Getting our deepest NEEDS and DESIRES MET!

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”― C.S. Lewis

Only God can touch us all of the time.  This is a revelation of affection.  If we seek constant affection, to constantly touch and be touched, then we seek what is inherently an impossibility physically.  Our bodies can't always touch other bodies, or be touched by other bodies.

But the need remains.
The desire lingers.

For hunger, food exists.
For thirst, water exists.
For sexual arousal, marriage exists.

But what about a hunger we still feel after we eat?
Or a thirst we still feel after we drink?
Or an intimacy we still need after we marry?

Jesus is the bread of life.  He fulfills our deepest hunger.
Trusting him quenches our deepest thirst.
In his presence there is complete joy and eternal pleasure; eternal life is intimacy with him.

Some gorge themselves on ice cream when they are depressed.
Some smoke or drink to relax.
Some watch pornography for fantasies of intimacy.

But it is written,

"Taste and see that the LORD is good."
"Don't be anxious about anything but pray about everything.  And the incomprehensible peace of God will guard your heart and mind."
"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Instead of drunkenness with wine, God offers the fullness of His Spirit.
Instead of an intoxicating adulteress or adulterer, he offers an intoxicating wife or husband.
Instead of lies and slavery he offers the truth which brings liberty.

These exchanges are the keys to rebirth by faith in Christ.
Worship the Creator instead of creation.
This is our salvation.

This is how we get our deepest needs and desires met!

The Truth About Being Born Again

I sat in the bar, the only bouncer working.  During the day, only one is needed, or so the bar thinks.  I watched a waitress being a waitress.  Pretty.  Very pretty.  Should I tell her?  Compliment her?

If I did, 5 possibilities lay before me:

1.  She likes the compliment, and our relationship changes in the sense that she feels attracted to me, or wants more from me than we have at the time—a simple work relationship.

2.  She likes the compliment as a compliment.  Nothing more.  Nothing less. Nothing changes.

3.  She dislikes the compliment, for whatever reason, but nothing changes.

4.  She dislikes the compliment, for whatever reason, but something changes.  She becomes annoyed with me for thinking her pretty…for whatever reason.

5.  She feels indifferent towards the compliment, and nothing changes. 

Five possibilities from two choices:  Compliment her, or don’t compliment her.

I chose not to compliment her.

I realized this choice as perhaps the first conscious choice of my life.

In this realization, I was experiencing a kind of rebirth as a conscious being.

It reminded me of what Morpheus said to Neo after unplugging Neo from the Matrix:

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?

Morpheus: You've never used them before.

I’d never used my will before, not like that, not with conscious awareness of two roads before me.

Really…

I’d never

been

truly

alive.

 (click HERE for part 2)

The Truth About Being Born Again (Part 2)

If anyone is united to Christ, he is a new creation.  Old things have passed away.  Behold, all things have become new.  Paul to the Church in Corinth

"God isn’t focused on what you do, but who you are."

"It’s not about doing but being."

These two statements, and the assumptions behind them, intensely anger me.

Why?

They leave me with a vague notion of what rebirth and the new spiritual life is all about.

My physical birth was involuntary, but having been born, spiritual rebirth must be voluntary. Like Nicodemus said to Jesus when Jesus said, "to see the kingdom one must be born again": 
"How can a person reenter a mother's womb?"

And as Jesus responded, “Physical birth is physical.  Spiritual birth is spiritual.”

We don’t reenter our mother’s womb. 

We become conscious of God, and consciously God conscious.

In other words, the “sinful nature” is spiritual and volitional passivity. 

The new nature is submission to God, consciously and deliberately.

“Sinners” are those who refuse to be God conscious.  This is primarily done passively.  It’s a spiritual lack of care for God or his will.  Simply put, they just don’t bother thinking about God.  Those who blaspheme and rail against God for the atrocities of the universe are closer to actually meeting Him than those who have a vague “love for God,” or for the idea of God.

So what happens to us when we approach the possibility of rebirth?

God, somehow, gets and keeps our attention long enough for us to decide:

Submission or Rebellion.

God’s will or our will.

All of our lives we passively float through life like leaves in the wind of passions and imaginations and self centered assumptions.  Even the so called strong willed or strong minded are only so in relation to themselves, their desires, their opinions.  But these come from who knows where.  The self centered person assumes these are simply manifestations of who they are.  So they are slaves to passions of which they themselves can’t be the origins.  Heredity and history is their slavery.

But when reborn, for the first time, we consciously decide to be and remain God conscious. 

Conscious God consciousness is rebirth, and the new spiritual life. 

This is the truth about being born again.

 

 

How to change YOUR ENTIRE LIFE!!

Who doesn't want this?  Whose life is so perfect that they seek nothing else?

Rich or poor.
Young or old.
Satisfied or unsatisfied.
Happy or unhappy.

ALL of us want SOMETHING that we don't have NOW.
ALL of us want to change our lives, somehow, some way. 
Some of us may want this, or NEED this, more than others.  
But until we reach heaven, I dare say that we all want TO CHANGE OUR LIVES.

