My Godwink Chronicles

One day, while home alone, I went to my front yard in total silence and solitude, as if I was the only one alive in my neighborhood.  It felt like one of those scary movies where a man or woman wakes up in a strange nightmare where they are the only one left alive in the world...like an episode I saw once on the Twilight Zone.  I felt totally alone.  I looked for some sign that God saw me, that He acknowledged me.  A direct and personal sign.  I thought about what that would look like.  Maybe it would look like a bird that lights a few feet away from me.  Birds don't usually do that.  Or maybe a breeze as I'm feeling hot.  Something from God, to me, personally.

I'm reading "When God Winks at You:  How God Speaks Directly to You Through the Power of Coincidence."  This book focuses on what I wanted to experience that day.  Squire Russel calls coincidences God winks, personal communications from God to you and me.  I'm enjoying reading this book, having just finished the first chapter.  (Just finding the book was a God wink for me.  I was looking for a book about speaking skills, not thinking anything about coincidences.)  The first chapter ends with an encouragement to chronicle the God winks in the reader's life. I have a lot of them, and I'm sure you do too.  May mine encourage you in reading them, and may they encourage you to chronicle your own God winks.

***

I wanted a ventriloquist dummy when I was about 5 years old.  I saw one advertised in a comic book for 5 dollars.  So I went into my living room, got on my knees, and prayed that God would give me 5 dollars to get the dummy.  I got up and didn't think anything more about it.  I wanted it, but not badly. I don't know how I knew to pray, or why I did.  That was that.

The next day, on my way home from school, I found one dollar on the ground as I walked.  For three more days, each day after school, while walking home, I found another dollar.  My mother asked, "Where are you getting the money?"  "I'm finding it," I told her.  On the fifth day, my little brother ran ahead of me and said, "I'm going to get the dollar today."  I raced him for it.  Then my baby sitter, who walked us home everyday, said, "I found it," and picked up the last dollar bill.  I knew God was teaching me a lesson about competition.  I was kind of mad with my brother, but again, as children do, I didn't think about it.

Years passed.  Somehow, my uncle found out that I wanted a ventriloquist dummy.  (My dad told him, now that I remember.)  Intrigued, my uncle bought me the very ventriloquist doll I wanted.  I checked out a book on ventriloquism and practiced.  I got so good at it that I asked a friend of mine to let me pull his hair with him opening his mouth with each pull.  He agreed, and I "threw my voice" into my friend Khari.  We both got in trouble and were sent to the principal...our teacher thought Khari was talking to me!

"We exist to do things that can't be done without God's special supernatural grace."  John Piper.
"Apart from me, you can do nothing."  The Lord Jesus

I want something I can't have without God:  I want every person I meet to see and know that God is with me, just like with Joseph in the book of Genesis.  But I can't make people see God in me.  And I can't make God reveal Himself through me. All I can do is ask God to do it, and live in a way that let's God do it.

How is that?

Faith.

It is written, "The just shall live by faith."  I became a Christian by faith, and I live the Christian life by faith.  More specifically, by prayer.  I prayed "the sinner's prayer," and I keep praying the saved person's prayer.  Jesus, help me, because without you, I can't do anything eternally worth doing.

I know this to be true.  I can't be a Christlike man, husband, or father without the Spirit of Jesus helping me every single moment.  This is a solid fact.  So everyday, all I can do, and all we who believe can do, is pray for God's power, and trust him to give it.

Meeting God

"The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him." Habakkuk 2:20
"Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?" 1 Corinthians 6:19

Every time you meet a believer, you encounter God in that believer.  Every time.  And you know it.  You feel Him.  God's eyes looking through the eyes of the Christian.  God's voice speaking through the daughter of God.

You meet God every time you meet a believer in Christ.  Every time.

"I don't think so," some of you may say.
But a lot of you may not.  You know what I mean.

You stop using profanity, or you become more aware of it when you do.
You feel uncomfortable when he prays before he eats.
You feel uneasy if she says, "God willing" when she speaks about tomorrow.

That's because you meet God in that believer.

Every time.

God can be in you too, if you want Him to.

Is God boring?

Or, is a "personal relationship with the Lord" boring? 

It depends.

Some think of a relationship with God as reading the Bible, individually or in Christian community, meaning at church meetings.  Every now and then God may "show up," depending on the denomination.  Some one may speak in an unknown language, pass out, or get healed...maybe.  A demon may scream through the mouth of a person in the front pew, and a "deliverance minister" may engage in spiritual warfare, vehemently commanding the demon to come out...after asking it's name and origin of entry.  A prophet may give "a word" that may or may not be relevant or even true. 

But most of the time...Bible Study after Bible Study after Bible Study. 

Is this what Jesus came for, Bible Studies?

True, it's not like God is here for our entertainment or excitement.  We exist for Him, and not He for us.  True indeed. 

As I write this, I feel bored.  God is in me.  How can I feel bored with God in me? 

Is God boring?

No.

Where is God when I feel bored?  Has he "left the building" that is my body, His temple? 

No.

He made it clear to me this very morning that He is with me and in me.  He made His love known to me, that He wants my best.  I felt thankful for this affirmation from His Spirit. 

I am blessed with the Spirit of God in me, the promise of eternity, a job, a beautiful wife and six beautiful children.  Health.  Sanity.

But I'm bored.

What is boredom in the presence of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus?

It must be a lie.  I have life and life abundantly in me. 

Boredom is a kind of death...deadness...purposelessness...meaninglessness.

But my life is far from meaningless. 

My purpose is the knowledge and likeness of God.  To know God and be like Him is not boring at all.

I resist boredom.

Living what we believe

Mildred Lisette Norman, an American peace activist, said that we should live what we believe. James, the brother of the Lord, said it this way, "Faith without works is dead." He said to be a doer of the word and not merely a hearer.

If we believe in a living God, should we not have a living relationship with Him?

If we believe in a personal God, should we not have a personal relationship with Him?

How do persons relate? Is it not through words in conversation?

If we believe this, we should live this. We should speak to God, expecting Him to respond to us...in words...in a conversation.

But many are considered insane when they say they converse with God.

Insane.

Now what could be more sane than conversing with God? Whose mind is clearer: the one who ignores the voice of God, or the one who enjoys it?

