Meher Baba http://home.online.no/~solibakk/verymind.html
Mind begets energy and matter. Without mind there can be neither energy nor matter. Energy is derived from mind and is continually sustained by it; it cannot subsist without mind, latent or manifest. Matter depends upon energy and cannot remain matter without energy, latent or manifest.
Mind can subsist without energy, as energy can subsist without matter. In contrast to an infinite number of individual minds as completely separate entities from one another, the Universal Mind is indivisible and omnipresent.
Until mind achieves full control over all energy and matter, mind itself needs to be controlled. It must be protected against being swayed in the illusion of energy and matter, neither of which have even their illusory existence apart from mind. To control the mind from the effects and influence of energy and matter is very difficult. For example, when a man is slapped, his mind is apt to respond with an act of greater violence, and this action of revenge is an unnecessary distortion of the mind, a sheer waste of energy and fruitless use of matter.
Although some can achieve a partial and temporary control over their minds, very, very few through divine love can gain complete mastery over the mind and thus fully control all energy and matter. Eventually, divine love annihilates the very mind itself and then God, the divine Beloved, is realized.
LIFE AT ITS BEST, pp. 38-39
1957 © Sufism Reoriented, Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourses_(Meher_Baba)
God realization According to Meher Baba, the aim of all beings in creation, in fact the very purpose of creation, is God-realization. A soul is God-realized when it has first traversed evolution, taking each successive form in creation until it achieves full consciousness in the human form (the terminus of physical evolution according to Meher Baba), then has gone through successive lives during reincarnation, and finally, having traversed the inner planes of consciousness during involution, has achieved consciousness of its true original identity as God. This experience of Oneness with God, according to Meher Baba, is not the same as simply a discursive realization of this condition through reading or contemplation, but rather must be fully experienced with the help of a perfect master or sadguru. Thus he emphasized that a man who reads, in Vedanta literature for instance, that he is God and then says that he is God, is in fact a hypocrite, since he does not have this experience. The goal of life, instead, is to achieve this "I am God" state as a permanent and genuine experience. According to Meher Baba this ultimate experience, for which the universe came into being and is continually sustained, cannot be described or talked about, but only lived and directly experienced.
Monday, October 10, 2011
AN OCEAN OF DIVINE LOVE
Meher Baba http://www.avatarmeherbaba.org/erics/typelove.html
Love is all pervading in the universe but the types of love differ.
The love that pulsates in the inanimate things in creation is mere attraction — like in a magnet. In the animal kingdom there is love among animals and birds, but it is passionate, full of desires and carnal. Carnality signifies bodily wants — eating, drinking, procreation and fear. Suppose a tiger pounces on a deer, kills and eats it; this is also love, but it is of the lowest type.
Consider to what mean level love descends in an animal that is hungry and wants to satisfy its hunger by killing another innocent animal. And consider also to what length the lover (tiger) haunts his beloved (the victim, the deer) by following it stealthily.
In human beings, love is also sometimes passionate. If a person is hungry, he first thinks of a favorite dish; his mouth waters and he longs to eat it. If sweet laddoos are there, the person wants to fill his stomach to his throat: this is called laddoo love. Once he is satisfied and his stomach is bloated, he is finished. One or two good belches and no hunger and no more laddoo love.
There are people whose desire for name and fame or money surpasses their reason, so much so that they lack hunger and sleep. Thus greed too means a type of love — money-love, name-and-fame-love, greatness-love. This is not the case with animals.
But a true hero longs intensely for the nectar of divine love and he is an exception. Such pure love is not found in the ordinary run of mankind. This love is not inborn; it is given and imparted by a Master.
Love is therefore one, but it is of several kinds. The lowest is attraction. It develops with progress in evolution and transforms into real love, which is like a stream flowing silent, serene, passionless, eternal, perfect and pure.
Divine love is the highest of all, but it is not silent. It has terrible longing; it is not peaceful. The winds of evolution, reincarnation and involution blow the stream of attraction through the inanimate world, turning it into a river in the animal and human kingdom and finally transforming it into an ocean of divine love upon Realization.
LORD MEHER, 1st ed, Vol. 3, pp. 893-894, Bhau Kalchuri
1988 © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust
Love is all pervading in the universe but the types of love differ.
The love that pulsates in the inanimate things in creation is mere attraction — like in a magnet. In the animal kingdom there is love among animals and birds, but it is passionate, full of desires and carnal. Carnality signifies bodily wants — eating, drinking, procreation and fear. Suppose a tiger pounces on a deer, kills and eats it; this is also love, but it is of the lowest type.
Consider to what mean level love descends in an animal that is hungry and wants to satisfy its hunger by killing another innocent animal. And consider also to what length the lover (tiger) haunts his beloved (the victim, the deer) by following it stealthily.
In human beings, love is also sometimes passionate. If a person is hungry, he first thinks of a favorite dish; his mouth waters and he longs to eat it. If sweet laddoos are there, the person wants to fill his stomach to his throat: this is called laddoo love. Once he is satisfied and his stomach is bloated, he is finished. One or two good belches and no hunger and no more laddoo love.
There are people whose desire for name and fame or money surpasses their reason, so much so that they lack hunger and sleep. Thus greed too means a type of love — money-love, name-and-fame-love, greatness-love. This is not the case with animals.
But a true hero longs intensely for the nectar of divine love and he is an exception. Such pure love is not found in the ordinary run of mankind. This love is not inborn; it is given and imparted by a Master.
Love is therefore one, but it is of several kinds. The lowest is attraction. It develops with progress in evolution and transforms into real love, which is like a stream flowing silent, serene, passionless, eternal, perfect and pure.
Divine love is the highest of all, but it is not silent. It has terrible longing; it is not peaceful. The winds of evolution, reincarnation and involution blow the stream of attraction through the inanimate world, turning it into a river in the animal and human kingdom and finally transforming it into an ocean of divine love upon Realization.
LORD MEHER, 1st ed, Vol. 3, pp. 893-894, Bhau Kalchuri
1988 © Avatar Meher Baba Perpetual Public Charitable Trust
I know this to be true.
Spiritual Quotes on Divine Love
Divine desperateness is the beginning of spiritual awakening because it gives rise to the aspiration for God-realisation. - Meher Baba
God and love are identical, and one who has divine love has received God. - Meher Baba
Try to cultivate love of God. You are born as a human being only to attain divine love. - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
Open your heart by weeding out all desires and by harbouring only one longing—the longing for union with the Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality is not to be sought in the changing things of external environment, but in one's own being. - Meher Baba
Lovers, the followers of the path of love, Bauls, make love their undercurrent. They eat, but they eat with love. The walk, but they walk with love -- because the earth is holy ground. They sit under a tree; they sit with love -- because the tree is divine. They look at somebody; they look with love -- because there also is divinity. Everywhere they see their beloved, in each movement they remember their beloved. It becomes their constant remembrance. - Osho
Only ignorant people say that one should not have an excess of devotion and divine love. How foolish! Can there be any excess of divine love? - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
My message always has been and always will be of Divine Love. Let the world know it. - Meher Baba
Long for one thing; be restless for one thing; long and wait for one thing that will kill the million other longings. Long for union with the Beloved. - Meher Baba
"Dive deep. Learn to love God. Plunge into divine love. - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
Divine love makes us true to ourselves and to others. . . Divine love is the solution to our difficulties and problems. It frees us from every kind of binding. It makes us speak truly, think truly, and act truly. It makes us feel one with the whole universe. Divine love purifies our hearts and glorifies our being. - Meher Baba
Divine desperateness is the beginning of spiritual awakening because it gives rise to the aspiration for God-realisation. - Meher Baba
God and love are identical, and one who has divine love has received God. - Meher Baba
Try to cultivate love of God. You are born as a human being only to attain divine love. - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
Open your heart by weeding out all desires and by harbouring only one longing—the longing for union with the Ultimate Reality. The Ultimate Reality is not to be sought in the changing things of external environment, but in one's own being. - Meher Baba
Lovers, the followers of the path of love, Bauls, make love their undercurrent. They eat, but they eat with love. The walk, but they walk with love -- because the earth is holy ground. They sit under a tree; they sit with love -- because the tree is divine. They look at somebody; they look with love -- because there also is divinity. Everywhere they see their beloved, in each movement they remember their beloved. It becomes their constant remembrance. - Osho
Only ignorant people say that one should not have an excess of devotion and divine love. How foolish! Can there be any excess of divine love? - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
My message always has been and always will be of Divine Love. Let the world know it. - Meher Baba
Long for one thing; be restless for one thing; long and wait for one thing that will kill the million other longings. Long for union with the Beloved. - Meher Baba
"Dive deep. Learn to love God. Plunge into divine love. - Ramakrishna Paramhansa
Divine love makes us true to ourselves and to others. . . Divine love is the solution to our difficulties and problems. It frees us from every kind of binding. It makes us speak truly, think truly, and act truly. It makes us feel one with the whole universe. Divine love purifies our hearts and glorifies our being. - Meher Baba
Another speaks of the power of Divine Love
http://divinelovelight.com/faq.htm
Introduction to Magic & Spells: Magic is infinite possibility, pure potentiality in it’s purest form. Magic is the power of divine love -- the power of pure universal life force energy. The basic concept of magic and spell-casting is to "consciously create", to create consciously, willfully, and intentionally, using the universal power (divine love) that exists within and around us at all times. It could be said that, "casting a spell" is like that of an advanced prayer. This power is equally available to everyone. To help you, to heal you, to free you. This incredible power of divine love exists within your very own being. The only thing you must do in order to receive it's bountiful blessings is to open yourself to it, and to trust in yourself, because your direct and personal access link to this power is found within you. To begin experiencing this divine power in your life, simply look through the eyes of your soul. An open heart, an open mind, a pure intention, and trust in yourself, creates a solid foundation for you to connect with this beautiful energy and it's power... to connect with divine love- the essence, and powerful creative force of all life.
