I love to express what I feel called to say. Writing helps me to open up my heart and do that. I hope that what I write helps you in some way. I hope it makes you think, encourages you, or inspires you. If it challenges you or if you disagree, I hope you know that I respect your right to have a different point of view.
For inner peace And harmony I let go of Focus on me.
Holy Spirit, Take my life And steer it. Touch my heart And clear it So when you speak I hear it.
If you’re unaware of the Holy Spirit working inside of you, you’re overlooking the key to God’s kingdom, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” To live in glorious harmony with God is to align your life and your will with the risen Jesus and let the harmony of Heaven’s symphony freely flow within you. God’s harmony gives me peace, makes me happy, and causes me to smile from deep within.
“Please let me speak to the people.” Paul, who was sent by Jesus Said those words to solders Tying to protect him From an angry mob Who had made it their job To attack and kill him. All Christ-followers are sent With important things to say We shouldn’t be silent And hide or run away. We’re sent to be Christ’s light Everywhere and every day. To speak the truth in love, It’s necessary to use words. Please speak to the people About the risen Jesus And His invitation To be forgiven And set free. (Acts 21:39.)
We live in a culture of conflict, confusion, and chaos and it’s very easy to get caught up in it and captured by it. I’m on a long, memorable vacation from consuming its content and letting it coerce me into its image. Instead of being conformed to the culture, my goal is to influence it with a more hopeful and wholesome way of thinking and acting.
It’s human nature to want to silence and get rid of any voice that speaks against the things that make us comfortable. That’s why true freedom of speech is rare in human history. That’s why people who sincerely follow the inner leading and direction of the risen Jesus have been persecuted throughout the last 2,000 years (often by religious people who see them as a threat to their religious hierarchy and established traditions).
In the Bible Christ-followers didn’t bully, coerce, or try to use the government to make people live by their standards. They humbly spoke the truth in love and suffered verbal and physical attacks without retaliating. They blessed those who cursed them.
The first Christians didn’t conform to the verbal abuse or the physical violence of their culture. They transcended it. They were in the world but not of it–living with their minds transformed and renewed by Christ’s inner presence and supernatural perspective.
The transformation that matters most is inner transformation. That happens when the mind shifts its focus away from the demands and dictatorship of dominating desires and self-protection and aligns with the wisdom of the conscience (“Christ in you, the hope of glory,”) thus empowering a person to be in a crazed culture but not be conformed to it–to be a living example of clear thinking, inner peace, kindness, and joy.
A mind that is captured by the desire for comfort and surrendered to self-focus needs to be renewed and transformed by a better way of thinking. It takes courage to live in a culture that is caught up in confusion and not be conformed to its chaotic thinking.
The idea that someone hates, fears, or judges you just because they disagree with some of your behaviors or beliefs is irrational. If we won’t be kind to people who disagree with or disapprove of our lifestyle and world view, we’re not following the risen Jesus. Staged Christianity creates religious spectators who tend to be conformed to the comfort, carnality, and triviality of world around them, but where are the disciples whose hearts are constantly engaged in loving, adoring, and obeying the risen Jesus and demonstrating His command to bless those who curse you?
The Gospel of Luke and the other 3 Gospels in the Bible present Jesus as loving, passionate, provocative, and fiery. They never present Him as lukewarm.
I’ve studied, personally experienced, and practiced ekklesia (the ancient Greek participatory town hall meeting that Jesus said He would build) more than most people have but doesn’t make me “an authority.” I’m more of an exhorter and encourager of that kind of radical Christianity. Christ, Himself, is the authority and I try to continually listen to and obey Him regardless of the consequences. Here’s some of what has come to my heart and mind this morning.
Pastors who are not willing to be run out of town because of what they preach are dangerous. They train Christians to follow their example of image-management, appeasement strategies, self-protection, and casual Christianity. They encourage people in the congregation to believe that pleasing people is more important than radical obedience to Jesus. They promote routine religion that is based on mere (one time) verbal acknowledgement of Christ rather than on daily trusting in and relying on the grace, power, and presence of the risen Jesus.
