Gold

Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.  Rev 3:18

These are the words spoken from God.  I just love the appeal in these words; I get a sense of God’s desperation for us to give his way a go, his longing for our love and companionship.  Just come to me…..

Gold – refined from fire – making it the most precious gold as all the impurities are melted away / burnt off / cast aside.  Just as gold reaches this pure state with fire – so does God’s fire purify us. 

And the nakedness God speaks of in this verse reminds me of Adam and Eve  - the first human creation – realizing their nakedness and shame and hide from God.  That defining time when they broke God’s heart by leaving him - abandonment. This separation is now over, God pleads with us to take the white robe from him – let me take that shame, that nakedness – He took it to the grave for each and every one of us.  As the story comes to a close in Revelation, things are restored to the way it was always meant to be – our brokenness fixed and we have the chance to understand we don’t have to feel naked in God’s sight.

The "seeing" God refers to at the end of the verse  - to me this means spiritual sight.  As we trust in God - have a little faith that he is present in our lives, we start to see things differently, we begin to see glimpses of Gods ways, God's purpose and we start to fall in love.

With open mouth I pant because I long for your commandments.  Psalm 119:131

I’ve just finished reading “The Divine Romance” by Gene Edwards.

It’s the ultimate love story, written from God’s perspective, his longing for a mate – just as Adam has a mate in Eve.

If there is only one book you ever read about God – it should be this one…

 

silence

Be Still and Know I am God. Psalm 46:10

I’ve been learning a bit more about prayer over the last few weeks. Prayer has been the focus of a book I have been reading by Jeanne Guyon entitled “Experiences the depths of Jesus Christ”. It’s a short book but I’ve found to be of great help and I highly recommend it. Written in the latter half of the seventeenth century, this book was publicly burned in France at some stage and it has also been received by seeking Christians as one of the most helpful and powerful Christian books ever written.

I’ve been teaching myself to be still in the presence of God, practicing this while being in a very quiet place and emptying my mind of all things – I’ve found emptying my mind to be quite hard, it’s amazing how many things – random things – keep popping into my brain. It’s becoming a little easier the more I practice but still a challenging thing to do. Thinking momentarily of a verse or silently calling on God - helps me to be still.

The result has been amazing, as I’ve had a little faith to know that God is dwelling inside of me, as I turn inwards to myself I have been able to experience a joyful lavishing of Gods’ love. I’ve learnt that no words are better than any words and in fact I’m struggling to find the right words to describe the experience. It makes sense though, we all know, listening is way more important (and harder to do) than talking when it comes to communicating with people. How can we really experience what God has to say if we don’t be still, observe or expect communication in both directions?

I feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of understanding all of this and there are further depths God can unveil if it’s his favour for me to experience more. Has anyone else had such close experiences in the silences of their prayers?

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. Psalm 62:1,5

My child, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways. Proverbs 23:26

To everything, there is a season. Ecclesiastes 3:1

The kingdom of God is within us. Luke 17:21

Check out the description of this book here.

One

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have not told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. John 14: 2-4

I have been busy as usual exploring relationships with school kids over the last couple of weeks. Part of our journey has been values, one of the exploration points being sex before marriage – ok or not ok…. It is fair to say that most thought it was OK to have sex before marriage, and the idea of marriage wasn’t looked too favorable. Perhaps that’s a reflection of the age of the students (marriage is far in the future) or maybe a reflection of their experiences of marriage breakups, failed relationships of significant adults in their lives. After all, the stats on relationship breakdowns is sadly very high.

It has made me think about how God views marriage and also explore how God designed marriage to be. There seems to be a sense that when two people come together they become one “in flesh”. It’s a bit like how our lives become “one in Christ with God” – there is a lot of this “oneness” language in the bible – God being one, us being one with God, us becoming one in intimate human encounters.

I was amazed to learn something new about scripture passage at the top of this entry – it connects with this oneness, it is wedding language. Yes it seems that within the oneness we share in God’s circle of divine relationship, God wants to be “married” to us!!

