Choosing to Grow-Up... Spiritually

I am really jazzed about opening to our spiritual senses, and allowing God to give us the spiritual faith and power to follow where God leads us with these senses.

This makes a world of difference for us - we can actually walk with God experientially in this world.

And, when we can directly hear/see/know God's will,
and are free to act in the world as we are led,
it shifts the world in profound ways, we (God with us) make a world of difference for others.

As Angels are God's messengers, the spiritual hands and feet of God;
so we also can be, on the physical, in small (and increasing) measure, God's messengers, the spiritual hands and feet of God in this world.

We help realize - make real - God's will on earth, as it is in heaven (spiritually, in the reign/kingdom of God).

None of this is done through listening to church leaders, or to each other.
It is not done by reading the bible or devotionals.  
It is not done by singing songs or going to meetings.
It is certainly not done by being 'good'.

All of these things above are lovely, when God leads us in them,
but the best these things can do is lead us to God.

God heals us and fills us with glory.
God transforms us here on earth, even as we are seated in heavenly places, spiritually.
God walks with us and leads us.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God's mouth

For the word of God [is] living and operative, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and penetrating to [the] division of soul and spirit, both of joints and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of [the] heart.

Meanwhile, we are here to heal, change, grow, learn, transform, mature-into the full-grown daughters and sons of God, operating in this world as the divine heirs that we are. 
We are Not here to sit-around in kindergarten waiting for the heaven-train, as many Christians seem to be.

It is not just us, or even the body of Christ, that profits from us growing-up - but all of creation is waiting impatiently for us to come into our freedom and glory as children of the King, grown to full-stature.

It is our job to grow-up, to do this, we must:

• choose to open to our spiritual senses;
• choose to own our free-will back: from others, from our religious & social programming, from our own and others emotions, thoughts, habits, limits, lies... so we can be free to follow God;
• choose to align with our Source: our God, our Light, our Way, our Truth, our Life.

From this place, we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

Realizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

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I don't think we can do any of this on our own - we do it with God,
but we have to be willing - we have to choose.

Like the man who said to Jesus:
"I believe; help thou my unbelief"

May we say/be:
I am opening, help thou my opening!
I am owning, help thou my owning!
I am aligning, help thou my aligning!
I am growing up, help thou my growing-up!

If we are having trouble, are stuck, need help with any of this;
It is our job to Ask and we shall Receive; Seek, and we shall Find; Knock, and the door shall be Opened. 
It is our job to expectantly watch for the response spiritually and physically.
God sometimes acts directly spiritually, and/or sometimes God sends a canoe!

Then, we do not just sit, we act - we lead or follow (or get out of the way ; ) - as God leads us to do:

• We read books and/or write books.
• We heal from others ministrations and/or we act as healers.
• We learn from mentoring/teaching and/or we mentor/teach.
• We watch and learn new tricks spiritually by monkey-see-monkey-do, and/or we are watched others and make a huge difference for them just by who we BE in the world, and how we DO what we see God doing and are led to do.

Anything else is missing the mark, in our own unique journey in God.

How did I come to know the Lord

I was raised Catholic. I had some mystical experiences, but when i was confirmed at ~13, it seemed all smoke and mirrors - there was no spiritual presence or power in the (vestigial) arm-waving of the Bishop. 
I loved science and became quite a rationalist - family, friends and priest didn't like it, but they said or did nothing that convinced me else-wise. I wasn't a jerk about it - I just believed and still do experience: it Really Matters if Spirit is real or not; and it is a sad thing to just go along with the pack, because spiritual-reality or the lack-thereof, changes everything!

So anyway, I spent the middle of my teens an agnostic - and actually I remain an intellectual agnostic, because I don't think there is any compelling rational reason to believe in God, or not to believe in God.  Fortunately I now understand that God is Spirit and must be met spiritually, not with physical body/mind. So, I am blessed to be a mystic agnostic : )

How did this happen?
When I was 17, I was fortunate to connect with a bunch of friends through Girl Scouting, who had a house church, they loved each other and they loved God.  God was real to them and they were each in their own unique relationship with God.  I saw and experienced the reality of spirit and love of God palpably, so I opened to my own direct relationship with God - and life has never been the same. 
It was then I was baptized in the Spirit, and the only way I saw to do this was to to give my rational brain to God.  We enjoyed a glorious honeymoon, but then after a year or two, God gave my brain back - and I went back to a more challenging reality: I had to learn to disambiguate as well as honor and integrate body/mind and spirit... and many other things ; )

That was over 30 years ago. God and I have been in many mountains and valleys, many iterations and understandings: Deepening, Healing, Transforming, Enlightening.  Much of this has been challenging - because I have a tendency to add a lot of unnecessary friction to the system ; )
- but the fruit is incomparable.

Unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.

‘Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God;’ - John 3

One thing i like about these verses,
Jesus really disambiguates body/flesh/earth from spirit/above/heaven - which IMO is key to understanding most of the New Testament, and certainly Jesus' primary message.

It is spiritual reality: the reign/kingdom of God/heaven that matters to Jesus.
It is the gospel - good news - that expereince of God and spiritual reality is within us, amoung us, near us, received as a child, experienced by those in alignment with God, a treasure worth more than all the physical wealth of this world...