Some early Christ-followers are quoted as saying, “We must obey God rather than men!” That statement cost them. They paid by being rejected, run out of town, tortured, imprisoned, and murdered for their refusal to abandon (or tone down) their daily reliance, love for, and obedience to the living, resurrected Jesus.
Their example of putting and keeping Jesus first (above all other claims on their loyalty), at the cost of extreme suffering, demonstrated their sold-out daily dependence on the reality and presence of the living Jesus. People who saw how they blessed those who cursed them and prayed for those who despitefully used them, were convinced that they couldn’t have responded that way to such cruelty and abuse without the supernatural reality of Jesus. Their example of depending on Jesus despite their suffering caused so many people to begin to surrender to and rely on Jesus that this phrase became well known in the Roman Empire: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the ekklesia (Christ’s participatory town hall meeting).”
If you know how to listen to, obey, and daily rely on the risen Jesus, train a few other people to do it so that you can follow Jesus together as His participatory town hall meeting. We need many multitudes of mini meetings of the body of Christ where Christians encourage and train one another to fully embrace and live out the grace that gives them supernatural power to obey God instead of men.
The rainbow is an invitation into a divine romance. It is the promise of a beautiful future and the offer of a heart-to-heart relationship with the living God. The next time you see a rainbow let it move your heart with the glorious splendor of God, to the point that you fully surrender your all to His will.
Embrace the Christian faith. Lay down your personal desires so that you are free to adore, follow, and obey the risen Jesus.
Who will set aside Ego and pride And humbly say today, “The Holy Spirit says,” And who will say, “Lord have your way,”?
When I see a rainbow On the screen of the sky Its glorious splendor Makes my hope rise high Far beyond self-focus And proud humanity.
Jesus told His disciples, “You will be my witnesses,” And gave us the task Of testifying to The things that we Have seen and heard Christ say and do Within us, Even if we’re just a few.
I wrote this blog post on my wedding anniversary, so it is really my testimony to two amazing romances. 54 years ago, God let me meet the risen Jesus and gave me an ongoing divine romance with Him. 34 years ago today, God let me marry Ernie and gave me a beautiful romance with her that continues to this day!
I express my gratitude for being alive by trying to be kind to everyone I meet. I have discovered that heartfelt politeness is powerful.
If you will without suspicion begin to be welcoming to strangers by showing them warmheartedness, courtesy, and a sincere smile, you will almost always receive a friendly response from them. You will touch the part of them that’s hungry for heart-to-heart human connection.
The next time you see a stranger make it your mission to express simple heart-felt kindness and observe the response you get. The stranger will feel better and will light up with warm facial expressions (and you will too). I experience that kind of response almost every time I express goodwill to a stranger. (There are exceptions where my kind approach is ignored or rebuffed but they are rare.)
I learned this by selling books door-to-door for three summers when I was in college. The first week of each summer I was given a week of training in positive thinking and sincere friendliness. Then I was sent to a strange city to knock on doors. I was amazed to see that my warm cheerfulness would usually (but not always) soften the heart of the person who answered the door, and we would have an uplifting encounter even if they didn’t by my books (or even take the time to look at them). I would leave them with an encouraging word and with gratitude for their time and then head to the next house.
Training your heart to be hospitable is lifechanging for you and for the people you encounter. Every person matters. If you will treat people like they do, they will usually respond positively to you. Don’t just take my word for it. Try it today and see for yourself.
Be like a potato. Keep sprouting and growing your eyes no matter where life puts you. Always be on the lookout for creative ways to turn your problems into potato salad, French fries, hash browns, potato soup, chips, home fries, loaded potato skins, tater tots, and scalloped potatoes. When life bakes or roasts you, don’t be bitter, be better (like a baked or roasted potato). When life crushes you let it make you as delightful as delicious mashed potatoes.
When tears come Try not to be Quick to clean them up And wipe them away. The drops that ooze From your eyes And leave tracks On your cheeks Are a sign That shows that Your heart is alive.
The Russia Ukraine War, the ongoing slaughter of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza, or any of the many other wars and threats of war around the globe could easily trigger Word War Three and lead to the killings of hundreds of millions of people and make life unbearable for any survivors. Nuclear war is a horrific but real possibility.
