How do I discern in my relstionships? Outreach, Play-friends, Friends, Intimates

For me,
it is really useful to be clear about who people are to me.

Are they a friend, with whom I can give and take, share and receive-from easily, naturally, comfortably - am I filled-up after relating with them?

or are they 'outreach' - someone to whom I mostly give, offer support; where I feed but I am not well fed?

With a little paying attention to my interactions, how I feel during and after, looking at trends in the relationship -
I can usually know if they tend to fall into the category of friend or outreach.
And, for me, it is really useful to keep this in mind when relating - it keeps everyone happier - espeically me!

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SO then Friends

are they play-friends, with whom I enjoy most in groups and doing stuff?

or are they regular friends, with whom I enjoy sharing active and also one-on-one time, sometimes?

or are they intimates, with whom I really am fed in one-on-one encounters, who I can cunt-on: I can call in the middle of the night if my life hits the shit, who love me no matter what and I love no matter what - and all that is right on the table, we KNOW each other: the good, the bad and the ugly.

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So then Intimates

I nurture an inner circle of friends, which I call intimates, what we share is an overlapping cloud of experiences, including:
Freedom – aim to be our unadulterated selves with each other and for each other
Support – willingness to ask for and receive, as well as give (as much as is comfortable), support on any level – emotional, relational, physical, spiritual, etc
Love - love and be loved unabashedly – includes affinity, reality and communication
Juiciness – each enjoying the relationship and blessed to be in it
Consistency – we stay in touch, enjoy being together, our friendship is real and realized
Trust...

I fall short a lot, I notice as I read through this. It isn’t always easy or possible, but this is the general area I am shooting for with my intimates.  Each of my intimate relationships is unique and constantly in flux.  We aren’t always firing on all the cylinders above.  But my intention is toward these areas, and I trust theirs is too.

I call these people intimates, Jess Lair called his closest friends mutual need relationships, I align with him pretty well, so I will share about him.

Back at the end of college, ’87, I read Jess Lair’s “Sex: If I didn’t Laugh, I’d Cry” – which might be my favorite of his books.  He was really hot on “Mutual Need Relationships” – he talked about them in several of his books.  He used the term in a similar way to my use of intimates. I seem to remember he said it was healthy to have more than one, but hard to handle more than 4 or 5.  In this book, he defined them in a way that stuck with me:

1) their faces light up when they see you
2) they have no program for your improvement
3) they like you the way we are, which is similar but a different flavor than above
4) they joy in your presence, just sit there having a good time, don’t need to think of anything to talk about
5) they look you up, if you don’t look them up
6) they stick with you, if you move away, or get in trouble or do some unpopular thing

I am a Big fan of Intimates, however defined, and whatever we call them ; )

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SO then how do I handle Outreach

This part takes being tuned-into my spiritual information -
Where is God leading me? What is the healthy choice from a spiritual perspective?

One big issue is that i am (most of us are) so thrown-to and programmed to help, heal, fix, save.
But, IMO, often our helping doesn't help, it just gets in the way of what the person and God are co-creating.
Meanwhile all this helping diverts me from where i am led to actually serve, and in my OWN healing - which is OH SO FUN to Avoid - by allegedly helping others.

Therefore, from my experience, it really helps to develop the capacity to listen when there is a voice behind me saying' this is the way, walk ye in it'.
It really helps to develop the willingness to be still and KNOW… God, myself and my unique path in every moment.

This is a process of spiritual discipline which serves all of my life, and Life…
This process serves all my relationships - but especially, for me, with outreach relationships.
And the best way to figure when to engage and when to not engage; when to assist and not assist.

It eventually becomes really easy-peasy to get info about any particular person or encounter.
But, for most of us, developing this tool takes a commitment and time...

And, of course part of learning this discipline of acting from spiritual rather than physical information,
is continually letting go of all the disturbance in my own space, the programming, the pain, the habits which keep me in the old tracks -
and really do make it possible to turn the Titanic, not just re-arrange deck chairs.