The brilliant light of Divine Love is filled with healing, peace, abundance, joy, freedom, power, and so much more! Divine Love is incredibly magnetic! The more aligned and in tune you are with Divine Love, the more easily you will attract to yourself that which you desire. Divine Love is who you are at the deepest and most holistic level. You are infinite possibility it's self... Magic and spell-casting are about blending conscious intention, with the pure potentiality of who you really are on a grander scale. "Magic" is the intentional utilization of the creative energy of divine love to assist us in "creating consciously," with full awareness.
Introduction to Magic & Spells: Magic is infinite possibility, pure potentiality in it’s purest form. Magic is the power of divine love -- the power of pure universal life force energy. The basic concept of magic and spell-casting is to "consciously create", to create consciously, willfully, and intentionally, using the universal power (divine love) that exists within and around us at all times. It could be said that, "casting a spell" is like that of an advanced prayer. This power is equally available to everyone. To help you, to heal you, to free you. This incredible power of divine love exists within your very own being. The only thing you must do in order to receive it's bountiful blessings is to open yourself to it, and to trust in yourself, because your direct and personal access link to this power is found within you. To begin experiencing this divine power in your life, simply look through the eyes of your soul. An open heart, an open mind, a pure intention, and trust in yourself, creates a solid foundation for you to connect with this beautiful energy and it's power... to connect with divine love- the essence, and powerful creative force of all life.
The brilliant light of Divine Love is filled with healing, peace, abundance, joy, freedom, power, and so much more! Divine Love is incredibly magnetic! The more aligned and in tune you are with Divine Love, the more easily you will attract to yourself that which you desire. Divine Love is who you are at the deepest and most holistic level. You are infinite possibility it's self... Magic and spell-casting are about blending conscious intention, with the pure potentiality of who you really are on a grander scale. "Magic" is the intentional utilization of the creative energy of divine love to assist us in "creating consciously," with full awareness.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The truth of it all - Divine Love
The Spirit of Christ, Andrew Murray 1888
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776401.htm
Chapter 1
A New Spirit, and God's Spirit.
A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will put my Spirit within you.' -Ezekiel 36: 26, 27.
GOD has revealed Himself in two great dispensations. In the Old we have the, time of promise and preparation, in the New that of fulfilment and possession.' In harmony with the difference of the two dispensations, there is a two fold working of God's Spirit. In the Old Testament we have the Spirit of God coming upon men, and working on them in special times and ways, working from above and without, inwards. In the New we have the Holy Spirit entering them and dwelling within them, working from within, outwards and upwards. In the former we have the Spirit of God as the Almighty and Holy One; in the latter we have the Spirit of the Father of Jesus Christ.
The difference between the twofold, operation of the Holy Spirit is not to be regarded as if, with the closing of the Old Testament, the former ceased,and there was in the New no more of the work of preparation. By no means. Just as there were in the Old blessed anticipations of the indwelling of God's Spirit, so now in the New Testament the twofold working still continues. According to the lack of knowledge, or of faith, or - of faithfulness, a believer may even in these days get little beyond the Old Testament measure of the Spirit's working. The indwelling Spirit has indeed been given to every child of God, and yet he may experience little beyond the first half of the promise, the new spirit given us in regeneration, and know almost nothing of God's own Spirit, as a living person put within us. The Spirit's work in convincing of sin and of righteousness, in His leading to repentance and faith and the new life, is but the preparatory work. The distinctive glory of the dispensation of the Spirit is His Divine personal indwelling in the heart of the believer, there to reveal the Father and the Son. It is only as Christians understand and remember this, that they will be able to claim the full blessing prepared for them in Christ Jesus.
In the words of Ezekiel we find, in the one promise, this twofold blessing God bestows through His Spirit very strikingly set forth. The first is, 'I will put within you a new spirit,' that is, man's own spirit is to be renewed and quickened by the work of God's Spirit. When this has been done, then there is the second blessing, ' I will put my Spirit within you,' to dwell in that new spirit, Where God is to dwell, He must have a habitation. With Adam He had to create a body before He could breathe the spirit of life into him. In Israel the tabernacle and the temple had to be built and completed before God could come down and take possession. And just so a new heart is given, and a new spirit put within us, as the indispensable condition of God's own Spirit being given to dwell within us. The difference is the same we find in David's prayer. First, 'Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ! and renew a right spirit within me;' then, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' Or what is indicated in the words, 'That which is born of the spirit is spirit :' there is the Divine Spirit begetting, and the new spirit begotten by Him. So the two are also distinguished, 'God's Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God! Our spirit is the renewed regenerate spirit; dwelling in this, and yet to be distinguished from it, is God's Holy Spirit, witnessing in, with, and through it.'
The importance of recognising this distinction can easily be perceived. We shall then be able to understand the true relation between regeneration and the indwelling of the Spirit. The former is that work of the Holy Spirit, by which He convinces us of sin, leads to repentance and faith in Christ, and imparts a new nature. Through the Spirit God thus fulfils the promise, ''I will put a new spirit within you.' The believer is now a child of God, a temple ready for the Spirit to dwellin. Where faith claims it, the second half of the promise is fulfilled as surely as the first. As long now as the believer only looks at regeneration, and the renewal wrought in his spirit, he will not come to the life of joy and strength which is meant for him. But when he accepts God's promise that there is something better than even the new nature, than the inner temple, that there is the Spirit of the Father and the Son to dwell within him, there opens up a wonderful prospect of holiness and blessedness. It becomes his one great desire to know this Holy Spirit aright, how He works and what He asks, to know how he may to the full experience His indwelling, and that revelation of the Son of God within us which it is His work to bestow.
The question will be asked, How these two parts of the Divine promise are fulfilled ? simultaneously or successively ? The answer is very simple: From God's side the twofold gift is simultaneous. The Spirit is not divided: in giving the Spirit, God gives Himself and all He is. So it was on the day of Pentecost. The three thousand received the new spirit, with repentance and faith, and then, when they had been baptized, the Indwelling Spirit, as God's seal to their faith, on one day. Through the word of disciples, the Spirit, which had come upon them, wrought mightily on the multitude, changing disposition and heart and spirit. When, in the power of this new spirit working in them, they had believed and confessed, they received the baptism of Holy Spirit to abide in them. And so still in times when the Spirit of God moves mightily, and the Church is living in the power of the Spirit, the children which are begotten of her receive from the first beginnings of their Christian life the distinct conscious sealing and indwelling of the Spirit. And yet we have indications in Scripture that there may be circumstances, dependent either on the enduement of the preacher or the faith of the bears in which the two halves of the promise are not so closely linked. So it was with the believers in Samaria converted under Philip's preaching; and so too with the converts Paul met at Ephesus. In their case was repeated the experience of the apostles themselves. We regard them as regenerate men before our Lord's death ; it was only at Pentecost that the promise was fulfilled, 'He shall be in you!' What was seen in them, just as in the Old and New Testaments,-the grace of the Spirit divided into two separate manifestations,-may still take place in our day. When, the standard of spiritual life in a Church is sickly and low, when neither in the preaching of the word nor in the testimony of believers, the glorious truth of an Indwelling Spirit is distinctly proclaimed, we must not wonder if, even where God gives His Spirit, He be known and experienced only as the Spirit of regeneration. His Indwelling Presence will remain a mystery. In the gift of God, the Spirit of Christ in all His fulness is bestowed once for all as an Indwelling Spirit; but He is received and possessed only as far as the faith of the believer reaches.
