Right Focus.
A word from God to someone close to me:
“The path worth walking is only less difficult the more you keep your eyes on Me. It never becomes less difficult with time. Only with right focus. The more this path makes you different from the world, the more your focus becomes vital to your stability, and the less you can walk by feelings.”
What’s Love Got to Do With It?… Agapē vs. Phileo
For He asks EACH of us: do you agapē Me?
Will you respond: 1) yes, Lord, I Agapē you, or
2) yes, Lord, I Phileo You…..?
Do we have the “Peter” kind of love?
John 21:15–17 (in the original Greek)
Got Agapē?
We like to talk about all the things God has given us, and all the things we’re faithfully believing Him for still. We talk about forgiveness – God’s for us and ours towards others. We speak of eternal life and our God-given purpose. IT’S ALL FOR NOTHING, without Love. Not the love you can muster up from your own effort. Not the love you decide if others are worthy of or not. Agapē. God’s Love. It’s supernatural and unconditional because it doesn’t come from us. This is God’s one requirement of us that fulfills all other requirements: Love. If we don’t know this kind of agapē love, it’s quite literally because we don’t truly know God, or haven’t let Him fully and deeply touch the heart of us. Once you do, He gives you that Love because He is that Love. Then, you are commanded to give it to others. Your job consists of 2 parts: 1) continually open and humble yourself to God’s transformative Presence, which is Love (agapē), and 2) let that flow work in you and flow out of you. Everything else – what we want for ourselves and what we want to give others – happens as a result of His Presence and Love.
Thermometer vs. Thermostat = Passive vs. Active Faith
When we want to receive something from God, we can’t just have faith in it, we also must operate in it. Where EVERY word, thought, and action is in alignment with that Truth, regardless of the circumstances. And when they’re not, immediately correcting it.
Recently I heard a pastor liken our walk with God to being either that of a thermometer or a thermostat. A thermometer only tells of what currently is. A thermostat is set to the desired future, remaining at that setting, so that it can come about.
Faith works the same.
Let’s be careful not to unintentionally claim infirmities (“my pain”, “my weakness”), sickness (“my arthritis,” “my cancer”), or difficulties/ imbalance (“my financial problems,” “my depression,” “my” anxiety), and so on. They are not ours so we must be careful not to claim them if we are going to truly give them to God so He can change them. Let Him have it, and let’s remember not to identify as anything but His healed Children of God.
God’s healing, resolution, or answer is already so in the Spirit – this is our desired Truth, or future. Keep staying in that Truth until it becomes a reality on the physical.
How? Replace passive faith with active Faith: thinking, speaking, and acting, not like a thermometer that only takes the current “temperature” – or re-states the facts of the current situations we’re facing. Instead, let’s be thermostats where our thoughts, words, and actions are actively setting and speaking into existence the “temperature” or Truth of the situation that we want, regardless of how we feel or what it appears to look like in the current moment.
Keep your thermostat, powered by the Holy Spirit, set to God’s healing or resolution you want to receive, until your body and circumstances catch up to it.
Relationship Leads to Truth & Spiritual Depth
We must do our own Biblical study and not only rely on the interpretation of others. This has been the disconnect many have experienced between the religion of Christianity and a daily, transformative relationship with Christ. The relationship is needed, yet religion on its own can fall short if it doesn’t teach people what intimacy with God is and how to get it. John 1:14 says that Jesus was the Word made flesh. Yet, has anyone noticed that – depending on what pastor you listen to – we may or may not be learning what Jesus taught? We may not learn what Jesus said was important, how His new commandments of Love are the fulfillment of ALL other commandments, or how to rely on our Father in Heaven over works done in our own effort? How many have learned from religion that they must “earn” salvation, righteousness, God’s love, and more? Read the Word. Read the Word in the original Greek. And ask God to give you revelation knowledge about its application in your life. You will discover the depth and clarity you’ve been seeking.
Truth Simply Stated
Hope, Faith, and Love Redefined
In their true form, Hope, Faith, and Love are spiritual forces. They are OF God. You can’t attain them, only receive them. They’re given to you by God. When we start aligning ourselves with God, His Hope, Faith, and Love grow and arise from within us. It’s a choice to step OUT of the lies that we’re hopeless or naive, and step INTO the powerful flow and transformation of those spiritual forces and their work in us.
