) unless they are born again (from above, on high).[a]”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter (come into) the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit (God’s spirit). 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit.

A person is born into this world via the flesh, the physical, and we live in a body made of flesh, but we are not flesh. We only live in flesh. We are spirit and when we are born into the flesh body, we can only comprehend physical things unless we are reborn, regenerated, awakened from on high to spiritual things, i.e. The Kingdom of God, the Eternal Way.

YOU CAN’T IMPRISON THE WIND

You can’t imprison the wind!

 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind (Spirit) blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]

The Greek word used for wind here is identical to the one used for Spirit, “pneuma” and it means a current that is breath or a breeze, a life spirit, a divine spirit.

You can hear and see the effects of the Spirit of God, the Way of Life, but you can’t contain it, control it, or determine which direction it is going to move, just as you can’t control or predict the wind.

I am thinking of how, even with all our modern technology, we can’t always accurately predict the activity of hurricanes and tornadoes. We don’t know exactly where they’re going to touch down or what they’re going to do. Sometimes tornadoes pop up that weren’t even on the forecast and newscasters can only assess them after the fact.

There is a line from the movie, China Cry, where Lam Nang Ye tells the Chinese military general that in order to lock God away, you’d have to imprison the wind. It can’t be done, not with force, not with coercion, not with technology or threats. You can’t imprison the wind. And you cannot control the Spirit of God that resides in each of us and when we are regenerated, reborn, awakened from on high, we are like a wind.

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 

Again, Nicodemus was the “expert.”

 LIGHT HAS COME INTO THE WORLD AND DARKNESS JUST DOESN’T GET IT!

Light has come into the world but those who live only for this world do not understand it.

11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still, you people do not accept our testimony (evidence given, stated).”

I find it interesting that Jesus uses the term “we” in this statement. Why? Who is the “we” and “our” of which he speaks? Could it mean all those who had come and tried to explain the Way of God? In another place he spoke of how the Jews had stoned the prophets and messengers from God instead of believing them. Could he be speaking of all those who bring messages of eternal truth? When he says, “You people do not accept our testimony.” In the Linear Greek Bible it reads more like he is saying, “And still, you people do not get it.”

So, I understand this verse as thus: “I tell you. Here’s the way it is. All of us who have come from God (including the prophets and teachers who came before me) have tried to explain the way the Realm of the Spirit, the Kingdom of God operates, and still, you people, with your man-made degrees, religious doctrines, rules, laws, and credentials, just don’t get it.” That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit and the earthly mind will never comprehend spirit. Spirit speaks to spirit.

 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things, and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 

LIFTED UP

13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes in him should not perish but may have eternal life.”[g]

From the Greek: No one has ever entered into the abode of God except the one who came from there—the Child/Offspring of the Human race. Just as Moses hoisted up the serpent in a desolate place, so it is necessary that the representative of the Human race must be hoisted up so that all people who adhere to, trust in, and cling to his words would not destroy life, lose life, or perish, but have perpetual (continuously renewed) life because of him.

The life Jesus offers those who trust him isn’t just in the hereafter, but in the now. The peace he offers is NOW. The promises he offers for those who trust him is far superior to anything we can gain in this world; the peace surpasses any and all amounts of human understanding. I am thinking of an old song that says, “I’d rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.”

A PURPOSEFUL, HAPPY, FULFILLED LIFE–NOW AND FOREVER

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Because the Supreme Divinity agapao (valued, accepted, and appreciated without regard to conditions or circumstances) the inhabitants of earth he brought forth and delivered his sole offspring that all people who committed to and trusted him should not lose life, destroy their lives, or be lost from their way, but have perpetual existence.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn (punish) the world (people), but to save (heal, deliver, protect, make whole) the world (people) through him.

LOVE

Wow! What a departure from things so many people have heard. Do you hear this? Jesus didn’t come into this world to start a religion.

He didn’t come to punish people for their errors.

