Changed Into His Likeness

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3

I am purified by focusing my hope on Jesus Christ. I cannot purify myself. He does it, when I focus my attention on Him. For as He is [now], so are we in this world – It is finished: He has done it! (1 John 4:17).

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. – Eph. 1:18-23; 2:5-7

This is where I am and who I am in Christ! He is the head, and I am part of His body, seated in the heavens at the right hand of God.

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:15-18

I am transformed into His image as I turn to the Lord (away from the Law and trying to keep it) and by beholding the glory of the Lord. As I focus my gaze on Him, I am transformed in ever-increasing levels (from glory to glory).

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:1-3

I can run the race with endurance, by laying aside (stop being conscious of) my sin, fixing my eyes on Jesus and considering Him. For He is the writer and the completer of my faith (not me!) It’s not my endurance that gets me through, but His. It’s not my righteousness that makes me walk blamelessly, but His. It’s not my perfect behavior that makes me pure, but His! Thank you, Jesus! This righteousness is imputed to me by the powerful finished work of His blood shed on the cross.

Be a Thermostat

By His Spirit the Lord says:

Don't be a thermometer. Be a thermostat. Do not labor to regulate yourself according to the temperature of external things and people -- even the spiritual. Do not simply reflect the spiritual climate or mental/emotional mood that surrounds you. My Holy Spirit, indwelling, is your Regulator. You are a bringer of peace, joy and light.

You grow the fruits of My Spirit, for the nourishment of those who are hungry around you. You also hold inside you multiple gifts of My Spirit (in unlimited supply) to be distributed to others as needed. This is determined by the mind of Christ, not by the demands or cravings of people.

Let Me regulate you. Do not be regulated by the dictates of circumstances or people around you.

If I am regulating you, your life will grow in the fruits of My Spirit, and My power will be manifested through you to distribute My gifts as I will. 

I do not always have the ability to withstand effects of words spoken or activity happening around me. Protection from other-conrol and power to overcome is activated by praying in the Spirit. Something comes at me (even a negative thought in my own mind). I can train myself to respond by grabbing every thought and taking it captive to Christ's obedience (what He accomplished for me on the cross).

Respond to negativity by praying in the Spirit. This is the flow of rivers of living water out of your belly (John 7:37-38). Open the floodgate. The Holy Spirit, then, is given the avenue to wash away all the muck and bring new life.

What is Lovingkindness?

Here's something to meditate on. I found it in "Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words," of all places. I believe that, whenever I meditate on God's lovingkindness, turning it over and over in my mind and letting it sink into my innermost being, I am being changed into His likeness.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind [be metamorphosed by the renovation of your understanding], so that you may discern what is the good [beneficial], acceptable [well-pleasing] and perfect [complete] will of God. – Romans 12:2

Here is the Vine's quote. It's lengthy, but worth the meditation:

Loving-kindness [Hebrew hesed] – “loving-kindness; steadfast love; grace; mercy; faithfulness; goodness; devotion.” The term is one of the most important in the vocabulary of Old Testament theology and ethics.

In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: “strength” [Greek dunamis], “steadfastness” [from everlasting to everlasting], and “love” [Greek agape]. Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. [It appears to include God’s omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence.]

The word refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Yahweh and Israel). But hesed is not only a matter of obligation; it is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. The weaker party seeks the protection and blessing of the patron and protector, but he may not lay absolute claim to it. The stronger party remains committed to his promise, but retains his freedom, especially with regard to the manner in which he will implement those promises. Hesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law.

“Devotion” is sometimes the single English word best capable of capturing the nuance of the original. Hebrew writers often underscored the element of steadfastness (or strength) by pairing hesed with emet (“truth; reliability”) and emunah (“faithfulness; certainty”).

The concrete content of the word is especially evident when it is used in the plural. God’s “mercies,” “kindnesses,” or “faithfulnesses” are His specific, concrete acts of redemption in fulfilment of His promise. An example appears in Isaiah 55:3: “. . . And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” [Clearly referring to Jesus!]

Hesed is God’s most central characteristic. God’s loving-kindness is offered to his people, who need redemption from sin, troubles, and enemies [the flesh, the world, the devil]. A recurrent refrain describing God’s nature is “abounding/plenteous in hesed” (Exo. 34:6; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 103.8; Jon. 4:2). The entire history of Yahweh’s covenantal relationship with Israel can be summarized in terms of hesed. It is the one permanent element in the flux of covenantal history. (Woohoo!  Isn't God good?)