Around the time of Jesus these words were used as an exchange between engaged couples - the man speaking to the woman – said after the marriage proposal. It was the mans way of saying he had a home for her – in his family home, but he had to go off and build a new room for them - a bedroom, within the house – that’s the “prepare a place for you” part. Under the watchful eye of his father, the husband-to-be would build on this room, and only when it was deemed good enough in the eyes of his father would be able to go back to his fiancées home and take her to be his bride – the celebration would begin.

When Jesus spoke these words to his disciples, Jesus had just predicted Peter’s denial of Him, things were heating up in Jerusalem about Jesus and they were scared. Jesus comforted his disciples with these words and the disciples would have immediately recognized it as wedding language – they would have heard these words before. If they truly knew who Jesus was, if they knew in their hearts that Jesus is the divine in human flesh – I reckon they would have been cut down with awe and wonder and felt overwhelmed by God’s love for them.

We too are invited to share in marriage with God – perhaps we are in courtship at the moment – engaged…

Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Revelation 19: 6-8

Vineyard

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you! Song of Songs 1:2-3

Strengthen me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am faint with love. 2:5

I was with a group of students the other week and we were exploring relationships. One of the girls found a Dolly magazine that had a result of a survey I guess the magazine had designed. This survey produced a stat, which read something like “80% of girls feel they need to have sex with their boyfriend to keep them”. Sure, it’s Dolly and probably really can’t be considered as accurate – far from it perhaps. It’s also making an assumption about how boys view relationships – have some of these girls made assumptions about what boys want.. It does, however, highlight some the pressures boys and girls are under to think about sex being necessary in a relationship. Strong pressure from media and friends. We are seeing a trend on serial monogamy with young people having several sexual relationships over short periods of time, unfortunately with this comes a higher risk of STI’s – particularly Chlamydia.

Song of songs is a beautiful love story charged with sexual energy, attraction and desire. It follows the love poetry between two young people, madly in love with each other and not afraid to speak their feelings to each other – a key to a good relationship – communication!

Some other comments are made by the couple, the girl says “but my own vineyard is mine to give” (8:12). Vineyard apparently is a metaphor for sexuality. You could read this as – I’m not going to give myself to just anyone. It’s her decision to make without coercion or manipulation – something we see way too often between relationships.

The guy says something interesting too, “You are a garden locked up….you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain” (4:12) You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water… (4:15). Water is a metaphor for life, energy and purity, freshness. A garden is a place of sensual delights – locked up perhaps resembling virginity or keeping herself exclusively for her husband. I see a guy who is praising his beloved for her control of her sexuality. He isn’t pressuring her, making her feel guilty.

What is it about these two – they have so much passion for each other, so much desire they express to each other yet seem to embrace a higher level of understanding - something guiding them that seems to be stronger than their sexual desires.

Rob Bell in his book Sex God says this about how perhaps how people can regards sex;

“Sex becomes a search. A search for something they’re missing. A quest for the unconditional embrace.”

“But sex is not the search for something that’s missing. It’s the expression of something that’s been found. It’s designed to be the overflow, the culmination of something that a man and a woman have found in each other. It’s a celebration of this living, breathing thing that’s happening between the two of them.”

Not all young people are having sex and many are choosing to make their own decisions - perhaps not wanting to give themselves to just anyone. I hope all of us can find the kind of love and sexual energy expressed by this young couple in Song of Songs.

Unity

He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17

I have finished reading through “The Interior Castle” by St Teresa. It will be a book I will have to re-visit; I feel there is more to learn and experience here.

I wanted to write down some of the symbols used to describe the term she has as “spiritual marriage” of individuals with God. Isn’t this expression such wonderful one – it beautifully describes the intimacy of relationship God chases us for.

Here they are;

Union may be symbolised by two wax candles, the tips of which touch each other so closely that there is but one light.

Spiritual marriage is like rain falling from heaven into a river or stream, becoming one and the same liquid, so that the river and rainwater cannot be divided; or it resembles a streamlet flowing into the ocean, which cannot afterwards be disunited from it.

This marriage may also be likened to a room into which a bright light enters through two windows – though divided when it enters, the light becomes one and the same.

