The Ladder to God

This is a cartoon without the artwork.

Frame 1

There is a very tall ladder reaching all the way into and past the clouds. A man is a few feet up the ladder and another guy is holding the ladder so it won't fall.

Frame 2

A crowd begins to gather and they watch the man climb up higher and higher. A person in the crowd asks the guy holding the ladder, "What is He doing?" The guy answers, "He is trying to reach God."

Frame 3

Someone in the crowd shouts out to the guy holding the ladder, "Who are you?" The guy smiles and answers, "God."

------------------------------------------------------------------
We are often like the guy on the ladder working so hard, climbing higher and higher, thinking we are getting closer to God and that He is impressed by how fast we are pulling ourselves up. We look at others, lower on their own ladders, and are thankful that we are not that weak. It is only when we reach the point of exhaustion that we realize that our efforts have not gotten us closer to God but farther from Him and from others.

Maybe we just need to rest in Him in a horizontal relationship. Perhaps that is what Immanuel means, God is with us, God is with me!

Plan or Person?

We were not created to discover a plan and then strive to implement it. We were created to be loved by a Person, Jesus.

We were not created to learn about a set of procedures which when successfully executed would bring about our good standing before God. We were created to have a relationship with a Person, Jesus.

We were not created to participate in programs, adopt postures or practice piety. We were created to know a Person, Jesus.

We were not created by Him so that we could be objects to bestow love on Him. We were created by Him so He could bestow His love on us!

You don't love your human friends because you study about them, read about them, create rituals to get close to them. You love your human friends because you experience life with them. Jesus was and is human. Jesus was and is Divine.

Experience life with Him. That is eternal life and it starts now.

John 17:3

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

Knowledge of Good & Evil

Do we use the Bible as the new Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

Just as Adam & Eve ate of that tree and only gained a fractured relationship with Father and suffered self-inflicted shame are we not doing the same with our imperfect understanding of the Bible? We try to define Good and evil based upon incomplete understanding of the Bibles inspired writings. The results of which have separated us from each other and most probably made us misunderstand Gods nature and purpose.

From a friend:
Now what is the purpose of giving us such a book? Could it be that our purpose here on earth has never been to know Good & Evil, but rather to know LOVE. If you go to the Bible with the purpose of trying to know good and evil you will become a person with much fear, judgment, condemnation, and self righteousness. If you go to the Bible with the purpose of finding LOVE you will find Jesus.

What do you think?

Can we handle the fruit off of this tree any better then we did the tree in the garden?

Eternal Yom Kippur

Lev 16:16 In this way he [high priest] will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites [entire nation], whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness.

Lev 16:21-24 He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat's head. He shall send the goat away into the desert in the care of a man appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a solitary place; and the man shall release it in the desert. 24 He shall bathe himself with water in a holy place and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people.

Lev 16:29-34 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or an alien living among you- 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. 31 It is a sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. 32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments 33 and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the people of the community. 34 "This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites."

What is interesting in this is that the High Priest is the only one who is responsible for doing the "work" to bring about atonement for the entire nation. In fact the people were mandated to do absolutely nothing to be "imputed" with forgiveness for sins. If in fact they did not rest they would be denied forgiveness until the next year.

Heb 10:1-22

Heb 10 tells us Jesus is our High priest. He is the one who did the one time "work" of making us clean, pure, sinless. We are to rest in His work, He is our sabbath. We gain that state by doing nothing but resting in Him. Our attempts to gain righteousness by our own efforts are fruitless.

Prayer Problems

I have long been troubled about the way and why we pray. I think maybe I have possibly figured out what has made me feel "not right" about public prayer, formal prayer, written prayers, prayer meetings, etc.:

1. We think that God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is not omnipresent.

Prayers are seemingly directed to a God who is out there or up there or somewhere other than where we are.
God may be in heaven but He claims residence within us. He is not separate from us.
From dena "We don't so much pray to One who is "up there, out there" but to one who is "within, close and inseparable".

Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in hell Sheol, behold, you are there; if I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you." (Psalm 139:7-12)

Though they dig into hell Sheol, from there my hand shall take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down; and though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them; though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them." (Amos 9:2,3)

"‘Am I a God near at hand,’ says the Lord, ‘and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?’ . . . ‘do I not fill heaven and earth?’ says the Lord?" (Jeremiah 23:23,24)

"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good." (Proverbs 15:3)

2. We think He is not omniscient (all knowing)

Sometimes I think we treat God like a forgetful old man, our prayers are attempts to get Him to remember our situation or bring our problems to the top of His to do list. If He is all knowing does He not already know of our situation?

