Who's watching Anonda?

Anonda felt something.  It was like being watched, but no one was home.  "Who's there?" she thought to herself, almost expecting an answer.  That's what "it" felt like.  An audition or the beginning of an interview.  "Who's inspecting me?"  Anonda tried to put the feeling out of her mind and continue reading.  She liked letting the setting sun light illuminate her page.  But before she could get back into her novel, she felt it again.  Usually she would turn in the direction of the inspection.  Instead she searched her mind, as if the inspector was there.  "How is that possible?  How can I feel someone in me is observing me?" She decided to assume it was true...that someone was in her, watching her.

"Alright.  'It' had to come in while I was distracted, while I was engrossed in my reading.  But that's no good, because I wouldn't have noticed, so I can't tell when that would've been exactly...."

"What if I was here before you started reading?"

Anonda slammed the book shut.  "It" was talking to her. She refused to answer.

For five minutes, "it" said nothing.  She tried to blank her mind, breathing heavily. 

"If you were here already, why didn't you say anything?"  Anonda held her breath; she didn't mean to ask that...she actually wasn't asking "it," she was thinking to herself...trying to figure this out...which she thought was her first mistake, even entertaining this craziness....

"You ignore me mostly."

"Who are you?"

"I am The One who Guides your conscience.  You can barely hear me because you ignore me."

"It" was right.  She'd actually decided to ignore her conscience, and in doing so, evidently, she ignored "It" as well.

"Are you angry with me?"

"Should I be?"

"I hope not.  I'm sorry for ignoring my conscience, for ignoring you.  Can we start over?"
"Yes, we can always start over.  My voice will get louder, and clearer, from now on, if you want it to."
"I do."

"Then talk to me about the story, about what you're reading."

Anonda thought about the novel and how angry she felt with the main character, who reminded her of herself...the main character had been ignoring the one who loved her most....

Miriam (Part 1)

Miriam adored Jose, and Jose wouldn't breathe without Miriam.  From her earliest memory, it was so.  Jose had always known her deepest thoughts, emotions, and dreams, even as children.  They were best friends, each others only true friends; through each other they loved everyone and were intimidated by no one.  Then the day came, the best day of her life.

"Miriam, my one and only, my intimacy, my blissful ecstasy, I want one thing:  to be one with you.  I've saved myself for you, and you for me.  Will you marry me?  Become my wife, the mother of my children."

As she listened to Jose, time stopped and she saw a vision.  In this vision she saw three Miriams, giving three responses to three Joses.

Miriam 1
"No.  Too long I've lived this dream that is you and me.  Too long it has been 'we' instead of ME.  Now that I am of age, I must be who I am without you.  I reject your love, and even my love. I evolve. I am."

"Miriam, what is coming over you?  Why are you saying these things?"

"I evolve.  I am.  Be gone."

Jose, devastated, leaves.

Miriam 2
"Yes, but with this condition.  I must learn to love myself before I learn married love.  I will therefore marry myself as if I am marrying you.  I will do for myself what you seek to do for me."

"Miriam, what are you talking about?  You can't be your own husband, or the father of your own children."

"I must.  In saying yes to you, I have to do my part.  With all my might I have to earn the right to be a wife and mother."

"But that's impossible. Do you hear what you're saying?"

"I do.  How can I be a strong wife if I don't do this myself.  Give me time."

Jose, confused, leaves.

Click here for Miriam Part 2.

Miriam (Part 2)

Miriam 3
"Jose, I am yours, you are mine, and we will be one.  I will be your wife.  Take me and make me the mother of your children."

"Miriam, you honor me with your spirit, soul, and body.  I give you the same honor.

***

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38

We are in the same position as Miriam and Mary.  The life of Jesus can be manifest to us and through us by His Spirit, but we have three choices:

1. We reject Christ completely, rejecting His Spirit.
2. We attempt to strain and struggle in our own strength to experience the Spirit of Christ.
3. We actively yield; as Francis Schaeffer says it, we are "actively passive."