I love the use of nature in these symbols. God can teach us so much through our natural surroundings – I find it so powerful. I personally find it easiest to draw close to God while observing and experiencing nature.

This “spiritual marriage” described also reminds me of the unity shared between the Father and the Son in the fellowship of the spirit – so intimately close they are like one. And to think that we share in that circle of fellowship – in Jesus – with God. Stunning.

Light

And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and the people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God. John 3:19.

Jesus words above are part of a conversation he is having with Nicodemus (who interestingly enough came to Jesus during the night). Nicodemus was a Pharisee – a leader of the Jews. The Pharisees were very “law laden” in their approach to observing God, they were looking for a Messiah who would bring all the JEWS into full observance of the law but Jesus was going to redefine the law. It is safe to say that the Pharisees didn’t understand Jesus’ teaching.

Getting back to the point, while I was reading “Jesus and the undoing of Adam” I came across this concept of humans not liking “being in the light” of God. Baxter (the author) explains that God’s relationship with humans is intended to be in such a close union that “knowing the truth baptized Adam and Eve in assurance transforming their existence into abounding life.”
But then a doubt about this assurance came into being which caused them to;

“hide because God’s presence with joy, love, fullness was exposing their own bankruptcy perversion, nothingness and misery. So they hid themselves from God – and we have been hiding ever since”.

CS Lewis in his book “The Great Divorce” writes;

“Here was an enthroned and shining God, whose ageless spirit weighed upon mine like a burden of solid gold”.

Baxter goes on to say;

“this pain (from the feelings described above) altered Adam’s understanding and the way he saw himself, his world and others, but most importantly, it changed the way he saw God. Adam projected his own brokenness, as it were, onto god’s face. He tarred God’s own face with the brush of his own angst…….
….he now projected his pain, his anxiety, onto God, thereby creating a mythological deity, a legendary god…..
….he believed himself to be standing before a god who is a hair’s breadth away from anger, judgement, and utter rejection”.

This concept of hiding from God and seeing God angry, judgemental etc is something I can relate to – it does seem that this is the picture of God we so easily hold in our hearts and minds as we go about our business – as we relate to others. It makes us (like the Pharisees did) come up with up rules of engagement on how we act as to try as hard as we can to appease God – in doing so we damage ourselves and others, we start to judge others and project the angry wrath of God onto them and ourselves in the process.

In John 3: 17 Jesus states that God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world (we do that OK ourselves), but in order that the world might be saved through him.

I think that the truth that Jesus speaks of in saying, “do what is true” is knowing that although man hides from God, God hasn’t ever changed. He has the same personality and plan for us - to be washed with assurance and transforming our existence into abounding life. What an amazing freedom – and what an impact this truth will have on how we then naturally relate to others.

Ever since man started hiding, God has been following. Unfolding His plan for us – completed through God becoming a man and converting this fallen existence of darkness to Himself – to light.

This is how Baxter describes God’s wrath;

“Wrath is not the opposite of love. Wrath is the love of God in action, in opposing action;
NO – this is not acceptable! I did not create you to perish in the darkness, not you.”

Nicodemus battled with the words Jesus spoke – God brought a slow, steady wind of understanding, of new life, of light.

So as I journey on with a With-God, I pray I will hold fast to and accept God’s plan for me and humbly stand in this truth and light.

Trinity

My attention has been focused on thoughts around the trinity over the last couple of weeks – that God is the father, son and Holy Spirit as one. It’s been enjoyable revisiting this topic and it led me to read one of Baxter Kruger’s books – Jesus and the undoing of Adam (it's been on the bookshelf for about 2 years). It’s always very exciting reading his work as he sets straight what I hope are some fundamental truths about our God and turns onto it’s head our western concept of who God is. It’s been a “revision of (my) perception”. Baxter describes repentance as “the radical re-orientation of our minds” - something I need to be reminded of every day. Below are a few phases from this book, which I would like to be mindful of as I go about my with-God existence.

God always intended to become flesh. It wasn’t a second plan – the eternal plan of God which precedes creation itself.