THIS makes a HUGE difference in who we BE in the world, the most important thing we can ever DO for those around us, IMO!

Without this, it is the blind leading the blind, best we can, with our well-meaning physical info (thoughts, beliefs, religious programming, feelings, feedback, results…)

With our spiritual leading, we can find balance in our lives, our wellness and our relationships.

best,
Wendy

The Good News is we can Experience the Kingdom of God Now

I believe Jesus' main message, the Kingdom (Reign) of God (Heaven),
IS the Mystical expereince of Spiritual Reality Now,
some call this God-Consciousness.

An example, one of Many verses which I find relevant to this conversation:
Luke 8:1 – 21:

Jesus is speaking about our actual experience-Word of the Living God,
from the same Father with whom Jesus was in constant communion,
whose Light is experienced when we see Jesus.

Jesus gives a parable of how mystical experience comes to us,
and how most of us do not let this in or let this thrive in us.

But for those of us who do allow our expereince of God to grow: the fruit is Abundant!
And, the more we behold and reflect the Word/Light/Glory of the Lord, the more we receive.

Lastly, those who hear God and do God's will that we directly hear, like Jesus did,
we are Jesus Family (he is the first of many brethren)

This is my truth:
The Good News is we can Experience the Kingdom of God Now.
This IS our mystical experience,
YMMV.

Blessings, Wendy

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And it came to pass thereafter,
that he was going through
every city and village,
preaching and proclaiming
good news of the reign of God…

And a great multitude
having gathered,
and those who from city and city
were coming unto him,
he spake by a simile:
'The sower went forth
to sow his seed,
and in his sowing
some indeed fell beside the way,
and it was trodden down,
and the fowls of the heaven
did devour it.
'And other fell upon the rock,
and having sprung up,
it did wither,
through not having moisture.
'And other fell amidst the thorns,
and the thorns
having sprung up with it,
did choke it.
'And other fell upon the good ground,
and having sprung up,
it made fruit an hundred fold.'
These things saying,
he was calling,
'He having ears to hear --
let him hear.'

And his disciples
were questioning him, saying,
'What may this simile be?'
And he said,
'To you it hath been given
to know the secrets
of the reign of God,
and to the rest in similes;
that seeing they may not see,
and hearing
they may not understand.
'And this is the simile:
The seed is the word of God,
and those beside the way
are those hearing,
then cometh the Devil,
and taketh up the word
from their heart,
lest having believed,
they may be saved.
'And those upon the rock:
They who, when they may hear,
with joy do receive the word,
and these have no root,
who for a time believe,
and in time of temptation fall away.
'And that which fell to the thorns:
These are they who have heard,
and going forth,
through anxieties, and riches,
and pleasures of life,
are choked,
and bear not to completion.
And that in the good ground:
These are they,
who in an upright and good heart,
having heard the word,
do retain it,
and bear fruit in continuance.

And no one having lighted a lamp
doth cover it with a vessel,
or under a couch doth put it;
but upon a lamp-stand
he doth put it,
that those coming in
may see the light,
for nothing is secret,
that shall not become manifest,
nor hid, that shall not be known,
and become manifest.
'See, therefore, how ye hear,
for whoever may have,
there shall be given to him,
and whoever may not have,
also what he seemeth to have,
shall be taken from him.'

And there came unto him
his mother and brethren,
and they were not able to get to him
because of the multitude,
and it was told him, saying,
'Thy mother and thy brethren
do stand without,
wishing to see thee;'
and he answering said unto them,
'My mother and my brethren!
they are those who the word of God
are hearing, and doing.'
- Luke 8:1 – 21 (YLT)

Why isn't everyone a Mystic?

So-called mystical experiences happen to all of us,
all the time;
regardless of our intellectual belief structures.

Some of us have ears to hear, and eyes to see...
we are open to feeling and knowing our direct spiritual experience.
Others of us have unknowingly closed the doors to our mystical senses. 
These doors can be re-opened, if we choose.

There are lots of reasons that we are blocked:
intellectual reasons, emotional reasons;
these can't get us to our spiritual expereince, but, they can block us!