Identity
Perceiving beyond the limitations of human understanding, can only be done on the spirit level. Stepping into this spirit level requires we change what we’re identifying with. You are not your body. You are not your worldly accomplishments. You are not the emotions you experience. You are spirit – and you are in union with the Holy Spirit – living on the inside of your body. Break down the walls in your own mind that are keeping the flesh strong and the Spirit bottled up. Submit your human nature to the influence of the Spirit so that It can flow outward, into your body, your mind, your actions, and the world. On earth, as it is in Heaven, is done through you. Let God work and start by realizing who you truly are.
The Love Needed He Provides
One of my favorite Corrie Ten Boom quotes: “When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.” We can’t look to ourselves to fulfill Jesus’ command to love everyone, even our enemies. Matthew 5:43-45 says: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” He set a new standard, and with it, gives us the love we need to fulfill it. This wasn’t a suggestion, but a command we must abide by, representing our choice to be Children of God.
Maintaining Miracles
Yes, we can have something miraculous happen to us and then ask “why am I sick again?” “why am I depressed again?” and we think it’s God who has left us. No, it’s us who went back to sleep spiritually, whose focus left God and we are inhibiting His influence in our lives. Revival, healing, and personal revelation of any kind can’t be a one time event, it has to be a way of life.
The Names of God
God is called a lot of things… and this is true because God REPRESENTS a lot of things: healer (Rapha), provider (Jireh), guide (Raab), protector (Nissi), and more. Historically, a name given was done to describe that person. So, what was God’s name in the original Greek? Yahova, or Yahweh, which means, I Am. Why is this important? Because His name holds such a holy place: He is ALL things, and His name shows how He is beyond anything we could put a label on or understand… SO much so, that He can’t even be contained by our description of Him. If we can comprehend the limitless nature of His Presence, we can step into the fullness of His blessings!
Are We Living in God’s Flow, or Living
Just Shy of Miraculous?
Do you remember that time? When the miraculous happened. When the impossible became possible; that conversation, with that person, happened; that job came through. Healing manifested. Then…do you remember when you almost listened to the fear and doubt? When you almost turned back? When you almost talked yourself out of making that call or taking that step that God told you to?….
….It only takes one time of obeying God without rejecting, changing, or overthinking His direction, to realize He has a plan. We just need to listen and follow. How many times have you given up, or not listened? How many moments of the “impossible” have you turned back from before they came about? How many times has your story been just shy of miraculous because of giving in to fear, worry, or doubt? I pray tonight: “Father, give me a heart of openness and obedience to You. If I will listen, I know you will provide.”
All About Forgiveness
A Command, Not A Suggestion
We are commanded to forgive for the very reason that unforgiveness puts a barrier between us and God. God is the Source of forgiveness – derived from His love – and we are able to forgive when we abide in that love. Forgiveness is not condoning someone’s behavior, it’s letting go (giving it all over to God) so that you can be in connection with Him, allowing HIM to heal you and make you an overcomer. Choosing to forgive (instead of hold on to unforgiveness) IS choosing God.
Operating in Love or Hate?
If we hold on to pain and fall into the trap of returning hate with hate, we cut ourselves off from Godly protection and His ability to change the situation and even the hearts of those attacking us. The key to subduing and transforming this kind of hate and discord is love. Agape love. The kind that sees them as a creation of God. He has love for them all. God’s unconditional Love in the Spirit, is what is given to us and then comes through our hearts to those who are unlovable in the flesh. It really isn’t coming from us at all, we’re just positioning ourselves to receive it and submit our mind, opinions, and emotions so that we can let His Love flow from us unimpeded. Some people think this is naive. But that’s only because they are looking at it with a worldly mind and regard love as synonymous with condoning the hurtful behavior of others. It’s not. It’s regarding love and forgiveness as powerful tools of liberation and change. They have the power to sever dark, unseen spiritual attachments that are trying to come over you and restrain your connection to God. If they can get you to subscribe to negativity and unforgiveness, they can get a foothold in your heart and life. Letting our focus be on God and letting His Love flow, is a choice to tap into supernatural provision for ourselves and resolutions to the situations we face.