The Father loves the son, the son loves the Father and they share all things in the love and unchained fellowship of the spirit.

Trinity means that we believe that God is a relational being, and always has been, and always will be. The doctrine of the trinity means that relationships, that fellowship, that togetherness and sharing, that self-giving and other centeredness are not after thoughts with God, but the deepest truth about the being of God. Baxter speaks of how before God created anything - the universe, earth, heaven, heavenly creatures etc- God was there and as God is love, God had to be in relationship and thus suggesting that God is Father (lover) and the Son (re-loved) and sharing all things in the Spirit - being in loving relationship. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." John 1: 1-2

For while the father, son and holy spirit remain eternally distinct, their love for one another is so pure and their fellowship is so deep that any descriptive word short of “one” betrays the sheer reality of their togetherness.

The understanding of all this implicates the type of relationship God wishes to have with us – to share in that relationship, that fellowship, that togetherness and sharing, that self-giving and other centeredness. To be brought into the one-ness of God the father and the son – and share all things in the love and unchained fellowship of the spirit. How amazing is this! It gives me a closer understanding of “God is Love” and understanding what love truly is. It gives me plenty to think about too! Just imagine how the church would be if all people could understand this utterly amazing love God has for us. It would radically re-orientate the way we relate to God, to people. Why is it that our view of God is often turned on it’s head – that the words which quickly come to mind when describing God include anger, judgment and rejection..

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose US in Christ before the foundation of the world to be HOLY and BLAMELESS before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children though Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…Ephesians 1: 4-5.

Silk

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things from above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand side of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Colossians 3: 1-4



I became more aware of this passage after coming across it in “The Interior Castle”. The book pays particular attention to verse 3 “and your life is hidden with Christ in God” – and Teresa has painted yet another wonderful image of this hiding (and revealing) through the silk worm;

The silk worm symbolizes the soul which begins it live when, kindled by the Holy Spirit….

Then it comes to life and continues nourishing itself on this food and on devout meditation until it has attained full vigour….

….it begins to spin silk to build the house wherein it must die. By this house when, speaking of the soul, I mean Christ. This shows how much, by God’s grace, we can do, by preparing this home for ourselves, towards making Him our dwelling-place as He is the prayer of union….

Forward then, hasten over your work and build the little cocoon. Let us renounce self-love and self-will, care for nothing earthly, do penance, pray, mortify ourselves, be obedient, and perform all the other good works of which you know. Act up to your light; you have been taught your duties. Die! Die as the silkworm does when it has fulfilled the office of is creation, and you will see God and be immersed in His greatness, as the little silkworm is enveloped in its cocoon. Understand that when I say “you will see God”, I mean in the manner described, in which He manifests Himself in this kind of union.

What an amazing description! I love the symbolism found in us being little butterflies – all of a sudden, earthly things mean nothing to it – it can fly! It rejoices in a newfound freedom through an amazing transformation.

Through putting effort into nourishing our souls and seeking to what is above, God further lavishes us with the riches of His grace.

I have been following God through Jesus for half my life now and I can’t keep thinking that there is so much more God wishes to reveal to me about Himself and the of the extraordinary authority He hands us to co-rule His kingdom.

Soul

I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. Ephesians 3:16-17

Another example from the Bible describing the importance of the inner being – a call for me to be strengthened in my “inner being” - with power through his Spirit. The reason for this points to us being “rooted and grounded” in love. Another strong indication that this cultivation of the inner life will help me to understand just what love is – who God is – to understand being a love with God and others.

….and that Christ may dwell IN me. The following section of text is from “The Inner Castle” which I am currently reading. The writer describes our souls like a castle full of chambers or mansions, as the soul travels into itself, towards the centre chamber, it gets closer to where God dwells and the light gets brighter (see last post)….


“Some say the soul enters into itself; others, that it rises above itself. I can say nothing about these terms, but had better speak of the subject as I understand it. You will probably grasp my meaning, although, perhaps, I may be the only person who understands it.