Our belief comes from hearing, and our hearing from the word of God, according to the Apostle Paul. And the Lord Jesus said that we live by the very words that come from the mouth of God, not from the finger of God, not from the writing of God. In fact, Jesus said, "It is written," not "it is spoken," "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

I emphasize this because we in western culture emphasize writing, exalting the written word above the spoken word. But the written is a servant of the spoken. We write when we cannot speak. We write to make permanent what was spoken. God spoke the heavens and the earth into existence. He didn't write it into existence. What is written is a record of what was spoken.

God speaks.

Do we believe this?

Then we should live this.

Is God an "Absentee Landlord?" (Part 2)

Some say they only feel like God is absent, that it only seems like he's an absentee landlord. These acknowledge this as a dishonorable lie. They resist it.

Yet others speak with the same venom of the serpent in the movie mentioned previously. They even resent those who experience God's presence daily, even in adversity. They shun the ones who maintain communion, the very ones who could help them fight the deception. Those who feel far from God can be helped by those who feel near. Indeed, if I draw near to God, and God draws near to me, then those who draw near to me indeed draw near to God.

Of course the ones experiencing divine loneliness need nor want a mediator among men and women. They don't want a go-between. They want to know God directly, for and by themselves. This is good. Until then, they accept indirect communion, for whatever reason.

But those who revile God as distant need to be reminded of the truth:

He is not far from any of us.

His son came from heaven to be one of us' dying and rising from the dead for us.

His Spirit came to live inside of us.

This is far from absentee.

Some shun the "personal experiences" of those who are close to God, making it clear that "their experience is not every one's experience."

Forget the experiences of the so called few, if they must be forgotten. God made us all and is near us all, according to Paul. Jesus died for all, for every man and woman. This should never be forgotten or taken for granted. Creation and salvation are not the actions of an absentee landlord.

God is near to all, felt or unfelt. Of course those who want to feel his presence want a good thing, and will receive what they want. They should settle for nothing less. But while they wait, they should not dishonor the one who never left them nor forsook them. They should honor him, the invisible one; the one closer to them then the breath in their nostrils. He breathes into their nostrils the breath of life. He is their very life. There is nothing closer to the living then their life and breath itself.

Where is God? He is in every breath you and I take. For it is written, "The Spirit of the Almighty has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life."

Is God an "Absentee Landlord?"

"Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin'....He's a SADIST! He's an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER!"   Al Pacino as the devil in "The Devil's Advocate"

I left out the profanity, though I considered leaving it because, well, it's the devil. He's profane. The movie gives one of the best depictions of the evil one I've seen, though he's still too charming.
The key point is that the devil, the accuser of God, calls God an "absentee landlord," a description that I've actually heard from the mouths of Christians. Words attributed to Satan come from the mouths of those who claim to be his children.

Now of course the movie is fiction. But is this better? Is it better that even nonbelievers know that considering God an "absentee landlord" dishonors him?

I've actually had an absentee landlord, who came to be known as "the voice." I never saw him or met him. We only talked on the phone. But I could talk to him. If I sought him with all of my heart, I would find and talk to my absentee landlord. Yet God is made out to be worse than even this. Those who accuse him, with the devil, of being an absentee landlord, make God out to be even more absent. They make God out to be unreachable, no matter how hard the seeker seeks him.

In doing this, they make him a liar, because he promises to be found by those who seek him with all of their hearts.

This is the irony: God is and will be absent from those who consider Him so, from those who doubt his presence and his desire to be present.

Where is God? He is with those who refuse to believe the lie of his absence.

The first words of the Lord Jesus

These are the first recorded words of the Lord Jesus Christ:



"Why were you looking for me? Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?"



He was twelve. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, as well as others who travelled with them, went to Jerusalem for an annual festival. When the festival ended, Joseph and Mary thought Jesus was with them.

They thought they knew where he was.

Hundreds of years before this, in Israel's history, two men were unaware of God's presence, or absence. Jacob declared his ignorance of the Lord's presence, after experiencing the "stair way to heaven." And Samson awoke as he had done before, expecting to easily defeat those who sought to take his strength. But he did not know that the Spirit of God had departed from him.

So it was with Mary and Joseph. Twelve years earlier, angels came to shepherds announcing the birth of God's son. Nine months before this, one angel told Mary of the birth of Immanuel, God with her and Israel. God was in Israel, the son of a Jewish girl.

He was also at a Jewish festival. But who truly knew who he was, or where he had to be?

When is the Lord with you?

It is written,

"The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him he will allow you to find him, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you."

This scripture shows the reality of experiencing God's presence, and of knowing where God is. If he is not with us, it is because we are not with him. If we have not found him, and if we don't know where he is, it is because we have not sought him with all of our hearts. If he has forsaken us, it is because we have first forsaken him.

As I have said before, so I say now: We can be as close to God as we want to be.

So the question is not, "Where is God," but rather, where are we?

Oracles

God made all people to be oracles, to be those who hear his voice, share his voice, and follow his voice.



All people.



The first man and woman saw and heard God. They knew him directly. This was neither mystical nor magical nor supernatural, nor even "spiritual." It is only naturally for a son and daughter to have access to their father.



Cain, even in his sin, had conversations with God, even with all of his attitude.



Noah and his family knew God and listened to him.



Abraham was known as "the friend of God." God identifies himself as the Abraham's, Isaac's, and Israel's God. This is his name. He is known by his relationship to them.



Moses spoke to God face to face, as a man speaks with a friend, and he desired for all of Israel to be his nation of priests. But they chose to have Moses and Aaron as mediators.



Joshua, with the law of God and the law of Moses, spoke with God regularly, for God was with Joshua as he was with Moses, never leaving him nor forsaking him.



Samuel, the last judge and first prophet, knew the voice of the living God, and none of Samuel's words fell to the ground.



King David was the man after God's own heart.



Jeremiah foresaw a day when all would know God, from the least to the greatest. Joel also foresaw the Spirit upon every man and woman of faith. No longer would the Spirit be only upon prophets and kings and priests briefly. Moses' desire would be fulfilled: that all of God's children would be prophets.



Then came John the Baptist, who announced Immanuel, God with man and woman...again. This honor would come again to every man and woman, by the Spirit in every man and woman of faith.



The Spirit came upon all believers on the day of Pentecost. He did the same in Samaria, the household of the Gentile, Cornelius; and upon 12 Ephesian Christians.