He came as a result of LOVE, and he came from LOVE because God is LOVE.

He came so that anyone who hears his words and believes them, who follows the Way, would have a blessed, happy, healthy, complete, and fulfilled life.  No matter where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what lie you’ve believed, Jesus brings this message to you. GOD IS FOR YOU, NOT AGAINST YOU.

LOVE is not an emotion. LOVE is the WAY! And the ONLY means to having a truly happy life is to walk in the WAY. If we live only for ourselves and what we can attain in this life, if the only hope we have is in this life, we will be miserable people.

BE IT UNTO YOU AS YOU BELIEVE

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

If we refuse to believe the message of Jesus, if we refuse to trust him, to commit to following his words, to walking in the Way, we are punished already, not because God is punishing us but because we are choosing to walk contrary to the guidance of the Divine Spirit. The only way to have inner peace, joy, fulfillment, and contentment is to walk according to the Way. If we choose not to follow the Way, we end up punishing ourselves.

19 This is the verdict (justice, condemnation): Light (illumination) has come into the world (inhabitants of earth), but people loved (valued and appreciated) darkness (obscurities, shadiness) instead of light (illumination) because their deeds (efforts, toil, works, acts) were evil (hurtful, degenerate, diseased, derelict, malicious, grievous, harmful, facinorous, guilting, culpable—unkind, unmerciful.) 

20 Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Think of ANY, and I mean ANY, thing that people do to others that cause pain, destruction, hopelessness, etc. (evil) and I will tell you there is a lack of love, i.e., a lack of God’s Way. Love does nothing to cause intentional pain to others.

Whenever we ignore that inner gnawing that we have stepped off the path and continue, little-by-little, transgressing our own moral boundaries, our own souls, we start down a slippery slope that can explain away any immoral behavior until we find ourselves doing things we never imagined we would do and involved in things we never imagined we’d be involved in.

Yet, no matter where we are or what we’ve done, if we come to our senses IN THAT QUICKENING MOMENT and realize we’ve been walking the road of pleasing self and/or others instead of the road of LOVE (the Way), doing things God’s way, we can make a shift. We can change. We can surrender to the Way and the Way is LOVE. When we do, God, LOVE itself, meets us and wraps spiritual arms around us and all the forces of the universe work together for our good, to bring us to a place of inner peace, which is the true and only measure of success.

Jesus said, “I am the WAY…” Do you know why he said that?

Because he is LOVE. He is LOVE because he came from LOVE.

For John 4:7-8 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is Love. So, beloved, let us love one another.”

When we make that shift, that change, our entire perspective on life and all our values shift. In the next blog post I will discuss what these changes might look like.

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  1. John 3:3 & 7: The Greek for again also means from above.
  2. John 3:6 Or but spirit
  3. John 3:7 The Greek is plural.
  4. John 3:8 The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.
  5. John 3:13 Some manuscripts Man, who is in heaven
  6. John 3:14 The Greek for lifted up also means exalted.
  7. John 3:15 Some interpreters end the quotation with verse 21.

John 3 NIV – Jesus Teaches Nicodemus – Now there was – Bible Gateway

(33) China Cry (1990) | Trailer | Julia Nickson-Soul | Russell Wong | James Shigeta | France Nuyen – YouTube

 

THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME

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THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME

Aliens Traveling Through

My aunt tells me that I am an alien because I carry a gene for being Rh-. I tell her that she’s right. I am an alien, but it’s got nothing to do with blood type.

This body that I’m in is merely the vehicle that I travel in while I’m here. It’s like Iron Man’s suit. It allows me to interact with the physical world. I’m actually an energy being, and I came from another realm, an energy realm.

I’M JUST PASSING THROUGH

So, you could say that I’m an eternal spirit being who is having a temporary physical experience. It’s like I’m on vacation here and I came to visit the pyramid, and whether you realize it or not, so did you.  The problem is that after we’ve been here awhile, we get culturally acclimated and forget who we truly are. Our GPS goes offline, apparently.