We yield, as Mary yielded when the angel Gabriel announced that Mary would become the mother of the Son of God.  As Francis Schaeffer said, Mary could've responded in three ways:

• She could've said no to Gabriel, and to God, refusing to jeopardize her marriage to Joseph by this scandal.  This would've been understandable.
• She could say "yes," and then strain and struggle in spiritual ritual trying to give birth to a son without a man.  Of course we see the impossibility of this.
• She could do what she did, knowingly and willingly give her body to God to do what He had planned.  This was not a passive thoughtless act, nor did Mary attempt to accomplish the impossible by her own strength.  Like a wife yielding her body to her husband for impregnation, Mary yielded her body to the Lord.

We must do the same.
If we want the Spirit of Christ to fill us, we give our bodies to Him actively.
He will do the rest.  He will fill us and manifest His life to us and through us.

What makes you attractive?

Think of a time in your life, or a specific situation, in which you were chosen.  Why were you chosen then?  I'm sure it's because you had  something that someone wanted or needed at that moment.  What was it?  If some one asked your advice, then you had wisdom, which made you attractive.  If someone was sad, and you cheered him up, you had laughter. You were desirable to the one who was sad.  Whatever you had that someone needed or wanted, you still have, and you still are.  That's what makes you attractive.

What if you can't think of a time when you were needed or wanted?  I can.  Right now.  I want you to read what I'm writing (and to comment.)  And you wanted to know what made you attractive, which attracted you to me, or at least to what I'm writing.  We are mutually attracted to each other, reader and writer.  Our mutual attention is an attraction.  Am I the only one today to give you attention?  I doubt it. When you received attention, undivided attention, you were an object of attraction.  Why did you receive this attention?  Whatever the reason you received undivided attention is what makes you attractive.

I'm drawn to you.  But I'm not the only one. 

How have you experienced being attractive today? 
Tell me in the comments box.

How to change your life (Part 2)

The time has come.  The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news. 
Jesus, The Son of God, The Chosen King

In order to change your life, you had to realize two things, then do two things.
We discussed the two thing to realize.
Now we'll discuss the two things you must do.

DO TWO THINGS
1. Repent.
To repent means to change your mind, and thus your actions.

What mindset needs to change?
What do you need to do differently?

Stop waiting for a new age, or a democratic revolution.  It has already happened.  

Change the way you think about America and about our world.

Many of us as American Christians think our nation brings the world salvation.  Repent.  Change the way you think about this.  Change how you approach your life as a result of this false assumption.  Jesus alone brings salvation, to this nation and every nation.  This brings us to the next thing you must do.

2.  Believe the good news.
Accept the King and His Kingdom, the rule of His Spirit in those who trust in Him, and through those who trust in Him.  The Spirit of God is on earth, right here and right now.  His rule on earth is heaven on earth.  His will being on done on earth as it is in heaven is the only way to liberty and reality.

Submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee, bringing the end of slavery and tyranny.

Does this sound too simple?
If you believe Jesus is Lord, this should simply remind you of your one purpose in life:  Submit to the Lord.
If it sounds too simple then you don't believe the good news.
You won't believe it.  You won't change your mind and thus your life.

The biggest change in your life is accept that your life belongs to God.
How do you change your life?  Give it back to The One from whom it came.
The fact that you can do this is the good news. Believe the good news, and change your life.

How to change your life (Part 1)

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.  Lao Tzu

John the Baptizer told us how to change.
Jesus told us how to change.
One word.

Repent.
How?
Why?

This is what Jesus said:
The time has come.  The kingdom of God is near.  Repent and believe the good news.

This is how (and why) you change your life:
1. Realize two things.
2. Do two things.

REALIZE TWO THINGS
Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the one's we've been waiting for.  We are the change we seek.  President Barak Obama

The first thing you must realize is this:  The time has come.  There is nothing else to wait for and no one else to wait for.  What you've been waiting for, and who you've been waiting for, has already happened; He has already come.  The world continues to seek The One with all the answers and power, The Savior of this sin sick world.  He came, and He is still here.  First, realize this.

Next, realize that because He came, the world we are waiting on is not in some far off future.  It is now.  We all want a Utopian heaven on earth, where there is true liberty and beauty and power and glory:  The Kingdom of God.  But there can be no kingdom without a king, The King.  He came, and He is here; thus His kingdom is already here, not far...but near.

Realize these two things.
After this, two things remain for you to do.

Click here for part 2. 