And in the Book of Revelation, every nation, tongue, tribe, and people group will stand before their God and Father and Creator. All will know God. All will be "prophets and prophetesses."



All will be oracles speaking oracles. This is natural. This is eternal.

I write as an oracle to other oracles, and to those who seek to be oracles.

Follow my new blog, I speak as an oracle of God, so that we may continue to answer the question, Where is God?

He is in those who believe in Christ, speaking to them, and speaking through them.

What does the power of God feel like?

Wait to be endued with power from on high.

You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

God's power is with those who believe in Jesus. Believers are taught to wait and receive this power. Presumably they would know when they had received it. But how would they know? The answer is in the rest of what Jesus said before he ascended: they would be his worldwide witnesses, or witnesses wherever they were on earth. So, the key to how the power of the Holy Spirit "feels" is in how a powerful witness feels.

To be powerful, or to have power, is to be effective and successful in achieving a desired goal.

To be a witness is to be one who has seen, heard, or experienced a specific event, and has the character to be believed.

So a powerful witnesses has the character and ability to communicate effectively and successfully what he or she has seen, heard, and known.

How do you feel when you know what you are talking about; when you know what you have seen, heard, and known? How do you feel when you have acted in such a way as to be trustworthy? I believe I can describe your feeling in one word: confidence. So the power of God, given for believers to be his witnesses, feels like confidence. But it is a "supernatural" confidence. This means that the feeling comes from the inside out, without any "tangible" cause. It is given to you directly by God as God give you the experience of himself; the very experience you bear witness to.

For example, on the night when I came face to face with God, ready to die, I confessed that Jesus is God's Son and that he died for my sins, the very sins for which I wanted to die because of my guilt. After this confession, I felt peace cover me like a blanket, a literal invisible blanket, and I know longer wanted to die. This is an experience that I bear witness to. The Spirit in me, who came upon me in that day, also gives me the ability and character to continue to tell this testimony at the right time, the right way, to the right person. This is another aspect of the confidence. Not only do I feel confident in my character and ability, but I feel confident in relation to the timing of the testimony. I have a supernatural certainty of when, where, and to whom I share this testimony.

Certainty. Clarity. Authority. These three words give a tangible standard by which you can know how the power of God feels when you have the desire to use it for his purposes. This is the only time you will experience it and know it.

Another measure of the power is how it effects others. There are two possible effects: edification or conviction. Edification means that one who already believes in Christ will be strengthened in their faith; they will feel encouraged, comforted, and urged in obedience to God. One who does not already belong to Christ will feel convicted, proven guilty of rebellion against God and urged to cease rebellion and to yield to God in submission.

The power of God has an effect, positive or negative, depending upon who listens. It effects both speaker and listener.

Confidence/Clarity/Authority/Certainty

Effectiveness in convincing by character and ability

Joy to the one speaking and the one listening

Conviction to the one speaking and the one listening

This is how God's power feels when it is used for God's purpose: to be his witness.

Meditations on the Matrix

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work...when you go to church...when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.

In the Matrix movies I see so many analogies to Christian Spirituality. I see a a Satanic system and kingdom like the one Morpheus describes above, a system that can be seen everywhere, even now, in this very room. I see, in this very room, the absence of the acknowlegement of God; even an aversion to the knowledge of God. I see the same when I look out my window and turn on my television. But worst of all, I not only feel it at work, but at church. Even at church I ask the question, "Where is God?" I feel his absence in all of the places Morpheus describes. I feel his presence in me and with me, but outside of me seems to be at enmity with God in me. This is the Matrix, the bondage, the invisible prison for my mind. Everything in this world, as it is, seems to have one purpose: to be a distraction of Satan from the one true God of creation. In America there is still oppression. Americans are still slaves, not of the "white man," but of Satan.

The Question (A Review)

Trinity: It is the question that drives us, Neo. It is the question that brought you here. You know the question just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?

There are three main characters in the movie series "The Matrix":
Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity.

Each of the three movies has a specific question that leads to more questions.
The question in the first movie is, "What is the Matrix?"
But this leads to the core question, the true question in the movie: What is reality? or What is real, as Morpheus put it to Neo. And this question of reality leads to a powerful statement by Trinity: The matrix cannot tell you who you are.
Neo replies, "But an oracle can?"

Indeed, who can tell Neo the reality of his identity? This is the question of the first movie. This is the answer of the first movie: Neo is "The One." Morpheus is the one who finds The One. And Trinity is the one who loves The One.

On to the second movie...

This is the question of The Matrix Reloaded, "What is purpose?" Or from Neo's perspective, "What is my purpose?" What is "The One" supposed to do? The answer to this question unravels all of the answers in the first movie concerning reality and Neo's identity. He is not "The One" who will save the Matrix and Zion, but the one who preserves the Matrix and Zion. Morpheus no longer knows who he is or what his purpose is. But Trinity still loves Neo. And Neo still loves Trinity, which leads to the question of the final movie.

What is love? Is love "just a word" as one of the programs said in the movie? No. Love is reality and identity. Love is the purpose of reality and identity. It was the love of Trinity that revealed Neo's identity in the first movie. It was Neo's love for Trinity the drove Neo's life in the second movie, giving purpose to his identity. And it was his love for trinity and all humanity that defined Neo's purpose and identity in the third movie. Love is self-sacrifice; to lay down one's life.

Love is the answer to the question.

God
is
Love.

He is the ulitmate answer to every ultimate question.

There is a question that drives me. There is a question that brings me to you.
Every blog I have written answers the question.
Every blog that will be written will answer the question.

Is this the question that drives you? Is this the question that brings you to me? You know the question just as I do.

Where
is
God?

How far are you willing to go to find God?

You have heard that it was said, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY"; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 5:27-30 NASB

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility towards God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"? James 4:4-5 NASB

Jesus shows the seriousness of not just the external act of adultery, but the internal desire that leads to adultery. God sees both of these as worthy of hell, of eternal separation from Him, and all the torment that this separation entails. A man (and by implication a woman), as far as Jesus is concerned, should be willing to go to whatever lenghts necessary to separate and disassociate from not only sin, but causes of sin. True, Jesus used hyperbole to make points, but I believe that He means what He says. If our right eye or hand literally made us sin, and if gouging an eye or cutting off a hand would literally remove causes of sin, then we should literally do what Jesus said. The point is that sin is serious and avoiding it should be done, no matter how painful or inconvenient.

