Life, Abundantly!: How did I come to know the Lord

Thursday, September 25, 2014

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.

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I have come that they may have life,
and have it more abundantly.
(John 10)

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Seek ye first the reign of God
and His righteousness,
and all these shall be added to you.
- Matthew 6:33 (YLT)

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God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory
(Philippians 4)

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Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
(Matthew 11)

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Do ye not know that
ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you?
- 1 Corinthians 3:16 (Darby)

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there remains a Sabbath rest
for the people of God...
Therefore let us be diligent
to enter that rest
(Hebrews 4)

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If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me...
from within him shall flow
rivers of living water.
(John 7)

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It is for freedom
that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then,
and do not let yourselves
be burdened again
by a yoke of slavery.
(Galatians 5)

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The kingdom of heaven is like
a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value,
he went away
and sold everything he had
and bought it.
(Matthew 13)

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Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock
and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks,
the door will be opened.
(Matthew 7)

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lo, I have stood at the door,
and I knock;
if any one may hear my voice,
and may open the door,
I will come in unto him,
and will sup with him,
and he with me.
- Revelation 3:20 (YLT)

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Beloved,
now are we children of God,
and what we shall be
has not yet been manifested;
we know that if it is manifested
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
- 1 John 3:2 (Darby)

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And we all
with unveiled face,
beholding and reflecting
as a mirror
the glory of the Lord,
are being transformed
into the same image
from glory to glory.
- 2 Corinthians 3:16-18

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The lamp of the body is the eye;
if therefore thine eye be single,
thy whole body will be light:
but if thine eye be wicked,
thy whole body will be dark.
If therefore
the light that is in thee be darkness,
how great the darkness!
- Matthew 6:22-23 (Darby)

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I will pour out of My Spirit
upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy,
and your young men shall
see visions,
and your old men shall
dream dreams;
and also upon My men-servants,
and upon My maid-servants,
in those days,
I will pour out of My Spirit.
- Peter quoting Joel
in Acts 2:16-18 (YLT)

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Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.

It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors
For He gives to His beloved
even in his sleep.
- Psalm 127:1-2 (NAS)

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I tell you the truth,
whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth
will be loosed in heaven.
Again, I tell you that
if two of you on earth agree
about anything you ask for,
it will be done for you
by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three
come together in my name,
there am I with them.
- Matthew 18:18-20 (NIV)

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because it is God who said,
Out of darkness light is to shine,
who did shine in our hearts,
for the enlightening
of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
And we have this treasure
in earthen vessels,
that the excellency of the power
may be of God, and not of us
- 2 Corinthians 4:6-7 (YLT)

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For this is the covenant
that I will make
with the house of Israel
after those days,
saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind,
and write them in their hearts:
and I will be to them a God,
and they shall be to me a people:
And they shall not teach
every man his neighbour,
and every man his brother,
saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know me,
from the least to the greatest.
- Paul quoting Jeremiah
in Hebrews 8: 10 – 11 (KJV)

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How can you say,
'Show us the Father'?
Don’t you believe that
I am in the Father,
and that the Father is in me?
The words I say to you
are not just my own.
Rather, it is the Father,
living in me,
who is doing his work.
Believe me when I say that
I am in the Father
and the Father is in me;
or at least believe
on the evidence
of the miracles themselves.
I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in me
will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things
than these,
because I am going to the Father.
And I will do whatever you ask
in my name,
so that the Son may bring
glory to the Father.
You may ask me for anything
in my name,
and I will do it.
-John 14:9-14 (NIV)

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How gracious he will be
when you cry for help!
As soon as he hears,
he will answer you.
Although the Lord gives you
the bread of adversity
and the water of affliction,
your teachers
will be hidden no more;
with your own eyes
you will see them.
Whether you turn
to the right or to the left,
your ears will hear a voice
behind you, saying,
"This is the way; walk in it."
Then you will defile your idols
overlaid with silver
and your images
covered with gold;
you will throw them away
like a menstrual cloth
and say to them,
"Away with you!"
- Isaiah 30:19-22 (NIV)

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may (God) give to you
a spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the recognition of him,
the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened,
for your knowing what is the hope
of His calling,
and what the riches of the glory
of His inheritance in the saints,
and what the exceeding greatness
of His power
to us who are believing,
according to the working
of the power of His might
- Ephesians 1:16-19 (YLT)

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I will go before thee,
and make the elevated places
plain;
I will break in pieces
the brazen doors,
and cut asunder the bars of iron;

and I will give thee
the treasures of darkness,
and hidden riches of secret places;
that thou mayest know
that I, Jehovah,
who call thee by name,
am the God of Israel.

For Jacob my servant's sake,
and Israel mine elect,
I have called thee by thy name;
I surnamed thee,
though thou didst not know me;

I am Jehovah,
and there is none else;
there is no God beside me:
I girded thee,
and thou hast not known me;

that they may know
from the rising of the sun,
and from the going down,
that there is none beside me.
I am Jehovah,
and there is none else;

forming the light
and creating darkness,
making peace and creating evil:
I, Jehovah, do all these things.

Drop down, ye heavens,
from above,
and let the skies
pour down righteousness;
let the earth open,
and let them bring forth salvation,
and with it
let righteousness spring up.
I, Jehovah, have created it.
- Isaiah 45:2-8 (Darby)

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(The angel Gabriel came to Mary)
and said,
“Greetings, O favored one,
the Lord is with you!”
But she was greatly troubled
at the saying,
and tried to discern
what sort of greeting this might be.
And the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
And behold,
you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great
and will be called
the Son of the Most High.
And the Lord God will give to him
the throne of his father David,
and he will reign
over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom
there will be no end.”