There are lots of reasons we get and stay blocked:
choice because of trauma, invalidation, pain, fear...

The picture I like for this:
the sun is always shining;
sometimes it is night (our back is turned);
sometimes the clouds block the sun (our expereince of the Light is muffled, distorted, unclear). 
None of this is God's doing (none of this is the sun's fault).

I know this sounds like blaming those who don't have these experiences,
but this is just how it is, IMO.

There are pretty direct ways to spiritually say yes to God,
and when we say yes and stay with yes,
our direct spiritual expereince of the Living God changes. 

I have trained mystics for the last 8 years,
working with hundreds of folks,
and I see it happen over and over.

Most of us just don't spiritually practice being still,
and knowing the subtle whisper presence of God.

For most of us it takes courage, it takes willingness, and it takes tenacity...
And, It helps most people, especially at first, to be with a group, intentionally focused and open.

Basically, Everyone who can walk, can dance - to varying degrees.
Basically, Everyone who can talk, can sing - to varying degrees.
Basically, Everyone is spirit, a part of God, and it is our birthright to enjoy our unique mystical experience, our spiritual senses - to varying degrees.

Blessings on your unique path Home,
Wendy

PS - what I rarely say: 

I share soul tools/levers and places to stand within; wisdom, healing & practices... 

that Really help to make this process SO much easier, more accessible.  

I offer 1 - 1 and Group work,  I offer workshops if you wanna come play - your first one is free.

I hope to hear from you:  LifeAbundantly@WendyRWolf.com 

:) w

Is Jesus the Only Way?

Is Jesus the Only Way?
Yes and No.

I believe:
the WAY Jesus walked,
the WAY he was / IS / embodied God,
the WAY he showed us to spiritually live in a body in this world...

IS the WAY:
to expereince Christ-Consciousness,
to experience Living in the Kingdom (Reign of Heaven),
to expereince the Way of Light, in action in this world...
to BE Light / Truth / Love / Life in this world.

I am not talking about what he did on the physical.
I am talking about who he was being in the Light,
while he was walking around.

This inner alignment with Source,
this living IN the Kingdom (Reign) of Heaven (spiritual reality),
While here on earth (physical reality),
IS the WAY.

He showed us how to BE it.
Meanwhile, Others walk / shine / BE that way in the world, as well.
Everyone who shines the Light, they ALL help all of us
to BE in the Light, to Be Light, as well.

(This is regardless of our intellectual beliefs, our religious programming.
Intellectualizing and intellectual beliefs about God and the Way
are mostly a distraction from
Light / Truth / Love / Life / Experience of the Divine / Walking our Unique Path in God!)

So, I would say:

• Spiritually, Yes!  Jesus IS (His Being-ness shows us, he embodied) the Only way that any of us can consciously enjoy the Abba experience of God, in this world.  And others show us this same Christ-Consciousness, Living in the Kingdom (Reign of Heaven), the Way of Light, in action in this world, as well.
• Physically, No!  There are many who can help us on our unique path / way. There are as many useful ways up the mountain, as one can count (some more popular, easier, or more straightforward, than others ;)

I hope you are enjoying your unique path!
Wendy

Too Much Spirituality?

In response to the question:

CAN THERE BE TOO MUCH SPIRITUALITY?

Spirituality is a word so broad, that it seems to have no meaning; unless it is the being and practice of consciously connecting with and manifesting spirit.

"beholding and reflecting, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord"

We already ARE spirit, we are already seated in Heavenly places with Christ -  there is no where to strive to or from. 
Our practice is only to encourage us, invite us, to allow this reality into our conscious expereince within and around us: to uncover Light/Love/Truth/Way/God in ourselves and in our world... to see and to be Light - to be filled with God within as well as invite God to Shine in our world.

We do this by focusing spiritually, not physically - and there cannot be too much spiritual focus:
Being spirit in my body and acting powerfully from that place is the practice and the Being.

Meanwhile, much of what people consider spirituality, is actually the body trying to understand, making efforts to shift and change to obtain some physical or allegedly spiritual result.