It’s Healing, Not Condoning
Forgiveness isn’t condoning. It’s healing. It’s breaking from worldly and emotional bondage. It sets our spirit free to be in full union with God and His Spirit within us. And…it’s so powerful, it can even liberate the on-lookers and the recipients of God’s forgiveness through us. Saving them from their brokenness when they turn their face to see more of the God that they glimpsed in you…
A Choice To be Wounded…or a Child of God
We all experience pain and loss, but the hard truth is, it’s up to us to choose to be wounded or not, no matter the severity of the hardship. Wounded is an identity that we claim when we choose to give up our joy and stability in God and instead hold on to the worldly hurt, binding us to brokenness and blinding us from our true identity in God. Let’s remember to not identify with the worldly situations we face, but to instead identify as the Children of God whom WE ARE. Let that focus connect us with God’s Love that heals and forgives, and empowers us to give that to others…no matter what. Not condoning, but regarding our connection to God as the most important thing in our lives. Let no hurt and unforgiveness come between you and God.
God is Willing AND Able
Recently, a pastor quoted God’s Word in a way that perpetuates ambiguity about whether God’s willingness to help us matches His ability to help us. In other words, it’s clear that God is able, but is He willing? For instance, Matthew 8:2 can be read in isolation, and it would leave someone with the impression that God may or may not want to actually heal the leper who sought Jesus. But we only need to continue reading and Jesus declares without hesitation: “I am willing.” The better question is not is God willing, but are WE willing? Are we humble? Are we open? Are we not only seeking God but listening and following Him in our seeking? Are we willing to cast all our reliance on Him and follow Him without hesitation? Are we willing to pick up our cross (allowing our worldly cares and focus to die) and align our freewill with the Will of God? Or…are we not?
Progressive Cycles of Maturation
Being refined and matured by the Holy Spirit isn’t a linear process, it’s cyclical. But unlike being stuck in human cycles, spiritual refinement and maturation isn’t the same cycle being repeated without resolution. Instead, we’re being progressively elevated and changed in layers. He digs deep into the roots and dark corners of our soul (mind, will and emotions), lays it out bare for us to see, and then heals and transforms it – if we let Him. So, if you’ve earnestly sought the wisdom and refinement of the Holy Spirit in your life, begin to regard your patterns and low points differently. When you feel like you’ve fallen into the same rut again, have a less-than-Godly thought or reaction toward a person or situation, or just feel like you’re stuck somewhere, realize it just might be the Holy Spirit answering your request that He mature you. He’s showing you exactly what you need to give over to Him. He’s revealing the barrier, the stumbling block, to your full alignment with God’s Will. He can change it, but He needs you to relinquish it. It’s a partnership. Stop reacting to your human tendencies with shame and guilt, and instead see it as the thing you must see and let go of. The next layer of your refinement to becoming more Christ like when you put it in the control and provision of His Spirit within you.
Balancing Our Works
There’s a balance to be had. Works alone will not save, and salvation that’s void of an intimate relationship with God is missing the point. If we get saved and then just think there’s nothing left to do but wait to go to heaven, this is keeping the Holy Spirit bottled up inside and not allowing it to flow through us. Jesus didn’t say: receive Me and then go about living the way you used to. He said receive me and then “become new wine skins,” “pick up your cross [die to worldly self] and follow me,” “love God and love others as I have loved you,” “do the same works [healing, casting out devils, etc] and even greater works than this,” and “go and make more disciples.” So obviously what we do after being saved is important. What remains true though – regardless of what we do – no works done by the Child of God in separation from the prompting of the Holy Spirit are acceptable. Period. NONE of what Jesus commanded His followers to do can be done without allowing the helper He sent (the Holy Spirit) to change us more and more into likeness with Jesus and to do the decision making about what our thoughts, words, and actions will be. A new standard was set when we became His followers.
How do we pray? Do we pray like Jesus did? Do we know confidently that we’re having an audience with our Father in Heaven, or do we doubt He even hears us? Let’s stop living by feelings, which may or may not sense His Presence, and instead allow the act of prayer and meditation in His Presence to create the space needed for us to hear Him, be rejuvenated, and be changed by Him.
Truth Simply Stated
Free Will = Great Responsibility
Bad things happen and we want to know why God allowed it. Some things may be God shaping us, but how quickly we forget that we were also given free will. Choices made in that free will affect us and others. It’s our responsibility – not God’s – to align our will with His Will, and to be guided by Him in our choices.
Spiritual Maturity?
