Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Jesus calls you & I friends! Jesus pouring all the riches of Himself into His friends!! Wow, all the riches of what the Father had shown Him and given Him, are now given unto His friends.
What riches did Christ have? What were some of those riches?
Think about Christ's relationship with the Father. The depth. The love. The intimacy. The sharing. The communication. He brings us into that. Think about the very act of Christ pouring the riches of His own relationship with His Father, now out to His friends, to you , to I .
I have had close rich relationships with others. I know how careful I am in bringing a friend into that. To share that, to be a part of that. Or, on the other hand, to be invited into that with others. Someone who will share the love, share the closeness, share the uniqueness & joy of that friendship.
Unfortunately for us all, we can easily forget that Christ has called us friends & brought us into this intimate place with He and the Father. Especially when circumstances and situations trouble and arise, and I allow them to define me. I fret & fail to draw out of the friendship forged within me of Christ & my union with he and the Father. I am reminded this morning that there is continual harmony with Christ, He is my foundation as He is yours. He has built us, built our foundation, which is sure! An intimate foundation of shared love of the pure joy of having a relationship with Him, sustaining us & guiding us through our situations. Christ has poured into you & I, His friends, the very foundation for a continuous friendship through the operation of the grace of God at all times. May doubt quickly evaporate as we grab hold of this truth, as His riches operate and become evident through all things, to God be the glory for what He has done through His Son!
"May His love pour out of us, may we all have a deeper awareness of the greatness Lord in that you have called us friends, in that you have given us the riches of the friendship which you and the Father shared. May we be transformed by this. Renewing our mind against the constant battle of vanity self centredness & purposeless living, I pray in Jesus name. amen
I have always wanted to be around people who really love Jesus. You can tell when you have met or found someone such as that, who deeply loves Him, because when you are with them, He is who they want to talk about. I personally have been so blessed to meet so many people such as that. They are all unique & different in some ways, but so similar and deep in their love & passion for Christ. Their eyes glimmer & light up as they share their love & passion for Him freely with you. Words are not even necessary, you can actually feel it when you are with them! Experiencing the deep exchange of life on the inside that Christ brings so generously one can't help but share that life (His heart) with others.
What a great heart He has given His people, the body of Christ. It's His heart. Paul had His heart & he understood that it was Christ's heart beating inside of him, and to Paul that was everything. He would not ever consider carelessly hurting a sister or brother in Christ because He had Christ's heart. I have seen people, and I, myself, have carelessly wounded others without fully realizing and taking into consideration, that not only is Christ in me, but Christ is also living in them. Should we/ I offend & wound the very heart of God in others so carelessly?
I think along those lines, church isn't something we figure out, it's a heart. I mean, it's simple. It's His heart. If you have His heart, fully & completely, we are joined to Him. And His great Heart is joining us to others. We can see the 'church' a product of His heart joining us to others.
We are one of another not because of religious persuasions, denominational perspectives but simply because of His heart.
have a great day !
I just wanted to point you over to this website called Christians Confess.
These are heart felt, sincere comments from people out there in cyberspace who have had time to reflect on some of the attitudes prevalent in the camp of Christianity. People who have really taken the time to truly consider exactly and honestly what their actions and attitudes might be saying to others. Especially those who don't quite think the same way as they do, believe the same way as they do, or the exact same doctrines as they do.
It really is worthwhile to read through the comments, they are helpful in considering our own actions and attitudes, that might need some fine tuning here and there (me).
I think the process of dealing with the self-righteous nature within us all is definitely an ongoing one; something we, who truly want to partake of His grace, and beyond that, bountifully extend that to others, should be so careful to deal with.
thanks!
R & R. Rest & Receive. That is what Father has called us to. That is what the Father is laying on my heart. Rest and Receive. Just come to Him. Stop striving and receive from Him. Oh why do I need to constantly learn this? Over so many things how quickly I start striving & trying to work things out. Christ doesn't want it to be that way - He wants us to come instead to Him and receive.