We can not see it or enter it by Any physical means - not by thinking or feeling, not by physical senses or action, not by following the law...

Rather we must see it and enter it spiritually - this makes no sense to the flesh, but is rather an experience one must be opened to, born to spiritually - and then one is God-consciousness - one can spiritually experience/see the reign of God/Heaven.

This must be experienced spiritually!  Words do the conversation about spirit no justice, this is why Jesus used metaphors and similes, there is no direct correlation.  Words are a finger pointing to the moon.

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I AM - the way, and the truth, and the life

(this post below, is building on this past post)


Jesus fully lived the Way and Life - he was/is the Way and Life.
He fully embodied the Truth and Light - he was/is the Truth and Light.

I AM... 
when we grok Way, Truth, Life, Light, we experience I AM as our own reality.
And he showed us how to do/be the same (in our own unique way of being, and doing, of course ; )


I am tempted to repeat the 'chorus' above 3 times, since it is SO meaning-full and power-full.
I won't, but I ask you to read it at least one more time!

For me, this conversation brings more understanding to a verse that many folks I know trip over:

'I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one doth come unto the Father, if not through me;

Remember:  never start reading or stop reading at just one verse.
this line above is not even the whole sentence!
here is the whole sentence:

Jesus saith to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one doth come unto the Father, if not through me;
if ye had known me, my Father also ye would have known, and from this time ye have known Him, and have seen Him.’

He goes on to say:

Believest thou not that I [am] in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words which I speak to you I do not speak from myself; but the Father who abides in me, he does the works. Believe *me* that I [am] in the Father and the Father in me; but if not, believe me for the works' sake themselves. Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes on me, the works which I do shall he do also, and he shall do greater than these, because I go to the Father.

For you convenience, here is the whole literal chapter
if you want, the chapter in more plain english ; )

Jesus was/is the Way, Truth, Life, Light
and his practice of I AM
showed us how to do/be the same.

His experiencing of spiritual reality, living in the Reign/Kingdom of God/Heaven, being in alignment with Source as he did and showed us to do
*IS* the only way to the Father/God.
REGARDLESS of what we think, feel, do, believe or don't believe!

It doesn't matter if we profess Jesus as Lord or not.
What matters is that we are in alignment with our Source - our God, our Light, our Life, our Truth, our Way.
This sounds crazy in modern Christianity - but this is what Jesus said, not me:

By their fruits then surely ye shall know them.

Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens,
but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.

Jesus fully lived the Way and Life - he was/is the Way and Life.
He fully embodied the Truth and Light - he was/is the Truth and Light.

I AM... 
when we spiritually grok Way, Truth, Life, Light, we experience I AM as our own reality.
And he showed us how to do/be the same (in our own unique way of being, and doing, of course ; )


I am saying the same thing over and over, in the hopes that we can all start to hear and live Jesus core message:
The centrality and focus on the Reign/Kingdom of God/Heaven...
the spiritual reality which is within us, amoung us, near us, not physical, received as a child, experienced by those in alignment with God, a treasure worth more than all the physical wealth of this world...
Spiritual alignment with the LIGHT.
Being, filled, healed and transformed by our Source - our God, our Life, our Truth, our Way, our Light.

Want to read more?  Here is a related blog
; ) W

Lions and Tigers and Atheists, oh my!

Why so much Christian attention on Atheists? (And vice-verse?)

Can they hurt us?  (And vice-verse?)
Are 'we' supposed to 'convert them'?  (And vice-verse?)
Why are some Atheists so bratty towards Christians, sometimes? (And vice-verse?)

...Here are a few of my ideas on this sticky subject:

From my perspective, what we Think is secondary to who we ARE and the Action of God in our lives.

Some people think there is prolly a God, some don't. Some people think there has to be a God, some think there can't be a God. Some don't think God matters one way or another.

But how we think about God is our MIND talking to itself.
When thinking takes over, it is our BODY trying to be in charge and act in the world; trying to survive, trying to what we need through non-spiritual means, trying to win. 
If we are not soul conscious, if we are not in charge spiritually, who can blame our body for trying to get the job done, best it can!

It is we as spirit who experience God, not the flesh.

Many, many people experience spiritual reality, regardless of our beliefs about God.
We are all the same, after-all: children of God, spirit in flesh.

I believe
focusing on what people think about God is a distraction,
and this often causes more harm than good.

What matters is allowing ourselves to Stop Letting the FLESH RULE.
For almost all of us - Christian or not, WHATEVER we consciously believe - a crazy fecundity rules us.  Physical focus and operation rules us!
How about we Stop Believing, Acting, Identifying-with the flow of our own thoughts, feelings, survival instincts, sexual urges, stories, habits, compulsions, ego drives, control issues...
(I could go on and on ; )

How about instead, 
we learn more and more, deeper and deeper to

Listen to that still, small voice.
Ask God to give us Ears to Hear, Eyes to See.

And then follow the Living God,
as we hear the voice behind us saying: this is the Way, walk ye in it.