Visiting the pyramid.

Now about this pyramid that we’re experiencing while we’re here, at the base, you have the need to feed yourself, for finding shelter and water.

As you move up the pyramid you discover that you have the need for companionship, connection to others, a sense of belonging and a need for acceptance and to feel loved.

At the tip top of the pyramid is a need for purpose. It’s where you live your life as if why you’re here is clear to you, and you feel that the essence of who you are is being actualized. You begin to realize that you are not the vehicle that you’re traveling in. The goal in this life is to get to the top of the pyramid and remember WHO WE ARE.

WHO ARE YOU?

If I asked you, “Who are you?” You might reply by telling me your name, but if I called you something else, would you continue to exist as yourself? Of course, you would. You still exist regardless of what I call you.

If I asked you who you are and you say, “I’m Fred’s wife?” Then if Fred leaves you, do you cease to exist? No. You would continue to exist.

Who you are is not somebody’s spouse or mother or girlfriend, husband, brother, father etc. These things may be a part of your existence, but who you are is an eternal and mighty spiritual being, not some title that you were assigned when you were born into this world.

ETERNAL SPIRITUAL BEINGS

Wayne Dyer said that the telling question of a person’s life is found in their relationship to the Infinite Source of All, God. Until you have a relationship with the Infinite Source of All you will not know anything about purpose, and you will not know who you are. You will not realize why you are here.

So, I could say that my relationship to the divine defines who I am and yours determines who you are. Paul said, “Know you not that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit?” The essence of the Almighty is traveling around in our little bodies.

Jesus once said, “God’s kingdom is coming, but not in a way that you will be able to see with your eyes. 21 People will not say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ because God’s kingdom is withinyou.” Luke 17:20-21 NCV

Since the Kingdom of God or the Spirit Realm is within us then “through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

And again, Jesus says, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.” Mark 11:23

It is from the world within that the world without is created. The Apostle Paul tells us to set our affections on the eternal things rather than temporal things. Why?

Because–temporal things owe their existence to eternal things. All things that are manifested in this physical realm must first be called into existence in the spiritual realm. So, how do you do that? Call those things that are not as though they were?

ASK and it is GIVEN.

You do it by asking, then appreciating that the thing you asked for is already given. Jesus said, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

What should we ask for and how do we do it?

Jesus gave us a good model:

  1. Our Father in Heaven hallowed be your name–be appreciative.
  2. your kingdom come–the kingdom of God is within me, and I operate based on the laws of the spiritual universe.
  3. your will be done on earth as it is in heaven—I will be in alignment with your Way. I will trust you with all my heart and not adjust my behavior and attitudes to match those of the prevailing societal illusions around me, but rather turn them in the path of peace. I will seek peace and ensue it. And you will direct my steps.
  4. Give me this day my daily bread—thank you for meeting all my needs, according to your great riches in glory. You do exceedingly abundantly above my wildest dreams through your power that works within me.
  5. forgive me for my trespasses–thank you for not holding anything against me.
  6. as I forgive those who trespass against me–I release any resentment that I may have towards anyone and realize that there are no justified resentments. I do not hold anything against anyone.
  7. lead me not into temptation–do not let me go inward, where I focus on the illusion of lack, trying to solve things on my own and “fix” them based on my own limited knowledge. Keep me from self-sabotage, and do not let me listen to those who have not received the revelation that you desire us to live peaceful, joyful, and abundant lives.
  8. Deliver me from evil–rescue me from harmful traps, ill-will, hurt, and degeneracy.
  9. for yours is the kingdom–your mighty reality, realm, that I’m living in.
  10. and the power–your miraculous force, abundant ability, strength flowing through me.
  11. and the glory–dignity, honor
  12. forever–perpetually without end.
  13. Amen–Surely.

