Who’s Are You

Many times we go through the motions in our spiritual lives.

We pray.

We read the Bible.

We worship.

All the while giving the impression that we know that we are God's beloved. But often in the deep places of our hearts, the assurance is not there and we know it. When this happens we need to come before God and let the Spirit of God whisper—"You are God's beloved."

I cannot tell you who you are.

Others cannot tell you who you are.

Only the Spirit of God can.

 

As Jesus was coming up out of the water… a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Mark 1:10, 11

Going Moment To Moment

Outwardly, I appear to be an organized person.

I am diligent and doing well in my line of work.

I tend to keep my planner up-to-date as much as I possible can, leaving room for unexpected changes that tend to happen in life from day to day.

I don't like to be rushed and tend to show up for my appointments on time, if not early.

As a naturally "with-it" type person, you would assumed when I began meditating regularly that my thoughts would be as orderly as my day, that emptying my mind would be as simple as sorting through and preparing for a typical day.

In reality, it can be difficult to quiet the constant stream of thoughts, plans, images, judgments, and story lines most of us don't even realize are playing in our heads. And instead of sifting through the files of my mind and putting them in order to better navigate all that is taking place, I tend to just empty my thoughts into the "recycle bin" of my mind and let it stay there until I need it.

Allowing oneself to simply exist, to fully experience a moment, is a difficult but worthwhile undertaking and to do so we need to be able to embrace the thoughts that are taking place in our minds. And to sort them out as best we can through journaling, speaking, or just meditating.

If we can't stop thinking about what a terrible speaker we are or how inexperience we are at fitness, we are wasting valuable energy by making ourselves anxious. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather watch an enthusiastic speaker make a few mistakes than one who seems on the verge of tears out of fear during a presentation.

A few tips on how to embrace our thoughts in the moment:

• Try to avoid worrying about the future, focus on the present (savoring) – We get up and workout and think, this is not as good as what I did yesterday. Where is the enjoyment there?

 

• To make the most of time, lose track of it (flow) – Have you ever sat down, started in on a task, and become so fully absorbed in what you were doing that hours passed without your notice? Most people have attained this state, which psychologists call "flow," at one point or another while doing something they find engaging and enjoyable. Your intentional focus narrows, self-consciousness evaporates. You feel as if your awareness merges with the action you are working on. You feel a sense of personal mastery over the situation, and the activity is so intrinsically rewarding that although the task is difficult, action feels effortless.

 

• Bothered by something, move toward it rather than away from it (acceptance) – It is human nature to avoid unpleasant situations. However, this quote gives us interesting insight: "…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we're holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we'd rather collapse and back away. They're like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we're stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it's with us wherever we are."

 

• Know that you don't know (engagement) – If we know everything already, if our days are routine and predictable, where is the excitement in that? Why bother being curious about anything? Again, this quote puts it well: "We long to have some reliable, comfortable ground under our feet, but we've tried a thousand ways to hide and a thousand ways to tie up all the loose ends, and the ground just keeps moving under us." We need to embrace the unexpected in the here and now of our day and most of all in our lives.

 

• When interacting with others, friends, family, co-workers, significant other or spouse, learn to inhabit the present (breathe) – Mindfulness makes people less aggressive and more aware of their feelings, as well as their interactions with other people. Focusing on the present frees one up to respond "thoughtfully rather than automatically".

Cultivating an awareness of the present has a host of benefits within the mind and body:

1. Reduces stress
2. Boosts immune functioning
3. Reduces chronic pain
4. Lowers blood pressure
5. Reduces the risk of heart disease
6. Reduces impulsivity and negative reactivity

Mindful people are happier, more exuberant, more empathetic, and more secure. They have higher self-esteem and are more accepting of their own weaknesses.

So, what are we waiting for?

We need to focus on now as we move forward into what the future holds while enjoying the very moment we are in. 

Friends

In John 15:12, Jesus instructs us to "...love one another as I have loved you."  Some of our friends will remain friends for a long time and others we soon find out were not really friends at all. Hold on to those friends you find dear and as you do ponder how God has used these friends to draw you closer to Him and shape you into refined vessels for His glory.

 

Flowing In Faith

Faith lies at the heart of all that we have in and from God through Christ. It is the very energy of God in us through the presence of His Holy Spirit. And we see this in Hebrews 11:1 as it gives us the evidence to the meaning of faith. In the phrase, "Faith is the substance," we have insight into it's true nature. The text does not say that faith is a human instrument for getting things from God, it says that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the essential reality of all that we receive from God. The phrase "hoped for" is better translated "expected." The English word "hope" has too much uncertainty in it to properly express the Greek word elpidzo. 

Hebrews 11:1 would better be translated—"Faith is the essence of our expectations."

But what precisely does that mean?

Faith is an expression of Divine energy.

It is strictly a gift of God and is impossible without Him (See Ephesians 2:8). It is that flow of Divine energy that activates our spirits. Our spirits then become like a circuit board, receiving signals from God. Apart from the gift of energizing faith we would not be able to receive these signals—without the Holy Spirit, we would not have this faith.