It is generally admitted in the Church that the Holy Spirit has - not the recognition which becomes Him as being the equal of the Father and the Son, the Divine Person through whom alone the Father and the Son can be truly possessed and known, in whom alone the Church has her beauty and her blessedness. In the Reformation, of blessed memory, the Gospel of Christ had to be vindicated from the terrible misapprehension which makes man's righteousness the ground of his acceptance, and the freeness of Divine grace had to be maintained. To the ages that followed was committed the trust of building on that foundation, and developing what the riches of grace would do for the believer through the indwelling of the Spirit of Jesus. The Church rested too content in what it had received, and the teaching of all that the Holy Spirit will be to each believer in His guiding, sanctifying, strengthening power, has never yet taken the place it ought to have in our evangelical teaching and living.
And there is many an earnest Christian who will in the confession lately made by a young believer of intelligence: I think I understand the work of the Father and the Son, and rejoice in them, but I hardly see the place the Spirit has. Let us unite with all who are pleading that God in power may grant mighty Spirit workings in His Church, that each child of God may prove that in him the double promise is fulfilled: I will give a new spirit within you, and I will give my Spirit within you. Let us pray that we may so apprehend the wonderful blessing of the Indwelling Spirit, as to turn inward and have our whole inmost being opened up for this, the full revelation of the Father's love and the grace of Jesus.
'Within you ! ' Within you ! This twice-repeated word of our text is one of the keywords of the 'New Covenant. ' I will put my law in their inward parts, 'and in their heart will I write it.' I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' God created man's heart for His dwelling. Sin entered, and defiled it. Four thousand years God's Spirit strove and wrought to regain possession. In the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ the Redemption was accomplished, and the kingdom of God established. Jesus could say, 'The kingdom of God is come unto you;' 'the kingdom of God is within you.' It is within we must look for the fulfilment of the New Covenant, the Covenant not of ordinances but of life: in the power of an endless life the law and the fear of God are to be given in our heart: the Spirit of Christ Himself is to be within us as the power of our life. Not only on Calvary, or in the resurrection, or on the throne, is the glory of Christ the Conqueror to be seen,-but in our heart: within us, within us is to be the true display of the reality and the glory of His Redemption. Within us, in our inmost parts, is the hidden sanctuary where is the ark of the Covenant, sprinkled with the Blood, and containing the Law written in an ever-living writing by the Indwelling Spirit, and where, through the Spirit, the Father and the Son now come to dwell.
0 my God! I do thank Thee for this double blessing. I thank Thee for that wonderful holy temple Thou hast built up in me for Thyself-a new spirit given within me. And I thank Thee for that still more wonderful Holy Presence, Thine Own Spirit, to dwell within me, and there reveal the Father and the Son.
0 my God! I do pray Thee to open mine eyes for this the mystery of Thy love. Let Thy words, within you,' bow me low in trembling fear before Thy condescension, and may my one desire be to have my spirit indeed the worthy dwelling of Thy Spirit. Let them lift me up in holy trust and expectation, to look for and claim all that Thy promise means.
0 my Father!, I thank Thee that Thy Spirit doth dwell in me. I pray Thee, let His indwelling :be in power, in the living fellowship with Thyself, in the growing experience of His renewing power, in the ever fresh anointing that witnesses to His Presence, and the indwelling of my Glorified Lord Jesus. May my daily walk be in the deep reverence of His Holy Presence within me, and the glad experience of all He works. Amen.
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776401.htm
Chapter 1
A New Spirit, and God's Spirit.
A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will put my Spirit within you.' -Ezekiel 36: 26, 27.
GOD has revealed Himself in two great dispensations. In the Old we have the, time of promise and preparation, in the New that of fulfilment and possession.' In harmony with the difference of the two dispensations, there is a two fold working of God's Spirit. In the Old Testament we have the Spirit of God coming upon men, and working on them in special times and ways, working from above and without, inwards. In the New we have the Holy Spirit entering them and dwelling within them, working from within, outwards and upwards. In the former we have the Spirit of God as the Almighty and Holy One; in the latter we have the Spirit of the Father of Jesus Christ.
The difference between the twofold, operation of the Holy Spirit is not to be regarded as if, with the closing of the Old Testament, the former ceased,and there was in the New no more of the work of preparation. By no means. Just as there were in the Old blessed anticipations of the indwelling of God's Spirit, so now in the New Testament the twofold working still continues. According to the lack of knowledge, or of faith, or - of faithfulness, a believer may even in these days get little beyond the Old Testament measure of the Spirit's working. The indwelling Spirit has indeed been given to every child of God, and yet he may experience little beyond the first half of the promise, the new spirit given us in regeneration, and know almost nothing of God's own Spirit, as a living person put within us. The Spirit's work in convincing of sin and of righteousness, in His leading to repentance and faith and the new life, is but the preparatory work. The distinctive glory of the dispensation of the Spirit is His Divine personal indwelling in the heart of the believer, there to reveal the Father and the Son. It is only as Christians understand and remember this, that they will be able to claim the full blessing prepared for them in Christ Jesus.
In the words of Ezekiel we find, in the one promise, this twofold blessing God bestows through His Spirit very strikingly set forth. The first is, 'I will put within you a new spirit,' that is, man's own spirit is to be renewed and quickened by the work of God's Spirit. When this has been done, then there is the second blessing, ' I will put my Spirit within you,' to dwell in that new spirit, Where God is to dwell, He must have a habitation. With Adam He had to create a body before He could breathe the spirit of life into him. In Israel the tabernacle and the temple had to be built and completed before God could come down and take possession. And just so a new heart is given, and a new spirit put within us, as the indispensable condition of God's own Spirit being given to dwell within us. The difference is the same we find in David's prayer. First, 'Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ! and renew a right spirit within me;' then, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' Or what is indicated in the words, 'That which is born of the spirit is spirit :' there is the Divine Spirit begetting, and the new spirit begotten by Him. So the two are also distinguished, 'God's Spirit beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God! Our spirit is the renewed regenerate spirit; dwelling in this, and yet to be distinguished from it, is God's Holy Spirit, witnessing in, with, and through it.'
The importance of recognising this distinction can easily be perceived. We shall then be able to understand the true relation between regeneration and the indwelling of the Spirit. The former is that work of the Holy Spirit, by which He convinces us of sin, leads to repentance and faith in Christ, and imparts a new nature. Through the Spirit God thus fulfils the promise, ''I will put a new spirit within you.' The believer is now a child of God, a temple ready for the Spirit to dwellin. Where faith claims it, the second half of the promise is fulfilled as surely as the first. As long now as the believer only looks at regeneration, and the renewal wrought in his spirit, he will not come to the life of joy and strength which is meant for him. But when he accepts God's promise that there is something better than even the new nature, than the inner temple, that there is the Spirit of the Father and the Son to dwell within him, there opens up a wonderful prospect of holiness and blessedness. It becomes his one great desire to know this Holy Spirit aright, how He works and what He asks, to know how he may to the full experience His indwelling, and that revelation of the Son of God within us which it is His work to bestow.
The question will be asked, How these two parts of the Divine promise are fulfilled ? simultaneously or successively ? The answer is very simple: From God's side the twofold gift is simultaneous. The Spirit is not divided: in giving the Spirit, God gives Himself and all He is. So it was on the day of Pentecost. The three thousand received the new spirit, with repentance and faith, and then, when they had been baptized, the Indwelling Spirit, as God's seal to their faith, on one day. Through the word of disciples, the Spirit, which had come upon them, wrought mightily on the multitude, changing disposition and heart and spirit. When, in the power of this new spirit working in them, they had believed and confessed, they received the baptism of Holy Spirit to abide in them. And so still in times when the Spirit of God moves mightily, and the Church is living in the power of the Spirit, the children which are begotten of her receive from the first beginnings of their Christian life the distinct conscious sealing and indwelling of the Spirit. And yet we have indications in Scripture that there may be circumstances, dependent either on the enduement of the preacher or the faith of the bears in which the two halves of the promise are not so closely linked. So it was with the believers in Samaria converted under Philip's preaching; and so too with the converts Paul met at Ephesus. In their case was repeated the experience of the apostles themselves. We regard them as regenerate men before our Lord's death ; it was only at Pentecost that the promise was fulfilled, 'He shall be in you!' What was seen in them, just as in the Old and New Testaments,-the grace of the Spirit divided into two separate manifestations,-may still take place in our day. When, the standard of spiritual life in a Church is sickly and low, when neither in the preaching of the word nor in the testimony of believers, the glorious truth of an Indwelling Spirit is distinctly proclaimed, we must not wonder if, even where God gives His Spirit, He be known and experienced only as the Spirit of regeneration. His Indwelling Presence will remain a mystery. In the gift of God, the Spirit of Christ in all His fulness is bestowed once for all as an Indwelling Spirit; but He is received and possessed only as far as the faith of the believer reaches.