WHERE YOUR TREASURE IS

People focus on the treasures of this physical reality but it’s in the realm of the Spirit where the true treasures lie. For the things which are visible are not made of the things which we can see or experience with our five senses.

We, because we contain the essence or spirit of God, can literally call those things that are not as though they were.  The key is to do with while maintaining the joyous state we would feel if we saw them right in front of us. That’s what “faith” is, rejoicing the moment you ask for a thing as if though you’re already experiencing it.

FEAR NOT

Knowing that while we are currently experiencing this world, in it, but not of it, that we are spiritual beings having physical experiences, why would we ever fear lack? Why would we ever fear death? Knowing the truth of who we are frees us from the limiting laws of the physical reality.

I am remembering stories from the Bible now and in light of this current understanding, they all make sense. Of course, Jesus calmed the sea. He wielded a higher power. Of course, an earthquake freed Paul and Silas from prison. The power of appreciation and praise sets the laws of the spiritual universe into motion. No wonder Jehosophat won a battle through praise alone! Praise, appreciation for the goodness of God, literally turns the tide in our favor. Everything works out when we go forth with praise and appreciation or as it says in the Tao Te Ching, verse 4, “…Within it (the divine Way) the sharp edges become smooth; the twisted knots loosen; the sun is softened by a cloud; the dust settles into place…”

The laws of this physical universe are subject to the laws of the spiritual universe and all things in this life are temporal, yet we are eternal. We are loved. We operate on a higher plane of existence. No wonder Paul said, “Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2.

Renew your mind. Be born again so that you may perceive, understand and experience the Kingdom of God, the abundant, divine, and eternal realm of existence.

 

 

 

 

 

You Harvest what you Plant

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Photo by Du01b0u01a1ng Nhu00e2n on Pexels.com

You can never harvest beans by planting tomatoes. At least that’s been my experience. Every time I plant beans I get beans, unless the groundhogs get them first. When I plant corn, I get corn, tomato seeds yield tomatoes, squash seeds give me squash and so on. No matter what kind of seed I put in the ground, that’s exactly the kind of plant that comes up. That seems to be a law of the natural universe. It’s also a law of the spiritual universe. You harvest what you plant.

If you saw a person planting pumpkins and expecting carrots you’d probably think they were a little wonky in the head! Yet, we do it all the time in the spirit realm.

Consider the following:

When I was in college I complained to my beloved Art professor one day that I had no friends. She replied, “He who hath friends must show himself friendly.” I realized it was true. I developed a little philosophy based off my discoveries through the exercise of showing myself friendly.

With one statement that professor taught me a bit about the Law of Reaping and Sowing, also known in some circles as the Law of Attraction. If you see yourself as being lonely then you will be lonely but if you become friendly, you will have friends. If you want everyone to think you’re interesting, then show interest in them.

You can’t sow complaints and reap joy. You can’t sow lies and reap truth. You can’t sow hatred and reap love. You can’t sow drama and reap peace.

In the Book of Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not see.” He goes on to say, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Hebrews 11:1 & 3 (NIV) In Romans, he said that God had called the things which were not as if though they were.

The truth is that it’s a little more than just saying something. It’s having a joyous feeling, an excitement, when you say it. Don’t dwell on it. Don’t fixate on it. Speak into life, be thankful, then go about your business doing other stuff and in time, it will come to pass and you will get to rejoice a second time! In the same way, if we have a negative feeling when we speak a thing, we can literally call unpleasant things into our lives by our words and the spiritual vibration or expectation that accompanies those words.

Here’s another way to look at it. Truth or reality is based on the credence or mental acceptance of what one perceives; this mental acceptance is the essence, confidence and assurance, the absolute foundation, that brings into tangible manifestations objects and events that are expected into fruition. In other words, if we believe it and rejoice as if though we already have it then it will manifest in our lives. We don’t have to know the specifics, just that it’s as good as done.

If you sow seeds of earnest expectation with a thankful heart then you will reap crops that are only limited by your imagination.