I noted here on LifeBrook back in 2009 that I was undertaking the Lenten tradition of giving up something for the season leading up to Easter, albeit with a bit of an intangible bent. That year I vowed to give up something that fed a longstanding stronghold in my life: negative thinking. As I look back on my journals from that period of time, I saw that this was quite a struggle. There were more than a few days that this chronic negativity had a life and a momentum of its own. Yet, at the same time, I did see that there were also more than a few days that I became less prone to negative cognition and even when I did have a pessimistic thought, I immediately became aware of it and was able to, as that wise sage Barney Fife told his friend Sheriff Andy:”Nip it in the bud.”
I mention all this because this year I have once again taken on this anti-negativity challenge as part of my Lenten practice. It is not so much that I have slid back into chronic negative thinking – no – in fact, the Holy Spirit has helped me immensely in this area. It’s just that I realize that this issue is one that has been a powerful force in my life and I want to take yet another step in getting on top of it. I will let you know from time to time how things are going.
I would be most interested in hearing what sort of things you folks are considering dealing with this Lenten season.
Frank Damazio @ Tuesday’s 4:30pm Rally (Photo credit: James Kirsop)
God’s blessings for us are limited only by ourselves – not by His resources, power, or willingness to give. Refuse any obstacle, person, or opinion that restricts your expectations for our future. There are great, God-given opportunities before you, great open doors, and great rewards lying within your reach. Stretch. Expect. Believe. Persist. Possess.
By faith, call those things that are divine truth in the spiritual realm into being in the natural realm. It is not a magic formula or wishful thinking. It is operating within the laws of God’s Word……………Do not use your words to confirm or mold negative situations in your life. Use your words and God’s Word to change those situations. Jesus confirmed the power of the spoken word in John 6:63: “Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.” (Message)………Spirit-words – God’s words coming out of your mouth because they are in your heart – are life-making…..God’s Word out of your mouth is filled with the same power it had coming out of His mouth. God’s Word never goes out without producing an effect. It is never powerless (see Isaiah 55:11). When you speak His Word, His power is behind it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .And do not fall for the devil’s lie that it is too late for you. If you are alive and still talking, it is not too late! Use your voice to cry out and prepare the way God says is yours, and watch Him release the full force of his favor toward you as you walk out, and speak out, His Word.
Andrew Wommack in Schiphol-Rijk (Photo credit: Johan Koolwaaij)
God has already moved and blessed us with every spiritual blessing. Everything we’ll ever need – joy, peace, wisdom, revelation knowledge, etc. – has already been provided. But it’s all in the spirit realm….If you can’t understand that everything God has already provided for you is in the spirit realm, then you’ll lose this truth I am communicating. Why? Faith acts like a bridge to bring what is true and real in the spiritual world into the physical world. The truth is, very few believers allow their faith to be that bridge for what God has already done to cross over into the natural realm. We just don’t see very much manifestation of it.
Before a man accomplish anything of an enduring nature in the world he must first of all acquire some measure of success in the management of his own mind. This is as mathematical a truism as that two and two are four, for, “out of the heart are the issues of life.” (Here Allen is referring to Proverbs 4:23). If a man cannot govern the forces within himself, he cannot hold a firm hand upon the outer activities which form his visible life. On the other hand, as a man succeeds, in governing himself he rises to higher and higher levels of power and usefulness and success in the world.
As some of you know, my health has been a major life issue for some time now. I am afflicted with Severe Cardiovascular Disease and also Congestive Heart Failure. I had a quadruple bypass at age 47, back in 1996. Since that time, two of the grafts have closed and cannot be opened or stented. A third graft has a stent and the fourth one is fine. Over the last few months my angina has become more frequent. My systolic blood pressure in my right arm is some fifty points higher than in my left.
