Written Word

The Advantages in Using Notes While Meditating

I am a great advocate of writing little notes to myself while I am waiting before the Lord. As various significant thoughts or concepts come to mind, I will jot them down in a tablet. I have discovered that this is a very useful tool for anyone, especially for one who has a faulty memory.

Not every thought that seems significant at the time is noteworthy. Some thoughts you know immediately are junk – yes, even while in prayer. Of course you will reject them. Even if they are not morally "bad," they can be distracting. Then there are those flitting ideas of which the one waiting is not sure of their significance. Even in prayer the mind has a tendency to wander at times and manufacture its own "great revelations." So don't be easily discouraged if, later, you have to go through, say, three notes to come upon one that imparts a warm glow in your mind. The one good note is worth the effort to find it. If you are sincere when you come before God, He will "speak" to you in a thought or combination of thoughts, there or later when you go over your notes.

In the outline below I have tried to give you (and my own self) a clearer idea of how to get in the habit of writing and using notes.

 

1. Notes for Future Use
   1. A single thought or concept may come to the one waiting before God, which thought God may not use then; He may put it "in hibernation" for a while.
   2. Jot down thoughts/concepts that resonate within your being without necessarily being relevant for the present time.
   3. Different thoughts/concepts may come at various times and in a number of prayer sessions. If God does not direct you to use them at the time, put them "in hibernation" until the Spirit of God revives them and assists you in assembling them into a coherent whole.
   4. Categorize and/or alphabetize all notes for easy retrieval at a future time.
2. When Using Notes
   1. If you have a main thought taken from your notes, search other notes for their relevance to your main thought.
   2. Sometimes your unedited notes were written in the warm glow of inspiration. They may need little or no altering. But never rest on your laurels, never say to yourself, "That was pretty neat!" Seek ways to polish your rhetoric. This is supposedly God's message; give it your best.
   3. Mark notes that are used. Include date used. This will avoid excessive repetition in a short span of time. Sometimes, however, repetition is good – seek divine wisdom and guidance in the matter.

Now I hope this little chat will help you AND me to be a better conveyor of the will and word of God to others.

The Comprehensive Effects of Jesus' Crucifixion

He died of a broken heart for you,

He died of a broken heart;

O wondrous love for you, for me,

He died of a broken heart!

We have often contemplated the dreadful suffering that Jesus endured for us. There is also another more specific angle from which to view this grievous event. The words of the song above are true, almost literally. Now it may be that Jesus' physical heart did not actually rupture from the grief and torture He went through (although there has been scientific evidence that admits of the probability). Nevertheless, we know beyond all doubt that the overwhelming emotional grief and exquisite physical torture that were heaped ad infinitum on the mortal body of Jesus were the direct causes of His death.

Jesus didn't merely die like the other two who were crucified with Him; that would have been just a tragic incident having nothing to do with the salvation of the world. His two companions in death suffered greatly as all deaths by crucifixion were torturous events, but no crucifixion before that of Jesus ever brought with it such unimaginable pain or such universe-rocking effects.

God has not granted me a transcendent revelation on this, but it seems unlikely that this climactic happening – this event that affected all creation – could have occurred without causing a ripple outside the solar system, which includes the sun and its planets. We know that at this present time

"…the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God." (Rom. 8.19-21 RSV)

God originally created all things pure. Then man sinned. It is evident that man's sin has blighted the far reaches of creation, and until the work of the redemption of man is completed, all creation is destined for eventual destruction. But the lone death of a Man accursed of God on a hill in a subjugated Jewish nation in a world swallowed up in the vastness of space, has given hope to all of God's creation. It has given hope to a universe that was destined for annihilation and a man destined for eternal death.

A Note of Caution

Lest we get carried away with the availability and simplicity of salvation (and it is both available and simple to attain), we should be aware that Jesus' death on the cross did not automatically seal the salvation of the world. It only made salvation available to the whole world. Consider this:

• Jesus died for the whole world, but we know that not all the world will be saved. Since the tragedy on Calvary many have died, foolishly rejecting Christ to the end. They are not saved.
•  Jesus cried, “Father, forgive them,” but not all who so eagerly crucified Him were forgiven; only they were saved who eventually believed in Him and repented of their wicked deeds, which was still a staggering show of unbelievable, amazing grace.
• Faith is the only way to make salvation effective in our individual lives. (John 3.18, 36)

  "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God…" (Eph 2:8)

One More Reason to Read 'The Life of Christ in Five Phases'

Excerpted from Phase One, ‘Divinity Comes to Earth,’ Lesson One, ‘Introduction to a Creator God.’  For the price, physical specifications and the size of the book, go here:  http://bit.ly/jZTR1

I want to draw you a picture, a picture of 1) great power, 2) absolute majesty and 3) comprehensive knowledge – all of this and many other attributes that are all concentrated in one ineffable Being: the Almighty, omniscient Elohim of Genesis 1.1. That is all there was “in the beginning,” a beginning whose date we find it hard to calculate because time did not exist prior to the creation of the worlds. Space and time were brought into being to accommodate Creation and the man who as yet existed only in the mind of God. It was for this creature whom He would love to death, that God spoke planet Earth into existence.