What determines the course of each of our lives?
What should we guard above all else?

Both questions have the same answer--OUR HEARTS!!!

It was written by King Solomon:

"Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life."  
Proverbs 4:23 NLT


Solomon, the son of David, the third king of Israel, received his wisdom, the wisdom behind these words, directly from God.  This is how it happened:


At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

Solomon answered, “You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. I Kings 3:5-12 NIV, emphasis mine

What a dream!  God told Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted, and Solomon, in humility, asked for wisdom.  God not only gave him wisdom, but gave him more wisdom than anyone before him or after him!  His wisdom was second only to the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Himself, who said that He was greater than Solomon in wisdom.  (See Luke 11:31)

Now, having said this, we get back to our two questions, and in answering them we find the answer to changing our entire life:

What determines the course of our lives?
What should we guard above all else?

The answer, according to Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, having received his wisdom directly from God, is OUR HEART!

OUR HEARTS DETERMINE THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES!
THEREFORE, WE SHOULD GUARD OUR HEARTS ABOVE ALL ELSE!

Because of the incredible significance of Solomon's words, we should look at each word, one by one, phrase by phrase, using elementary grammatical principles:

GUARD---This is an active verb.  It is not something done to you or for you, but something that YOU DO!  The idea is of a prison guard that DETERMINES who or what enters or exits a jail.

YOUR---This is a possessive pronoun.  YOU are responsible for that which you possess.  Not me.  Not GOD.  Not anyone else.

HEART---In the scriptures, the heart encompasses your thoughts and intentions, meaning your focus and motivation behind every word and every action.

FOR IT---The word "for" communicates cause or reason.  The word "it," a pronoun, refers back to YOUR HEART!

DETERMINES---The idea communicates a source, or the source.  Where you are going from this point on, from this sentence on, is determined by your heart.

THE---Not a, but THE, specific and exclusive...

COURSE---DIRECTION AND DESTINATION, WHERE YOU ARE GOING AND WHERE YOU WILL ARRIVE

OF YOUR LIFE!

Now, since your heart bears such importance and significance, how can you indeed accurately guard it?  How can you really KNOW your heart? 

The prophet Jeremiah said:
 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9

God Himself, and the Lord Jesus Christ, gave us the answer and the remedy for our deceitful hearts:

"Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?"  Ezekiel 18:31 NIV, emphasis mine

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. Matthew 12:33-35

As I said earlier, so I show now in these verses.  God told Israel to get a new heart, and Christ, again speaking to Israel (to the disciples and false teachers of Israel), compares the heart to a tree and words to fruit from a tree.  They could MAKE THE TREE GOOD OR BAD!  So it is with you and me.  We determine whether our hearts are deceitful or true by turning our hearts to God and away from ourselves.  When we do this, we have these promises:

"I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh."

"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."
Ezekiel 11:19 and 32:26

So, the means to a new heart, or a new mindset and motivation, is two fold:
1.  We turn our hearts to God and away from ourselves.  This very act is literally a "change of heart."
2. When we turn to God and away from ourselves, giving our hearts to God, then God receives our heart as His very own, making it, indeed, a new heart;  a heart that is no longer deceitful or wicked.

Have a change your heart!  

Change your mind, mindset, and focus!

Change your motivation and your purpose!! 

CHANGE

YOUR ENTIRE

LIFE!

GUARD THIS CHANGE ABOVE ALL ELSE!!!

 ALLOW NOTHING TO ENTER YOUR MIND OR LEAVE YOUR MOUTH THAT IS FROM YOUR OLD WAY OF THINKING AND LIVING!

Do you realize what this means?!?  

The rest of your life, from this moment forward, from this sentence forward, IS UP TO YOU! 

You cannot blame God, the Devil, your parents, or anyone else, for what happens to you from this moment forward!  True, there are a myriad of things beyond your control, BUT YOUR HEART IS NOT ONE OF THEM!  And God did not say that a myriad of things determine the course of your life.  ONE THING DETERMINES THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE!  ONE THING SHOULD BE GUARDED ABOVE ALL ELSE!!!

GUARD

YOUR 

HEART!!

Think of your life, as it is, right now!  The word of God says that your heart determined the course of your life!  That means that YOU determined where you are, right now, as of this moment!

"WAIT A MINUTE!  I had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, to do with what happened to me!  I DID NOT determine my birth, birthplace, parents, and the circumstances of my childhood!  Are you BLAMING ME for all that has happened to me?!"  

No!  Neither does God!  Again, the verse does not say, "Guard YOUR PAST above all else."  Listen very carefully to what I'm about to say.

According to Proverbs 4:23, written by the wisest man who ever lived, the one who received his wisdom DIRECTLY from GOD, YOUR PAST DOES NOT DETERMINE THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE!!!  HALLELUJAH!!

Christ came to save you, not just from the sins you committed, but the sins committed against you!  The first and foremost "change of heart" is accepting Christ as the one who saved your life, and as the one WHO SAVES YOUR LIFE!!  