Yesterday, I underwent an angiogram and a blockage was found in my clavicular area, just below the left shoulder near the collar bone. Due to its location, which the doctor described as “tricky,” it was decided that a consult with a heart surgeon was needed. The doctors told me that they will either attempt to put a stent in the artery or a bypass graft around the blocked area. Much depends on what the surgeon suggests. Next Tuesday I am also scheduled for an ultrasound on my carotid artery, I suppose to see if there is any further complications in that area.
I mention all this to let my readers know what is going on and to request prayer. I am optimistic as to the outcome and in any case, I am at peace in the care of the God of All Comfort. I will try to keep up the blog as best I can through the next month, but if things are a little less regular, it is because I am dealing with these issues.
Barnabas curing the poor by Paolo Veronese, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mick Turner
Although rarely covered in articles on spiritual laws and principles, one of the most beneficial and useful principles is “The Law of Encouragement.” Briefly stated, the Law of Encouragement implies that those behaviors that a person performs that receive positive encouragement from important people are likely to increase in frequency. This is just basic common sense if you think about it.
The problem often arises, however, when a person does the right thing but rarely gets positive feedback for his or her actions. No, this doesn’t mean we need to be praised each time we do something good. However, it does imply that we at least like to have our efforts recognized from time to time. The point is that encouragement is a vital component of spiritual development. Without positive encouragement our dedication to the process of becoming the best that we can be is likely to wane.
The fact that we need encouragement highlights the importance of surrounding ourselves with positive people that are also on the path of spiritual formation. It is from such a cadre of spiritual friends that we can find the encouragement that we need.
In the early days of the Christian movement Barnabas was recognized as such a person. From scripture we know that Barnabas was often a companion to Paul and others and, although there was a rift of some sort between Paul and Barnabas later on, the Apostle still recognized Barnabas’ talents. Everyone needs a Barnabas in their Christian life, including you. Jim Graff, in his excellent book A Significant Life discusses the importance of encouragement in relation to the realization of potential:
First, potential watered by encouragement grows and blooms into purposeful passion. The passion to work is then natural and not forced. Second, as our “passion fruit” becomes focused on God’s goals, we develop the priorities necessary to accomplish those objectives. This process then continues as we grow stronger and more confident in God’s character as well as in who he’s created us to be….The goal is to see that living significant lives requires the development of our potential. And in order to blossom, that potential needs praise, the kind of positive reinforcement that God usually provides through others. As our potential – recognized and reinforced by others – matures, we develop passion for who we are and what God calls us to accomplish.
It is imperative to keep in mind our overriding goal in this process. What we are trying to do here is appropriate our true identity in Christ and bring the blessings associated with that identity down from the spiritual world and into manifestation in our daily lives. Thus, when Jim Graff talks about developing “a passion for who we are and what God calls us to accomplish,” he is addressing our primary goal. We develop a passion for who we are, a passion for our reborn identity in Christ. In Christ, we are, indeed, new creations and we have a lot more power than we think we do.
I know that in my own life, once I came to a deeper understanding of the true nature of this being we call Jesus Christ and from that understanding realized the extent of what he accomplished by leaving his celestial home and incarnating in this broken world, everything changed. This knowledge and new understanding was more than just dry intellectual information. Instead, this revelatory insight was more akin to a transformational wisdom that penetrated every cell of my being, altering how I viewed and experienced the world.
It was, in short, life changing.
My purpose in sharing this experience is to illustrate the importance of encouragement in the spiritual journey. You see, had I not had a small cadre of deep spiritual friends, I doubt I would have had the fortitude, discipline, and guidance to have persevered in my quest for wisdom and understanding. From this group of spiritual brothers and sisters I received much encouragement and it was this very encouragement that carried me forward, especially when times were difficult and other duties and responsibilities competed for my time and energy.