Some people think they are better or wiser simply because they’ve been a Christian longer, gone to church more, have memorized more scripture, or done more good works. But spiritual maturity isn’t about time spent on the road, it’s about miles traveled. Many Christians don’t get very far down the road before they get off in the ditch of self-reliance, judgment, gossip, unforgiveness, or complacency. May the constant realization of our need for God continue to mature us. To not only change us, but to flow out of us in all we do.
Prayer
Prayer isn’t always knowing what to say, it’s knowing how to get your thoughts and feelings out of the way so the Spirit can speak through you.
When we want to receive something from God, we can’t just have faith in it, we must also operate in it.
EVERY word, thought, and action must be in alignment with the Truth we have faith in, regardless of the current circumstances or how we feel. Let’s be careful not to unintentionally claim infirmities (“my pain,” “my weakness”), sickness (“my arthritis,” “my cancer”), or difficulties/ imbalance (“my financial problems,” “my depression,” “my anxiety”) and more…
…They are not ours so we must be careful not to claim them if we are going to truly give them to God to be resolved. Let Him have it, and let’s remember not to identify as anything but His healed Children of God.
God’s healing, resolution, or answer
already exists in the Spirit.
Keep staying FULLY in it
until it becomes a reality
on the physical.
Let’s think, speak, and act, not like a thermometer that only takes the “temperature” or facts of the current situations we’re facing. But let’s be thermostats where our thoughts, words, and actions are setting and speaking into existence the “temperature” or truth of the situation that we want, regardless of how we feel or what it appears to looks like in the current moment. Keep your thermostat, powered by the Holy Spirit, set to God’s healing or resolution you want to receive, until your body and circumstances catch up to it.
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.“
-Jeremiah 29:13
resist.
“…SUBMIT TO [THE AUTHORITY OF] GOD. RESIST THE DEVIL [STAND FIRM AGAINST HIM] AND HE WILL FLEE FROM YOU.” JAMES4:7
The negativity we entertain or allow to go on unchecked in our minds and hearts is no small issue. It’s the doorway that the enemy needs. What’s the harm in holding a little grudge? In imagining things that we’d never admit to? In judging others and desiring ill will upon them for wrongs they’ve committed? Jesus said, hating your brother is the same as murder. Why? The enemy uses the unchecked and tolerated darkness within you to not only get a foothold in your life but also as the fuel for the fiery arrows he shoots at others. It not only poisons us and robs us of our connection to God, but it also makes us willing accomplices to forming weapons against our family, friends, and fellow creations of God. Words have power. Frequently entertained thoughts and emotions have power and they work as spiritual tools of change. Are you using them for God or for something else? Don’t let yourself be manipulated and don’t operate in willful ignorance. Instead, be actively aware and vigilant to immediately give stray thoughts over to God. To, without exception, return to joy in the face of negativity and uncertainty. To do what’s right without holding judgment. And to regard Love and Forgiveness as the two most powerful tools given to you by God to fulfill your mission here.
The Pull of Emotions
Let’s remember to not be swept away in reactive living. In all circumstances, good or bad, when emotions try to pull us in one direction or another, we must return our focus to God. First. Letting Him lead, then acting. Jesus said He does nothing of His own accord, only what He sees His Father do. This is our example.
John 5:19
All About PRAYER
Pray:
Lord, today is for You. I need You and seek You first. All that I do and all that I am is in Your Name and for Your glory. Lead me deeper in Your Love towards myself and others and guide all of my ways. I set my focus on You and ask to be shown where I need to mature and what I need to let go of so I can receive more of You. Show me how to be Your hands and feet today. Please bring those people across my path who You want to bless through me. Let Your Will be done – on earth as it is in Heaven – in every word I speak, thought I think, and step I take. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Our Ability or His Presence?
The ability to pray doesn’t come from us, but from our union with the Holy Spirit. So, should our focus be on knowing how to pray, or knowing the Holy Spirit…?
Sleep – Come into Partnership with the Holy Spirit
Set a new standard tonight. Don’t just passively go to sleep. Instead, as you lie down, intentionally entrust your sleep to the Holy Spirit. Speak that He will supernaturally rejuvenate you in your rest. Whether it’s 8 hours or 1, that you’ll wake fully rested and have all the energy you need. That body aches are resolved. That you wake healthier than when you lied down. That God will speak to you in your dreams and be protector over your body and home. Claim true rest tonight and begin to actively engage the power of the Spirit within you. Thank you Jesus.