Matt 6:8 Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matt 6:31-32 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

It feels to me like we treat prayer as a formulaic process by which we can get a desired result. We treat God like a cosmic pin ball machine in which if we exert the right forces on the right buttons, levers and springs then we can get the lights and sounds to activate as we desire.


3. We think He is not involved.

We think by being emphatic in our prayer delivery that will help our cause. We think by enlisting the help of others in our implorations that our petition will more likely get the desired result.
We implore God to become aware of our situation and intervene, change or otherwise make it all better for the object of our prayer. Just to be safe we usually add the disclaimer "if it be your will".
Do we believe that if we don't pray God will withhold His care or allow calamity to befall the objects of our prayers?

Matt 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matt 10:29-31 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows

I think one of the best prayers we can emit is said in three words, "Thank You Jesus".

Maybe we should take the advice of Jesus:

Matt 6:5-8 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Yes I know He also says, You have not because you ask not. I just think we should consider spending more time talking with Him to build our relationship and not treating Him like a a cosmic genie.

God's Correction.

So how does God go about correcting one of his children?

In love. Correction by the Father, Son and Spirit will never leave you damaged, discouraged, diminished, belittled, confused, feeling less loved, feeling separated, feeling alienated, disconnected, fearful, ashamed or alone. If whatever action, person, teaching, doctrine, decision or feeling that you ascribe to His "correction" leaves you with any of the aforementioned states of mind you can be sure that that correction or discipline was not from God.

His correction will always leave you encouraged, uplifted, clear of mind, feeling loved, feeling His presence, feeling connected, unafraid, unashamed and not alone. His correction will always build you up, not tear you down. His correction will always bring light where there was shadow, peace where there was strife and clarity where they was confusion. His correction will always lead to restoration, always make you feel more loved, not less loved.

The correction and discipline that God administers in not like that of an angry or disappointed parent or teacher. His correction is like being bathed in love, helping us to see a better way to live and walk in partnership with Him.

Velveteen People?

From the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Maybe we turn from humans to Persons when we begin to realize how much He loves us. I think it is interesting that the word anoint means to be rubbed on. Just like the Velveteen Rabbit, it is the annointing that transforms us.

Exploding Ducks?

Foie gras in English is "fat liver". It is the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened by gavage.

The technique of gavage dates as far back as 2500 BC, when the ancient Egyptians began keeping birds for food and deliberately fattened the birds through force-feeding.

Gavage-based foie gras production is controversial, due to the force feeding procedure, and the possible health consequences of an enlarged liver, and a number of countries and other jurisdictions have laws against force feeding or the sale of foie gras due to how it is traditionally produced.

One company that produces foie gras measures its production quality effort by measuring how many ducks prematurely explode during the force feeding process.

I think that is what religious obligation does. We are force fed man made traditions, rituals and rules until at some point we explode. Early on in the process we simply think we are being fed, never mind that it doesn't taste quite right. We try to ignore those that fall out of the feeding line thinking they just didn't have the faithfulness that we do. At some point we try to say "wait a minute, what about...", but many ask to late and end up as damaged as an exploded duck (spiritually speaking). Many become ritualistic lame ducks.

Jesus came to feed us His bread of life. He never tries to force His nourishment into us. We are free to grow with Him at the rate in which we will not only survive but we will thrive!

John 6:34-35

What to do with a Pharisee?

My postman (he was not our regular one) greeted me today with, “It is a beautiful day the Lord has given us”. I answered, “All the days He gives us are beautiful”. Having established our brotherhood in the Kingdom he next asked where I go to church. I replied that I don’t go to church but was beginning to be involved in simple church, and in fact we are praying about establishing a house church in our home.

With eyebrows raised He asked on whose authority we would do this. I said, “Well since Jesus in the head of the church and I serve Him I guess it is by His authority.” He didn’t buy that at all and launched into a lecture on hierarchical structure. He asked if we have a bishop, or pastor or elders, I said we have none of those at the moment and that elders probably would emerge once we actually began meeting. I tried to describe that each one would participate through the exercise of their spiritual gifts as the Holy Spirit led. He couldn’t understand how that could happen without a professional clergy guiding and directing.

By this time I am wondering why when two followers meet for the first time that the focus of our discussion isn’t of the joy of knowing Jesus. I was starting to begin to feel like he was going to ask to see my papers as he took me away to be questioned. I tried to lighten the discussion by offering that my definition of an elder is the person who prays with their eyes open just to keep a protecting watch on things. With that comment I had in his mind crossed over into heresy.

