Christian Limitations

Jesus says in John 10:9 "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."

Somewhere along the line of modern Christianity, the door shut. Our Christian leaders shut it long ago and few have ventured to open it back up again—of course to Jesus it is always open and available to us. But in the Christian ministry Christ became the be-all, end-all of every sermon. These limitations are the dogma and religious doctrine that rob us of all that God offers. I’ve often felt that many have become so focused on Christ that they have forgotten that he was sent from God. It is God’s plan that Jesus and we are to carry out. To me, being a Christian means that I believe that Jesus is Christ, our savior; but there is so much more. It’s not really that we focus too much on Christ, we just don’t balance that focus evenly across the trinity—God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

In my opinion, Christ came to return to us what Adam had lost; the Holy Spirit in us. Adam had dominion over the entire world. That means he had what we would now call supernatural control of everything. (Supernatural meaning “outside or “above” the natural.) When Adam cut himself off from the kingdom, God had to remove him (and Eve) from the garden because they no longer had the nature to care for it. They had lost their essential force of life—God’s Spirit. I surmise that the entire first, or Old, Testament of the bible from the fall of Adam and Eve on is a record of God preparing us for the coming of the Christ and the return of God’s kingdom on earth.

In the New Testament, Jesus arrives as predicted by the prophets and teaches us, through words and deeds, the way to behave in a Godly manner. But this is not the only reason he has come; He prepares the way for the Holy Spirit and his crucifixion and resurrection completes the lion’s share of his mission. He returns to sit at the right hand of the Father and then, because He absolves us of all of our sins, the Holy Spirit is able to return to reside in us.

Jesus teaches us this, for example in John 14:16–17: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Prior to that, the Holy Spirit could only arrive and cover people; now, through Jesus completing his mission the Holy Spirit can live in us connecting us directly to God. No Limits.

There is a wonderful book by Dr. Myles Munroe titled “The Most Important Person on Earth” that gives a superb illustration of how the entire kingdom of God operates. I suggest that if you’re interested in this concept that you take the time to read it; and if you take the chance to practice living in God’s kingdom you’re life will never be the same.

God speed!

Saved!

Awesome! I am really on track; I’ve got God and Jesus figured out and by accepting Jesus as my Savior I’m all done. I’m saved! I’m a bona fife Christian; from now on my life is going to be a breeze ‘cause I’m living in God’s favor. Well, that’s true as long as I keep moving forward through the door the Jesus has opened for me. It is up to me. Each of us can arrive at this place in our own way, but that doesn’t guarantee success in our lives. We still have free will to decide our own fate. Like any great thing, it takes effort. You have to want a better life and then take the action to achieve it.

As Jesus says in John 10:9 "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture." Being saved is not the end-all of our Christian spirituality, it is the beginning.

God speed!

Jesus

I have to admit I had a problem with Jesus. As I said earlier, I had worked out that God exists and I believe in God’s ideology, and I really feel a connection to God. So why do I need Jesus? I could easily believe that he existed; he is considered a prophet and teacher in every major religion, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, etc, but is he really God personified? If I were to believe the Bible without question, I suppose I could be easily persuaded that he is God personified and all that is written about him is true. Unfortunately, that is not my nature. I am a natural skeptic. According to Dictionary.com, a skeptic is defined as, “a person who doubts the truth of a religion, esp. Christianity, or of important elements of it.” As much as I don’t like to admit that about myself, I have to say it’s true. So I have spent some considerable time wondering about the authenticity of the Bible and the stories of Jesus and I have to say that the more I tried to disprove these issues with logic and reason, the more I was inclined to believe that they are true. Not that I think I am smarter than all the millions of people and generations of great thinkers before me, but I had to know about it in my own understanding for my own piece of mind.

So after many years of passive resistance I had finally come to accept Jesus as the Lord. After all, it is easier to be a naysayer than to be a believer. But, I had resolved in my heart and mind that he was a real person and he is God personified. At a minimum he is a role model and teacher, and at the most, he is our Savior.

God speed

Worthiness

In following up on the monumental effort it takes to try and improve one’s life, you may say to yourself that trying to change is too difficult. Life is tough enough already, why make it harder? I’ve been there and understand that feeling, but I’ve made the effort to improve some areas of my life that have definitely made my life easier! I would offer a thought that one might ask ones’ self: is it or was it worth it? If we take the easy road or go against what our instincts are telling us, do we want to wind up with regrets? If we take the time to be introspective and consider the consequences of our actions, we should determine if it was all worth it. If it improves our life and we learn from it and become a better person because of it, then yes, it was worth it. Obviously the converse conclusion would be an indicator that it’s time to make some changes.

In my opinion, the best practice is to ask one’s self if it is worth it before taking an action or stance. This may eliminate heartaches and trouble ahead of time. Listen to your instincts, trust your gut and don’t be afraid to walk away; tomorrow something new will arise to take its place.

In the end, find your own personal motivation to improve your life and go for it! You're worth it!