James, the brother of Jesus, calls those who desire friendship with this ungodly world "adulteresses." Many times in the scripture God speaks of Himself as a husband and His people as His bride or wife. Idolatry is considered spiritual adultery, unfaithfulness to God, a lack of pure devotion and dedication, the kind expected between wives and husbands. Again the seriousness of this is expressed. There is no in between, one is either God's friend or God's enemy, a friend of the world or an enemy of the world. The world in this passage could be compared to an adulteror, and God's people to an adulteress.

Surely if in human marriages Christ expects men and women to do whatever is necessary to be faithul to each other, internally and externally, then the same applies to our Heavenly Husband.

Lately I reflect on how no one taught me this. I learned to believe in Jesus and have a guarantee of heaven. But I did not learn devotion, the kind of devotion that is expected between even non-christian wives and husbands; even between "boyfriends and girlfriends." Shows like Jerry Springer, Maury Povich, Cheaters, and other "reality" shows assume that faithfulness is possible; so do the countless "you cheated on me" songs. Yet I was taught that perfect faithfulness to God and my wife was not possible, that Christian's are not "sinless, we just sin less;" not "perfect, just forgiven." But what husband or wife can remain married to a partner that says from day one, at the altar, "I don't have to commit adultery, but I'm going to commit adultery. After all, nobody's perfect?" A marriage cannot exist in a state of perpetual adultery, unfaithfulness. Neither can a relationship with God exist in this state.

But how far are we willing to go?

How far am I willing to go to be faithful to my God and my wife?

Am I willing to refuse to watch certain shows or look at certain magazines? Am I willing to avoid certain places and people? Am I willing to forsake all others until death?

Am I willing to experience rejection, suffering, and literal death for Christ and for the sake of His message?

This is normal marriage and normal discipleship. From the beginning a husband and wife should understand the seriousness of their vows. And from the beginning a disciple of Jesus should understand that one, according to Jesus, CANNOT be His disciple if he or she does not deny him or herself, accept rejection, suffering, and literal death (the cross) and follow Jesus, no matter what the consequences of following Him may be.

How far are you willing to go?

TRANSLATIONS

All creation understood the Creator's words.
Adam and Eve understood.
Even Cain in his sin understood.
Enoch knew and testified that he pleased God.
Noah understood God's instructions for the ark, and God's rainbow covenant.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob understood the blessing
Until Moses, the word of God was not in writing.
Then it happened.

God Himself literally wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone.
This was, in the truest sense, the very word of God, the written word, the beginning of scripture as we know it.

Joshua received these words concerning God's word:

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. "

THIS BOOK
THE LAW

NOT THESE BOOKS OR THESE TRANSLATIONS

God wrote on two tablets of stone: The Ten Commandments
Moses wrote what God told him to write: The Law of Moses, The Torah

The Law
The Writings
The Prophets
The Scriptures

Indeed, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes wrote their interpretations, commentaries, and traditions.
But Jesus made a clear distinction between the word of God and men's traditions.

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude wrote inspired letters to churches.

Hebrew
Aramaic
Greek
The Bible
Translations
Interpretations
Commentaries
Bible Histories

We are disadvantaged by time, geography, culture, history, and language.

Some say read one, and only one Bible translation.
Some say read at least three to come closer to accuracy.

Jesus said these words concerning His own teachings and words:

"My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. "

Those who intend to obey God can distinguish what is God's word and what is not God's word; the words of God from the words of man alone.

Adam and Eve failed to obey just one clear command given to them by God.
Humanity continued to fail God and each other, though there was no written law, but only the law of conscience in every person, until Moses.
The Israelites, after leaving Egypt, failed to obey the many commandments of God.
Many Israelites, in the days of Jesus, failed to obey the gospel of God.
The church today fails to obey the Spirit of God within them.

The problem is not God's word.

PRESENCE

"I don't 'do' emotion. Emotions are overrated. I'm more interested in creating a presence." Clive Owen

Presence: A person's bearing, especially when it commands respectful attention
Dictionary.com

I believe “a presence,” as actor Clive Owens uses the word, and as he manifests it in his movies, is simply this: the silent stillness of singular focus. When one with a presence enters a room, he enters with one mind, one will, one focus. She enters to simply be in the room, to simply be herself in that room. And what does it mean to be herself other than to be in the room? If she stands, she simply stands without fidgeting. If she looks, she looks at one thing, one person. If she thinks, she thinks of one thing.

And if he enters the room, the one with a “presence,” for the purpose of speech, he speaks of one truth, for one purpose. If he enters to act, he performs one task. For he is one man, not two. She is one woman, not three. He and she, being one being, speak and act one thing; think and intend one thought or intention. Are not mistakes made when a person gets ahead of himself or herself? Do we not err when we attempt to do more than one thing at a time, to be more than one place at a time, to say more than one thing at a time?

But I disagree with Owen concerning emotion, as though emotion and presence cannot coexist, though he does not directly say this. I believe the one with a presence, if he or she purposes to express an emotion, expresses one emotion: pleasure or displeasure. I believe the one with presence is without ambiguity, whose essence is clarity; singularity, simplicity.

I believe this because our presence is an image and likeness of God’s presence.

HEAR O PEOPLE OF GOD: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.

He is who He is.

He is.

This is His Name.

God is light.
In Him there is no darkness.
No.
No darkness.
At all.
The presence of God, the bearing of His person that commands respectful attention, is unlike any other presence, the supreme presence indeed. We have all experienced Him, the silent listener of each prayer, the quiet that surrounds us when we are alone in our beds, the feeling of being watched when no one is around. His presence is at times like the presence of a police car behind us, at other times like a constant companion. He fills a room at times, at others He seems no where to be found.

He is God.

On mountain tops He is felt. On ocean docks at night we tremble before Him. In the thunder we hear Him. In the lightning we see Him and fear Him. In the rainbow He smiles. In the rain drops He weeps. To be known by God is heaven. To be ignored by Him is hell. So indeed, in His presence is heaven. And indeed, in His absence is hell.

Judeo-Christian Principles

Lately it's been up for debate whether America is indeed a Christian country founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Some have argued the faith of the founding fathers and the biblical framing of the constitution. Some have argued the assumption of the Creator by the founding fathers. Some have argued that we as Americans have left our religious roots and need to return to the faith of our fathers.