IF we actually DO This,
regardless of what we think about God,
God leads us
- and where we go is in God's hands. 
No Matter What We Think About God.

We do not have to force anything down our own or anyone else's throat. 
What they think is really none of our business, what we think is usually a distraction - none of this really matters very much!

Ok, but - What can we do?
We can be with God and BE filled with Love, Life, Light... and shine,
and we say yummm, and they say hmmmm??
That is what drew ME into fellowship - the Experience of Spirit - not a bunch of stupid ideas about God!
That is what spiritual things sound like to our flesh - stupid.

 

Did we not hear Jesus say to not throw pearls before swine?

Did we not hear Paul say only AFTER we present our bodies to God, we stop conforming to the world; THEN we are transformed, then our mind is renewed, then we can Know and BE the proof in the pudding:
Then we can BE in God's will - our beautiful opportunity, only when we are aligned with God.

If this is so - the cart must come after the horse, so:
WHY would we try to convince the flesh of anything?

WHY would we try to operate rationally with materialists?

WHY would we try to force others or ourselves into some mold, of our own fleshly design?

WHY would we expect anyone - including ourselves - to ever show the fruit of alignment with our Source
BEFORE aligning with our Source?

Because we have our head up our derriere.

It is vanity, a chasing after wind to fight rationally about spiritual things with an atheist (with anyone! with ourselves!)
When we do it, we are off track; often because we are taking their unique journey, personally.
We are making their thoughts about US, not about them and God.

And when we do this, we annoy people, at best.
At worst, we make enemies.

Let me be clear, when we let our own thoughts try to control others:

We hurt people.

We invalidate their expereince.
We try to take away the free-will God GAVE them.
WE Make Enemies.

 

It is very understandable that many who identify as Atheist feel resentful and put-upon by Christians. It is understandable that Atheists sometimes lash-out, push-back, become bratty.

They are operating through their brain, as almost all of us do, as our society has taught us to do.
And their brain tells them this God stuff is hooey - very understandably, BTW.

And then religious people try to argue with them rationally.
And honestly, to my ears, it is the religious people who sound crazy, because we pretend our points are rational - WHEN THEY ARE NOT RATIONAL.

God is Spirit, we must know God spiritually.
There IS NO OTHER WAY.

All right, so is there anything that we can we do?
How about we encourage ALL of us, every day, to taste and see the Lord is Good - yum.

How do we do this?
Well, we are monkey-see-monkey-do creatures.
How about we look to God and bask in the delicious delight of our Creator - the giver of all good gifts...

This puts the cart before the horse, for us.
Then maybe they can notice how we do it, and figure out their own horse!

How about we ask God to bring us into alignment with God, with God's Light and Love, with God's unique Way for us.
How about we ask God to hold us in embrace, as we behold and reflect the Glory of God.
How about we ask God to help us to stop looking at Them, and start looking to God.

IF atheists bug us, that is all about US!
Are they lighting up the doubt in our own space?
Is something they say making sense (which it often does, BTW) and that feels scary.

How about we let God be God.
Let God take care of God's PR.
Let God hold each and every Divine Child.
And we keep our eyes on our own page.

If something is bugging us, undermining Our experience of God, seeming to pull us away from God; lets's go to our own Source to work this out in us.
God is big enough to work it out with us.
God is big enough to work it out with them.

AMEN, Wendy

Gendering God?

From my perspective:
God is Spirit, we can only know God as spirit, through our spiritual senses.
God, and the Reign (Kingdom) of God (Heaven) that Jesus incessantly spoke-of is all *spiritual* reality.

God - and all spiritual realty - is One.
All is One, containing all things created and not-created. 
All is Love, All is Joy, All is Peace - etc, all the fruit of the spirit, and Way more.

God is whole & complete and we as spirit live in this reality with God.
We spiritually live now and through all eternity in heavenly places, time & space are creations of this reality.

Meanwhile, we have the blessing as humans to play in bodies on this earth, our consciously shared reality. And we play the earth game, the game of opposites - primarily spirit & flesh;  from there comes black & while, good & bad, rich & poor... the 10,000 dichotomies, including the exciting game: male & female.
In this physical reality, from our flesh-perspective, ALL is not ONE, but 2 or many.

In bodies, we dance in and out of our spiritual consciousness of God, the Reign/Kingdom of God, and alignment with God and our Way in God - in and out.
We remember and forget who we are, children of Light, flesh containing the breath of God.
We open and do not open to our spiritual senses, where we communicate with God, and God communicates with us.
Many of us have almost pure physical perspective, shutting down or drowning out much of our soul experience.

SO, I don't believe God IS gendered.
God IS Spirit.
Gender, and all dichotomies in this earth game, our in-fleshed expereince are of the body.

God as spirit comes to live IN flesh, dwells among us, but God is not gendered.

We are living in a world of opposites and ensconced in gendered thought and experience.
We call God by both genders, and without gender in our language, as well as our metaphors/parables, to help make sense to our flesh/brains our spiritual expereince.

But metaphors are fingers pointing to the moon, they are not the moon.
Gendering God literally, makes no sense in the spiritual reality in which God IS.

to Life!
Wendy