Let us imagine that the senses and powers of the soul have fled and joined the enemy outside. After long days and years of absence, perceiving how great has been their loss, they return to the neighborhood of the castle, but cannot manage to re-enter it, for their evil habits are hard to break off; still, they are no longer traitors, and they wander about outside.


The King, Who holds His court within it, sees their good will, and out of His great mercy desires them to return to Him. Like a good Shepherd, He plays so sweetly on His pipe, that although scarcely hearing it they recognise His call and no longer wander, but return, like lost sheep, to the mansions. So strong is this Pastor’s power over His flock, that they abandon the worldly cares which misled them and re-enter the castle.”

This image of the King calling us inwards is a wonderful one – and something worth meditating on. It gives me a sense of the “riches of His glory” and portrays that yearning God has for us to be reconciled to Him – that sweet song – ever so quiet. This passage of text also reminds me of the story of the prodigal son.

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and ,length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of god. Ephesians 3: 18-19

Castle

I have been reading an amazing book entitled The Interior Castle by St Teresa of Jesus. It was written over 400 years ago! Her book focuses on things to do with the soul and I may enter some more postings about this book as I go along. The jist of the book is this;

I began to think of the soul as a castle made of a single diamond in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.

Theresa’s friend, the priest Fray Diego de Yepes tells of how;

(God) showed her a most beautiful crystal globe, made in the shape of a castle, and containing seven mansions, in the seventh and innermost of which was the king of Glory, in the greatest splendour, illuminating and beautifying them all. The nearer one got to the centre, the stronger was the light; outside the palace limits everything was foul, dark and infested with toads, vipers and other venomous creatures.

It’s a mystical journey to the centre of the soul – where God resides.

She speaks so splendidly of the secrets she discover about God as she nears the centre, it really makes me realize how I can never allow myself to limit the depth of my relationship with Him. She speaks of so much mystery and so much wonder.

She also makes another interesting point – referring to how the light gets stronger the nearer to the centre you get. She states that it’s only dimmer on the outside chambers because the traveller can’t see the light properly – we are oblivious to it – only seeing a dimmed down version of the light – a bit like having welding goggles on perhaps!!

There is so much to learn from this book I feel but I am going to have to read it a few times I think. She speaks of a “prayer of recollection”. I had to look this up in the dictionary to try and understand the word recollection. It reads: person’s memory or their compass. Perhaps this prayer is about the soul remembering it’s first love, it’s entanglement in and with Christ – our “true north”.

Meaning?

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I truly tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Matt 18:18-19

I will give you the keys of the kingdom, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matt 16:19

I have never noticed these verses before! But what an insight into some significant questions on how we go about our business on Earth – we can call the shots in partnership with God. God is giving his followers the authority to make new interpretations of the bible and that somehow God is involved with that process.

To bind something means to “forbid” it, to loose something means to “allow it”. The rabbis of the day used to practice this binding and loosing all the time – in relation to the Torah. Rabbis had great authority in their communities– as did Jesus, and Jesus passed this authority onto his followers and effectively onto us.

So God encourages us to argue and wrestle with the text of the bible – to question everything and to come up with our interpretation with the guidance of God. We are encouraged to do this in community – as a group – 2 or more – with God.

This once again raises the importance of living a “with-God” life, to read the text, to read the notes on the text AND to pray and meditate – to listen and to be guided for what is right for our community!!!

The early believersChristians had to do this when it became aparent that Gentiles were being transformed by God and becoming christians– those who were not Jewish. This was a big problem because it was “unlawful for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile” (Acts 10:28). So some Jewish leaders got together and argued it out, debated it and came to the conclusion that “it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials:” (Acts 15: 28, the whole of Acts 15 explains the process).

Rob Bell speaks of this decision the believers made in his book Velvet Elvis; which I think is really important.
“They are making a monumental decision in the history of Christianity, and the best they can say is that it seems like it is the best decision? It seems good to them and the holy spirit? They don’t claim to have an absolute word from God on the matter; they at best claim guidance from the holy spirit of God, but they even hold that loosely.”

This is great! We need to remain humble in our decisions, be open to the fact that we might not have nailed the first time – not for decisions to be set in concrete for the rest of our existence but to work out our interactions with people and with our earth - with our God.