The day I was born, and the day I died (Part 2)

I was born 42 years ago today; 17 years after that, I died. On the night I died, I rose again. 
This is how it happened.

With my confession, with my faith in Christ's crucifixion, I experienced union. 
I died when Jesus died.
I rose when Jesus rose.

I became a son of God, no longer merely a son of Edward.
With this new identity I entered into reality.
I came to know that this world is ruled by God's enemy, now my enemy.
The world is held in slavery, but Jesus came to set every one free, both you and me.

Now that I'm free, I live for God my Creator, your Creator.
Every creature with whom I come in contact meets God in me.
God's Spirit now lives in me, filling me, leading me, empowering me.
Every creature can be set free if he or she wants to be.
But to do so, they must accept reality: 
God is reality.  This world is held captive by God's enemy.
But the Son of God defeated the enemy and now rules with all authority.
Yet the enemy still holds many in captivity, though they have been set free.
It's only by faith in God's Son that we all become God's children.

As one of His children, after 42 years of life in this dark world, I renew my commitment to my Creator, Savior, and Master.

In this world I am rejected, I am slain, I am resurrected, with Jesus Christ.
You may be too, if you choose to.  It's up to you. 

The day I was born, and the day I died (Part 1)

I was born 42 years ago today; 17 years after that, I died.  This is how it happened.

I sat alone in my dark room feeling guilty, a guilt I couldn't shake or take.  What had I done?  Sin.  Most horrible.  I worshiped her instead of Him.  I felt dead; I felt like dying.  What I wanted to happen would soon, but not in the way I thought.  Beyond thought or reason, based in intuition, based in what I'd heard in church but didn't know I remembered, I said these words out loud:

"I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died for my sins."

Peace covered me like a blanket.
I no longer wanted to die.
But I did die.  I just didn't know it yet.

The me that sat in that dark room guilty of sin died with my confession.  My spirit was placed at the scene of an execution, The Execution:  Christ's Crucifixion.

When He died, I died.

I died to this world, this existence.
My old life.
My old self.

I was unplugged from the Matrix.
My life would never be the same, because it was no longer my life.

Click here for part 2.

What is God's purpose in existing?

"I am that I am."  God's words to Moses at the burning bush.

Our purpose is to know and be like God.  We exist to be intimately connected to God. But why does God Himself exist?  What is God's purpose?

The creature finds it's purpose in the Creator, living for Him to serve Him as He made it to do. But the Creator is infinitely and eternally pleased with Himself, to be Himself, to exist in relation to Himself forever.  The Father is eternally satisfied with the Son, and the Son with the Father.  The Father is eternally enamored with His Spirit, and the Spirit with the Father.  The Son infinitely Loves God's Spirit, and The Spirit forever returns this love.  

Think of three perfectly attractive, powerful, intelligent, and creative personalities eternally connected to each other.  Imagine perfect passion, fun, music, art, industry, technology, intimacy and ecstasy.  We can't imagine such an existence because we are not God.  Yet God has eternal satisfaction in Himself.

And He has created us to join in His satisfaction.  Being made in His image, according to His likeness, we can share in His eternal goodness, loving Him supremely, loving each other impartially.

Glory to God.

Amen.

What to do until Jesus returns

The Spirit of God is in you, if you believe in Jesus.  He, Himself, is in you.  Everyone you encounter meets God in you.  Wherever God is, there is heaven on earth--the kingdom of God.  The sick can be healed; the demon possessed can be set free.  Those who don't know can receive a revelation, and those with a revelation can live by that revelation.  And what is the revelation, the good news, the life changing truth that you possess?

The time has come; the kingdom of God is near.

That is the good news.

That's what you proclaim and personify.

THE TIME HAS COME.
It isn't in the past nor something we wait for in the future.  Now, the Spirit of God is on earth--in you.  You are the temple of God, the holy dwelling place of God's Spirit.  No one has to wait for Jesus to return because in a very real sense, He's already here, by His Spirit, in you.  Wherever you are, God's kingdom is.  You are the temple of God.  Those who are near you are near God's kingdom.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR
Not far.  Not far away in a distant land or future.  Here and now, right now, the Spirit of God rules wherever believers are.

This is why we are here.
This is what we are to do until Jesus returns:

Let the Spirit of God fill us, filling our lives, filling the atmosphere wherever we are.