What are these Judeo-Christian Principles, really?
What is the definition of a country that is Christian?

As far as the principles go, the "Judeo" ones would at least be the 10 commandments. The "Christian" ones would be principles of faith in Christ expressed in denying ourselves and following Jesus, even if it means rejection, suffering, and death (a cross.)

So, focusing on the ten commandments, "freedom of religion" cannot mean freedom to worship any God other than the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, for this very God said that His people were to have no other god and that they were not to make any images of things in creation to worship them as the Creator. All of the Old Testament clearly portrays God as having absolutely no tolerance for worshipping any other god except Him IN ANY OTHER WAY EXCEPT THE WAY HE COMMANDS! And this is rightly so, because He is God, and there is no other, and we dare not approach Him without giving Him His due respect. We could not just enter the White House, nor can we just enter God's presence without reverence.

And Christ Himself said that He came not to abolish the law (these Judeo principles) but to establish them. He also said that He was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except by Him. So these Judeo-Christian principles are quite exclusive and dogmatic.

Not only this, but what would a Christian country founded on Christian principles look like from beginning to end, from the foundation until now? What kind of relationship would have defined the interactions with the natives who were here already? We think of Thanksgiving, turkey, the pilgrims, and well being between "the settlers" and the natives. All seemed well. But as we know, all did not remain well. And all is not well in the present for the natives.

What about the 400 years of slavery in this country? What about the times that are considered "the good ole days" by some, which were clearly not the good ole days for others? What about the dollar bill, which has "In God we trust" on one hand, symbols that are clearly not founded upon Judeo-Christian principles.

The name of God is taken lightly literally daily. This is against the "Judeo-Christian Principle" known as the third commandment. The word Christian has lost all value and meaning when celebrities who are clearly singing or acting in ways that absolutely contradict who Christ is and what He did thank God and Jesus for winning music awards or movie awards for such irreverence.

Where is the line?

What is the distinction between those who believe in Christ and those who do not?

Clearly mere church attendance doesn't make the difference in our nation. Both Senator John McCain and President Barack Obama, while running for president, claimed to be born again Christians, yet were in bitter opposition and contradiction.

What would be the assumptions of a Christian nation and its constitution? Rebellion? Independence? Unqualified freedom. Observe these scriptures:

"Submit to God, resist the devil and He will flee from you." James 4:7
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities." Romans 13:1
"Apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
"The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2 Cor. 3:17
"Whom the Son sets free is free indeed." John 8:36

So, according to the scriptures above, some Judeo-Christian principles are:
1. Submission to God and to His delegated authorities (not rebellion)
2. Total dependence upon Christ (not independence)
3. The Lord Jesus Christ and His Spirit, who is Lord, as the true source of true freedom (not a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.)

"Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." Luke 12:15, the Lord Jesus Christ

What is the American dream, realized in capitalism, if not the acquiring of an abundance of possessions? Doesn't capitalism assume that happiness indeed is directly related to abundance of possessions? If not, what is capitalism? It's not just the idea of each person receiving what they earn. It is competitiveness. And it is measuring competitiveness by productivity, abundance, who has "the most toys." Was this the mindset of Christ? Then how can it be one of the fundamental assumptions of a Christian country?

"Fear God, and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or evil."
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Where is God's honor, respect, and fear in this country? Do we not applaud movies as "irreverent?" Where is honor for "the king/those in authority?" Indeed, where is honor for authority itself, which scripture says comes from God? Do we not call the lone soldier who rebels against his commanding officer a hero? Indeed, the American hero?

It seems doubtful from our beginnings until now that we have ever truly and unambiguously been a "Christian Nation founded on Judeo Christian Principles." But if this was the aspiration of the founding fathers, then we at least, as individuals, can live by the principles of Christ. But in doing so we will have to draw many a line and disassociate ourselves from many "American Causes." In order to be a true Christian nation, the American must have one true allegiance, and that allegiance must be to Christ. But do we fear theocracy too much for this? Must we focus more on a government "of the people and by the people" instead of "one nation, under God?" Jesus is Lord, not Congressman, Senator, or President. To Him we submit, and our submission is not based upon our voting Him into His position. He is a King, the King, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. A "Christian Nation" submits to Christ as Lord. Do we?

A Change of Heart

Does God change our hearts, or do we change our hearts? From what I understand, in scripture both truths are expressed.

"Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." Ezekiel 18:31-32 ESV

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalms 51:10

"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause." Isaiah 1:16-17

"Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil." Matthew 12:33-35

"Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." James 4:8

Remember, one of the scriptural premises or assumptions of this entire blog is that we can be as close to God and like God as we choose to be. God will not make us draw near to Him or be like Him. Jesus compares the heart to a tree and words/actions to fruit. The heart has to do with our ultimate intent, whether we be centered on God's will or self-will. So, when we submit our wills to God's truth, God changes our hearts (thoughts and intents) by empowering us with the desire and ability to do all of His will, as Paul said to the church in Phillipi:

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philipians 2:12-13

So WE work out OUR salvation with fear and trembling. God does not work out or salvation for us. But He works in us who are working out our salvation. When we do our part by faith, God does His part. For as James said, "Faith without works is dead."

So lets make this practical:
A husband has been committing adultery. He feels convicted. But he "loves" the adulteress and doesn't "feel" like breaking off the adulterous relationship. So he prays as the psalmist prayed, saying to God, "Create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit in me. Change my adulterous heart to a faithul heart. I just don't 'feel' love for my wife, but i do 'feel' love for the adulteress." Now, of course, the husband should want to genuinely feel love for his wife and to genuinely feel like ending adultery. But what is he to do? Or does God have to change his heart first? Does he have to wait for God to "change his heart," before he stops committing adultery? We all know the answer. Whether he is "struggling" with adultery or not, we rightly expect him to stop committing adultery, and we believe that he can actually do that, that he doesn't need a miracle supernatural spiritual heart transplant before he can be faithful to his wife. Would his wife accept this need for a change of heart from God while the man continues in adultery? Would she accept these words from him:

"Honey, I know I'm supposed to love you, but I just don't. I just don't feel love for you. But I do feel love for another woman. I try to not love her, and I struggle to love you, but I just can't do it unless God changes my heart. I am struggling with my desire to continue to have sex with another woman. I try not to have sex with her, but I keep doing it." We all know the answer to this. He is to love his wife, whether he feels it or not, and to stop committing adultery, whether he wants to or not. Indeed, he can pray for God to change his heart, but he cannot ignore the scriptures that command him to change his own heart as well. He can pray that God cleanses his heart, but cannot ignore the scriptures that tell him to purify his own heart. He can ask God to give him the desire and abilty to flee sexual immorality, but he cannot ignore the fact that HE IS COMMANDED TO FLEE SEXUAL IMMORALITY! HE IS NOT COMMANDED TO FEEL LIKE FLEEING SEXUAL IMMORALITY. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IT IS ASSUMED BY THE WORD "FLEE" THAT HE IS DOING SO AGAINST HIS DESIRE TO STAY!