The association of hesed with ‘covenant” keeps it from being misunderstood as mere providence or love for all creatures; it applies primarily to God’s particular love for His chosen and covenanted people. “Covenant” also stresses the reciprocity of the relationship; but since God’s hesed is ultimately beyond the covenant, it will not ultimately be abandoned, even when the human partner is unfaithful and must be disciplined (Isa. 54:8, 10). Since its final triumph and implementation is eschatological [referring to the final destiny of all humankind], hesed can imply the goal and end of all salvation-history (Ps. 8:7, 10; 130:7; Mic. 7:20).

Say the Word . . .

The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as
perfume and incense -- Proverbs 27:9 [NLT]

Oh, Lord, when I am grieved in my spirit and my soul about the negativity of humanity around me, I run to you, my Hiding Place. Enlarge my tent, O Lord, and expand my intake of You. Please teach me how to NOT react out of the fleshiness of my soul and NOT to agree with the Accuser of the brethren. Please teach me and move me to respond out of my spirit, in agreement with Your Spirit, with prayer, with praise, with worship, with ministry in two or three or six (!) directions. One thing I do. I look to you. Teach me and move me to fix my gaze. Thank you, Lord, that you are bigger, you are greater, you are better.

With words from your mouth, you created everything we know, and how much more that we don’t know. With one word, You can completely change my life, calling things that are not, as though they were. And Bam! There they are! Teach me to say what You’re saying, Lord, to go where You’re going, to do what You’re doing – everywhere, every day, every way. All Your ways are good, and all Your paths are perfect. There is a good word to be said in response to any negativity. Put it in my mouth, Lord! Lead me on . . .

But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: Jesus! He is the Good Word. – from Romans 10:8

Madelynn and Julia -- BFF

The Trustworthy One

We trust who we know is trustworthy.  The better you know someone, the more you know how much you can trust that person. 

It is the same way for us with God, with one great exception:  He alone is altogether, completely, 100% trustworthy.  He is the God of the universe all by Himself. 

You may have one, two, or even more people in your inner circle that you trust.  You might feel that you can tell them anything.  If so, that's a good thing.  But here's a greater thing:  God never changes.  He is always in a good mood.  His love never fails.  He is always for you, and never against you.

These are not just words recited from the Bible.  This is the Person I know who is my Best Friend, my Counselor and Confidante, my most intitimate Partner and Guide through life.  I can trust Him with my thoughts, my fears, worries, failures and weaknesses, my deepest desires and hopes, and with all the things I care about. 

How?  I quit working on building my faith a while ago.  Now I just keep getting to know Him better, by talking with and listening to Him, every day.  I keep discovering, in new ways all the time, that He is so much better than I ever thought before.  He is The Trustworthy One. 

Green Mountain Falls, Colorado

Flow

By His Spirit, the Lord says:

Don’t restrict Me. Get into the Flow of Me, the Flow of living waters of My Spirit, coming up from within you. I am in you. Let Me flow through you and fill you and spill out of you. I am your everything. Let go of the riverbank and flow with Me. I will keep you completely safe. I will hold you up above all circumstances. I will transform you and enable you to walk on the waters of your life. I will sustain you and strengthen you to endure through every situation, always being at the top, the head and not the tail, over and never under. I am the One who calls you. I am the one who gives to you. I am the one who holds you securely. I am the one who keeps you fresh and young. I am the one who heals you. I am your provision. I am your solace, and your great pervading peace. I am your wealth and your blessing. I am the one who fills you to overflowing. I am the finisher of your faith. I am your faith. I am the life-giver, the completer and perfecter of everything that is about you. I am all about you. I have designed you for great and precious things, life-giving things, blessed things, and outpouring things. Trust Me. Flow with Me.

Grab Hold of Time

This was posted on my Pastor's Blog. Some good, practical stuff!

Life in the Word

“I find nothing in the Bible but holiness, and nothing in the world but worldliness. therefore, if I live in the world, I will become worldly; on the other hand, if I live in the Bible, I will become holy [like God].

“You cannot be strong in God unless you are diligently and constantly listening to what God has to say to you through His Word. You cannot know the power and the nature of God unless you partake of His inbreathed Word. Read it in the morning, in the evening, and at every opportunity you get. You will find that the more of God’s Word you hide in your heart, the easier it is to live a holy [power-filled!] life. As you receive God’s Word, your whole physical being will be given life, and you will be made strong. As you receive the Word engrafted, with humility [knowing you can’t make it happen] (James 1:21), you will find faith springing up within. You will have life through the Word.” – S. Wigglesworth

But what does it say? The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!” So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Word of Christ. – Romans 10

Some people may read the Bible in Hebrew or Greek. Be the kind of person who reads it in the Holy Spirit. You can read with your mind, but by meditating, turning it over in your mind and speaking it out loud again and again, it will get into your spirit and become more and more a part of who you are. If you are a believer in Jesus, His Spirit lives within you. Ask Him to engraft the Word into your very being. Receive every Word that He speaks to you.