The Ripple Affect…
Those who pursue only things of the flesh are blind to the undercurrent of the Spirit, which moves and creates all things. Beyond our senses is a whole other world innervating and influencing us. And through it, we also are having an effect. Just as the ebb and flow of the tides move and change everything they touch so, too, whatever we engage in is not isolated to impacting only us. From dawn to dusk the seeds of our thoughts, words, and actions are being planted. Not only within us, but in the world around us. There is an interconnectedness we have on the spirit level that continually influences, meaning all that we do in the physical has far-reaching impact on the world like unseen ripples. As spirit beings – birthed into a physical body – we must recognize the immense responsibility we have in wielding a free will. It’s no small thing. The ultimate purpose of free will is not to separate and define us by our differences, but to unite us. Not to hurt and judge, but to heal and love. That by our own choice we are uniting our will with the Will of God, not using it to satisfy our worldly ego and desires. Galatians 5:13 says: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh [worldliness, selfishness]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Therefore, operate in the spiritual Truth that the physical is inextricably connected to the spiritual and that we are called to choose God’s Way, letting Him lead us in all we do and are. Just like the tides, if we wander too far into the spiritual untethered from God, we can get swept into known and unknown dangers and lose ourselves.
Look to God today, asking Him to be your guide. That His Will be done. And to show you what it means to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Romans 12:9, Psalm 45:7, and Proverbs 6:16-19.
Pray Continuously?
What praying continuously means:
Advancing from segregated and scheduled moments of time spent with God in prayer, into living in the full awareness of His constant and transformative Presence. Prayer becomes a way of life, not an isolated event.
If we truly believed that He is not far from us – living on the inside of us – our lives would naturally be a reflection of that Truth. Speaking to God and seeking Him in all things would happen in every decision, difficulty, and celebration throughout our day, not just at meals or before bed. When we live in the mindset that we’re only communing with our Father in Heaven for the 30 min or so that we dedicate to prayer each day, then we put separation between us and Him. A mindset of separation prevents us from more actively tunning our attention to Him so He can guide and protect us in daily and even urgent matters.
When you’re making plans, speak to God first. When you’re feeling tired, speak to God first. When you’re facing challenges, speak to God first. When you need encouragement, speak to God first. When He becomes your First in everything, you will naturally pray continuously.
Then, when you’re willing to obey what He shows or tells you, even if it changes your plans… you’re allowing Him to protect and guide you proactively, not just letting Him pick up the pieces after the fact.
Having the Mind of Christ
To put on the mind of Christ begins the same way we assume a role or “put on” anything that is not of us, but of God: we turn our focus on Him, receiving Him so that He can begin to change us from the inside out. This is our rebirth when we receive Him and recognize our need for Him. This rebirth, or becoming a new creation, happens in the spirit, when His Spirit joins with ours (Romans 8:16).
Then, by careful and intimate attention to a relationship with Him, His Spirit within us begins to work in us and flow forth from us – changing our mind (perceptions and thinking), emotions (reactions), and body (health and habits).
I Corinthians 2:16 in the amplified says “…we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].” This can only happen when we come into relationship with Him, and then He begins to show us who He is. He is the Source of true Faith, Love, Forgiveness, and Peace, and directs us in our actions. Through His work in us, we are prompted to have healthy relationships, we want to read the Bible, the things we like change, the way we talk changes, our thoughts and desires change. It’s not contrived, it’s transformation. We become more and more like Him, having His mind.
This only happens if we:
Have His Spirit, by way of a relationship with Him.
Stay focused on Him.
Continually relinquish our sense of control that’s separate from Him.
Humble ourselves before Him and ask to be shown.
Come to the end of self and align our free will with His Will in all things.
Fear Not. Even Our Past…
Walk boldly forward in the life God has given you. Never look back at the past as though it were an animal hunting you. It doesn’t have any power over you that you don’t give to it. The past can shape you, teach you, and prepare you. But it does not defeat or limit you. Only you can do that by choosing to let ego, unforgiveness, and fear be your masters.
All About FOCUS
Where Solutions Begin…
Regardless of the issue, the solution remains the same: focus on God. HIS work in you will translate into the balance that you need in your mind, body, emotions, and spirit. This balance results in resolutions that you want, and even ones you didn’t realize you needed. Taking focused time in God’s Presence, where you feel His Love for you welling up in your heart, THIS is the Source you’re looking for – regardless of the issue. The transformation you need to break from addiction. The dose of medicine for what ails you. The kind of rest and rejuvenation that even sleep cannot provide. The renewed perspectives and revelations that liberate and empower us. Rest in Him. Open. Humble yourself and all worldly opinions. Cast out shame. Meditate ONLY on His Love for YOU. Let It move and work. Change and heal. That Love isn’t just a feeling….It’s Him. “Hello Father. Thank You.”