As stated earlier, my perspective on life was reshaped as I became more experientially aware of who and what Christ was, as well as what he accomplished in his mission to this world, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. Flowing out of these revelations I also came to appreciate another seemingly insignificant passage of scripture and more importantly, the truth that it revealed:
…….And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than the highest heaven so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. (Eph. 4:10 NLT)
The implications of this passage are mindboggling – truly staggering when one reflects on the practical reality of Paul’s words. Space does not permit a detailed description of this passage in this essay, but suffice to say that by filling the entire universe with himself, Christ altered the very fabric of the everyday reality in which we live, move, and have our being. My point in mentioning this to further illustrate the magnificence and the incredible blessings brought by Christ as he completed that phase of his work.
This life-enhancing revelations gave birth to an unquenchable desire to respond to Christ’s benevolence and sacrifice in the deepest way possible. I came to understand that the most appropriate response would be to do all that I could to fulfill the following personal life goal:
To become the optimal version of myself for the glory of God and the benefit of others.
Further, I increasingly became aware that a significant part of my life’s calling involved encouraging others to do the same. Whatever our station in life, we can make things better by striving to be all that we can be. When we live up to our God-given potential, amazing things begin to happen. When we begin to manifest the optimal version of ourselves, the whole world benefits in ways both great and small. Science has firmly established that we live in an interdependent, interconnected universe and, as a result, everything we do has an impact whether we are aware of it or not.
I am convinced that as the church moves forward in these challenging yet exciting times one of its most vital needs is for a plethora of called and committed encouragers. Throughout history, especially at times of revival and spiritual awakening, the faith saw a wide array of encouragers and exhorters rise up and provide much needed motivational enthusiasm when the Body of Christ needed it most. Glenn McDonald, in his excellent book entitled The Disciple Making Church speaks wisely to this issue:
God sends special teachers into our lives – men and women who by one means or another are called to demonstrate, proclaim, interpret, and model the various essentials of the disciple life. To climb a few feet higher on the spiritual slope we need to receive encouragement and the extended hands of those who are at least a feet ahead of us.
The pages of scripture, both Old and New Testaments, are filled with examples of timely encouragers and mentors who provided guidance and encouragement to biblical heroes in their time of testing. McDonald continues:
“Solo flight” is not a value celebrated in the Bible. Spirituality is imparted and received through relationships. Joshua’s leadership lessons arrived via his association with Moses. Ruth looked to her mother-in-law Naomi. Elisha became the protégé of Elijah. Mary found “problem pregnancy” encouragement from her older relative Elizabeth. Many of the second generation Christian missionaries, including Titus, Epaphras, and Tychicus, looked to Paul. Apollos received mentoring from Priscilla and Aquila.
Although it is a value cherished by American culture, rugged individualism is foreign to the Christian walk of faith. Christianity was born in community, grew in community, and thrives in community. In the current age, when the faith is facing monumental challenges that threaten its very survival, this need for community is even more critical. And within the Christian community, encouragement is sorely needed. As a collective force, the Christian church needs to stop its petty infighting, especially over trivial matters and spend more of its energy in a positive direction.
Raising up a vital, committed force of encouragers is central to this goal.
English: folio 11 recto of the codex with the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The church described in the book of Acts was a self-sacrificing church where believers were selling their private possessions and property and bringing them to the apostles to distribute to those in need. We don’t see a lot of that happening today. The people who had sacrificed personal comforts for the good of community were not focused on having nice buildings or fancy lights or comfortable chairs; they just wanted to take care of people’s needs.
When the Master walked this earth, he did so as the prototype of a person who consistently walks in spiritual excellence. Jesus was the optimal version of who and what he was and it is to that goal we all aspire. Granted, we cannot walk as God’s Son walked – scripture tells us Jesus was the only one. However, we can walk as the optimal version of who we are. And when we do that, my friend, we are walking in spiritual excellence.
Jesus gave himself completely to the Father so that he could do the Father’s will completely. And what was the ultimate will of the Father for his Son? The answer is simple: serve others!
Like Christ, we, too, are to give ourselves completely to God so that we can do His will completely. And what is God’s ultimate will for us? It should be obvious by now: we are to serve others.