There is no end to our desire, physically; including the desire for 'spiritual' wisdom, power, results. 
THIS is where we are tempted to imbalance - with physical desire, even too much is never enough! 

Therefore, when my body is in charge of my spiritual expereince, practice and goals - I am 'tryin to get to heaven on the end of a kite'.

Most of us start in this physically-focused place in our spiritual walk. 
But, if we allow it, God moves us to a move spiritually-focused place, in which we live in more balance, freedom and love;  while we learn our lessons, create/heal, serve and enjoy our unique journey here on earth.

Blessings, Wendy

Shifting Consciousness, Spiritually

When Problems/challenges arise,
it helps me to remember that God is SO Big,
even when my vision and resources feel So small, sometimes.

When I try to fix my life, or figure out who I should be, or what I have to do - I often stay stuck.
But, when I spiritually put on the Mind of Christ: spiritual perspective, Christ Consciousness;
Everything Shifts inside me and in my world, naturally, effortlessly.

When I Try to be Good, to Act Loving, to Perform as I believe Jesus would have:
I get off track - Because I am being physically focused, no matter how 'holy' my intention.
When I focus spiritually, bring my spiritual eyes back on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith, everything changes in and for me.

I am Not speaking of focusing on the Jesus of Religion, of Christian Faith and Practice, of Ethics or the Bible.
I am Not relying on who I think Jesus was or what I think he did when he walked the earth...
I AM speaking rather of who Jesus is Now, as spirit:  always spiritually present with us, available to each of us now, in intimate relationship, in spiritual communion.

From this spiritual perspective, 
problems/challenges are an invitation
back to my spiritual center: alignment with God and my unique path.

My challenge is:

• Really Allowing God's abundant, limitless blessings IN, and
• Allowing my eyes to shift from:
• flesh: my body, my needs, my shortfalls/brokenness and my myopia;
• to spirit: living as Jesus, as God's Way, Truth, Love, Life, Light manifest in our world.

SO many of us Mean to do all this, Think about this, Sometimes feel this and sometimes don't.
We hunger for God; to experience God's Blessings, Fruit, Leading and Manifestation in our lives, and in our world.
And many of us struggle with HOW to do this.  

THIS is the focus of my ministry. Please see here for info.

This post was inspired as a followup response to someone who is struggling, after they responded to the previous post.

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Conflict, Suffering, Change: The only way out is through... the Cross

My favorite Christian Minister, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to quote often:

The apparently unendurable conflict is proof of the rightness of your life.
A life without inner contradiction is either only half a life or else a life in the Beyond, which is destined only for angels.
- CG Jung in a Letter - here is the whole quote 

My experience has been:
When I keep coming before God with my questions, my unresolved yearnings, my pain...

Letting go of who I think I am in God, 

who I think God is, 

and where I think God has me to go and to do…

THEN I allow a Break-through to a new Reality,
in which I experience my wholeness, empowerment and peace in God, again.

I have found, when things become untenable, there is something
- within me, to break,
- within my inertial trajectory, to change.

When I am willing 

- to die, and

- allow God to resurrect me,
miracles happen.

Until then, I suffer, suffer, suffer.

The conflict, and even the suffering, 

is a Gift from Life, from God.

It grabs me by the neck, 

and Forces me to Pay Attention, 

to Shift;

When I Never, Never, Never 

would have shifted/ changed/ let-go, otherwise.

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I want to come to my unique wholeness / maturity in God. 

Engage my Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios.   

Realize who I am in God, in my body, life, world...

I ALSO enjoy being 

comfortable in myself, 

accepted in my world, and 

flowing with unconscious inertia in my life...

Painful conflict within myself, 

and in my outer expereince, 

is Life's, God's Dark Gift to me:

• to help me choose, again and again,
• to take the tough road, the unimaginable road,
• to choose the Way that leads me outside "the camp" ... and into the "heart of God".

Blessings on your unique journey in God
- wendy

Follow-up to this conversation here.