It is generally admitted in the Church that the Holy Spirit has - not the recognition which becomes Him as being the equal of the Father and the Son, the Divine Person through whom alone the Father and the Son can be truly possessed and known, in whom alone the Church has her beauty and her blessedness. In the Reformation, of blessed memory, the Gospel of Christ had to be vindicated from the terrible misapprehension which makes man's righteousness the ground of his acceptance, and the freeness of Divine grace had to be maintained. To the ages that followed was committed the trust of building on that foundation, and developing what the riches of grace would do for the believer through the indwelling of the Spirit of Jesus. The Church rested too content in what it had received, and the teaching of all that the Holy Spirit will be to each believer in His guiding, sanctifying, strengthening power, has never yet taken the place it ought to have in our evangelical teaching and living.
And there is many an earnest Christian who will in the confession lately made by a young believer of intelligence: I think I understand the work of the Father and the Son, and rejoice in them, but I hardly see the place the Spirit has. Let us unite with all who are pleading that God in power may grant mighty Spirit workings in His Church, that each child of God may prove that in him the double promise is fulfilled: I will give a new spirit within you, and I will give my Spirit within you. Let us pray that we may so apprehend the wonderful blessing of the Indwelling Spirit, as to turn inward and have our whole inmost being opened up for this, the full revelation of the Father's love and the grace of Jesus.
'Within you ! ' Within you ! This twice-repeated word of our text is one of the keywords of the 'New Covenant. ' I will put my law in their inward parts, 'and in their heart will I write it.' I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' God created man's heart for His dwelling. Sin entered, and defiled it. Four thousand years God's Spirit strove and wrought to regain possession. In the Incarnation and Atonement of Christ the Redemption was accomplished, and the kingdom of God established. Jesus could say, 'The kingdom of God is come unto you;' 'the kingdom of God is within you.' It is within we must look for the fulfilment of the New Covenant, the Covenant not of ordinances but of life: in the power of an endless life the law and the fear of God are to be given in our heart: the Spirit of Christ Himself is to be within us as the power of our life. Not only on Calvary, or in the resurrection, or on the throne, is the glory of Christ the Conqueror to be seen,-but in our heart: within us, within us is to be the true display of the reality and the glory of His Redemption. Within us, in our inmost parts, is the hidden sanctuary where is the ark of the Covenant, sprinkled with the Blood, and containing the Law written in an ever-living writing by the Indwelling Spirit, and where, through the Spirit, the Father and the Son now come to dwell.
0 my God! I do thank Thee for this double blessing. I thank Thee for that wonderful holy temple Thou hast built up in me for Thyself-a new spirit given within me. And I thank Thee for that still more wonderful Holy Presence, Thine Own Spirit, to dwell within me, and there reveal the Father and the Son.
0 my God! I do pray Thee to open mine eyes for this the mystery of Thy love. Let Thy words, within you,' bow me low in trembling fear before Thy condescension, and may my one desire be to have my spirit indeed the worthy dwelling of Thy Spirit. Let them lift me up in holy trust and expectation, to look for and claim all that Thy promise means.
0 my Father!, I thank Thee that Thy Spirit doth dwell in me. I pray Thee, let His indwelling :be in power, in the living fellowship with Thyself, in the growing experience of His renewing power, in the ever fresh anointing that witnesses to His Presence, and the indwelling of my Glorified Lord Jesus. May my daily walk be in the deep reverence of His Holy Presence within me, and the glad experience of all He works. Amen.
Have they not love they have nothing.
By Andrew Murray, 1888
In olden times believers met God, knew Him, walked with Him, had the clear and full consciousness that they had dealings with the God of heaven, and had, too, through faith, the assurance that they and their lives were well pleasing to Him. When the Son of God came to earth, and revealed the Father, it was that such intercourse with God, and the assurance of His favour, might become clearer, and be the abiding portion of every child of God. When He was exalted to the Throne of Glory, it was that He might send down into our hearts the Holy Spirit, in whom the Father and the Son have their own blessed life in heaven, to maintain in us, in Divine power, the blessed life of fellowship with God. It was to be one of the marks of the New Covenant that each member of it should walk in personal communion with God. ' They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity! 'The personal fellowship and knowledge of God in the Holy Spirit was to be the fruit of the pardon of sin. The Spirit of God's own Son, sent into our hearts to do each moment a work as Divine as the work of the Son in redeeming us, to displace our life and replace it by the life of Christ in power, to make the Son of God divinely and consciously present with us always--this was what the Father had promised as the distinctive blessing of the New Testament. The fellowship of God as the ThreeOne was now to be within us; the Spirit revealing the Son in us, and through Him the Father.
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/7764p.htm
In olden times believers met God, knew Him, walked with Him, had the clear and full consciousness that they had dealings with the God of heaven, and had, too, through faith, the assurance that they and their lives were well pleasing to Him. When the Son of God came to earth, and revealed the Father, it was that such intercourse with God, and the assurance of His favour, might become clearer, and be the abiding portion of every child of God. When He was exalted to the Throne of Glory, it was that He might send down into our hearts the Holy Spirit, in whom the Father and the Son have their own blessed life in heaven, to maintain in us, in Divine power, the blessed life of fellowship with God. It was to be one of the marks of the New Covenant that each member of it should walk in personal communion with God. ' They shall teach no more every man his neighbour, Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from the least to the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity! 'The personal fellowship and knowledge of God in the Holy Spirit was to be the fruit of the pardon of sin. The Spirit of God's own Son, sent into our hearts to do each moment a work as Divine as the work of the Son in redeeming us, to displace our life and replace it by the life of Christ in power, to make the Son of God divinely and consciously present with us always--this was what the Father had promised as the distinctive blessing of the New Testament. The fellowship of God as the ThreeOne was now to be within us; the Spirit revealing the Son in us, and through Him the Father.
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/7764p.htm
The Spirit of Divine Love
excerpted from the book The Spirit of Christ by Andrew Murray - 1888
The Spirit of Love
The fruit of the Spirit is love.'-Gal 5:.22. 1 beseech you by the love of the Spirit.' -Rom. 15:30. Who also declared unto us your love in the spirit, Col.1:8
Our subject today leads us up into the very centre of the inner sanctuary. We are to think of the Love of the Spirit. We shall have to learn that love is not only one, among others, of the graces of the Spirit, is not only the chief among them, but that the Spirit is indeed nothing less than the Divine Love itself come down to dwell in us, and that we have only so much of the Spirit as we have of Love.
God is a Spirit: God Is Love. In these two words we have the only attempt that Scripture makes to give us, in human language, what may be called a definition of God.' As a Spirit, He has life in Himself, is independent of all around Him, and has power over all to enter into it, to penetrate it with His own life, to communicate Himself to it. It is through the Spirit that God is the Father of Christ, the Father of spirits, that He is the God of creation, that He is the God and Redeemer of man. All life is owing to the Spirit of God. And it is so because God is Love. Within Himself He is Love, as seen in the Father giving all He hath to the Son, and the Son seeking all He has in the Father. In this life of Love between the Father and the Son' the Spirit is the bond of fellowship. The Father is the Loving One, the Fountain; the Son the Beloved One, the great Reservoir of Love, ever receiving and ever giving back; the Spirit the Living Love that makes them one. In Him the Divine Life of Love hath its ceaseless flow and overflowing. It is that same love with which the -Father loves the Son that rests on us and seeks to fill us too, and it is through the Spirit that this Love of God is revealed and communicated to us. In Jesus it was the Spirit that led Him to the work of love for which He was anointed, to preach glad tidings to the poor and deliverance to the captives ; through that same Spirit He offered Himself a sacrifice for us. The Spirit comes to us freighted with all the love of God and of Jesus : the Spirit is the Love of God.