Grab hold of a little Word of power that gets lit up to you when you are reading. Repeat it out loud, and think about it. Ask the Lord to expand it to fill your heart and to be implanted in your being and bear fruit in your life. Hold onto that Word, and ask Holy Spirit to pivot you and spin you and wrap you around that Word, to see it from different angles. Ask Him to bring into your awareness other words in Scripture that hook up to that word and explode it into your understanding, and ask Him to make your life a fulfillment of the Word.

How Much Do You Love Me, God?

Your Love Never Fails

Nothing can separate, even if I ran away –

Your love never fails!

I know I still make mistakes, but

You have new mercy for me every day

Your love never fails!

You stay the same through the ages.

Your love never changes.

There may be pain in the night, but joy comes in the morning!

And when the oceans rage, I don’t have to be afraid

Because I know that you love me.

Your love never fails!

Waiting for Daddy

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. – Roman 8:28


Every good gift and every perfect ( free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse]. – James 1:17 [AMP]


If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? – Romans 8:31-32


"For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but My lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and My covenant of peace will not be shaken," Says the Lord who has compassion on you. “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies , and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons will be taught of the Lord; and the well-being of your sons will be great. In righteousness you will be established; you will be far from oppression, for you will not fear [for perfect love casts out fear]; and from terror, for it will not come near you. If anyone fiercely assails you it will not be from Me. Whoever assails you will fall because of you. Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and brings out a weapon for its work; and I have created the destroyer to ruin. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their vindication is from Me," declares the Lord. – Isaiah 54:10-17

Much about Muchness

Alice's Wonderland Box, originally uploaded by Cher's Passion.

In the 2009 film, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter complains to Alice:

“You used to be much more . . . muchier. You’ve lost your muchness.”

This is easily the most written-about line from the film, not surprisingly. In this dark world, the “here and now,” it seems that everyone is looking for more – much more. Where is the muchness? Where is the more? There doesn’t always seem to be much love, much peace, much joy, much power for life and for living it. We want more. And we want to be much more. It seems that we’re looking for something supernatural, since the natural is so much less than what could be so much more.

But Ah! Frabjous Discovery: I’ve found the Muchness; I’ve found the More! –

 

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how MUCH MORE shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how MUCH MORE, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how MUCH MORE did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how MUCH MORE will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. [Ah, the Muchness!]

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, GRACE INCREASED ALL THE MORE, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through (HIS) righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 5:6-11; 15-21 [NIV]

All the Muchness, all the More we need, is in the Person of Grace,

Jesus Christ the Righteous! Are you in?

Who Am I?

Calvinist – No!


Arminian – No!


Baptist? Methodist? Wesleyan? Presbyterian? American Baptist? Southern Baptist? Lutheran? Anabaptist? Congregationalist? Episcopalian? Quaker? Moravian? Salvation Army? Dutch Reformed? Christian Reformed? Church of Christ? United Methodist? Evangelical? Pentecostal? Pentecostal Holiness? Church of God in Christ? Church of Christ in God? Church of the Holy Spirit? Church of the Holy Spirit in Christ in God? Apostolic Church? Four Square?  Trinity Triangle?  Free Evangelical? Free Methodist? Free Evangelical Pentecostal Church of God in Christ in the Holy Spirit? ? ? Menonite? Assembly of God? Congregation of God? Church of God?


No.  (I mean no disrespect, but God is bigger than all of it -- than all of us.) 

Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the Righteous Son of God, the Living One, Messiah, Savior, Healer, Deliverer, Redeemer, and Eternal, Sovereign Lord of all; Perfect Sacrifice and my Righteousness in God; Author and Finisher of my faith, Lover of my soul, Who is able to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Counselor, Comforter and Friend; King of kings and Lord of lords, the Faithful God of peace who calls me, sanctifies me wholly, preserving my whole spirit and soul and body blameless unto His coming – YES, YES, YES, a thousand times YES!

My identity is not in an affiliation with any organization or belief system or packaged list of doctrines; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. My identity is in Jesus Christ alone, the One Who saves me by His Grace.  No matter how hard I try, I cannot fit Him into my doctrinal statements.  HIS WORD is Truth. 


Oh, Lord, unify Your church. Protect us by the power of your Name–the Name you gave Jesus–so that we may be one as you are one. Move us to listen to the words of Jesus so that we may have his full measure of joy within us. Protect us from the evil one. Sanctify us by your truth. Your Word is truth. May we be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent Jesus and have loved us even as you have loved your own Son. Continue to make Yourself known to us, Jesus, so that the love the Father has for You may be in us and that You Yourself may be in us fully – Christ in us, the hope of glory! 

I am a child of God.  And the greatest truth of all is this:  God is Love.