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Supporting Your Unique Spiritual Path

My ministry boils down to 2 things:
Inner Tools and Spiritual Companionship.

Inner Tools

I struggled for decades in my life, in my walk with God.
I savored spiritual expereince, feeling, guidance within... Sometimes.
Other-times, I felt spiritually obdurate, closed, un-moored, cast-out, in Darkness and pain.

I tried many different churches, fellowships, worship experiences, and meditation techniques -
nothing was right for me, nothing Worked consistently.
Where was the Rock on which to build my life, in practice not in theory?

I FINALLY allowed God to lead me to learn and practice Inner Tools
that have put my relationship with God on a strong, reliable foundation.

The promises of the bible, of Christianity, became real for me.
I wrote a blog explicating this experience a few years ago, called I have found what I'm looking for

I became so excited about the tools, my spiritual expereince and fruit, spiritual deepening and healing...
I learned, healed and developed spiritually, so I can empower groups and individuals intheir connection with God.
This was a very challenging process - and completely worth the journey!

Spiritual Companionship

When life gets intense for me, problems/challenges loom: it helps me to ask a buddy to meditate with me.
I know you can totally do it yourself, as I can - but it is harder
If you want to go before the Lord together;
allowing healing, blessing, filling, letting-go... while focused on Jesus; to help get out of a 'rut', ping me.

Blessings on your Unique Path!
-Wendy

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Patriotism as Idolatry

Man has always been able to desire to build a heaven. But it seems he has never been able to admit that he didn’t pull it off. So he keeps insisting that he did pull it off. And that is really what patriotism is all about. It is the insistence that what we have done is sacred. It is that transference of allegiance from what God did in creating the whole wide world to what we have done with (or to) a little sliver of it. Patriotism is immoral. Flying a national flag—any national flag—in a church house is a symbol of idolatry. Singing ‘God Bless America’ in a Christian service is blasphemy. Patriotism is immoral because it is a violation of the First Commandment. - Will D. Campbell

From my perspective,
the Kingdom (Reign) of God (Heaven) is within us.
And the the will of God for this world comes from Heaven, not from the world/flesh (politics, etc) - no matter how ideal they may seem, or have the alleged 'potential' to be.

Our Way, Truth, Light, Life is spiritual-focused (of the spirit, as Jesus embodied, and showed us to Be, implored us to Do)
not physical-focused (of the flesh), as we are thrown to be, trained by society to do.

Like Jesus:
when the Kingdom of God / spiritual-focus, is the ground of our being,
we come to spiritual maturity/manifesting who we really are: children of God.
We shift and the world shifts, as well.

For all creation, gazing eagerly as if with outstretched neck, is waiting and longing to see the manifestation of the sons of God.

So often we want to put the cart before the horse.
With so much potential and glory, unrealized;
we celebrate the little sliver we are able to pull ourselves out of the mud, 
making idols of our paltry creations.

Meanwhile, hope you all enjoy a beautiful day, and a fireworks night
: ) Wendy

The 'curse' becomes Blessing

Every 'curse' that affects me
is one to which I spiritually consent.

I have learned to be glad of these challenges,
because without them,
I would Never have gotten where I am,
or where i am going.

The 'curse' becomes Blessing
as it 'encourages' me back into alignment,
with myself, my path, my God.

May we all find our Way, Truth, Life,
in our own unique alignment,
as quickly and comfortably as possible.

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All Manner of Things Shall be Well

On a forest road, off of Mountain Loop Highway:
my favorite Mountain area near Seattle,
a quick and easy connection to Momma Nature,

I got stuck in the snow, in my friend's RV.

I had been on this road, near its singular entrance, for 27 hours,
and had only seen one truck come and go.
I was now near the top of one of 3 branches of this road.

I tried many ways to release the RV from the snow:
digging,
rocking,
wedging branches behind the tires
… repeat.

The snow was like a sno-cone,
packed down hard after much thawing, freezing,
so that my big-self on my little-feet barely sank-in.

Which was convenient for walking around,
not so convenient for getting the RV free.
I grumbled to myself: 'Darn this front-wheel-drive RV, with it's weight is over the back tires!'

