Communion With All Things

What if you had nothing to prove...nothing to validate?  What if you had no internal harsh taskmaster saying you should or shouldn't?  What if you started each day from a place of peace within about yourself and peace about everyone else and anything else?  I ask these questions because of an experience I am having.  Recently, in a time of understanding, the Lord cleansed me of that harsh taskmaster.  I've been speaking a  lot lately about the "It is finished" work of Christ.  That is because God is working to bring me up to a place of embracing this on the deeper level.   

The taskmaster...the wicked witch is dead!  But then what happens?

I have been experiencing some really peaceful days.  With no guilt pushing me, no need to prove myself about anything, I sit on the couch and wonder what to do.  I keep listening for that voice that tells me I have not done enough and I should be doing...  I know that sounds completely crazy, but I tell you it is true!   

This morning I told Overton that I wonder if when all the other voices of should and shouldn't are gone and there is nothing to validate, and nothing to be proven, is it possible that what is left is an entering the day in communion with "what is."  Whether it is your flowers, your home, your work, the devotional, people, places or things...is it possible to have the peace of  joyful communion with all things?  I am hoping that it is.  I am wondering if this is some of what Jesus meant when He said, "In this world we will have trouble, but be of good cheer I have overcome the world."  I think that this "be of good cheer" must be the peaceful communion with "what is."  

It has been a bit of a challenge for me in this place of peace.  I see that life's tasks now need the perfect motivator of love rather than guilt, fear, shame.  What does that look like and feel like.  Cannot say because I am just learning.   Have to get back with you on that question.  In the mean time, I am enjoying relaxing.  I am sixty-four, and I think that this experience is a first for me.  I imagine, however, that I will come face to face with something that is a fine art of disciplined activity motivated by love rather than all the dysfunction of the past.  Right now, I am thinking that this peaceful place is a long overdue vacation.  

This morning, I held communion with an orchid which is on the coffee table.  It spoke to me about vulnerability and trust.  Maybe those are two words that also express this place where I am presently.  Its blooms (7) are such a lovely deep purple.  I took the plant to the sink to give it some water and gently spray its elegant leaves.  I recognized the vulnerability of its situation...dependant upon me for its needs being met.  Is that the same place that we come to when we are no longer dependent on our needs being met through our dysfunctions?  The Heavenly Father gives us what we need...faithfully.  We have a new lens that allows us to see this truth.  When we are delivered of all self-righteousness, we are open to this vulnerability.  Praise God!

The Power of the Light

The power of the light.  Its victory over the dark is instant.  You flip a switch and darkness is gone.  I believe that there is both a promise and a lesson in this.  The promise is that our darkness can give way to the light, and the lesson is that there is something (a switch) to engage to turn on the light.  I believe that switch is God’s word. 

John 8:31-32:  “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”  The cross of Christ sets us free, but the truth in God’s words makes us free.  Like a bird in a cage that has been set free by the opening of the cage door, Christ opened the door for all of us.  If the bird stays in the cage even though the door is open, he is not free.  Are we doing this to the freedom that Christ has provided?

Have you ever tried to reconcile some of what man says the Bible says with what you read in the Bible?  It can be crazy making.  I did this for a while when younger thinking I was not smart enough to figure these things out.  Still, it made me crazy because I would end up with a verse for study that did not match man’s take on things. 

Eventually, I found 1 John 2:7:  “But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.”

It reminds me of some pretty important truths.  One, I have been anointed by Jesus Christ.  How awesome is this!  I can trust God via the Holy Spirit to “instruct me in all truth.”  I understand that we all can be instructed.  Given that, man’s instruction will take second place to God’s instruction.  Will we give God this much room in our lives, or will be give preeminence to the teachings and traditions of men?  Political correctness and financial expediency means nothing to God.  His truth is not colored by these concerns.  This cannot be said of man.

When Jesus gave the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20 He said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and low I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Another way of putting this is:  pay attention to the words in red; pay attention to my modeling and ask for discernment regarding His words. 

It is a given that we are held captive from the day we are born to now.  We are captive to our inheritances physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Do you feel the prison?  It seems that the more I help people find freedom from this captivity, the more I am taught just how deep the captivity is. Our freedom comes through the cross of Christ and the word of God.  Neither can be left out.  My prayer for all of us is that we will be restored to God’s original intent for our lives…truly free from the lies that are holding us captive.  Amen.

A Walk Through the Grain Field With Jesus

Matthew 12:1:  At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

There is nothing coincidental in the Bible.  The stories have an application in the physical world as well as a spiritual lesson for us.  Let us look at this text from the perspective of the symbolic or spiritual. 

Jesus and the disciples were together.  They were walking through a grain field.  This is you and me.  We spend time with Jesus walking through a grain field (the Bible).  Do you see them walking together?  It is a lovely day.   The sun is shining.  The breeze is blowing.  They spend time leisurely talking about the lessons of nature.  They are enjoying the company of their Lord.  There are spiritual lessons that Jesus brings out of the lessons of nature.  Deep truths come as Jesus tells them, “You have heard it said…but I tell you.”  His entire ministry…word and action…He is “cleansing” the temple of heart/mind and tearing down lies and restoring truth. 