Our service is the offspring of a heart of compassion, built upon our deep recognition of the pain and suffering inherent in this world and our interconnected unity with all people. You may not know it yet, but every man on this planet is your brother and every woman is your sister. You are made of the same combination of earth and divine breath. When one person suffers, at some level, we all suffer. This is not some New Age airy fairy fantasy; instead, it is scientific fact and theological truth.
From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before.
Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now.
Jesus Christ was not a man of compassion; he was a man of radical compassion. From his voluntary mission to this broken world, to his mysterious ascension back into the heavenly realm, there was no theme he stressed more in both word and deed. From his opening salvo quoting Isaiah about bringing release to the captives and good news to the poor, to his dying plea of, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” Jesus exemplified a compassion far beyond what the world had seen before. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Jesus’ stories about the Prodigal, the Good Samaritan, and his treatment of the woman caught in adultery all point to the need for a compassion that transcends the normal boundaries defined by contemporary culture, then and now. Indeed, it was and is a radical compassion.
Five-hundred years before Jesus, another prophet of radical compassion graced our world. Gautama Buddha was an example of grace and perfect love incarnate. After finding his awakening under the Bodhi tree, the Buddha went about spreading the truth that he had discovered, a truth that when astutely applied to life, could liberate beings from endless rounds of suffering. Just as with Jesus who would come later, Buddha taught through sermons, informal talks, parables, and above all, his actions.
Radical compassion is compassion with legs; radical compassion is a verb. Just as the Bible tells us in the Letter of James that faith without works is dead, also, compassion without concomitant action is a lifeless phenomenon. Many sincere aspirants have the mistaken notion that the ultimate goal of the spiritual path is enlightenment. Although a sincere desire for motivation is one of our most treasured possessions, it is actually penultimate. The real aim of the spiritual journey is simply this – Sacred Service. All that we do is dedicated to the greatest good of all beings in all the worlds. Our gain is their gain, our loss is their loss, our advancement is their advancement, and it is to this sacred reality that we offer our benedictions at the end of our times of meditation and prayer.
In the Christian faith especially, personal enlightenment takes a back seat to serving others, spiritually and materially. Perhaps no where in the sacred writings of the world is this reality presented so directly as in the 13th Chapter of the Gospel of John.
Imagine for a moment that you are one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and you, your band of rag tag friends, and the Master arrive at the Upper Room after a long, tedious, dusty day going about your business. You sit for a moment to catch your breath and unwind a few moments before you go wash up for the evening meal. You close your eyes for a few minutes, only to feel something or someone taking off your sandals. And to your utter disbelief, kneeling in front of you is the Master Jesus with a basin and a towel. Incredible….
The Master taught his disciples, and all of us who have read of this amazing episode, a clear and concise example of the essence of spirituality: selfless service with a heart of humility. If only more of us, especially those who claim to be followers of Jesus, would take this lesson to heart, our world would have much less pain.
The Kingdom of God is a divine realm of proactive compassion. This is the message that Jesus came to deliver and through his actions as well as his words, he delivered it consistently. In all that he did and he said, Jesus revealed to us the nature of God. This incarnational revelation was hinted at in the Master’s magnificent prayer in John 17. In the 21st verse the Master says:
I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one – as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.
In the Bible’s most well known verse, John 3:16, it is stated that for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life. (NLT)
Now, to make this even clearer, let’s look at one more verse in John 17. In verse three John records:
And this is the way to have eternal life, to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (NLT)
Putting all this together, Jesus gave us a powerful but very real theology in this prayer and his disciple, John, fully caught its significance by saying in 3:16 that God loved the world so much that he sent his Son to save it. On God’s part, this was a perfect example of “proactive compassion” or what we often call “grace.” Motivated by the purest form of love, God was moved to have compassion on we fallen creatures, even in our blind ignorance, and he literally gave that compassion flesh by sending us the Master Jesus.