This is the first and fundamental change of heart.  

What you are not responsible for, ask Jesus to save you from.

BUT WHAT YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR, NAMELY, YOUR HEART, IS WHAT DETERMINES THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE FROM NOW ON!!!

So, where do you begin?  AT THE BEGINNING.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."  John 1:1-3

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him."  Colossians 1:15-16

Take note of the words "all things."  This includes YOU!  YOU were created by God, through Christ, AND FOR CHRIST!!

This is the fundamental change of heart.  You stop existing as though you were created by yourself AND FOR YOURSELF!!  This applies to those who already believe in the Lord Jesus, as well as those who have never trusted Him.  EVERYONE should live for Him, having been created by Him.  

What do you live for RIGHT NOW, at this very moment?  Regardless of your past, what do YOU personally live for?  What have YOU chosen as your reason for creation?  If it is anything other than God's pleasure and honor, CHANGE YOUR HEART!  Change your focus and purpose!  Now!  YOUR HEART determines the course of your life! 

How do you know what's in your heart?  There are two ways to know your heart:

1.  God's word exposes your truest heart, your true motivation and intentions, as it is written:   For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.  Hebrews 4:12 ESV  By the written and spoken word of God, which is piercing truth, you may know and judge your truest state.  So if you want to know your heart, hear and read the word of God.

2. Not only does God's word expose your heart, BUT YOUR VERY OWN WORDS EXPOSE YOUR HEART!  "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34b)  Your words, what you say in your UNGUARDED moments, reveal what is in you, as we all know.  When you are just talking up a storm, letting it all flow, YOU AND I BOTH KNOW!!!

So, listen to God AND TO YOURSELF!  If what you habitually say does not match what God says, THEN CHANGE YOUR HEART, AND GUARD YOUR HEART!!  Allow nothing in your mind or out of your mouth that does not match what God says about you--that you were created by God, through His Son, and FOR HIS SON!!!   

From now on, determine the course of your life by guarding your thoughts and intentions.

Give your heart to God.

Focus on God alone.

Live for God alone.

The rest of your life is up to you!!

BEING BORN AGAIN (PART 2)

All possess conscience.

All will die.

All face their Creator.

All choose their destiny, for all eternity.

All choose where they want to be, for all eternity.

All choose heaven.

Or.

All choose hell.

All in heaven wanted heaven.

All in hell wanted hell.

----------------------------

Birth happens without our choice.

Rebirth cannot happen without our choice.

----------------------------------------

Slavery exists. 

Slaves exists.

All are slaves of Satan from birth.

All are slaves of God from rebirth.

All choose slave masters, and none can possess two masters, unless one loves one master and utterly hates the other.

Those reborn submit to One:  The Spirit of Life.

They refuse to respond to selfish desires, to the ways of this world, to external laws, and especially Satan and demons.  They possess laws, but internal, written on their minds and their hearts by the Spirit who is in them by faith in Christ Jesus. 

They choose a spiritual mindset, focused on spiritual things; focused on the desires of the Spirit.

This is therefore how you know them, and how you know yourself as one of them:  by what they have chosen, and by what you have chosen. 

Being Born Again

God formed Adam’s body.

He breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life—his spirit. 

Spirit+body=living soul.

Spirit=God consciousness:  Conscience-intuition-communion-divine conversation between God and man

Soul=Self-consciousness:  Mind-self comprehension; emotion-self experience; volition-self expression

Body=World consciousness:  The physical-visible, tangible, audible

God’s Breath or Spirit is Adam’s breath or spirit.  There is a connection between Creator and creation.

Adam sinned, bringing a separation between Creator and creation.

His spirit and body died, meaning they became unresponsive to God.

His spirit followed his body instead of his body following his spirit. 

All of his children experienced the same.

Enter Christ, the last Adam, the second man.

Christ became a man, son of Mary, son of David, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Christ became the last “Adam,” the last of son of Adam, the last son of God.  He was born of God and woman.  His connection to God was the Spirit, and His own Divine Identity.  His connection to Adam was Eve.  God decided Christ was the last Adam, the last descendent of Adam.  All humans came from God through Adam, thus from Christ through Adam.  So Christ is the true father of the human race, the true source. 

Being the God Man, He is in time and beyond time.  So in time He is a son of Adam, and beyond time He is a Son of God.  He takes all before Him and all after Him into Himself, because all before Him and all after Him come from him.  So He has the right to be the last Adam and the second man, being the beginning and the end of all creation.  At the resurrection He became the firstborn of the new creation.  All who accept Him join him, being one with Him.  Their old spirit died with Him on the cross, since spiritual reality is not bound by time or space.  His death is eternal.  Our spirits journey back in time and die with him, rise with Him, and ascend with Him.

The old me was a slave of idolatry and adultery.  The new me is a slave of the spirit, completely free.  Only the Spirit has authority over me.  This takes faith.  I believe God can do more than I imagine.  Amen.