In the grain field (Bible) they became hungry.  This is beautiful.  The more you partake of Jesus, the more you want.  Man and man’s words cannot create this kind of hunger; nor can they fill this type of desire.  It is a heavenly manna with which man and man’s words cannot compete.  The desire is to be with Jesus…to become one with Jesus…to find the Sabbath rest of “It is finished.” 

In Matthew 12:2 we read: And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

Man is intent on taking what we are meant to BE and turning it into something to DO.  So often we turn devotional time into another check mark on the “to do” list.  We miss the leisurely stroll through the grain field.  We miss that the grain we can receive is the kernel (unprocessed) truth.  It has not been filtered through the lens of man’s agenda.  The Pharisee’s lens was all about “processing” pure truth and turning it in to a work of man.  They were so overcome with man’s ideas that they could not see in this example the Bread of heaven come down and walking among them.  They could not recognize the Lord of Sabbath walking with His people in the freedom of “It is finished” because they made the thing (a day) greater than it’s Creator.  That is idolatry. 

Matthew 12:7-8:  “But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

Their man-made lens was self-righteousness.  It saw the freedom of others and condemned them.  Those who are in bondage do not enjoy seeing others in freedom, and the spirit of the Accuser is quick to condemn.  Jesus said that He desires mercy not sacrifice.  You see, He is again reminding us of what to BE instead of the DOING for which man has a preference.

Let us endeavor to have our devotional and worship time be a leisurely walk in the field with Jesus. He will share the grains of truth with us if we do not rush through the field.  As we partake, we will be hungry.  As He speaks to us, “ye have heard it said…but I tell you” we will experience the BEING of the words of rest…It is finished.

The Secrets of the Lord

Psalm 77:13 -- Thy way O God is in the sanctuary.  Has it puzzled you about the ways of God…the will of God?  It is good news that in eight words we are given the answer!  The tabernacle/sanctuary of Israel’s wilderness of wandering is full of truth, instruction, healing, and relationship living with God.  So often, if we have studied the sanctuary service, we see it as something the children of Israel did.  We do not see it as a visual aid for the entire plan of salvation…a relationship with the Godhead..  David, in the Psalms, often speaks of the sanctuary/tabernacle.

Psalm 61:2 – From the end of the earth I will cry toYou, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  For you have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy.  I will abide in Your tabernacle forever.  I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. 

When we feel overwhelmed, there is a Rock that is higher than we are.  This Rock is the Lord Jesus.  David calls it a shelter, a strong tower from the enemy.  He says that he will abide in it...God’s tabernacle…forever.  He says that he will trust in the shelter of God’s wings.  In the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle, the ark of the covenant was topped with the cherubim symbolic of the angels before the throne of God.  These angelic wings  will shelter us and protect us.  All of heaven is working for our good. 
 

A shelter from the enemy is the tabernacle to David.  Most of the hurts of this life come at the hand of others.  Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.  David’s allusion to the “shelter of His wings” means that he understood this Most Holy Place process of being in God’s presence.  Here is where secret things are made known to us.  David said, "The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant." (Ps25:14 NASB)

Here is the same Scripture in the Amplified Bible: "The secret [of the sweet, satisfying companionship] of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its [deep, inner] meaning." 

Psalm 63:1 – 2 – O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.

How did David utilize this knowledge of “God’s way?”  The above scripture gives us guidance:

·        Early will I seek:  God’s way should be the first thing we seek to understand.  Often when our troubles come, we turn to everything but God.  Seeking Him is the last ditch effort.  This is human nature at its finest…the fig leaf garment of Adam and Eve.  David’s instruction is that God is to be sought the first thing.  It may also be an allusion to early in the day.  It is a perfect way to start the day…seeking God’s wisdom for our life, seeking His answers for us.

·        My soul thirsts:  Jesus is the water of life.  His word is called a cleanser.  We drink and are filled. 

·        My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.  This is so beautiful.  In the wilderness wandering they experienced a dry and thirsty land.  Our life experiences are this dry and thirsty land.  We try so many things to turn it into something other than a wilderness.  It is not supposed to be home.  It is preparation for the promised land so that when we get there, we will want to go in.  The people who came out of Egypt did not want to go into the promised land…they feared the giants.  They said that it would have been better to have died in the wilderness.  They pronounced words over themselves that became their future.  It was their children that went into the promised land.  This is so full of lessons for us.  I believe it is also showing us that their will be two types of people all along the journey…those who want to go to the promised land, and those who do not.  Those who do not want their way not the way of the Rock..  

Are we thirsty for Jesus?  David’s words put it in very physical terms.  I think that this is fabulous.  In the deepest sense, our need for the Lord has physical implications.  Science has proven that down to the cellular level our bodies respond to our beliefs.  When we are having those very physical signs that come as symptoms, I have found that often there is a spiritual need that can only be healed by changing the belief system.  Get out the lies and bring in the Word of God (truth).  Jesus told the woman at the well that He was the water of life and that those who drink of Him never thirst again.  Just as we need physical water daily, we need daily the word of God filling us with the water of life. 

How beautiful is the word of God and the love of God towards us.  Let us see Him as our shelter when we are overwhelmed.  Let us know that the answers are in the sanctuary with Him.  May God’s blessing of continued revelation be on us as we come into the chapel with Him.  God bless!