I love people from every nationality, ethnic, and racial grouping–from every political persuasion, from every religion, from every sexual description–regardless of whether or not I approve of their views, beliefs, or lifestyle. Hateful attitudes, threats, violence, and war break my heart. They are kindling for a fire that can easily devour our planet. I am greatly concerned that we turn away from the worldwide inferno that we are stirring up before it is too late.
Peace isn’t a luxury. It’s essential that we change the worldwide contemporary narrative from blame, name calling, and accusing people of hatred just because they disagree with our beliefs and behaviors. There are many issues on which people will never agree, but we can begin to disagree with kindness and compassion, to speak the truth in love and humility, to listen to one another, and to treat each other with respect even when we disagree or disapprove.
Perhaps the biggest danger for a worldwide nuclear inferno is the Russian Ukraine war. Here’s my peace proposal to end it before it is too late:
1) Ukraine officially cedes to Russia, Crimea and most of the territory in Ukraine that Russia has controlled the past two years.
2) Russia agrees that its new territory will be a demilitarized zone with no heavy military arms (except for 100 lightly armed Russian troops to serve as a trigger if Ukraine should ever try to take it back).
3) Ukraine receives NATO defense rights but is not allowed to be an official member. NATO will put no more than 100 lightly armed troops in Ukraine. They will be stationed in Eastern Ukraine to serve as a trigger if Russia ever attacks Ukraine again. Ukraine troops will not be allowed to train with NATO or be stationed in any NATO country.
4) Russia agrees that if it breaks the agreement by increasing its troops beyond the limit in former Ukrainian territory, Ukraine has the right to immediately become a full member of NATO with full membership benefits and responsibilities.
5) Ukraine agrees that if it or breaks the agreement, it immediately loses its protection rights from NATO.
6) NATO agrees to the plan and agrees that if it should put more than 100 lightly armed troops in Ukraine that Russia has a right to see that as an act of war and respond accordingly.
We all can’t make peace in Ukraine, but we can all do this:
When the foundations are being destroyed, comfortable, sentimental, and powerless Christianity offers no help. It’s time to reach beyond routine religion and take refuge in the risen Lord. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Prepare the way of the Lord in your heart. Stir up the gift that is in you. Be led from within by God’s Spirit. Courageously follow and obey the voice of Jesus, the living Word. Let Christ in you be your hope of glory.
What the world needs now is people who will open their heart to wise, Spirit-prompted spontaneity. We all need mentors and teachers like that. While the world is trash talking, Christ-followers need to be transformation talking and spontaneously sharing how the living Jesus became real to them and transformed their life.
My goal is to live my life by spontaneously following and obeying the Holy Spirit’s promptings. The spontaneous overflow of Christ in you, turns Christianity into the most powerful and amazing lifestyle on earth. Go with Christ’s inner flow! Spirit-led spontaneity is incredible. Listen to the risen Jesus, do what He says, and you’ll be amazed! Christianity without Spirit-prompted spontaneity gets locked into routine.
Some of the impulses, impressions, and inclinations that happen within you are directly from the Holy Spirit. If you will learn to recognize them and begin to obey them, then you’ll start to regularly experience the supernatural reality of the living God. You can’t follow and obey the inner impressions, impulses, and inclinations of God’s Spirit if you’re unwilling to notice them.
According to the Bible, it’s essential that Christians learn to recognize and follow Spirit-prompted impulses and inclinations. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14.) To be led by God’s Spirit requires spontaneity. Spontaneous behavior doesn’t follow a program or plan. It occurs as a result of an inner prompting that comes without planning or external stimulation.
The fear of God’s spontaneity causes Christians to focus on routine religion. Christianity has become so planned and programmed that it has lost the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit who freely moves like the wind. It’s extremely rare for God’s Spirit to be allowed to interrupt the predetermined order of a church service. Predictable Christianity has abandoned the spontaneity of God’s Spirit.
The time and place for Spirit-led spontaneity is any time and any place the Holy Spirit tells you to say or do something. However, there’s no room for Christ’s spontaneity in a church service that’s carefully planned and rigorously controlled.