  God is the Creator of all things, including those human creatures capable of reason who have not yet submitted themselves to their Creator. All Creation is the property of God and if He elects to send to hell those who rebel against Him – He has full right to do so. Who can order Him to do otherwise?

  Remember: In a sense there are only two factors in all of existence -- that which is created and that which is not created. The factor that is not created must perforce be eternal, and the only eternal (in the full sense of the term) entity is God. So we have on one side of the existential equation, all of Creation. On the other side we have only God. (Please understand that  referring to it as an “existential equation” means only that the equation refers to all of existence, nothing more; nothing “deep” and quirky.) There can be no gray area here, that is, there can be no area that is part of creation and part of eternity. Although all believers in Christ are, in reality, at this moment a part of creation and a part of eternity, they cannot claim to have existed in the forever past and thus stake their claim to being truly eternal. One being alone is exclusively eternal: God. Our logical minds, enlightened by the Word of God (the same Word of God that quotes God as swearing an oath based on His eternalness: ^“40I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever...” Deut. 32.40 NIV.), impel us to that conclusion.

  While speaking Earth into existence, this great all-everything God – who was all alone and yet not lonely due to His multi-faceted being that embodies “all things pertaining to life and godliness” – simultaneously created the universe with trillions of cosmic objects flying and whirling hither and yon, with no easily discernible pattern, either to their movements or the reason for their creation. He had no need to consult with a gaggle of architects and engineers before any step in the creative process and there was no one mightier or possessing greater authority than He – He was the only One who existed “in the beginning.” It was fitting, therefore,  that He should create what He wanted, where He wanted it and when He wanted it. So, mighty and alone, did God create the universe.

The Diversity of God

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” (Joh 1:1-2)

  With regard to the scriptures above, it is evident that as far back as “in the beginning,” God, who was undeniably one God, was not simply an undifferentiated being with not the slightest complexity in His mighty being. If God – the ONE, complex Creator of the universe – had not meant to convey the idea of a plurality of expressions within Himself (the Godhead), He would simply have had John start his account of the life of Jesus with the third verse of the same book thus:

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (Joh 1:3)

  There would have been no need for verses 1 and 2. But in those two verses we see there is another element, the “Word,” which Word (Logos) was with God and, in fact, was God.

  Furthermore, if God had not meant to indicate to mankind the intricate and convoluted nature of His mighty Self,  He need not have said in Gen. 1.1 that “Gods” (using the plural form of the Hebrew word for God – “Elohim,” – yet using the singular form of the verb denoting a creative act – “bara” – which restricted the triune expressions of the Almighty God to only one being) created the heaven and the earth. By using the plural “Gods,” the writer of Genesis seems to concur with John 1.1 that “in the beginning was the Word, etc.” Without bringing the Word onto the scene, he could have said simply that God (singular) created the heaven and the earth. That of course makes no allowance for either the Word or the Holy Spirit. But we are very much aware of them both: 1) the Word became flesh and dwelt among men as Jesus (John 1.14), and 2) The Holy Spirit came in anointing on God’s prophets in Old Testament days (Ez. 2.2; Mic. 3.8 et al.), and came into the hearts of Jesus’ followers on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4) and still fills His followers today (Acts 2.38-39).   http://bit.ly/jZTR1

Another Selected Passage from 'The Life of Christ in Five Phases'

The text below consists of an excerpt from The Life of Christ in Five Phases: Phase One: “Divinity Comes to Earth,” Lesson One: “Introduction to a Creator God” You may purchase the book (441 pp.) by clicking on the following address: http://bit.ly/U05x1

A God of Balance and Justice

The world is hell-bent (a fitting word!) on doing its own thing, and God will allow them to do so up to a point. While individuals and governments are sating their lusts for power and wealth and glory, God is, unnoticed, easing them slowly and surely onto the track to doom and destruction. This is not because God has suddenly become like the mythical gods of old – petty and vindictive – no; He is the same God He has always been; He is a God of balance and justice.

