Resurrection

The Resurrection endures in the history of the human family. Scholars have tried unsuccessfully to disprove it. Skeptics have been left behind in the dust of history as its message has spread like a fruitful vine throughout societies. As someone has said "The Church is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."  Just as Jesus said, the gates of hell have not prevailed against it. Its message has brought hope and fostered love and freedom wherever its seeds have taken root. It has inspired countless poems, hymns, sermons, and innumerable acts of sacrificial beneficence and charity. Wherever Christianity has prospered, freedom has prospered. Tyrants and dictators hate and fear the Gospel because its sets people free. It is hated because it claims authority over the soul of man. But this authority is not currently enforced by the God it reveals, even though He has the power to do so, so the world is foolish to hate it. But foolishness prospers where the Gospel is hated. And how can it be anything but wise to submit to the authority of the one who willingly sacrificed His life for His followers, and who commands them to love one another "as I have loved you." The Founding Fathers of our nation recognized the necessity of this Gospel as the only fertile soil in which democracy could prosper, so they diligently put up walls to protect it from governmental encroachments, and insured public education so that the Bible could be read and understood by the voting citizens. (See "The Old Deluder Satan Act"). Belief in the Resurrection of Jesus the Christ is like the dawning of the sun that shines brighter and brighter until the full Light of day in a man's soul.  The one God of this universe pointed a giant, eternal finger at the life and teachings of Jesus by raising Him from the grave. If we ignore Him, we will perish in the fires of our own consuming passions. The Love of Christ is the only hope of our world.

LifePoints

1.  Live with impeccable ethics and morals. This is a process. Try to stay pure. Look to Christ for power, and receive His Grace in all areas where you fall short.
2.  Keep your mind clear of worries and excessive cares. Beyond a healthy conscience and a willingness to bear contrition, do not entertain guilt. Eradicate it in Grace.
3.  Accept that you are a being in process, and that God has promised to bring you to completion.
4.  Take care of your body. It is the Holy Temple of your soul. It is miraculous in design and function. Be thankful for it. Don't worry about your health, or about anything for that matter [see#2]. Stretch and move a lot.
5.  Let everything you do be motivated only by Love--the Love of Christ.
6.  Never miss an opportunity to absorb and experience beauty--every flower, child, the sky, water and light, green foliage dancing in the wind, birds celebrating the dawn. Celebrate your life, and all the magnificent life on this amazing planet! Live poetically and artistically. Be a Life Artist!
7.  Guard your heart. Discern the spiritual energies that flow within you and between you and others. Block, screen out, or peacefully ignore the evil [dark, foreboding, guilt-inducing, judgmental, fearful, critical, enslaving, etc.] energies.  Embrace, enhance and share the good [kindness, compassion, joy, peace, etc.].
8.  Continue to study and meditate on the teachings of Jesus, relying on His Holy Spirit to enable you to understand and embody the Truth that sets and keeps you free. Learn to feel free.
9.  Work peacefully and joyfully to alleviate suffering, accepting that you will not be able to alleviate all of it; but you will be able, in Christ, to overcome it and and benefit from it. It will make you wiser and stronger, which is why God allows it. Do not put yourself under the unbearable yoke of feeling responsible to alleviate the suffering in others that is within their domain of control. I am responsible for my suffering and happiness; you are responsible for yours.
10.  Accept your death, and the death of all your loved ones. It will help you love them better. Jesus has commanded us not to fear, nor to let our hearts be troubled regarding death [John 14]. We are learning how to live in the comfort of His assurances.
11.  Remember that you are in, but not of the world. Your soul is eternal and distinct from all the worries and cares of this world. That includes political  worries! Do as much good as you can, but keep you heart free from worry.
12.  Stay connected to people who really care and are also pursuing Truth, Freedom and Peace and for the entire human family. Support the Church and trusted organizations that are doing some enduring good.  Be generous with your resources, and especially with your heart of Love.
13.  Forgive. Make sure you are holding nothing against anyone. It will weigh you down over time and diminish your most valuable possession--your Life.

Confession and Prayer

Lord,

I'm weak and stupid.

I know it.

Apathetic and lazy.

I'm a victim of this opulent culture. It's opulence has permeated my soul like the pollution in the air and water. Like cancer cells, it grows in me. I am not separate from it. I am not holy.

But I have this mustard seed of faith.

I know that You are the Messiah—God in the flesh. I know that Your Spirit also resides in me.

Please help me to draw up into You in me; like a snail drawing into its shell.

I want to be safe from this world, even while still in it. I want to be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—safe and without even the smell of smoke on them in the fiery furnace.

Cleanse me inwardly from all unrighteousness, according to Your glorious promise.

Make me to be a man after Your heart.

Let me feel Your redemptive Love cleansing me, cleansing me, cleansing me.

Please forgive me!

I want to love with Your Love. I know that that Love, that Spirit is the answer to all human problems.

Yet I still sit, and do nothing. Or get lost in the distractions of this opulence. Or I rest on the laurels of my meager past works for Your Kingdom's glory; taking the glory unto my prideful, lazy self.

Or I allow the evil one to convince me that, because of all this, I am no good for the Kingdom, too unworthy to help, so I meekly keep my mouth shut when You would have me speak.

I ask You now, in this moment, please deliver me from this quagmire of selfish lostness.