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776429.htm
The Spirit of Love
The fruit of the Spirit is love.'-Gal 5:.22. 1 beseech you by the love of the Spirit.' -Rom. 15:30. Who also declared unto us your love in the spirit, Col.1:8
Our subject today leads us up into the very centre of the inner sanctuary. We are to think of the Love of the Spirit. We shall have to learn that love is not only one, among others, of the graces of the Spirit, is not only the chief among them, but that the Spirit is indeed nothing less than the Divine Love itself come down to dwell in us, and that we have only so much of the Spirit as we have of Love.
God is a Spirit: God Is Love. In these two words we have the only attempt that Scripture makes to give us, in human language, what may be called a definition of God.' As a Spirit, He has life in Himself, is independent of all around Him, and has power over all to enter into it, to penetrate it with His own life, to communicate Himself to it. It is through the Spirit that God is the Father of Christ, the Father of spirits, that He is the God of creation, that He is the God and Redeemer of man. All life is owing to the Spirit of God. And it is so because God is Love. Within Himself He is Love, as seen in the Father giving all He hath to the Son, and the Son seeking all He has in the Father. In this life of Love between the Father and the Son' the Spirit is the bond of fellowship. The Father is the Loving One, the Fountain; the Son the Beloved One, the great Reservoir of Love, ever receiving and ever giving back; the Spirit the Living Love that makes them one. In Him the Divine Life of Love hath its ceaseless flow and overflowing. It is that same love with which the -Father loves the Son that rests on us and seeks to fill us too, and it is through the Spirit that this Love of God is revealed and communicated to us. In Jesus it was the Spirit that led Him to the work of love for which He was anointed, to preach glad tidings to the poor and deliverance to the captives ; through that same Spirit He offered Himself a sacrifice for us. The Spirit comes to us freighted with all the love of God and of Jesus : the Spirit is the Love of God.
http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/7764/776429.htm
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Messages for all
http://www.angelicmessages.org/index.htm
The Celestial angels (also known as Divine Love angels) share the messages at this site to assist humans with their souls' progression and provide guidance for improving our lives here on earth. As you will see, the angels focus on the availability of God's Divine Love and the importance of incorporating It into one's path of growth. You will also find loving, helpful, and supportive messages from the angels on a variety of other topics, as well as links to other Divine Love sites.
Who are the Celestial Angels?
The Celestial Angels were once mortals like you and I and have since been transformed by the Divine Love of our Father through sincere and earnest prayer, with faith, to our Father for the bestowal of His Divine Love. As our Father sends His Love into our souls, by means of His Holy Spirit, our souls are transformed from being created in the image of God into the very Essence and Nature of God. The inflowing of the Divine Love into our souls is the "New Birth" as it is the only way to True Salvation and Immortality. Jesus, a son of God, is the highest Celestial Angel and True Master and Founder of the Celestial Heavens.
The Celestial angels (also known as Divine Love angels) share the messages at this site to assist humans with their souls' progression and provide guidance for improving our lives here on earth. As you will see, the angels focus on the availability of God's Divine Love and the importance of incorporating It into one's path of growth. You will also find loving, helpful, and supportive messages from the angels on a variety of other topics, as well as links to other Divine Love sites.
Who are the Celestial Angels?
The Celestial Angels were once mortals like you and I and have since been transformed by the Divine Love of our Father through sincere and earnest prayer, with faith, to our Father for the bestowal of His Divine Love. As our Father sends His Love into our souls, by means of His Holy Spirit, our souls are transformed from being created in the image of God into the very Essence and Nature of God. The inflowing of the Divine Love into our souls is the "New Birth" as it is the only way to True Salvation and Immortality. Jesus, a son of God, is the highest Celestial Angel and True Master and Founder of the Celestial Heavens.
The Divine Challenge is an open invitation
http://www.divineloveministry.org/chosen.htm
How can you determine whether or not there is a God?
The answer to this is simple - pray to God for His Divine Love and wait for an answer.
Many people go through life thinking that there may be a God and some even pray to God for help in their lives. Many people who go to church "believe" that God exists. After all, that is what their family has been taught for generations. Furthermore they believe that if they follow certain doctrines and rules and regulations that they will eventually go to Heaven. All this "thinking" and "believing" is of the mind - and as everyone knows, the mind can change depending upon experience.
What if I were to tell you that you can transcend your mind and receive undeniable proof that God exists! So, what the catch?
The catch is that it will require some effort on your part - effort in terms of prayer/meditation. How much prayer and mediation? That all depends upon how strong your desire is to know the truth. For some of us the truth came after praying three times a day for several days. For others it took three weeks of daily prayers. If this sounds like too big of a commitment, compare the amount of time you will be devoting to prayer (three times a day for three weeks) compared to your entire lifetime on earth. It is but a drop in the bucket.
How will you know when the truth has been revealed to you? When God makes His Presence known to you, you will know it! The experience slightly differs from one person to the next. But everyone shares that it is a life altering experience. Some feel a burning sensation in their heart region. Others feel waves of love flowing over their body again and again. Others share that it was like a nuclear explosion going off in their body. For me, the experience was so powerful that I thought my physical body was being harmed.
God has touched many souls in this way. The truth is that He Loves you and wants you to know that He is real. The way the God communicates to us is Soul to soul. And that is why we must pray using our souls to know the truth.
Try the experiment three times a day. A good goal to shoot for is 20 minutes each session, three times a day for three weeks. Be gentle with yourself - the first few times may only last a couple of minutes, or you may skip a session or two. That's ok. Just keep at it. The more you pray the easier it will become to get into a prayerful state without distractions.
When you are ready to pray/meditate, ask God:
for your soul to be in ascendancy over your mind;
to be protected by any negative energies;
to be surrounded by God's Love and Light;
to be in rapport with God's Angels;
pray using the prayer perfect (below).
Our Father, who art in heaven, we recognize:
That Thou art--art all holy and loving and merciful, and that we are the children of Thy care, and not the subservient, sinful and depraved creatures that our false teachers would have us believe.
That we are the greatest of Thy creations and the most wonderful of all Thy handiwork's, and that we are the objects of Thy great Soul's love and tenderest care.
That Thy will is that we become at one with Thee and partake of Thy great love which Thou hast bestowed upon us through Thy mercy and desire that we become, in truth, Thy children--and not through the sacrifice and death of any one of Thy creatures, even though the world thinks that one Thy equal and a part of Thy godhead.
That Thou will open up our souls to the inflowing of Thy love, and that then will come Thy Holy Spirit to bring into our souls, this, Thy love in great abundance until our souls may be transformed into the very essence of Thyself; and that there may come to us faith--such faith as will cause us to realize that we are truly Thy children and that we are one with Thee in very substance and not in image only.
Let us have such faith as will cause us to know that Thou art our Father and the bestower of every good and perfect gift, and that only we, ourselves, can prevent Thy love changing us from the mortal to the immortal.
Let us never cease to realize that Thy love is waiting for each and all of us, and that when we come to Thee with faith and earnest aspirations, Thy love will never be withholden from us.
Keep us in the shadow of Thy love every hour and moment of our lives, and help us to overcome all temptations of the flesh and the influence of the powers of the evil ones who so constantly surround us and endeavor to turn our thoughts away from Thee to the pleasures and allurements of this world.
We thank Thee for Thy love and for the possibility of receiving it, and believe that Thou art our Father--the loving Father Who smiles upon us in our weakness, and is always ready to help us and take us to Thy arms of love.
We pray thus with all the earnestness and longings of our soul, and trusting in Thy love give Thee all the glory and honor and love that our finite souls can give. Amen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do I know the truth about whether or not I have a soul?
When you try the experiment mentioned above, God will respond with His Holy Spirit to send His Divine Love into your soul. God's Divine Love is a physical substance that actually changes the nature of our souls. When Divine Love enters into our souls, we feel It! And for the first time in our life, we will without a doubt know: 1) that we have a soul; and 2) where our souls reside in reference to our physical bodies. We won't spoil it for you and tell you where you soul is located - we will let you discover that on your own when you attempt the experiment.
How can you determine whether or not there is a God?
The answer to this is simple - pray to God for His Divine Love and wait for an answer.