If you are struggling to do what you know God wants, indeed pray for Him to give you the desire and abilty to do His will. But by faith, DO IT, believing that He will supply the needed desire and abilty. Don't wait fo feel like doing God's will. DO IT. Don't focus on FEELING like doing God's will. DO IT. We do not control our emotions directly, but indirectly, for emotions are responses to objects that arouse or inspire emotion. The adulterous man focuses his attention on the adulterous woman, focusing on her body and her personality. As a result, he feels aroused or desire. She is the object. His emotions are in response to her as the object of his attention. This is why he must flee her, avoid her, stay away from her, according to scripture:

"My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter aswormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword."

"Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house..."

"Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?"
Proverbs 5:1-4, 8, 18-20

Notice Solomon's appeal to the passions AND actions of his son, describing intoxication in relation to the son's wife verses intoxication towards the adulteress. The son is commanded in the context of wisdom to stay far way from the adulteress, to not go near her house. These are actions. Solomon then tells his son to rejoice in his wife, calling her lovely. Solomon encourages his son to be fulfilled by his wife's body (breasts) and intoxicated by his wife's love, NOT THE BODY AND LOVE OF THE ADULTERESS. Do you see this? Do you see that the son's passions are connected to his actions, according to the object of emotion THAT HE CHOOSES: EITHER CHOOSING THE INTOXICATION OF THE ADULTERESS OR CHOOSING THE INTOXICATION OF HIS WIFE. CHOICE.

We have a choice, direct influence over the state of our hearts. We can yield our hearts to God to change them and purify them, and we can change and purify our own hearts by our choice of intent or focus. The adulterous husband can repent, turn from unfaithfulness to faithfulness, stop focusing on the adulteress and start focusing on his wife. By changing the intent of his focus, he changes his heart. And in doing this by faith, God will empower is emotions and actions with needed continual motivation. But we cannot blame God for not changing our hearts if we are unwilling to change them. Surely the adulterous husband finds something pleasing about his wife's body and personality. Something caused her to be attractive to him. Something! Surely there must be one desirable physical trait, one desirable personality trait, at least. Surely he can focus on these. "But you don't know my wife or my situation," the man may say. Indeed, but God clearly did when He inspired the scriptures. He wouldn't command a man or woman to love their spouse if it were absolutely impossible to do so with some feeling, if some feeling is required. If the husband is required to feel like breaking off the adulterous relationship before he does it, but he absolutley cannot do so "in his own strength," then both God and the wife should cut him some slack. Try as he might, the man just can't do it! He just can't muster up enough "feeling/motivation" to be faithful. But we know this is not so.

So here we are before God and each other, called upon by God to change our hearts, that He might change them also. What will we do? What will WE DO?

Gollum and Freedom

In the second part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, there is a scene where Gollum, a character that has become somewhat of a troll or monster because of an evil ring, and Sméagol, who is Gollum’s true self before he was corrupted by the ring, are conversing. Gollum is harassing Sméagol, making it clear that Sméagol would be dead if it weren’t for Gollum. At this point, Sméagol has a revelation. After Gollum asserts his protection and care over Sméagol, Sméagol says these words about Gollum’s care:

“Not any more.”

What Sméagol realized was that he had a new master, Frodo, who now takes care of him and that he no longer needed Gollum/the Ring. So Sméagol commands Gollum to leave and never come back. And so Gollum leaves. And so Sméagol, rejoicing, is free.

This seems to me an almost exact parallel of Paul’s words in his letter to the Roman Christians:

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves, whom you obey? You have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness/God." My paraphrase of Romans 6:15-23

Note: Sméagol’s freedom was in the context of a new master, a good master, a better master. He no longer belonged to Gollum, but now belonged to Frodo, and sought the pleasure, protection, and care of his new master.

With the Christian, we are set free from sin by our union with Christ, through faith, expressed and experienced in baptism. We who believe in Jesus spiritually died with Jesus about 2000 years ago. Yet, in the goodness of God, we didn’t (spiritually) experience the crucifixion, but instead the RESULT of the crucifixion, Christ’s death and burial. In other words, we do not reenact the crucifixion when we are baptized, but instead we reenact the burial AFTER the crucifixion. We experience the burial, resurrection, and ascension. We are one with Jesus. What is true of Him is true of all believers.

Jesus died once and for all to sin (self centered self gratification.)
We are one with Jesus.
Therefore we died once and for all to sin. (To “die to” something or someone means we become “unresponsive,” like dead bodies are to those who are alive. So we become “unresponsive/uncontrolled” by self centered desire.

According to Paul in Romans 6-7, neither sin nor the law of God own us, define us, or determine our actions any more. We no longer need the law to watch over us or make known to us that sin is our master (which was the law’s purpose) because sin is no longer a master of a believer. We no longer are subject to sin as a master, or a boss, or one who controls us. We died to them both, sin and the law of God, or external rules or codes. As a wife is free from her husband if she dies, and a slave is free from a master if he dies, so I am free from the law and from sin. We are free indeed from sin by a new master, the Lord Jesus, just as Sméagol was freed from Gollum by a new master, Frodo Baggins.

Now we only need to know it and consider it so, just as Paul said in Romans 6. Sméagol realized his new relationship with his new master. I realize mine and consider this my new reality.

• I rejected the law as a husband.
• I rejected sin as a master.
• I presented myself to the Spirit of God as His slave to obey Him. I am His slave. I will obey Him. I no longer serve God according to the old way of the written code (the law) but according to the new way of the Spirit.  Amen.