After the RV was not immediately released,
I had offered a quick prayer, that I would shift out of this with ease,
and set restfully to work, without haste, without fear, without concern:

All will be well...
All is well.

This is just an adventure, of many adventures.

I met my friend David, about a dozen years ago, in Baja.
He loved to say at the time:
Adventures start when breakdowns occur.

Of course, he is right. 
And what a blessing to stand in that place.  A place of serendipity.
God breaks-through and breathes new direction into my well-laid plans.

It is a joy to have the luxury of time.

So that a breakdown has the time/space/energy to be a joy, a blessing;
not a time to hold my breath while I am knocked off-kilter.

Usually my life feels like there is never! enough! time/space/energy,
and of course that is tied directly to money.
Breakdowns usually seem to mean a cascade of frustrations and disappointments.

In my life, I think this is one of the most undermining cycles that I get caught in:
the lie that there is not enough time/space/energy/money.
and that the answer is to rush! to try! harder!

As if scurrying and effort actually get me anywhere...

It was Wednesday afternoon in late-May, the least traveled time of the week in a National Forest,
at a time of year unpopular for summer-activities, as well as waning interest in winter-activities.
It crossed my mind that another vehicle may not come way up here, until the weekend.

I had plenty of supplies, so my only real concern was the cold,
for the RV was resting on and surrounded by snow.
I knew I could handle the cold, with the resources I had... possibly even comfortably.

Or... I could walk the many miles down to the 'main' road,
although it would be near the edge of my endurance.

So, I went about, doing what I could do,
working/playing with snow and the RV:
in peace, in contentment, in play and in comfortable challenge.

And a half-hour after I got stuck,
long before I was out of schemes to disengage myself from this rut I got myself into,
up the road came a truck.

I was pleasantly surprised!
And as I walked up to the truck and the party unfolded before me,
I knew that God was taking amazing care of me.

This 4-wheel drive truck had a sweet man driving,
with his wife sitting beside,
with two dogs romping out of the back,
and next a babe-in-arms emerging out of the cab.

I knew I was ok.
Even if it had been 4 guys in the truck, drinking beer and toting rifles (a more likely option out here).
I knew I was ok.

But my body/thoughts/emotions were a lot happier with this rescue party
I now found frolicking around me.
A family who lived 50 miles away, and hadn't been up here in months...

The guy had a four wheel drive,
a heavy-duty web that easily hooked to our vehicles,
and he did all the work.

It took no time,
and when we were done,
he would take no money, or food, or anything I offered.

It was a joy though, to repay the debt,
when (you can't make this stuff up) they got stuck in the same snow I did,
and I was right there to pull them out. 

Ha. God is Good.

God is so good to me! and
I rest in the gentle arms of Momma Nature.
This is always true, but often I don't notice.

Jesus said: 'when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light.'
One of the things I love about being out in Momma Nature:
life is so simple, uncomplicated, singular, of human-scale.

I sleep.  I eat.  I do nothing.
I read.  I write.  I play with quotes.
I hike.  I play in a creek.  I lay on stones in the sun.

I daydream.  I vision.  I meditate.
I play with Spirit.  I savor Momma Nature.
I just be, I am.

In day-to-day life, there are so many layers of challenge.

As we all do, I have so many piles of to-dos,
so many people/places/things to manage.
I am a good juggler and yet, life is intense.

I enjoy being in Momma Nature
where I can let that all stand aside:
challenges are straightforward, uncomplicated, solvable.

In this scenario,
a need for a bit more friction under the front wheels,
or a little help from a gracious stranger.

Less then an hour after getting stuck in the snow,
I was off on a hike up the road through which I couldn't drive.
With my snowshoes on my back.

Slipping snowshoes on and off, as needed;
I climbed the gorgeous, increasingly snow-packed road for an hour,
all the way to its amazing end.

Enjoying the view.
Savoring the challenge.
Knowing more deeply that God is with me.

Knowing All is Well…
All Manner of Things Shall be Well.