Many people go through life thinking that there may be a God and some even pray to God for help in their lives. Many people who go to church "believe" that God exists. After all, that is what their family has been taught for generations. Furthermore they believe that if they follow certain doctrines and rules and regulations that they will eventually go to Heaven. All this "thinking" and "believing" is of the mind - and as everyone knows, the mind can change depending upon experience.
What if I were to tell you that you can transcend your mind and receive undeniable proof that God exists! So, what the catch?
The catch is that it will require some effort on your part - effort in terms of prayer/meditation. How much prayer and mediation? That all depends upon how strong your desire is to know the truth. For some of us the truth came after praying three times a day for several days. For others it took three weeks of daily prayers. If this sounds like too big of a commitment, compare the amount of time you will be devoting to prayer (three times a day for three weeks) compared to your entire lifetime on earth. It is but a drop in the bucket.
How will you know when the truth has been revealed to you? When God makes His Presence known to you, you will know it! The experience slightly differs from one person to the next. But everyone shares that it is a life altering experience. Some feel a burning sensation in their heart region. Others feel waves of love flowing over their body again and again. Others share that it was like a nuclear explosion going off in their body. For me, the experience was so powerful that I thought my physical body was being harmed.
God has touched many souls in this way. The truth is that He Loves you and wants you to know that He is real. The way the God communicates to us is Soul to soul. And that is why we must pray using our souls to know the truth.
Try the experiment three times a day. A good goal to shoot for is 20 minutes each session, three times a day for three weeks. Be gentle with yourself - the first few times may only last a couple of minutes, or you may skip a session or two. That's ok. Just keep at it. The more you pray the easier it will become to get into a prayerful state without distractions.
When you are ready to pray/meditate, ask God:
for your soul to be in ascendancy over your mind;
to be protected by any negative energies;
to be surrounded by God's Love and Light;
to be in rapport with God's Angels;
pray using the prayer perfect (below).
Our Father, who art in heaven, we recognize:
That Thou art--art all holy and loving and merciful, and that we are the children of Thy care, and not the subservient, sinful and depraved creatures that our false teachers would have us believe.
That we are the greatest of Thy creations and the most wonderful of all Thy handiwork's, and that we are the objects of Thy great Soul's love and tenderest care.
That Thy will is that we become at one with Thee and partake of Thy great love which Thou hast bestowed upon us through Thy mercy and desire that we become, in truth, Thy children--and not through the sacrifice and death of any one of Thy creatures, even though the world thinks that one Thy equal and a part of Thy godhead.
That Thou will open up our souls to the inflowing of Thy love, and that then will come Thy Holy Spirit to bring into our souls, this, Thy love in great abundance until our souls may be transformed into the very essence of Thyself; and that there may come to us faith--such faith as will cause us to realize that we are truly Thy children and that we are one with Thee in very substance and not in image only.
Let us have such faith as will cause us to know that Thou art our Father and the bestower of every good and perfect gift, and that only we, ourselves, can prevent Thy love changing us from the mortal to the immortal.
Let us never cease to realize that Thy love is waiting for each and all of us, and that when we come to Thee with faith and earnest aspirations, Thy love will never be withholden from us.
Keep us in the shadow of Thy love every hour and moment of our lives, and help us to overcome all temptations of the flesh and the influence of the powers of the evil ones who so constantly surround us and endeavor to turn our thoughts away from Thee to the pleasures and allurements of this world.
We thank Thee for Thy love and for the possibility of receiving it, and believe that Thou art our Father--the loving Father Who smiles upon us in our weakness, and is always ready to help us and take us to Thy arms of love.
We pray thus with all the earnestness and longings of our soul, and trusting in Thy love give Thee all the glory and honor and love that our finite souls can give. Amen
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How do I know the truth about whether or not I have a soul?
When you try the experiment mentioned above, God will respond with His Holy Spirit to send His Divine Love into your soul. God's Divine Love is a physical substance that actually changes the nature of our souls. When Divine Love enters into our souls, we feel It! And for the first time in our life, we will without a doubt know: 1) that we have a soul; and 2) where our souls reside in reference to our physical bodies. We won't spoil it for you and tell you where you soul is located - we will let you discover that on your own when you attempt the experiment.
Monday, August 8, 2011
Rest
Where are you coming from? Do you know from whence you came? Are you aware that this is the true source of your being from which all goodness flows?
You are comfortable here. So stay. Rest your weary heart. There is nothing to do here. No one else to be. So rest. Breath deep. Soak up my love. Be like a sponge allowing my love to fill every cell of your being. Let me fill you up until your cup overfloweth.
Love Speaks - Debra Clemente
You are comfortable here. So stay. Rest your weary heart. There is nothing to do here. No one else to be. So rest. Breath deep. Soak up my love. Be like a sponge allowing my love to fill every cell of your being. Let me fill you up until your cup overfloweth.
Love Speaks - Debra Clemente
Sunday, July 31, 2011
see by faith
"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."
Benjamin Franklin- in Poor Richard's Almanac
.
Monday, July 25, 2011
Channels Through Which the FatherCan Pour His Boundless Love
Channels Through Which the FatherCan Pour His Boundless Love
from the writings of Ellen G. White by Frank Klin
God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity overworldliness, to show that they are working on a high, holy plane. He longs to seethem showing that the truth they have received has made them children of the heavenly King. He longs to make them channels through which He can pour His boundless love and mercy.[1] Daily beset by temptation, constantly opposed by the leaders of the people, Christ knew that He must strengthen His humanity by prayer. In order to be ablessing to men, He must commune with God, pleading for energy, perseverance, and steadfastness. Thus He showed His disciples where His strength lay. Without this daily communion with God, no human being can gainpower for service. Christ alone can direct the thoughts aright. He alone can givenoble aspirations and fashion the character after the divine similitude. If we drawnear to Him in earnest prayer, He will fill our hearts with high and holy purposes,and with deep longings for purity and righteousness. The dangers thickening around us demand from those who have an experience in the things of God, awatchful supervision. Those who walk humbly before God, distrustful of their own wisdom, will realize their danger and will know God's keeping care.[2] We have only one channel of approach to God. Our prayers can come to one name only,--that of the Lord Jesus our advocate. His Spirit must inspire our petitions. No strange fire was to be used in the censers that werewaved before God in the sanctuary. So the Lord himself must kindle in our heart sthe burning desire, if our prayers are acceptable to him. The Holy Spirit must make intercessions for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered.[3] Is the kingdom of God enthroned in your heart by Christ's presence abidingthere? or is self still a controlling power within? Whose subjects are you? If aselfish spirit continues to keep you out of Christ's service, pray, "Thy kingdomcome. They will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Pray, oh, pray mostearnestly, "Put Thy Spirit, Lord, Thy Holy Spirit, within my heart, that I may besincere in keeping my baptismal vow." Pray that the intercession of Christ in yourbehalf shall not be in vain. Pray that unbelief shall no longer lead you to claim tobe in God's service, while in the life-practice, because of a perverted will, youreveal that you are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Pray for the power to demonstrate to the world that you are dead to sin, and that your life is indeed hidwith Christ in God. . . .[4] When we see ourselves weak, ignorant, and helpless, as we really are, we shallcome before God as humble suppliants. It is ignorance of God and of Christ that makes any soul proud and self-righteous. The infallible indication that a manknows not God, is found in the fact that he feels that in himself he is great or
2good. Pride of heart is always associated with ignorance of God. It is the God that discovers our darkness and destitution. When the divine glory to Daniel, he exclaimed, "My comeliness was turned in me intocorruption, and I retained no strength." The moment the humble seeker sees Godas he is, that moment he will have the same view of himself that Daniel had.There will be no lifting up of the soul unto vanity, but a deep sense of theholiness of God and of the justice of his requirements. The fruit of such anexperience will be manifested in a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice.[5] When the prayer is sincerely offered, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me," the voice of the Lord answers, "A new heart alsowill I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stonyheart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." The renewed heart will have no plants of selfishness tocultivate. Pride will be seen in its sinfulness, and will be expelled. It is not for thehuman clay to find fault with the molding process of the potter, but to submit to be molded in any way. Every soul must submit to the Lord before he can be made avessel unto honor, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ.[6] When man is created anew in Christ Jesus, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. God has, through His own power, united in man the human and the divine. He clothes humanity with the robe of Christ's righteousness. Man isenabled to discern the Saviour, and by beholding he is changed into the likenessof His character. He recognizes the words of Christ, "All power is given unto Mein heaven and in earth." He who discerns Christ is a partaker of His Spirit and Hisrighteousness. He has the inward assurance that Christ is abiding in the soul-temple.[7] Receiving the Spirit of Christ, every one of His followers will fulfill a divinely appointed mission not merely to be an influence among influences, but to be aspecial influence for God in every sense of the term.[8]