We can take it a step further and look into the meaning of the Greek word that usually translates the word substance, hupostasis which means in Greek what it does in Latin—that which "stands under" or is "the inner essence of." 

For example, in the case of electric wiring, it is the electricity or energy flowing through the wire that is the essence of it. When the energy flows through it, the wire is the effective instrument that accomplishes innumerable tasks. Without the energy flowing through it, the wire is simply like a cord, that is not very useful. The electrical circuitry in a house gives to that house an innumerable range of useful functions. But the wiring itself, were it not connected to an energy source, would be of little value.

Just so, it is not the object itself, for which we pray, that is important, but the flow of energy that represents our communion with God. As the electricity is more vital and real than the appliances it serves, so the energy of faith within us—the gift of God—is more vital and real than those things which come to us as a result of our interactions with God.

So faith, then, is the energy process from God that charges our spirit nature and equips us for communion with Him.

 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  Hebrews 11:1

Gaining Direction Through Seeking And Knocking

Have you ever done something that was so much fun that you prayed that time itself would slow down so you could enjoy yourself as much as possible?

For instance, think about surfing, you wait in anticipation for that ideal day, a perfect set of waves, and the sun is high in the sky. You have the beach roughly to yourself since there is almost no one out in the water.... now you have just 20 minutes and you are looking for that one last set to form on the horizon and then call it a day.

Sometimes one of the most frustrating things in life is coming to the realization that we are getting older—not that this a good or bad thing—but are we really using our time like God is leading us to and accomplishing all that we hoped to in the flow of what He is calling us into.

Maybe you really do not have frustration in this regard, but don't you absolutely want to do as much as you can for God during the time He has given you?

Be respectful of God, knowing that He is the One who is guiding you in the flow of things, putting before you the exact things that He wants YOUR hands on and sowing into. It may help to keep the following points in mind on a daily bases, to stay more aware of how you are using your time.

God wants you to:

• Prepare your minds for action
• Be self-controlled
• Set your hope on the grace to be brought to you at the return of Jesus
• Do not conform to your former evil desires you had in ignorance

During your stay upon earth God wants you to do everything you can to live for Him:

• You will answer to Him for all that you have done in this world.
• You are not your own and have been bought with price
• You are called for this purpose.
• Keep your hope and eyes upon God.

It is easy to get away from what God is leading us in and become consumed with the distractions of the world out of sacristy or misdirection. In either cause all we need to do is come before God seeking and knocking, ready to receive and flow in that which He is calling us into.

 

And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 11:9-10

Long-Range And Short-Range Plans

Whether we are sizing up our lives in total or confronting a specific decision in our lives, a few important questions we should ask are:

1. What is God leading us in?
2. What are our objectives?
3. What, ultimately, do we want to accomplish?

Identify our objectives may prove to be a complex task, because there is more than one objective at stake and at times we rather not just focus on one objective. As believers though, our one main objective that we come back to time and time again, is that we have been created to serve God with the unique abilities, talents, and skills He has gifted us with.

This is the main long-range objective and is of prime importants, but in the meantime we have lives to live on a daily bases, that add to the long-range objective. We have jobs to manage, a house to keep up with, finances to be stewards over, friendships to cultivate, and relationships to mend.

At times we can be very clever at conning ourselves, which leads us to rationalizing and spiritualizing almost anything that crosses our path. We tend to analysis everything making ourselves believe we are choosing what is most important, instead of allowing God to be the definitive decision maker in many instances.

And it is not that we should not make long-range or short-range plans, but instead we need to consider what God is leading us in and start there in our planning. In fact, God doesn't want us to live mediocre lives, but as we seek Him in all our planning He will guide us, give us the tools, and the means to accomplish the things that are before us and on the horizon.

 

Commit your way to the Lord, and trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.  

 

Psalm 37:5

Minds Of Action

To prepare your minds for action means to bring your mind into obedience of the conscious act of the will. Many times believers face an inner conflict that brings about a tough-minded focus that readies us for action—being self-controlled.

We need and are called to be self-controlled with an internal direction from within, not from without by lusts, temptations, and unrighteous desires. Our hope is to be in the grace that God has given us through the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 

Having said that, our ultimate hope is and has been given to us by the return of Jesus, who has raised us in newness free from our sinful self we once were before becoming believers, which means we are no longer conformed to our former minds as in ignorance. 

We are instead, to allow God to mold our minds into the character of Him in every area of our lives, in order to be fully ready to in obedience to flow in what He places before us, without even second guessing if or when we should take on what He is calling us to. 

Daily we need to be in communication with God bringing before Him that which is on our minds and as we do we will gain strength that trains our minds for action. An active mind needs to be trained and it does not happen over night, just as a muscle goes through a process of becoming completely strong through daily exercise.

Gird the mind, strengthen the mind, keep a sober spirit, and most of all completely put hope in grace, but have a mind of action that is one of self-control in obedience for the will of God.

 

Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:13