He can touch every kind of situation with Christ. Stop striving and just rest & receive from Christ. He is the supply. Hasn't He been my supply ? (Yes, He has) Father is deeply committed to us all. He will use 'all things' to the end that Christ is formed within. It's amazing that God has given us such abundant life (R&R) through Jesus Christ!
What I hear Father saying to me over and over is to simply "come" to Him. He has called me & chosen me, and He is the one who is working within the character of His Son. I cannot produce this, only Christ can. Knock knock on my thick head. : ) why do I always think I can? I can find a million things that beset my day and that need my attention, and even though I know that my heart is set on Him, I find myself still striving. I need to have some R & R, and simply trust He is working in me - what He wants worked out of me.
Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt 11:28
Question:
If you were going to write or create a recipe for the ingredients of 'a church' or for 'the church' what would you include as the ingredients necessary to do so & why? What would they be? (Or to word it differently, what do you feel would be some of the ingredients present or NOT present in that gathering). Trying to make this simple : 0 )
For myself I think a freedom in sharing and love of the Word,
openness amongst all,
honesty and genuine love & interest in one another,
love, love of Truth,
mutual respect,
mutual sharing,
lots of hope & encouragement for one another,
loving generous leadership,
very giving hearts to all - including those in any need or difficulty,
community in the sense of sharing life and giving life to each other
sensitivity to one another's pain & the need to work through and process that as a personal thing
I think I could go on and on here : ) I guess I have just had lotzz of time to think about it.
I would like to see His love as the main goal, the expression of that & the work of His love constantly and gently moving all in the direction of yielding more to the Father (the Father's will expressed as a group). And that desire ( for His will ) would be expressed in our lives as a result of His love restoring our hearts and gaining a deepening expression. But not something we work to make happen, or 'set out to do'. Instead the exchange taking place because His love has captured us, His love is doing it. Father's love settling within and dispelling our fears.
Looking back on my journey in retrospect I see the primary objective within religion seemed to be to teach doctrine. To teach 'correct' doctrine. To create and facilitate an ongoing process that would ensure meaningful discipleship growth. The traditional mindset revolves around the belief that this method assures and exists for the purpose of creating disciples. They believe that this steady 'supply' from the 'pulpit' is vital. A sacred necessary means of facilitating onward growth, uninterrupted and constant union between Christ and those receiving said doctrine.
Notice I said 'vital'. The word vital can mean two things: on the one hand it can pertain to life, but on the other hand it can pertain to death. As in vital processes vs. vital wounds. Keeping that in mind, please rest assured that I am not saying that there is no value in doctrine or teaching, of course there is, but it seems to me that there is an error in saying that it is completely vital. (The only guarantee in using this method is that you will primarily create self righteous people who are very religious (and proud) which would therefore be classified not as a vital process but a vital wound. )
The only vital part of our union with Him is Christ Himself - He is the one who is initiating our union with Him, and bringing us into union with the Father. It's Christ in us who is doing all. He is bringing, He is keeping, He is doing all within all. It's grace that brings us, grace that maintains & grace that keeps us in Him. He alone is vital, and the vital part of the Union - only Christ can unite us and produce Himself in us.
I have always felt that religion seemed to downplay the oneness & perfectness of our union with Him (the vital part). If we really believe it is all Him, then He alone is the vital supply. If we are joined to His very life, then He is vital. If he is living and breathing in us, then He is vital. If He is the Truth, then He is vital. I think that Paul understood this because it seems to me he did not spend his time investigating the errors of his previous religious experience(s) ie the vital wound, but rather understood that His purpose now was to manifest and share the life of Christ. (VITAL process) The process is not so much as to unravel the errors of the environment (investigate the vital wound) as it is to investigate Christ, the only vital portion necessary to sustain and maintain life giving environment.
I am, as many of you my friends in blog land are, witnesses to this reality - that Christ, the union with Him that He has created and is living in us and between us - is giving us life and constantly expressing Himself in a way that illuminates our being, showing one another that Christ lives and breathes & shares life with us. Christ in us, He testifies of Himself and declares that He is sufficient in us ! He is keeping us as we forsake the 'vital wound', proof He alone is Vital, sufficient and formed in us.