1. 1913, Councils to Parents, Teachers and Students, page 324 par. 22. Ibid, page 323, par. 23. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 9, 1897 par. 104. 1902, Manuscript Releases Vol. 2, page 33 par. 15. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February
from the writings of Ellen G. White by Frank Klin
God desires His people to show by their lives the advantage of Christianity overworldliness, to show that they are working on a high, holy plane. He longs to seethem showing that the truth they have received has made them children of the heavenly King. He longs to make them channels through which He can pour His boundless love and mercy.[1] Daily beset by temptation, constantly opposed by the leaders of the people, Christ knew that He must strengthen His humanity by prayer. In order to be ablessing to men, He must commune with God, pleading for energy, perseverance, and steadfastness. Thus He showed His disciples where His strength lay. Without this daily communion with God, no human being can gainpower for service. Christ alone can direct the thoughts aright. He alone can givenoble aspirations and fashion the character after the divine similitude. If we drawnear to Him in earnest prayer, He will fill our hearts with high and holy purposes,and with deep longings for purity and righteousness. The dangers thickening around us demand from those who have an experience in the things of God, awatchful supervision. Those who walk humbly before God, distrustful of their own wisdom, will realize their danger and will know God's keeping care.[2] We have only one channel of approach to God. Our prayers can come to one name only,--that of the Lord Jesus our advocate. His Spirit must inspire our petitions. No strange fire was to be used in the censers that werewaved before God in the sanctuary. So the Lord himself must kindle in our heart sthe burning desire, if our prayers are acceptable to him. The Holy Spirit must make intercessions for us, with groanings that cannot be uttered.[3] Is the kingdom of God enthroned in your heart by Christ's presence abidingthere? or is self still a controlling power within? Whose subjects are you? If aselfish spirit continues to keep you out of Christ's service, pray, "Thy kingdomcome. They will be done in earth as it is in heaven." Pray, oh, pray mostearnestly, "Put Thy Spirit, Lord, Thy Holy Spirit, within my heart, that I may besincere in keeping my baptismal vow." Pray that the intercession of Christ in yourbehalf shall not be in vain. Pray that unbelief shall no longer lead you to claim tobe in God's service, while in the life-practice, because of a perverted will, youreveal that you are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Pray for the power to demonstrate to the world that you are dead to sin, and that your life is indeed hidwith Christ in God. . . .[4] When we see ourselves weak, ignorant, and helpless, as we really are, we shallcome before God as humble suppliants. It is ignorance of God and of Christ that makes any soul proud and self-righteous. The infallible indication that a manknows not God, is found in the fact that he feels that in himself he is great or
2good. Pride of heart is always associated with ignorance of God. It is the God that discovers our darkness and destitution. When the divine glory to Daniel, he exclaimed, "My comeliness was turned in me intocorruption, and I retained no strength." The moment the humble seeker sees Godas he is, that moment he will have the same view of himself that Daniel had.There will be no lifting up of the soul unto vanity, but a deep sense of theholiness of God and of the justice of his requirements. The fruit of such anexperience will be manifested in a life of self-denial and self-sacrifice.[5] When the prayer is sincerely offered, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me," the voice of the Lord answers, "A new heart alsowill I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stonyheart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." The renewed heart will have no plants of selfishness tocultivate. Pride will be seen in its sinfulness, and will be expelled. It is not for thehuman clay to find fault with the molding process of the potter, but to submit to be molded in any way. Every soul must submit to the Lord before he can be made avessel unto honor, to be filled with the renewing, sanctifying grace of Christ.[6] When man is created anew in Christ Jesus, he becomes a partaker of the divine nature. God has, through His own power, united in man the human and the divine. He clothes humanity with the robe of Christ's righteousness. Man isenabled to discern the Saviour, and by beholding he is changed into the likenessof His character. He recognizes the words of Christ, "All power is given unto Mein heaven and in earth." He who discerns Christ is a partaker of His Spirit and Hisrighteousness. He has the inward assurance that Christ is abiding in the soul-temple.[7] Receiving the Spirit of Christ, every one of His followers will fulfill a divinely appointed mission not merely to be an influence among influences, but to be aspecial influence for God in every sense of the term.[8]
1. 1913, Councils to Parents, Teachers and Students, page 324 par. 22. Ibid, page 323, par. 23. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February 9, 1897 par. 104. 1902, Manuscript Releases Vol. 2, page 33 par. 15. Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, February
Holy Spirit, Light Divine - A Hymn
1
Holy Spirit, light divine,
Shine upon this heart of mine,
Chase the shades of night away,
Turn my darkness into day.
2
Holy Spirit, power divine,
Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
Long has sin, without control,
Held dominion o'er my soul.
3
Holy Ghost, with joy divine,
Cheer this saddened heart of mine,
Bid my many woes depart,
Heal my wounded, bleeding heart.
4
Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine,
Cast down every idol throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.
COMPOSER Louis M. Gottschalk, 1854
AUTHOR Andrew Reed, 1817
Holy Spirit, light divine,
Shine upon this heart of mine,
Chase the shades of night away,
Turn my darkness into day.
2
Holy Spirit, power divine,
Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
Long has sin, without control,
Held dominion o'er my soul.
3
Holy Ghost, with joy divine,
Cheer this saddened heart of mine,
Bid my many woes depart,
Heal my wounded, bleeding heart.
4
Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine,
Cast down every idol throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.
COMPOSER Louis M. Gottschalk, 1854
AUTHOR Andrew Reed, 1817
The inside light
http://ekemyoara.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/the-inside-light/
The inside lightHuman. Special creature, top of Darwin’s evolution, the dominant being on this blue ball of water. Result of God’s goodwill or of some monkey’s wish for greatness, human has constantly claimed his world.
But what is it so marvelous about us? In fact we breathe the same air, we exist under the same endless sky, we are delighted by the same sun, we bathe in the same waters, we keep our feet on the ground by the same rules of gravity.
Everything we have ever imagined, created or built was born as a result of an unique inner impulse, our shiny restless star: the inside light. It is the engine of our own being, the supreme painter of our dreams, visions, world. It’s our spirit that guides, caress and keeps us alive. And we live different, from other reasons. We are born to wonder, to search, to find answers, solutions and God. We breathe to believe, to treasure, to develop. We live to promise a better life, to love and despair, to sing and turn speechless. We walk to print our footstep in the sand. We stare just to bow in front of splendour. And splendour is both in and outside.
We are to let the light shine.
But what is it so marvelous about us? In fact we breathe the same air, we exist under the same endless sky, we are delighted by the same sun, we bathe in the same waters, we keep our feet on the ground by the same rules of gravity.
Everything we have ever imagined, created or built was born as a result of an unique inner impulse, our shiny restless star: the inside light. It is the engine of our own being, the supreme painter of our dreams, visions, world. It’s our spirit that guides, caress and keeps us alive. And we live different, from other reasons. We are born to wonder, to search, to find answers, solutions and God. We breathe to believe, to treasure, to develop. We live to promise a better life, to love and despair, to sing and turn speechless. We walk to print our footstep in the sand. We stare just to bow in front of splendour. And splendour is both in and outside.
We are to let the light shine.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Love is the First Principle of Life
"Once the student becomes really aware that "God is Love" and Love's True Activity comes through the heart, he will understand that to focus his attention on the desire to project Love forth, for any given purpose, is the supreme privilege of the outer activity of the consciousness, which can generate Love to a boundless degree. Mankind has not previously understood that Divine Love is a Power, a Presence, an Intelligence, a Light that can be fanned into a Boundless Flame or Fire; and it is within the consciousness intelligence of every individual, especially students of the Light, to so create and generate this "Presence of Love," that It becomes an Invincible, Exhaustless, Peace-commanding "Presence" wherever the conscious individual desires to direct It.
Somewhere it has been said, that Love may not be commanded. I say to you: "Love is the First Principle of Life and may be generated to any degree or without any limit whatsoever for Infinite use. Such is the majestic privilege of the conscious use and direction of Love.
When I say "generate," I mean the opening of the door through conscious devotion to the outpouring of the exhaustless Fountain of Love, which is the Heart of your Being -- the Heart of the Universe.
Students, by contemplating this Infinite Power of Love, become such a fountain of Its outpouring, that Its conscious direction may be Infinite in the student's use."