Bring me into the Light of Your Glorious Truth and Love that drives away all darkness, liberates, strengthens and cleanses.

Purge me in the Consuming Fire that burns away all that is not free, peaceful, joyful, loving and fit for heaven. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that today I may be a new creature; all this old baggage having been burned to ashes and blown away by Holy Spirit fire and wind.

Thank You eternally for assuring me in Your Holy Word that You do these things, perform these glorious miracles of Love, cleanse us, make us whole and righteous, use us for the glory of Your Kingdom. Please Lord, deliver us from evil and keep us in Your perfect Way.

Today, by Your Grace, I will walk in the Love and Freedom of Christ my Lord!

The Door

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Jesus Rev. 3:20

What is the door that Jesus knocks upon and calls from without? It is the door of our innermost being. Not the door of our persona--that superficial mask that we present to the world--but rather the person, the core of our being, the secret place that no one can access without permission or willing openness.
Sometimes we think we have opened the door and welcomed Him in, and, indeed, we may have certainly done so, receiving Him as our Lord and Savior. But we discover that there are more doors, going deeper into the core of our being.
We discover that there are areas that He has not accessed because we didn't even know that we had these rooms in our soul where there has been worry, unmet needs, frustration and fear. He is knocking on these doors, these deeper doors, and we must continue to open them as they continue to be revealed to us. We have been born into a fallen world, permeated with seemingly limitless variations of deception, worry, fear, vain desires, frustrations, reactionary tendencies at the emotional as well as behavioral level. We are oppressed at deep levels that we are unaware of because these oppressive  spirits have been active in us from birth. Jesus knocks on the door of every room in our soul so that He might liberate us from these oppressive spirits. [Luke 4:18]  He is like a massive, all-powerful anti-virus program that clears away everything in the computer of our soul--all the spiritual viruses we have inherited and picked up in our worldly journey--and creates a new default mode characterized by deep inner peace, a feeling of eternal safety, unencumbered love flowing in and through us. He comes in like a mighty River of Life flowing with pure living water, cleansing away all fear, worry, condemnation and all oppression. He liberates us on progressively deeper levels as we progress in our sanctification. Life experiences continue to reveal and expose these levels of oppression--these doors that have been closed and out of awareness. We thought we could deal with anything, then a crisis occurs that shakes our foundation. We discover that we were building, at least in part, on a superficial foundation, even though we thought we were secure. We then discover anew, on a deeper level, the True Foundation that is underneath all superficial foundations--the Corner Stone, the Ultimate Truth, the Word that was in the beginning with God [John 1:1]. This is a glorious process, and our gracious God has promised to bring it to a glorious completion. [Phl. 1:6]

Miracles

If you walk outside and look around, looking deeply into what you see, you will see miracles---countless numbers of them.  Every minuscule piece of life on this earth is an unexplainable, unduplicatable miracle. And you are a miracle of miracles because, of all life on the planet, you alone can contemplate such a thing as a "miracle."
There is a certain epiphany that one experiences when he experiences a miracle--an inner response of awe and wonder and reverence. But because we live in the midst of miracles, contemplating life with a miraculous mind, seeing with miraculous eyes, we become desensitized to that inner feeling, and we walk around yawning, complaining, waiting for a better time. This is a manifestation of evil. Evil is overcome in the pursuit of ultimate Truth. Jesus said "I am the Truth", and He was impatient with humans who wanted to see a "sign" or "miracle" in order to have faith. He realized that they were themselves miracles who had been given life by His Father, God, the Creator, the conscious Core of the universe Who permeates the entire universe, which is His domain.
When we open ourselves to Christ and His teachings--His Living Word--among the countless other gifts we receive, we begin to be reawakened to this epiphany, this awe, wonder and reverence. We become like children who can be amazed at the ripples in the water created by a stone. We begin to celebrate and be thankful for Life, knowing where it has come from and its destination. We begin to Love people with a sincere Love that needs nothing in return, but rejoices in whatever good comes to the other from being loved in that way--the Way. We continue to suffer the tribulations of this world, but in a deeper, more permanent way, we transcend all suffering. We live in a spiritual realm that encompasses all life on the planet, all human experiences, in faith and hope and love, which has become for us an unshakable Foundation; like a depth in the ocean of our lives that cannot be disturbed, even by the hurricanes that pass over the surface. Our heart smiles secretly upon the universe as it is, at one with the universe that is our Father's domain. Now we have come out of darkness into the Light that overcomes all the various darknesses of the soul. Now we are truly free; and we feel free. This way-of-being is accessible to all who believe and continue in His Way.

The Magnificent Brain

Neurologist Wolf Singer says the brain is like an orchestra without a conductor. When we decide to take our thoughts captive to Christ  [2Cor.10:5], He begins to become the conductor of the orchestra of our mind; and, of course, He makes the most beautiful music imaginable.

Our Hope

Jesus is still leading us, if we will follow Him, into the solution to the human problem. His seeds of Truth are wafting on the wind across the human landscape. They take root, here and there, and transform hearts into what we have the greatest potential of becoming--what we have been created to become. The fact that He is resisted or ignored is the greatest testimony to the reality of evil. He said, among other wonderful transformative truths, "If you continue in my way, then you are my disciples indeed; and you will know the Truth; and the Truth will set you free." Here alone is the hope for the human family.