I am free; free to choose my master.
I choose the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

Consider this:
As I said about God in my first blog (through faith in Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit, that you can be as close to God the Father as you want to be,)

So I say about our new natures in Christ: through faith in Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit, you can be as like God the Father as you want to be.

Your closeness to God is up to you.
Your likeness to God is up to you.

How does a free person act?
Or how should a free person act?

Note what Paul says to the Galatians:

"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 5:1 

Paul makes an analogy of cattle being connected together by their necks, bound together and controlled by a wooden mechanism called a yoke so that both may be driven in working a field. So, we are not to let ourselves be controlled or bound any longer to external rules/laws, which were given to expose our sinful intention.

Note again the words of Jesus:

"Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34-36

Christ set us free to indeed BE FREE. But free to do what? Like we see with Sméagol, we are now free to serve God, to belong to God, to be like God.

"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature]; rather, serve one another humbly in love." Galatians 5:13

Sméagol used his freedom to serve Frodo, not just to “do what he wanted.” This is not true freedom, for neither creation nor salvation is for us to do merely what we want. We were made for God, to please Him; to be what He made us to be and to do what He made us to do. This is why He created us. This is why He saved us. This is our purpose. This is who and what we are.

I ask the Holy Spirit to help me to make this as practical as possible.

If you were a slave to sexual desire, or to use a modern word, you were “addicted,” and you believe in Jesus, the old person that you were, who used to be addicted to sex (or drugs, or alcohol, or whatever) died with Jesus 2000 years ago, spiritually speaking. A new, free, unaddicted/unenslaved you was reborn; “born again.” The new you, being free, now has a choice: to live for drugs/sex/alcohol/whatever, or to live for God. If you used to have sex outside of marriage, you now get married. If you used to do drugs to cope with reality, or to experience heightened reality, refuse to go to drugs and go to the Spirit who is in you, for it is written:

“Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Psalms 34:8
“In your presence, there is fullness of joy; at your right hand there are pleasures forever more.” Psalms 16:11
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger; he who believes in me will never thirst.” John 6:35

Jesus promises to fulfill those who are seeking satisfaction; those who long for fulfillment. He is our satisfaction (bread of life ;) He is the one who fulfills our desires (your thirst.)

Sprite says, “Obey your thirst.” Paul says no longer obey your thirst, but obey the Spirit in you.

Taste and see. With God there is complete joy and eternal pleasure. No man or woman, no matter how physically attractive can give you complete joy and eternal pleasure, by their very finite nature. No drug or drink can do this either. But here is the problem.

Sex does feel good. So does the buzz of alcohol. So does the high of drugs. These are “tried and true.” If you go to the porn site, or meet someone at the bar who will go home with you, and you have sex, or stimulate yourself, you have a guarantee that it will feel good. If you drink the right combination of drinks at the bar, you have a guarantee of the buzz. If you get a good quality of drugs, you are guaranteed a high. These are the best experiences you know of. These experiences come fairly easy, if you know the right drink, drug dealer, or man or woman or web page. You know where to go or what to do. At least it seems like this.

But the truth is, you don’t have a guarantee that you will go home with someone, or that if you do it will be enjoyable; or even if it is, that you and that person will have a good, lasting, committed relationship; or that you won’t contract a disease; or that you won’t conceive a child that you are not ready to care for.

You don’t have a guarantee that the same amount of alcohol will give you the buzz. In fact, you know, or should know, that your tolerance will increase, and that you will have to drink more alcohol for the same effect. The same is true for drugs. And the evil of it is, you will NEVER be able to duplicate “the first high/buzz.”

And even if you find “the perfect fantasy” on the “perfect web page,” the fact is, IT IS A FANTASY, NOT A REALITY. You aren’t really having sex, and you will most likely never meet the man or woman you are fantasizing about. And even if you do, and even if you have sex with them, you have the same uncertainties that you have of taking someone home from the bar. You have even more uncertainties because a porn star, by definition, is not going to be committed to just you, and by definition may have diseases and sickness due to his or her lifestyle.

So, nothing and no one gives you the guarantee of heavenly ecstasy and bliss that you seek. No one except God, for His presence is heaven, and His presence is eternal.

Now, this is not a “high/buzz/orgasm to infinite degree. I repeat and emphasize,
God is not a high/buzz/orgasm. He is not just a super sensation. He is a person. Yet He is the very satisfaction of our spirits, souls, and bodies.

This satisfaction is lasting and not circumstantial. Scripture calls it “perfect peace,” or “a peace that surpasses all understanding.” Paul calls it contentment no matter what. Jesus calls it “never hungering, never thirsting.”

This is a spiritual experience, but it is very real; indeed, it is reality. It is experienced in soul and body as well, but is also experienced in spite of any sadness of soul or sickness of body.

The struggle here is trusting God. The other things have “come through” for us before. Pornography is indeed a pleasing escape from reality. Romance novels (which I consider the female version of pornography) have the same effect. Both men and women get to experience intense pleasure with the other that they may not be experiencing in reality. Even married couples, if they are not getting from their spouses the “bliss” they want, can always go to a website or pick up the latest “steamy” novel on the shelves.

Alcohol and drugs have come through. They have given relaxation, release, and even “fellowship.”

So the devil will attempt to make leaving these things and going to God extremely difficult. If God does not “come through” with a stronger high/buzz/orgasmic experience then those mentioned, then He is not “as good as” sex/drugs/alcohol. But again, the “goodness” of these things in and of themselves is a lie from the devil. And we all know this deep down inside. We all know that we can’t drink/do drugs/have sex all day every day. These surely are not the purposes of life. The pleasure in them may give glimpses of eternal pleasure, when they are experienced legitimately. (I don’t know the legitimate experience of drugs, but it seems as though they mainly enhance pleasure hormones already in our body, given by God.) And even the legitimate experience of these pleasures will leave one “hungry” or “thirsty” as Jesus said. Again, the reason for this is that these things are finite objects of creation, and not the Creator, for whom we were made.

