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

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 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

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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.

WILL POWER



Only for a moment.

 
The gift of will power is given only to humans. Dog's don't have it. Think about it. Do you think a dog who resists snapping up a table scrap does such by any element of self control? No way! It's all a matter of conditioning and training.

Will power goes so very far beyond the common concept of self control. Not long ago I only understood the term to mean the ability to control one's own desires. The power to resist temptations of sensual pleasure. That concept of will power only goes so far and often seems quite unlike a power source but a constant battle. One battle of the will after another. Even within one's own being.

I am now coming to the understanding that each of our own wills is our source of power. A very real source of power that works as simply this statement. Whatever one wills one creates. That power is given to each of us by our creator. It's a power of choice.

We each have the power to choose our own way or God's way. It never has been a matter of a select few being God's chosen people. God has already chosen each of us by the mere fact of our creation and he created each of us with the power of choice. The power to recongnise choices and choose.

God does not force his will upon us. He is always here waiting to be found, acknowledged and chosen. It feels very special to be chosen doesn't it? It is. God wants to be chosen as well. God wants his love to be our source of power. He wants to pour his Divine Love into our very being. So that each of his children are filled with his power and have a radiant joy for life. Overflowing with his love. Spilling Divine Love out of them wherever they go and upon whomever they meet.

This Divine Love is God's gift available to each repentant heart, each selfless soul who thirsts for closeness to the father, who falls onto his knees surrendering his own will to God asking for God and his Divine Love to come into his heart-soul-spirit and fill his very being.

God is always here, always connected to each of us. It's like a direct phone line where God is the operator always on call. He's always online waiting to assist. Live Chat. It's up to each of us to pick up the phone, answer the call, ask for direction. We have to say that we want to be connected. We have to ask for help. We have to admit we can't do it alone. Then we need to shut up. Be quiet. Be still and listen. Listen to the quiet still voice within.We have to shut out the world and open to the universe. The abundant universe of possibility.We have to accept God's guidance and act only when inspired. Inspired action is following God's will given from within. It's a knowing, an urge. Impromptu action that just feels right. Without thought, you feel your way. Feel the good. Feel God. Feel God's will become your will.

When one's will is according to God's will good is created for all. When one truly surrenders his own will to God and asks that God work through him, "Thy will be done", life flows wonderfully. Gone is the constant inner battle of controlling one's own will.

The right path is shown. Daily bread is given. Green pastures appear. Trespasses are not counted. No evil is feared. God's name is hallowed. Love flows freely. Temptation ceases to exist. Thy kingdom comes. Thy will is done.

I pray again today that Thy will be done through me on earth as it is in heaven. So be it.

Something he said

You must know this much:

something invisible

guides you.

With invisible

threads of love,

I pull you closer.

That's it,

the story

of your life.

Jochen Lehner

DON'T WORRY

The don't worry movement, a wave of spiritual emancipation: A gospel of Christian optimism

Theodore Frelinghuysen Seward,  published 1898

Spiritual Exercises

The spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius.

Have you heard of this before? I had not until recently, as a result of one of my deep searches for Truth. It appears to me that the Catholic Church has held these writings in high regard but thought the messages contained were of only of service to the priestly not the masses. I believe there in contains much for all. Certainly food for all. Food for thought.