God speed

The Monumental Energy of Life

I was considering the monumental amounts of energy it takes for a human being to exist, live, cope, and survive in a 24 hour day. For me personally, night time isn’t even all that restful because I am a crazy, overactive dreamer; I often wake up tired from running around all night in my dreams. We have families to take care of, relationships, perhaps a job and property to maintain, traffic and other daily affairs that make us interact with (often rude) strangers. We have meals to prepare and sometimes pets to care for; oh yeah, and all the emotional baggage we carry with us from our past. We are busy, distracted, and overextended. Maintaining a healthy and happy outlook in the face of all this is incredible; yet I believe that we has human beings have a longing to change. Though we may not admit it, we think that we aren’t doing things right and could do better. You are not alone. If you spend one ounce of your energy to move in that direction, in my opinion, you’re a rare person. It takes effort. And we must feel that it is worth it to attempt it. Never give up because you are not alone.

By the way, I had a conversation with a friend the other day and this person was telling me how they feel inadequate and how they have to fight the feeling that they are not living up to the standards that others have imposed on them. Basically, this person had been brainwashed to behave in a manner that suited the person that at one time had authority over them; their own identity was lost. I shared with my friend, something that someone once shared with me. You are perfect just as you are. God made you the way you are for a reason, and God doesn’t make mistakes. Just because you do things differently from others doesn’t make you wrong, it makes you unique. I believe that we never really change the core of who we are; we only make alterations—slight adjustments, hopefully in a positive direction. Don’t waste your time trying to change who you are, learn to love a appreciate what makes you, you. Work on improving the weak areas of your life and being a positive role model for others.

God speed!

The Question of God

Do you believe in God? I suppose this may be the same question as does God exist? I have to admit that I have pessimistically questioned this at times in my life, but usually at times when it was easier or more convenient to do so. But the truth is that I guess I have always known in my heart that God exists, even if I didn’t know why. (This knowing is an important aspect of one’s spirituality and I will touch on it later.) So it wasn’t difficult for me to reason that God does exist; aside from the knowing, there are too many unexplained events and well documented miracles to attribute to anything else—there must be some universal energy that moves through and around us.

Just thinking out loud; how does our soul, or life force, or the stirring energy that generates our cells into creation function? Where does that energy that creates our personalities and emotions come from when before we are conceived, nothing exists? These types of questions are the types I’ve considered and in doing so proven to myself that there is a universal energy and we call that energy God.

So the thing about this thing called knowing; there are things that we are taught and then there are things that we just know. I recall hearing Dr. Wayne Dyer address it confirming that no one taught us, we didn’t see it anywhere; it is something that you just know. It’s like we’ve always known.

I have thought about my initial questions: “Do you believe in God?” and “Does God exist?” I can now see that there is a subtle difference in these questions. I know God exists, however do I believe in God? To do this would mean that I have faith in what God believes, what God stands for. This is a tall order and nearly impossible without faith and knowing to say the least. I choose to work at my faith and trust in my knowing. This is going to be a great journey.

God speed!

Faith Is The Answer

Faith is the answer. What is Faith but believing whole heartedly that something exists that we cannot see, hear, or touch. It is believing in ethereal ambiguity without second guessing, and without justification; just believing. It is that simple.

True faith believes in the whole thing even if one doesn’t understand all things. This is my everyday goal. I understand that we live in two territories simultaneously, the biggest and best is the Spiritual life, and the other is our temporary existence here in the world. This seems so hard for so many to grasp, but for example, we live in both America and our home state simultaneously.

Life in the world is a complex and complicated affair. It is unfair, petty, flawed and undependable, yet all the while beautiful and an abundant gift. Simplicity is predicated by one’s own judgments. If one removes one’s judgment, simplicity floats lightly towards the source. The source is the place we all yearn to return to. Faith is the answer. The answer to what? All those worries, the reason you’re angry, every unfair thing; every negative thing the world has to offer.

Jesus tells us in Mark 12:30 – 31, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” But how hard is this; to love the Lord means believing He exists. Without true faith we cannot completely connect to our source. This seems like a good place to start. Do you believe that God exists?

The Holy Spirit Ministry

This is a dialog that transcends religious affiliations to discover the desires of God’s heart.

I have felt compelled to write this blog to express my thoughts and ideas on spirituality. I was born into a Christian family and raised in Christian traditions. As it states in the welcome statement at the right, I consider myself a Christian because I believe that there is one God, Jesus is the son of God, and the Holy Spirit is present in us. I accept that my humanness makes me imperfect and this also interferes with my ability to connect to God through the Holy Spirit. However, it is my daily desire to do so and as I learn how to accomplish this, I will share it with you.

Working from the adage that the teacher makes the best student, I believe that this exercise will not only challenge me to put my beliefs in writing, but will also challenge you to be open to my ideas. I wholly invite you to express your opinions and challenge me to stretch my mind, and my beliefs.

I am excited about starting this journey and I look forward to your friendship. Let’s begin by unpacking the old baggage and leaving it empty to fill as we make our way to our destination.

God speed!