In order for compassion to become more than just a nice idea or a sentimental feeling, it must flow out of the internalized wisdom of the ages, particularly as related to the reality of “interconnectivity.” The idea of interconnectivity, now confirmed by the field of quantum physics, has been around for many centuries and is at the core of interspiritual mysticism, that one aspect of world religion that seems to transcend culture, time, and especially theology. It is a mystical connectedness that promotes compassion and engaged action to make the world a better place for all who dwell here. In essence, it is a deep wisdom that gives flesh to grace. The great spiritual writer Kahil Gibran spoke of this interconnected reality when he said:
Your neighbor is your other self dwelling behind a wall. In understanding, all walls shall fall down. Who knows but that your neighbor is your better self wearing another body? See that you love him as you would yourself. He too is a manifestation of the Most High.
In India, for example, we have the story of Indra’s Net, which is strung throughout the universe with a precious jewel at the places where the cords of the net intersect. These jewels, in turn, reflect all of the other jewels. Similar to the modern discovery of the hologram, the image of Indra’s Net is filled with symbolic wisdom depicting the interconnectivity of all that is. Gary Zukav, in his groundbreaking book entitled, The Dancing Wu Li Masters tell us:
…the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics is that all things in our universe (including us) that appears to exist independently are actually parts of one all-encompassing organic pattern, and that no parts of that pattern are ever really separate from it or from each other.
In the Christian tradition, the writings of the great mystic teachers echo these same truths, often in symbolic and metaphorical ways. Julian of Norwich especially comes to mind as well as Hildegard of Bingen and Madame Guyon. The writings of Saint Theresa of Avila and the life and work of St. Francis also point to the interconnectivity of all life and the necessity of having a heart of radical compassion.
The great Romantic poets like William Wordsworth and Percy B. Shelley have voices that ring loudly with the sense of the interrelated aspects of the natural world and their American counterparts, the Transcendentalists, in the writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, also echo this theme of divine connectivity. And then there is the work of that master of the arcane, William Blake who spoke of the mystic’s ability:
To see a World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.
The world that we interact with each day only appears to be solid. In point of fact, it is an intricate dance of sub-atomic waves and particles that obey none of the traditional or expected moves of predictable choreography. At its core level, our apparently solid, material world is less like classical music and more like jazz. Just when we think we have a handle on how things are, these very things change, morphing into something totally unexpected and often totally mysterious. Someone wise, I forget who, once said the life is not a riddle to be solved but a mystery to be lived. How true, and the sooner a person grasps this fundamental truth, the less frustration will appear in his or her life.
It is not my intention to travel too far down this road of quantum physics at this juncture. Suffice to say that contemporary science is increasingly coming to grasp the same fundamental truths that mystics and shamans have voiced for many centuries. Simply put: Everything is interrelated and interdependent and when one part is affected by something, at a very core level, every other part is also impacted.
In teaching about the interrelated aspect of the universe, I often use a simple analogy that explains these principles in a basic way. I use the example of raisin Jell-o. Imagine you have concocted a delicious tub or raisin Jell-o. Choose your favorite flavor if you like. The raisins are the important thing, here. Now, what happens when you take your index finger and thump one of the raisins? All the raisins move. Crude as this metaphor is, it makes the point that all the raisins in the bowl are connected and if one raisin moves, they all move. This is what the mystics, and the quantum physicists, are talking about when they speak of interconnectivity.
Christian writer and teacher Elizabeth Elliot, looking at God’s wondrous creation with both attentiveness and wisdom, grasps the profundity of this theme of interconnectedness and how it illustrates a foundation of commonality between humans and other species in God’s creation:
The closer one comes to the center of things, the better able he is to observe the connections. Everything created is connected, for everything is produced by the same mind, the same love, and is dependent on the same Creator. He who masterminded the universe, the Lord God Omnipotent, is the One who called the stars into being, commanded light, spoke the Word that brought about the existence of time and space and every form of matter: salt and stone, rose and redwood, feather and fur and fin and flesh. The titmouse and the turkey answer to Him. The sheep, the pig, and the finch are His, at His disposal, possessed and known by Him…We too are created, owned, possessed, known.
