The mind is the most active part of the soul. It used to be like a wild horse, but now it is being restrained by the will. And the will is in cooperation with the spirit. The way to a spirit controlled soul comes about as follows: At the moment when the mind begins to think of questionable things and to wander, the first step of control is to discern, that is, to see the condition of the mind in the light of God. The second step is to drive out or cast aside such unhealthy thoughts. And the third step is to return to quietness in God’s presence. Watchman Nee If any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought. A teachable and quiet spirit is of much value in the sight of God. Indeed, the meek will he teach, the humble will hear…
Category: <span>Personal God</span>
Events can lead to another kind of pressure. “Who is responsible? Doesn’t anybody have to pay?” The sense of fair play in all of us is what drives us to at last get some closure. I say that with sarcasm. Isn’t it funny how that one may never be happy unless someone pays? A person may be driven to anger over whose fault it is and never feel at peace until a settlement is reached. This may be a road on which we choose to explore, but to use a biblical text “the end thereof are the ways of death.” This justice driven road carries a very strong feeling. We have been slighted, hurt and violated. Who is to blame? …out of the blue came these words to my inner man, ” I’ll pay you back.” I was astounded and began to tear up.” Could this be God talking?” I…
Josh and Matt My inward me exists truly a kingdom. The ultimate happens when the total of what I know about God’s nature and His redemption becomes self- governing in there. A “perspective of the highest” saturates all of my faculties; perception, understanding, wisdom, feelings and senses. It can overcome the worldly kingdoms Explain more? See, the eternal building blocks of my little realm under God, supersede anything the temporal realm can throw at it. In a sense, when I invest heaven into my heart of hearts, I become a heaven’s kingdom representative on earth. When God Himself saturates our mind (with unconscious, subconscious and conscious parts), and our will, emotions, conscience and self consciousness; our whole programmed computer gains a ministry of simply sharing its wealth Effectiveness What does this person/kingdom look like? This person has discovered effectiveness. In other words they realize they have the ability to have…
With His arms wide open He rescued you and me; with His arms wide open…This line from a song rings in my heart much. When I was 25 years old He came and rescued me; from what? He rescued me from me. We fished off the sea wall on our breaks at work. Folks caught carp and cat fish and some of these grew pretty big. Workers gathered there to eat lunch. I cared not much for the fishing possibilities this day. “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg,” I had been reading a book called “The Crack in the Cosmic Egg,” I really lived cracked in my own cosmic egg is why I read this book. I liked the book as it came from the ideals of some far-out mystical religious teacher and captured my attention. He was teaching about Jesus walking on the water and how we can…
On this day 12 years ago our son Joshua went to heaven. Now, what do we want? To see him again soon. You lit up our lives for a short 25 years and we miss you today, Josh, and the wait seems long; but eternity is longer. Can’t wait! St. Augustine says: He that loveth little, prayeth little; he that loveth much, prayeth much. What do you want? Surprisingly we rarely visit this thought. What do I need, what can I eat, what do I need to do and what does God want, are statements more common. Christians say, “I lost my vision when things didn’t work out and now I am just meandering.” “What do you want?” When I dutifully focus on my Savior. He says “what do you want?” Some folks in the Bible got healed because when Jesus asked them “what do you want?” —they had an…
God’s pure nature becomes the model for Israel in the Old Testament, and the model for healing today. With God’s re-established free will in man during Noah’s time as a basis, His faithful promise keeping with Abraham came next. Because of His commitment to His own people in history, from Mount Sinai comes the governing and protecting principle to be learned by them and us. God’s justice must be known for men to emerge healed. How does this work? Well, “justice and judgment are the habitation of God’s throne in Psalm 89 and all of His ways are judgment in Deuteronomy 4:32”. Whatever God does, it comes forth as an implementation of judicial fairness. How could it not? According to the Bible, God “is” Love and also God “is” Holy. Holiness refers to the purity of God. Fittingly, God cannot allow anything to dirty His nature that’s pure. Thus,…
Grand Canyon Let’s take a picture. It involves straight-arrow aiming of the camera box but also a precisely focused lens. But whoa, a true photographer adds a whole lot more than this. Modern technology has yielded polished lenses, filters for light, color film and camera-steadying devices. All of these components are carefully selected for the perfect shot. The flash timed specifically, the moment caps. The goal; capture the image, as true-to-life as possible, but also warmth or frigidity, beauty or distaste. The professional wants us to smell and taste the scene or portrait. To observe the mere silhouette of a beautiful garden would be a sham. Much like the picture taking illustration, penetrating impressions impact our human eyes; they emerge clear, through focus and repetitive review. “Apprehension,” (grabbing) starts the process. It sets the right tools and grabs the best image. More developing, however, transfers that best image to permanent…
Arizona Lake 1989 Folks in general don’t want to talk about anything too negative. Why is that? Darkness and light are both alike to God, but not to us. Psalm139:12. See, the highway of holiness admits and allows the wayfaring man, and the fool does not err therein. Isaiah 35:8. This gives all of us entry there, but few find it. For this reason men struggle still with the hills and valleys of life and mostly ride the ups and downs. We have a tendency to see God as a mere moral One and prosperity means God’s favor, where adversity means God is mad at us. To most He is a God of circumstances. Let me open a thought. Do we have an expectation for our life, or are we contented to handle anything that life dishes up? Careful. Well no, we are not contented to take anything, we have…