When have you known God was taking really sweet care of you?  How has that changed your life?

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God leads us into And out of church

My experience is:
God leads us into And out of church:
churches, structures, organizations, biblical understandings, spiritual paths...

- to serve
and to be served

- to learn
and to teach

- to be nurtured
and to nurture

- to confront
and the be confronted

- to heal
and to be healed

- to be empowered and validated
and to empower and validate others

- to open to God
to be opened to God...

What matters is that we be free in God, to be ourselves
and allow God to keep us free to follow our path in God
on and off the well-traveled, accepted ways...

I find that It helps to have friends in God,
Especially when called outside the organized church.

'Picking up the cross' always ends up looking so unexpected, unacceptable... I find...
I know with my life how weird and painful that can be - and how much fruit there is!

You know this too!
But i find it helps to mirror this for each other.
We remind each other that the cost of following Jesus is TOTALLY worth it!

The Death of all we are, and all we thought we would ever be - over and over and over -
Always ends in Sublime Resurrection.

So let's Hold On through the dark, and through the light.
Follow no matter what, no matter where.

Jesus leads us.
This is what being a disciple of Christ IS.

in life, wendy
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Show me God!

Question: If God is real, why won't God prove it?

My Answer: This perspective helps me make sense of God's seeming hiding:

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

God is Spirit.

We can see, feel, hear, taste, touch, know PHYSICALLY - we can reason and we can apply the scientific method, but we will never find God physically - with our physical senses, minds, reason, emotions - because God is Spirit.

We can see, feel, hear, taste, touch, know SPIRITUALLY - we can open to our spiritual information, expereince, gifts and fruit. It is HERE that we find God, spiritually.  We also find who we Really are and what we are called to be and do, spiritually.  We find everything we need to be free, whole and grow into our maturity in God, spiritually.  We can live in the Kingdom of God NOW, spiritually.

We can't do ANY of this physically.  God is Real, and our life in God is Real - but none of this is consciously available to those who refuse to look beyond the physical, into our direct, unique spiritual expereince.

The Bible: an out-dated pile of contradictions?

Some say the bible is just an out-dated pile of contradictions,
from which people pick and choose their beliefs.
I think they are right
... but this is not the Whole story.

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From my perspective:
The bible is not the Way.
Knowing Jesus is the Way.
Listening to the Holy Spirit is the Way.
Following our Unique Soul Path in God is the Way.

I believe the whole bible points to doing this:
having our own, real, present-time relationship with the Living God.

I believe Jesus in the bible points to doing this as central to our lives, as his followers:
living in the Kingdom of God (in the Reign of God).

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From my expereince:
When we are operating spiritually, in the Reign of God,
the bible makes incredible sense, and
the paradoxes are tripping points, signposts to Truth: don't miss this!

When we are IN Christ,
the bible is beautiful encouragement to be who we are in Christ, to listen to him, to know him, to follow him, to do what he did in the world;
in our own unique way, in present time, spiritually.

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From my expereince:
When we are focused and operating physically (in the flesh) -
the bible is a pile of contradictions.

How do we decide
which way to go?
which directive to follow?
what to believe?

When operating IN and through the flesh,
we are experiencing the bible through emotions, intellect, ego, habits, reactions, programming, tradition, borrowed truth, dogma...
our perception of God's Way, Truth, Life and Word for us
is colored by 'the world, the flesh, and the devil' (as they used to say more conservative circles : )
and we pick and choose what we like, from there, from our physical perspective.

Many utilize the bible as a tool for self-justification of already present perspectives, beliefs, alliances.
And, really, what else can we possibly do if we only have physical perspective?!

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From my perspective:
Those who see the bible as contradictory and way out of present-time experiences from the Past
... are absolutely right... from a physical perspective.

And those who see the bible as an
Invitation to Life Abundantly in Delicious Relationship with God,
Support for the Way of following Christ, and
Validation of the fruit of this unparalleled sacred expereince
... are absolutely right... from a spiritual perspective.

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Thanks for reading my perspective.
May we all live in Peace,
Wendy
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