Now he thought it was best to teach me the importance of foundational doctrine. After we were sure we were not in any doctrinal error there might be some small chance of gathering without actually committing sin by doing so. I suggested that attempts at doctrinal accuracy were precisely why we have a divided body with thousands of groups in dis-fellowship with each other. He actually said that there were scriptures that encouraged these “factions”. I stood my ground on this one and said that I am sure it grieves the Lord that some of His children could not accept some of His other children.

I dared to suggest that our focus should be on Jesus and our calling would be to love one another. The evidence of our success would be the recognition of that love by those we came into contact with. He agreed that “loving one another” was something we could do but true love was doctrine properly understood, applied and enforced.

By this point I knew I was in the presence of a modern day Pharisee. I suggested that I may never preach or teach doctrinal subjects again but only how much God loves us and how He wants us to love others, and once we have mastered that we could move onto other things.

He then asked what we would do if someone didn’t believe in the orthodox teachings on the trinity, virgin birth, communion, etc. I told him that people are free to believe whatever they want; my calling was to point them to Jesus though love. If some ones expression of their doctrine was disruptive to a gathering several of those present would suggest they take a spiritual time out regarding the divisive topic.

I went on to suggest that having the Word (Jesus) in me was my foundation. To me that is the most tangible, the most concrete reality in my life. Everything else is temporary or shadow. He is Light, He is Love. He (the postman) knew the words, I know the Word (Jesus). The postman studyed the words written about the Word; I live in relationship with the Word. The postman knew about Jesus, I know Jesus.

Just for the fun of it I suggested he read The Shack. Actually I don’t think he will once he sees the book is on the Christian fiction shelf. We had talked for about 30 minutes and by now I was exhausted, Pharisees are so draining. It is so much easier sharing the love of Jesus with meth heads, hookers and serial killers.

I wished him well in his journey and asked him to read John 5:39-40 "You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want.

I am sure that I will be on his “church” heretic list, but that’s ok.

When I was in Bible College we used to pray, “Lord please don’t send me to Africa”, now I pray, “Lord please don’t send me anymore Pharisee’s”.

What a Greeting!

Galatians 1:1-4

From : Paul To: All of Gods adopted children in the central highlands of Turkey (Galatia) in 50 A.D. (approximately). Galatians is a most remarkable letter. Not only is it among the earliest of Pauls writings but it is revolutionary in its mesage and candor.

The orignal is in blue, my amplified interpretation is in green.

1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),
2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the of churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Definitions:

Apostle - messenger
Agency - a recognized authoritative association
Jesus - God Rescues
Christ - Annointed One, Messiah, rubbed on by God
Churches - Gods adopted people
Grace - Divine love and protection freely bestowed
Peace - calmness, tranquility, without stress, without anxiety, without fear
Lord - bread keeper, loaf kneader, baker
Sin - anything that cause us to not recognize God's love in our lives
Evil age - i.e. religion, attempting to gain Gods favor by rule keeping
Will - plan, desire

Expanded to include definitions and explanation:

Definitions are shown in - [ ]

Explanations are shown in - { }

1 Paul, an apostle [messenger] (not sent from{by} men nor through the agency of man [a recognized authoritative association], but through {sent by} Jesus [God Rescues] {the} Christ {the anointed one, the Messiah, rubbed on by God} and God the Father, who raised Him {Jesus} from the dead),
2 and all the brethren {Silas and Timothy} who are with me, To the churches [Gods adopted children] of {in} Galatia {an area in the central highlands of what is now Turkey}:
3 Grace [Divine love and protection bestowed freely] to you and peace [calmness, tranquility, without stress, anxiety and fear] from God our Father and the Lord [bread keeper, loaf kneader, .i.e. baker] Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins [things that cause us to not recognize God’s love in our lives] so that He might rescue us from this present evil age [attempting to gain Gods favor by rule keeping], according to the will [desire, plan] of our God and Father,


Amplified meaning:

1 Paul, a messenger (not sent by a recognized association, but sent by Jesus (our Rescuer and who is God’s Anointed One) and God the Father, (who raised Jesus from the dead).
2 and Silas and Timothy who are with me. To each and every one of God’s adopted children in the central highlands of Turkey:
3 God our Father and our heavenly Baker who is Jesus (Gods appointed Rescuer) gives you the gift of Grace, which is divine love and protection, and peace, which is the freedom from all anxiety and fear.
4 who gave Himself to end the illusion of separation between God and people caused by those things that made us not recognize how much God loves us, so that He might rescue us from the useless attempt to gain God’s favor by doing some things and avoiding doing other things, according to the perfect plan of God our Father.