Focused on the Law and Still Sinning
Matthew 7:21 says that even by performing acts of righteousness, believers are not automatically green-lighted to enter the kingdom of Heaven. They must do the Will of the Father, which requires an unobstructed relationship to have the full ability to know and obey. Any separation we knowingly or unknowingly allow would inhibit this kind of relationship. This is sin for the believer: anything that keeps us in separation from God and His Will. We must be guided in the Will of God in our lives. There’s a big difference between a believer carrying out the Law as they understand it, and a believer carrying out the Will of the Father by doing only how His Spirit on the inside of them directs them to do. This is the fulfillment of the Law, which can only be done by God, through us.
Right Focus and the Kingdom
Luke 12:29-31: “Don’t seek the things you need, seek the kingdom and those things will be given to you…” The Kingdom is not of this world, but is the righteousness, peace, and joy produced by the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Through submitting to the refinement and will of God, His Kingdom can be made manifest in us and through us.
When Expectations Blind us to Seeing God A Parable.
Has anyone heard the joke often called “The Drowning Man”? It has tremendous truth for believers to see how God works all around us and through others… but often our “expectations” of what we THINK God should do blinds us to seeing Him and choosing/receiving the provision He’s provided.
The joke (or parable) goes like this:
The Drowning Man:
“It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house. As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in. “No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the man in the rowboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him. The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. “Climb in!” shouted a man in the boat. “No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the man in the speedboat went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him. The waters continued to rise. A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof. “No,” replied the man on the roof. “I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me.” So the helicopter went away. The man on the roof prayed for God to save him. The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned. Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God. “Heavenly Father,” he said, “I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?” God gave him a puzzled look, and replied “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”
Spiritual Undercurrent and Innervation
Beyond our 5 senses, is a whole other world innervating and influencing us. Those who pursue only things of the flesh are blind to the undercurrent of the Spirit, which moves and creates all things. And through it, we also are having an effect.
Just as the ebb and flow of the tides move and change everything they touch so, too, whatever we engage in is not isolated to impacting only us. From dawn to dusk, the seeds of our thoughts, words, and actions are being planted. Not only within us, but in the world around us.
There’s an interconnectedness we have on the spirit level that continually influences, meaning all that we do in the physical has far-reaching impact on the world like unseen ripples. As spirit beings – birthed into a physical body – we must recognize the immense responsibility we have in wielding a free will. It’s no small thing. The ultimate purpose of free will is not to separate and define us by our differences, but to unite us. Not to hurt and judge, but to heal and love. That by our own choice, we are uniting our will with the Will of God, not using it to satisfy our worldly ego and desires.
Galatians 5:13 says: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh [worldliness, selfishness]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” Therefore, operate in the spiritual Truth that the physical is inextricably connected to the spiritual and that we are called to choose God’s Way, letting Him lead us in all we do and are.
Just like the tides, if we wander too far into the spiritual, untethered from God, we can get swept into known and unknown dangers, losing ourselves. Look to God today, asking Him to be your guide. That His Will be done. And to show you what it means to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Romans 12:9, Psalm 45:7, and Proverbs 6:16-19.
Joke – What’s the Meaning?
There’s a joke that I heard in my youth and have remembered all this time. I wonder, though, what moral/lesson do you think this one is conveying?
THE CHRISTIAN LION:
Two friends are walking when they see a hungry lion that hasn’t eaten in days. The lion sees the friends and starts running towards them, looking like it wants to eat them! They start running as fast as they can to get away from the lion. Knowing they can’t outrun the lion, one of the friends has an idea and decides to pray to God: “Please, God, make this lion a Christian.” He looks back to see if the lion is still chasing them and he sees something amazing. The lion is no longer running after them; it’s kneeling on the ground, looking like it’s now praying. The man is so relieved, seeing his prayer has worked. He feels safe enough to walk back to the lion to hear what the lion is praying about. As he gets closer, he hears the lion saying: “Thank you, Lord, for this meal that I am about to receive.”