To be the same God He has always been, He has to show He is a God of justice, that is, wrongdoing must suffer punishment and righteous living must be rewarded. But humanity continually has turned a deaf ear and a cold shoulder to God’s remonstrances. Now, in all justice and righteousness, God has to be the God He has told mankind He is: He is a God of balance, that is, love AND judgment. He has warned them, “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…” (Gal 6:8), even while He still offers this assurance, “but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

What more could we ask of a just, balanced, righteous, evenhanded God?

Yet men and women press on in their sinful ways. God has pled with and begged these impenitent sinners – but they have refused to listen, they have rebuffed His efforts at reconciliation. He has whispered offers of peace in their ears at night; in desperation God has thundered it at them, “You must come to me and find rest and peace!” He has always been there trying to tell sinning humanity ever since their fall in the Garden of Eden that they must suffer for their sins. He has sought to drill it into their minds and hearts, ever since that horrible debacle in the Garden, that what a person sows he must reap.

And reap he will whether he is a saint or a sinner. For the saint, however, once he accomplishes his reaping in this life, all reaping will be over. The blood of the Lamb of God (Jesus), has removed his sin and, although the saint has to reap in this life for the sins he has committed in the past, they are no longer around to follow him into the hereafter.

But God is saying at this time the path is not irreversible for individuals who have not yet come to Christ. God is still pleading one-on-one with individual souls to come to Him. Mankind as a whole now seems to be hurtling toward perdition (no longer are they being “eased slowly and surely toward it”), but there is still room at the cross for just one more sinner. If you will reach down deep into your heart, deep into your innermost being and cry out, “Lord, save me; I need you more than anyone or anything in this world!” He will hear you and He will save you. He wants so much for you to ask Him into your life because He will never force His salvation on you.

What more could we ask of a just, balanced, righteous, evenhanded and merciful God?

http://bit.ly/U05x1

Is Your Burden Too Heavy to Carry?

(A Reprint of a post written circa 2005)

Sometimes life can seem to be just too much. If it isn't your own troubles that beset you, it is the distress you witness in your friends and loved ones. To top it off, there are the burdens of people you don't know, but of whom you have heard and you feel obliged to add their anguish to the heavy load you are already bearing. No, you don't have to take on any of these burdens other than your own, but the love of Christ within you constrains you to do so.

It is the love you have for Christ and for all men and women that makes you want the best for everyone else. You wish for them salvation if they are unsaved; you wish for them health and prosperity; you want them, saved or unsaved, to know God as you do. God is such a rock of defense. He is the shade of that Rock in the hot, weary trek through the deserts of life. You know God is everything you need Him to be and you want so much to impart that critical knowledge to the world. Every person who is living has his or her stressful times and they all need Christ as their hope, their rock, their peace and joy.

But you – or I should say, we – are only human. As we see the rising distress in the world, the painful lives that most people are enduring, and then we look at our own burdens, we tend to falter at times. It seems so hopeless. We know what we have, and the knowledge carries us through our daily trials, but when we add to our burdens those of a world of hurting, desperate creatures – the weight is crushing.

What can we do? We can't throw off the burdens of our brothers and sisters and fellow creatures – the love of Christ within us will not let us do that. So how do we handle this weight of the world that is crushing our frail shoulders? We take our burdens to Jesus, and that includes the burdens of others as well as our own.

I have found that I need to feel the need of my fellowman in order to pray effectually for him or her. I have to put myself in his place and feel his pain and his distress as my own. This may sound somewhat selfish, but if the hurt he endures becomes my hurt, I will cry the more passionately to God for him. Then, when I have poured ot my soul to God, I release the burden to Him. This is necessary because no one is capable of carrying the weight of the world on their back at all times without going off the deep end. Continued worry can make you susceptible to all sorts of physical and mental ailments. And that is not seemly for a child of God.

Be concerned about your fellowman and your own self. I would even dare to say, worry about the plight of both him and you, but only to a degree. Run quickly and often to Jesus for help with the overwhelming load of care: He will help you to bear it. Unquestionably you cannot bear the burden alone. But, after you have eased the burden onto the shoulders of the Almighty, the weight of it will soon enough come back, and that's as it should be. You are a person who loves and it will return to weigh you down, but then you go running to the One who carries all your burdens and once again you pour out your soul to Him. He will help you, He will help the one for whom you are praying, and through it all He will keep the minds of both of you in perfect peace – if you both will have it so.