As the church moves into the second decade of the 21st Century it has already become apparent that great changes are in the wind. I feel some of these changes are connected with an increased understanding of how God’s magnificent creation is put together in this incredible holographic manner in which each part contains the totality of the whole and every aspect of his world exists in an interdependent relationship with every other part. This is no romantic sentimentalism I am speaking of. Instead, it is a living, vibrant reality that, when one takes it to heart, changes everything. For the church, the message of the gospel become less of “let me show you the way,” and more of “What do you need?”
This move toward proactive compassion is a move of grace. Perhaps you are not accustomed to looking at grace that way, but grace is what we are dealing with. As stated earlier, a major part of Christ’s incarnation and our ongoing mission is to give flesh to grace. Caroline Myss makes this cogent observation in her book, Invisible Acts of Power:
What really happens inside you when you respond to someone in need? Why do some people jump out of their seats to help another person, while others look the other way? No doubt, some people have been taught to be kind and others may be naturally thoughtful. But I think something greater than compassion or good manners is at work, something beyond the motivation of the strong to help the weak or the wealthy to help the poor. I think it is the invisible power of grace, moving between the open hearts of give and receiver. The action itself, the lifting of a heavy piece of luggage or the drink of water offered to the thirsty man, may be small. But the energy that is channeled through that action is the high-voltage current of grace. It contains the power to renew someone’s faith in himself. It even has the power to save a life.
It should not be too difficult of an intellectual jump to see why this concept of interrelated reality should lead to a true and radical sense of compassion. What happens to me in the ultimate sense, happens to you and vice versa. When a child dies of hunger or disease in a poverty stricken nation, some part of each of us dies. We may not feel it, understand it, or even recognize it. Still, it is a fundamental spiritual and quantum truth. It is wise to remember the words of the 17th Century poet John Donne as he spoke of the custom of the time which involved ringing the town’s bell whenever someone died:
Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind;
Therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.
Stained glass window of the sacred Heart of Jesus Christ in the former Mosque (Cathedral) of Cordoba, Spain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Christ’s Identity and Purpose
Lord, I affirm and accept my status as a new creation in Christ and I thank you for making me a joint heir with your Son, Jesus Christ. I proclaim and also affirm that I am among the chosen, the fortunate ones you have selected as your holy and beloved.
Father, I thank you for piercing the darkness and searching for me and I especially thank you for your patient endurance in pursuing me, especially when I was fleeing and hiding from your Light.
I am eternally grateful my Father that you were steadfast in your love for me and that you found me, embraced me, and carried me out of this dark kingdom. I awakened in the brilliance of the One True Light which fills your glorious kingdom – indeed Lord, the New Canaan, the realm of your sinless Son who you loved even before the world began.
Dear Lord, I know in my mind and in my heart, and I affirm with my tongue and lips that you are the perfect, visible image of the invisible God and that when I look upon you, I behold the fullness and totality of God. I realize and affirm that to know you Lord Jesus, is to know the Almighty, the one true Creator – He who was, is, and is to come.
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the firstborn of the entire cosmos, the first person to appear in creation and that you are preeminent in all of it. All things visible and invisible were created by you, through you, and for you. You are the Originator and the Goal – the Creator as well as the Consummator – the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end.
Lord Jesus Christ, you existed before time began as the eternal Son and you were before all things. The entire universe is held together in you and you are the cohesive force – the gravitational power that holds all created elements, seen and unseen, together. Without you, the entire universe would disintegrate.
It is you Dear Lord, the One True Light – Adonai – that gives meaning to all creation and all of life. Without you, there is no purpose, either universal or personal, for it is you Lord Jesus, that rose higher than the highest heaven, filling all things with your presence and your purpose. You are indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Light –
I thank you for adopting me into your Family of Light and I commit my life and my ways to you, your care, and your blessed Kingdom.
LifeBrook 