Routine religion has no sails to catch and freely flow with the wind of God’s Spirit, so it puts along with the trolling motor of patterns and procedures. When the freedom to spontaneously hear and obey the living Jesus is shut down, the Holy Spirit is quenched.
The most amazing encounters I have ever had with Christ are Spirit-prompted, unplanned and unprogrammed. The more I directly listen to and obey the risen Jesus, the more I’m aware of His presence and power working in and through me.
Spirit-led spontaneity requires the boldness to bend beyond the box of routine religion. Assessment, appraisal, and analysis of the Bible without the spontaneity of the Spirit’s leading can produce a biblical theology but not a Christ-empowered lifestyle that overflows with the fruit of God’s Spirit.
Christianity without Christaneity (Jesus-prompted spontaneity) is stuck in the rut of routine religion. Let’s go beyond that! Be Christaneous! Prepare the way of the Lord. Make room for Spirit-led spontaneity in your life! Listen to and obey Christ in you and let things happen supernaturally.
"Christ in you, The hope of glory." It's time to let Jesus do What He wants to In and through you So people can see The working Of His glory And experience The reality Of His story.
Christians need to start To learn the art Of obeying The prompting Of God's Spirit.
People who are Led by God's Spirit Produce the fruit Of the Spirit. If you aren't Growing the fruit You're out of God's loop. (Galatians 5:22-23.)
1) Ukraine officially cedes to Russia, Crimea and most of the territory in Ukraine that Russia has controlled the past two years.
2) Russia agrees that its new territory will be a demilitarized zone with no heavy military arms (except for 100 lightly armed Russian troops to serve as a trigger if Ukraine should ever try to take it back).
3) Ukraine receives NATO defense rights but is not allowed to be an official member. NATO will put no more than 100 lightly armed troops in Ukraine. They will be stationed in Eastern Ukraine to serve as a trigger if Russia ever attacks Ukraine again. Ukraine troops will not be allowed to train with NATO or be stationed in any NATO country.
4) Russia agrees that if it breaks the agreement by increasing its troops beyond the limit in former Ukrainian territory, Ukraine has the right to immediately become a full member of NATO with full membership benefits and responsibilities.
5) Ukraine agrees that if it or breaks the agreement, it immediately loses its protection rights from NATO.
6) NATO agrees to the plan and agrees that if it should put more than 100 lightly armed troops in Ukraine that Russia has a right to see that as an act of war and respond accordingly.
Photo by u0421u0435u0440u0433u0435u0439 u0412u0435u043bu043eu0432 on Pexels.comPhoto by Peter Muscutt on Pexels.com
This happened to me. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” My stoney heart was removed and I God replaced it with a tender, compassionate heart. I was born again.
In the Bible Paul commits people who he has told about Jesus “to God and to the word of His grace” — to the message (story, testimony) about God’s undeserved favor. Every true Christ-follower has a word about how they encountered and were transformed by God’s grace.
Speaking about Christ-followers the Bible says that God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” Jesus calls that being “born again.” If you have been born again, how did it happen to you? Was it a gradual process or did it happen suddenly? When you describe how you were born again, that’s called your testimony. (See Revelation 12:11.)
The Bible talks about a mystery that it calls “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” If Jesus Christ is living inside of you, what difference does He make in your life? What was your life like before Jesus came to live within you? When and how did Jesus begin to reside in you? What is your life like now that Christ is living in you? Testify. Tell people all about it.
If Christ is in you, telling people about how that happened is powerful. It’s the word (story) of God’s grace working in you and the Bible says that it overcomes the devil and his accusations against you. Leave your comfort zone and begin to tell your salvation testimony every chance you get.
I can’t be quiet about what God has done and is doing in my life because some people accuse me of judging them just because I testify about what He shows me. Don’t let people’s criticism and accusations stop you either! When they accuse you of hate, show them humility and compassion by speaking the truth in love.
If you have never experienced God’s heart transplant and been born again, you are missing out on the greatest experience of my life! Here’s my testimony.
Free Gas for Your Think Tank -- Short Reflections, Lasting Encouragement 