I wonder how much more of a tolerant, loving, peaceful community we would be if we used the keys to the kingdom a little more seriously…

Meditate

This book of law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. Joshua 1:8

Back in the days of Jesus, the rabbis would expect their students to memorise the Torah. They would start at the age of 6 and have it memorised by the age of 10! The first 5 books of the Bible! It is not uncommon for Jewish Believers to memorise the whole old testament. I find that beyond belief! I find it hard enough to memorise single verses. The Torah can mean “teachings” or simply “way”. The Jewish population consider the Torah to be the way, truth and life. Sounds familiar! I am in awe of their dedication and discipline to memorise this text.

To me the verse above makes an important point, as we get very familiar with sections of the bible, it should then be meditated on, allowing God to speak to me about what it means to my with-God life, my inner life and my interactions with my environment. It seems that perhaps the bible isn’t meant to be interpreted without the assistance of God – meditation.

Willard writes “Then the things that come before us during the day come in the presence of God’s illuminating Word. Light dwells within us and enables us to see the things of life in the right way”(Pg 127 The Great Ommission). In your light we see light. Psalm 36:9

Psalm 1 is another passage of text which points to this important spiritual discipline.

SexGod

I recieved this book in the mail yesterday (after ordering it of course). I haven't started it yet but I did read the intro (have a couple of other books to get through first). The author is Rob Bell. Here is a paragraph out of the intro;

Sex.God. They're connected. And they can't be seperated. Where the one is, you will always find the other. This is a book about how sexuality is the "this" and spirituality is the "that". To make sense of the one,we have to explore the other

And that is what this book is about.

Sounds great already!

I spend a large amount of my work time educating on the subject of sexual health, the more I learn about it, the more I realise how dominant sex and sexuality is in our lives, I have absolutely recognised the link between sexuality and spirituality.

It makes sense and it is re-assuring that God is involved in this too. As I draw into a "with-God" life, it pleases me to know that I will learn more about my sexuality - relationships, intimacy, physical being, emotions etc.

Laubach

Here is the story of a man by the name of Frank Laubach who went about seeing if it were to be possible to connect with God every minute. It seems this had an amazing effect on his life, on his compassion for people, his drive to combat poverty and oppression and the way he related to people - the example below relates to the Moro people. Below are some exerts from an article written by Willard -all quotes from Laubach.

The full article can be read here

"All during the day, in the chinks of time between the things we find ourselves obliged to do, there are the moments when our minds ask: 'What next?' In these chinks of time, ask Him: 'Lord, think Thy thoughts in my mind. What is on Thy mind for me to do now?' When we ask Christ, 'What next?' we tune in and give Him a chance to pour His ideas through our enkindled imagination. If we persist, it becomes a habit."

After much practise and time, this happened.......

"I let my tongue go loose and from it there flowed poetry far more beautiful than any I ever composed. It flowed without pausing and without ever a failing syllable for a half hour." This brought him a deeper awareness of God in beauty and in love.

"This concentration upon God is strenuous, but everything else has ceased to be so!"

Willard....

That was especially true of his relations to the Moros, who, seeing the difference in him, took him entirely into their hearts and lives, loving, trusting, and helping him without regard to their cultural and religious differences. Two of the leading Muslim priests went about the area telling their people that Laubach would help them to know God. He never pretended to be anything but a follower of Jesus, but he studied the Bible and the Koran with the priests and the people and prayed in their services with them. Observing this, one priest said, "He is Islam," He replied, "A friend of Islam." But the Islamic emphasis upon constant submission seems to have been one factor prompting him to develop his way of being in constant contact with God.

Joy

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:7.

My last post touched on Davids state of "joy". I described this as a state of being rather than a emotion.

The verse above indicates that the lives of those who were listening were having difficulty, perhaps suffering and struggle (the verses before 7 outline this and put it into better context). We only have to look at history, look at people we know(both believers and non-believers) to know that this is so. In fact the bible seems to indicate quite clearly that taking Jesus seriously almost guarantees that our lives will be difficult.