It takes trust. It takes a “denying of our selves.” We must, at first, allow our “needs/desires” go “unmet” in these areas. We must deny ourselves the pleasures of sex/drugs/alcohol/any other controlling pleasure. And we must go to God instead. When we feel lonely or scared or unsatisfied in human relationships or stressed out, instead of pulling out the cigarette to relieve anxiety, we pray. Prayer becomes the lollipop or patch used instead of the cigarette, if you will. Jesus becomes the one you call at night when you have a “crack dream.” Jesus becomes the one who keeps you company when you are lonely, instead of the woman on the porn site, or the man in the romance novel. Jesus becomes the drink that “clears your head” after a hard days work. Whenever you would go to these, you go to Jesus instead. Jesus becomes the one you “vent to” when you are so angry with your husband or wife or children that you think you will explode or hit or say something you regret and can never take back. The Book of Psalms in the Bible is an excellent example of the prayers of people who were angry or weary or experiencing anxiety. With God, we can express all emotions, and He will hear them, understand, correct them, clarify them, when no one else may be able to take them, or even want to take them.

In Romans 6, already mentioned above, Paul says that you are to give yourselves to God in the same way you gave yourself to sin. I know from experience the patience and endurance of seeking sinful pleasure. I wouldn’t give up. I kept trying until I found whatever temporal experience I looked for. Some will endure the first experiences of smoking, which I hear are anything but pleasing, in order to become smokers. Some will literally lie, cheat, steal, and kill for the high of drugs, giving up family, friends, job, and property. Note the drug addict is doing for drugs everything Jesus requires of His true disciples: again, they give up themselves (appearance, health, sanity,) their families and property.

Listen to the words of Jesus:

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
“If anyone comes to me and does not take up his cross (accept rejection, suffering, and death), he cannot be my disciple.”
“If anyone comes to me and does not forsake all he has, he cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:25-43

How many of you have stayed up all hours of the night in the pursuit of happiness? How many have gone from relationship to relationship, no matter how many hurts have been experienced? We try and try and try again. We, like Gollum, pursue the seductive rings of power in our lives, even if they mean our death. We pursue. Relentless.

Yet will we pursue God with this same tenacity? Did we really have a guarantee the first time we had sex outside of marriage (or in marriage,) or the first time we smoked or drank, or whatever? Didn’t we do it and pursue it by faith, because of what we had heard? Notice how subtle is the devil. What does he require? Faith. What does God require? Faith. The devil simply wants you to take him at his word, to believe his lies. The hook in his bait is that he is promising your pleasure, or fun, or success or popularity, or whatever you want. God is promising Himself, and making it clear that He is what you really want, but that IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU, BUT ABOUT HIM. His focus is NOT ON MAKING YOU OR ME HAPPY NO MATTER WHAT. His focus is on you and me being what He made to us be and doing what He made us to do, NO MATTER WHAT. And in doing this, you will find true happiness.

Will we stay up all night for Him if necessary? Will we spend whatever money is necessary? Will we keep coming to Him like we kept coming to him or her? Will we simply “taste and see that He is good,” just like we tasted and saw that alcohol was good?

If we are to be free, we must want to be free. We must give ourselves to our newfound freedom to serve God just as we gave ourselves to serve ourselves. We must know and accept our new Master, rejecting our old masters, just as Sméagol rejected Gollum and accepted Frodo as his new protector and provider. I write these words to myself as well as to you, for these truths are what I need and desire more than anything right now. Peace to you. May God make them true in experience for me and you.

In Jesus name.
Amen.

Where is God? Part 6: Conclusion-The question

(Part 6 of 6)
Why were Peter, James, and John in the "inner circle" of Jesus?

One day, after I graduated from highschool, I wanted to know why Peter, James, and John, three apostles of Jesus, were closer to Jesus than the other nine apostles. (Indeed, why was John closer to Jesus than Peter and James?) I wanted to know this so that I could follow their example, so that I too may be close to Jesus.

On this day I was in an airport. While I waited for my flight, in the Bible, I searched the letters of Peter, specifically looking for the place where He spoke of the transfiguration of Jesus, the time when Jesus took him, James, and John on a mountain and let them see Him in His glory. I then searched the first letter of John, where He described seeing, hearing, and touching Jesus, and testifying of this first hand experience of the Savior. Finally, I searched the letter of James. At the time I didn't know that this James was not the brother of John, but instead was the brother of Jesus. (In other words, the James who was in Jesus' "inner circle" was dead, and the one who wrote the epistle of James was not the one I was focused on.) Yet God still used this search to give me the answer I sought.

I read through the letter of James and came to this verse:

"Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."

And then it happened: The Holy Spirit spoke to me; clearly and simply:

"You can be as close to God as you want to be."

There it was, and there it is. They were closer to Jesus BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO BE!

There was no special quality or righteousness they possessed, no work that earned this privelege. They simply wanted to be close to Jesus, and they wanted this more than the rest. And John wanted this more than Peter and James. I searched the gospel of John to see if I could find evidence of this. What I saw was the assumption of the apostles, particularly Peter, that John was the "disciple Jesus loved." This being so, when the apostles wanted to know who Jesus referred to as His future betrayer, Peter nudged John to ask Jesus, while the rest feared to ask. John was sitting close to Jesus when this happened, resting his head on Jesus' chest. It seems as though John may have been the only disciple who remained with Jesus til the very end, being the only one mentioned at the cross; being the one Jesus left to care for His mother, even above His natural brothers.

And Peter clearly showed evidence of intense devotion to Jesus throughout his time as a disciple, being willing to die and kill for Jesus, though his heart failed in his denial. It was Peter who received the revelation of the Father concerning the identity of Christ. And it was Peter who walked with Jesus on water.

James and John, with their mother, requested to be on each side of Jesus' throne in the kingdom. Though the others were angry with this request, none of them seemed to protest the closeness of the brothers, or the close relation of the three, to Jesus. None of them seemed to protest the fact that Jesus would take Peter, James, and John to witness things that the others did not witness. The three were close to Jesus because they wanted to be.

Finally,
Please listen to the words of a prophet in the Old Testament:

Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded,
and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 2 Chronicles 15:1-2

According to the prophet Azariah,
When is the Lord with you?

THE LORD IS WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARE WITH HIM!
Please, once again, note the condition:

IF YOU SEEK HIM...

Key word: IF

It is up to you now, the one who has read this far. If YOU seek Him, HE WILL LET YOU FIND HIM!!!

Draw near to God, AND HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU.

YOU CAN BE AS CLOSE TO GOD AS YOU WANT TO BE.

It's up to you now.

It is up to you.

Peace to you in the Name above all Names,

In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Who died for us and rose for us,

So that we may be reunited to God as His children,

both now and forever!

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.