And Mary said to the angel,
“How will this be,
since I am a virgin?”

And the angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be borne
will be called holy—the Son of God.
And behold,
your relative Elizabeth
in her old age
has also conceived a son,
and this is the sixth month
with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible
with God.”
And Mary said,
“Behold,
I am the servant of the Lord;
let it be to me
according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her...

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior
- Luke 1:26-38,46 (ESV)

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And he riseth in that night,
and taketh his two wives,
and his two maid-servants,
and his eleven children,
and passeth over
the passage of Jabbok;
and he taketh them,
and causeth them
to pass over the brook,
and he causeth that which he hath
to pass over.
And Jacob is left alone,
and one wrestleth with him
till the ascending of the dawn;
and he seeth that
he is not able for him,
and he cometh against
the hollow of his thigh,
and the hollow of Jacob's thigh
is disjointed
in his wrestling with him;
and he saith, `Send me away,
for the dawn hath ascended:'
and he saith, `I send thee not away,
except thou hast blessed me.'
And he saith unto him,
`What [is] thy name?'
and he saith, `Jacob.'
And he saith,
`Thy name is no more called Jacob,
but Israel
[means he wrestles with God] ;
for thou hast been a prince with God
and with men,
and dost prevail.'
And Jacob asketh, and saith,
`Declare, I pray thee, thy name;'
and he saith,
`Why [is] this,
thou askest for My name?'
and He blesseth him there.
And Jacob calleth
the name of the place Peniel
[means face of God]:
for `I have seen God face unto face,
and my life is delivered;'
and the sun riseth on him
when he hath passed over Penuel,
and he is halting on his thigh;
- Genesis 32:22-31 (YLT)

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It was he who gave
some to be apostles,
some to be prophets,
some to be evangelists,
and some to be pastors
and teachers,
to prepare God's people
for works of service,
so that the body of Christ
may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith
and in the knowledge
of the Son of God
and become mature,
attaining to the whole measure
of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants,
tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there
by every wind of teaching
and by the cunning
and craftiness of men
in their deceitful scheming.

Instead, speaking the truth in love,
we will in all things grow up
into him who is the Head,
that is, Christ.
From him the whole body,
joined and held together
by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love,
as each part does its work.

So I tell you this,
and insist on it in the Lord,
that you must no longer live
as the Gentiles do,
in the futility of their thinking.
They are darkened
in their understanding
and separated from the life of God
because of the ignorance
that is in them
due to the hardening of their hearts.
Having lost all sensitivity,
they have given themselves over
to sensuality
so as to indulge
in every kind of impurity,
with a continual lust for more.
- Ephesians 4:11-19 (NIV)

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And when thou mayest pray,
thou shalt not be as the hypocrites,
because they love
in the synagogues,
and in the corners
of the broad places
-- standing -- to pray,
that they may be seen of men;
verily I say to you,
that they have their reward.
But thou, when thou mayest pray,
go into thy chamber,
and having shut thy door,
pray to thy Father who is in secret,
and thy Father
who is seeing in secret,
shall reward thee manifestly.

'And -- praying --
ye may not use vain repetitions
like the nations,
for they think
that in their much speaking
they shall be heard,
be ye not therefore like to them,
for your Father doth know
those things that ye have need of
before your asking him;

thus therefore pray ye:
'Our Father who art in the heavens!
hallowed be Thy name.

'Thy reign come:
Thy will come to pass,
as in heaven also on the earth.

'Our appointed bread
give us to-day.

And forgive us our debts,
as also we forgive our debtors.

And mayest Thou not
lead us to temptation,
but deliver us from the evil,
because Thine is the reign,
and the power,
and the glory --
to the ages.
Amen.
For, if ye may forgive men
their trespasses
He also will forgive you --
your Father who is in the heavens;
but if ye may not forgive men
their trespasses,
neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.
- Matthew 6:5-15 (YLT)

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If I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels,
but have not love,
I am become sounding brass
or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophecy,
and know all mysteries
and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith,
so as to remove mountains,
but have not love,
I am nothing.
And if I shall dole out
all my goods in food,
and if I deliver up my body
that I may be burned,
but have not love,
I profit nothing.

Love has long patience, is kind;
love is not emulous of others;
love is not insolent and rash,
is not puffed up,
does not behave
in an unseemly manner,
does not seek what is its own,
is not quickly provoked,
does not impute evil,
does not rejoice at iniquity
but rejoices with the truth,
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.

Love never fails;
but whether prophecies,
they shall be done away;
or tongues,
they shall cease;
or knowledge,
it shall be done away.
For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part:
but when that which is perfect
has come,
that which is in part
shall be done away.
When I was a child,
I spoke as a child,
I felt as a child,
I reasoned as a child;
when I became a man,
I had done with what
belonged to the child.
For we see now
through a dim window obscurely,
but then face to face;
now I know partially,
but then I shall know
according as I also have been known.
And now abide faith, hope, love;
these three things;
and the greater of these is love.
- 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (Darby)

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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)

... much more on Jesus' themes of the Reign of God as well as having ears to hear, and eyes to see, here in Matthew 13.
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