It seems that drawing into a "with-God" life brings with it a peace and joy which will be robust enough to withstand pain, suffering, struggle. It will guard my soul, heart and body as I weather the storm. Comforting thought.

Usually when my life goes pear-shaped, I drift away from God. Perhaps this is because I haven't been practising "keeping the Lord always before me" for very long. Perhaps as I get better at doing this, I will be more likely to have a soul that is conditioned to peace and joy - whatever the situation.

"The peace of God, which transcends all understanding". With God comes a lot of mystery.

Water

"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Jesus. John 7: 37-38

Awesome words. It makes my hairs stand on end when I read this. Can't say I feel this way - I'm a believer!! Again, this passage - spoken by Jesus - shows me that there are some amazing things to discover as I move towards a "with - God" life.

My last post spoke of David's heart being glad, soul rejoicing, body resting secure. As his inner life started to transform, did his outward life "flow rivers of living water". I hope it did. It really sounds like this "flowing" is a natural consequence to the inner life being transformed. Awesome.

It strikes me that joy (what David was feeling) is a state of being rather than an emotion. I guess it very much like "positive mental health", "a state of good mind", "balanced?". But it encompasses the heart, soul and body. As a Youthworker, I teach kids that our minds and our bodis are inter-connected - an affect on one "knocks-on" to the other and vise-versa (e.g. negative stress causes me to get tight shoulders). It seems that David knew this quite clearly.

Mind

"I keep the Lord always before me;because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure" Psalm 16: 8-9.

Interesting and solid words spoken by David - a king. and what a discovery for him!

This might be the first and most basic thing I need to do as I strive towards living every minute of my life in community with God.

But life gets busy, I get pre-occupied with things, work, jobs around the house, spending time with the kids, friends, family, making love? - the list goes on - how about when I'm feeling anrgy, happy, annoyed, sleepy, sad. I guess there is no time in my life nor any activity which God isn't interested in or wants to be part of.

This would have been the same for David, or any other follower of God throughout the ages, David has come across a secret - an important "practice" in seeking God. I can share in this secret - David's story can be mine too.

I am amazed at the passion I hear in the verse - his heart being glad, his soul rejoicing and his body resting(interesting that he sees his heart, soul and body as seperate things). Perhaps signs that things are working for David in regards to discovering the secrets of the "with-God life".

And to me practise is the key to getting this idea happening. Like any discipline, whether it be swimming, bike riding, reading, writing, running, surfing - I need to practise it. I can't expect to get it worked out first time around, it takes days, weeks, months, years to master things.

So hear I go, I'm going to practise "keeping God before me".

Fruit

"By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." Galatians 5: 22-23.

Here I see what I can expect to manifest in my heart and soul as I learn a life "with-God". I guess you can say these are some of Gods charateristics which will "rub-off" on me. Once again, these things would certainly be hard to pratise and master without Gods guidance.

Another verse which shows an interesting insight is;

"A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit" Matthew 7: 18.

My inner life is exposed through my outward life / actions. This is profound to me. It's no good pretending to be nice, do the right things, accept people, show compassion, patience, generosity etc. What will show will be a reflection of my inner being (soul). So I have get back to getting my inner life in order - this is more inportant than anything else in regards to learning the "with-God" life.

So how do I go about seeking this learning, being taught to love God, love my neighbor and taste this fruit???

Beginning

"Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27.

Wow - what a huge ask. An absolutely massive undertaking - overwhelming. How do I go about loving God so much especially when He seems so far away sometimes - and love all people...those who cause serious pain to others, those who just seem so unloveable. IMPOSSIBLE!!

And that's the whole point - this would have to be my "most important" verse and aspect to living a life "with God" because without God - this verse IS impossible to achieve. This verse tells us what we must cultivate in our hearts and souls -not so much as to what we must do - as this would be like "trying to be nice" and failing miserably.

To love God / neighbors is the ultimate to what God wants for us - nothing is more important, as we are designed for this function "created in God's image" - our souls desire this allignment. As I cultivate my heart and soul towards this goal, I hope to discover something quite amazing....

It is this quest which I am on.