(The "I AM" Discourses, Volume III, Saint Germain, Saint Germain Press, Inc., pages 115, 116)
http://www.anopendooroflove.org/love.html
Somewhere it has been said, that Love may not be commanded. I say to you: "Love is the First Principle of Life and may be generated to any degree or without any limit whatsoever for Infinite use. Such is the majestic privilege of the conscious use and direction of Love.
When I say "generate," I mean the opening of the door through conscious devotion to the outpouring of the exhaustless Fountain of Love, which is the Heart of your Being -- the Heart of the Universe.
Students, by contemplating this Infinite Power of Love, become such a fountain of Its outpouring, that Its conscious direction may be Infinite in the student's use."
(The "I AM" Discourses, Volume III, Saint Germain, Saint Germain Press, Inc., pages 115, 116)
http://www.anopendooroflove.org/love.html
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Focus on God’s Love
Surely it is the arrogance of ignorance to even attempt to judge06/26/2011 by John Smallman
The sky is brightening as dawn approaches, heralding the new age for humanity which was planned many eons ago. It will be an era of peace and harmony, the likes of which has never before been seen on Earth. Prophets have foretold it, angelic choirs have sung of it, and finally the time for it to be ushered in is very close. Many of you are holding the light, the intent, the resolve, and the love to bring it into being, and yet, at times it has seemed almost hopeless to believe that it is coming, as you observe the wars, the hatred, the frustrations, and the distrust that continue to manifest in many places around the world. But truly, an enormously powerful wave of divine Love is enveloping the planet, causing attitudes to change and long-nurtured grudges to be released.
Focus on God’s Love enveloping you all always, and intend to open your hearts to receive It and allow It to flow through you to all of humanity in a wave of joyful awakening, because it truly is God’s Will and yours that you do this. You are all eternally one in the Father, and to judge and blame each other, and yourselves, for the suffering in the world is utterly inappropriate. How can you judge when your Father, Who is infinitely wise and loving, does not? Surely it is the arrogance of ignorance to even attempt to judge?
Remember that those who appear to cause the most suffering are the ones whose suffering is most intense, and that they are projecting that suffering outwards because it is so unbearable within them. When you relax, meditate, or withdraw into silent prayer, intend to be clear and unobstructed channels through which God’s Love can flow constantly, swiftly, and abundantly to where it is needed, and He will honor you by availing of your offer.
If you wish to direct that Love to someone you love or see as being in need, that is fine, but do not attempt to limit It to the needs that you can identify because that just obstructs the channel that you are, thereby diverting the flow around you, and the abundance offered to you mostly bypasses you. The most effective and loving intent that you can offer to your Father is the freedom to channel His Love through you to wherever He sees that It is needed, constantly. Doing this is the most powerful way in which you can be a part of the awakening process.
Many are still locked in judgment, blame, and condemnation, as though paralyzed by those attitudes, and the abundant flow of God’s Love through all available channels is the essential remedy to that painful and inflexible state. It flows as soothing balm, gently easing the pain and tension, and restoring movement and flexibility to what had become locked in resentment. You can see the evidence of this easing of attitudes all over the world, and as increasing numbers of you open yourselves up as divine channels, the speed of easing will accelerate phenomenally, as it is God’s Will.
The intent to be an unobstructed, divine channel is an aspect of the inextinguishable divine Flame within each one of you. It has always been a part of you, and you are now becoming increasingly aware of it, as you allow your own unloving attitudes to dissolve. The more you allow them to dissolve – by embracing love and forgiveness – the clearer it becomes that this is God’s Will for you, and also your own. It is an uplifting and inspiring sensation which will continue to strengthen as those unloving and judgmental attitudes fall away. Delight in the knowledge that you are doing God’s Will, and leading each other Home.
With so very much love, Saul.
The sky is brightening as dawn approaches, heralding the new age for humanity which was planned many eons ago. It will be an era of peace and harmony, the likes of which has never before been seen on Earth. Prophets have foretold it, angelic choirs have sung of it, and finally the time for it to be ushered in is very close. Many of you are holding the light, the intent, the resolve, and the love to bring it into being, and yet, at times it has seemed almost hopeless to believe that it is coming, as you observe the wars, the hatred, the frustrations, and the distrust that continue to manifest in many places around the world. But truly, an enormously powerful wave of divine Love is enveloping the planet, causing attitudes to change and long-nurtured grudges to be released.
Focus on God’s Love enveloping you all always, and intend to open your hearts to receive It and allow It to flow through you to all of humanity in a wave of joyful awakening, because it truly is God’s Will and yours that you do this. You are all eternally one in the Father, and to judge and blame each other, and yourselves, for the suffering in the world is utterly inappropriate. How can you judge when your Father, Who is infinitely wise and loving, does not? Surely it is the arrogance of ignorance to even attempt to judge?
Remember that those who appear to cause the most suffering are the ones whose suffering is most intense, and that they are projecting that suffering outwards because it is so unbearable within them. When you relax, meditate, or withdraw into silent prayer, intend to be clear and unobstructed channels through which God’s Love can flow constantly, swiftly, and abundantly to where it is needed, and He will honor you by availing of your offer.
If you wish to direct that Love to someone you love or see as being in need, that is fine, but do not attempt to limit It to the needs that you can identify because that just obstructs the channel that you are, thereby diverting the flow around you, and the abundance offered to you mostly bypasses you. The most effective and loving intent that you can offer to your Father is the freedom to channel His Love through you to wherever He sees that It is needed, constantly. Doing this is the most powerful way in which you can be a part of the awakening process.
Many are still locked in judgment, blame, and condemnation, as though paralyzed by those attitudes, and the abundant flow of God’s Love through all available channels is the essential remedy to that painful and inflexible state. It flows as soothing balm, gently easing the pain and tension, and restoring movement and flexibility to what had become locked in resentment. You can see the evidence of this easing of attitudes all over the world, and as increasing numbers of you open yourselves up as divine channels, the speed of easing will accelerate phenomenally, as it is God’s Will.
The intent to be an unobstructed, divine channel is an aspect of the inextinguishable divine Flame within each one of you. It has always been a part of you, and you are now becoming increasingly aware of it, as you allow your own unloving attitudes to dissolve. The more you allow them to dissolve – by embracing love and forgiveness – the clearer it becomes that this is God’s Will for you, and also your own. It is an uplifting and inspiring sensation which will continue to strengthen as those unloving and judgmental attitudes fall away. Delight in the knowledge that you are doing God’s Will, and leading each other Home.
With so very much love, Saul.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Worry Worry Worry
Worry is the power of creation turned against your own best interests. The same engine that runs your car in reverse will move it forward if you but reposition the gearshift. To shift from reverse to drive, reframe your experiences to find the blessing rather than the problem. Then you will become the master of your universe, rather than its victim.
http://positive-thoughts.typepad.com/positive-thoughts/2011/06/to-change-your-life-begin-by-changing-your-thoughts.html#tp
http://positive-thoughts.typepad.com/positive-thoughts/2011/06/to-change-your-life-begin-by-changing-your-thoughts.html#tp
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Love Speaks to Me
Love speaks to me
and calls my name.
Never again
am I the same.
Words of Wisdom
line the halls of my mind.
My heart continually fills
with Love from the Divine.
What am I to say?
Don't get in your own way.
I'm here for youto help you along.
All you need to do is
dance and sing my song.
Love Speaks by Debra Clemente
Friday, June 17, 2011
Worth Repeating
 |
| Worth Repeating 48" x 36" Oil painting by Debra Clemente 2010 |
Don't ride on another's wave.
Never let the actions of another decide how you will behave.
My higher self says so. - Debra Clemente
About Me
- artistdeb
- I'm a passionate fine art painter and spiritual writer awakening to a deeper sense of purpose and connectedness with the universe everyday. As an artist, I express the the joy I feel with the voice of color. Just I as I have been inspired to sing the song of my soul with paint and palette, I am now being prompted to pick up a pen and write. Listen Hear, A Divine Love Story journals a year of my awakening to the Voice of Love. I used to have to guard my thoughts; now my thoughts guard and guide me. It’s like I have a life coach in my head, but the wisdom is from a whole different source than my brain. I invite you to spend sometime here perusing excerpts from my soon to be published book and browsing a gallery of my paintings. It is my wish that what I offer may open a window of new possibility within your heart and mind. And like a “breath of fresh air,” awaken a part of your soul. May your joy be full, Debra Clemente artist/author www.DebraClemente.com www.artistdeb.com