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Jaque, it is your spirit that grasps My love while your mind submits by faith to truth, which means you believe without (or before) mental understanding.  The salvation of your soul is the resting of your soul.  Thus your mind and emotions relax and become still in the Spirit’s KNOWING (within you) that I am God.

Obedience (acting on my promptings) also rests your soul and causes you to experience Me. Faith without obedience is no faith at all, but faith comes to your spirit with the hearing of My word and revives you to take action.  For instance, your mind can’t comprehend unconditional love, but still, you have the mind of Christ and so love others with Agape love.

Lord what does it look like? What is the mind of Christ?

Jaque, the mind of Christ is the Spirit of Christ, and you have been joined directly to His Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17).  So what is the mind of the Spirit?  Only the Spirit knows. (1 Corinthians 2:11). But you have My Spirit in your spirit.

Lord, I am being filled with your Spirit when I rest in your Spirit.  Yes, I rest by the Spirit—or—am arrested by your Spirit.  You attach your very Self to my spirit and we are one.  As I realize and recognize your life in me I trust, surrender, and obey.  Is this correct?

Yes Jaque, and the more you relax and surrender—the more you know Me—the easier it gets to enjoy intimacy with Me—and the fuller you become.  The filling continues; I can fill you—so much so that you can even receive new languages, new gifts, instructions, directions, yes, you can receive a brand new life!

Abba, I receive Christ as my life.  He is my new and total identity now.  I identify with Him because His Spirit is joined to my spirit making us one.  This is why your thoughts are way beyond human thought…incomprehensible to human thinking.  Your mind is Spirit, human minds are matter.  We need your Spirit working within our spirits in order to know your thoughts and allow them to take over our matter.  Your thoughts affect our human minds, so much so that you arrest them with a knowing that is by the Spirit.

So the mind of Christ is not in my mental faculties; it’s in my spirit—now one with your Spirit—the inner place where I know that I know you.

Knowing you naturally rests my mind until it quits struggling to understand what it can never understand.  Aha!  This is the rest you’re calling us to enjoy!  (Hebrews 4)

Yes; now keep working out your salvation and constantly submit your mental faculties to Me.  Keep your head out of the way!  That’s when I work wonders in your natural mind to bring My purposes to pass!!!

Meditations from Nahum 1 and  Ephesians 1& 2: (The Message)

God is serious business. He won’t be trifled with.

He could dissolve the world around me with just a word—just as he calms storms with a word. Selah (pause and calmly think about that.)

Tornadoes and hurricanes are the wake of His passage,

Storm clouds are the dust He shakes off His feet.

He yells at the sea: it dries up.

All the rivers run dry.

The mountains and orchards shrivel.

Mountains quake and hills dissolve into mud flats.

Earth shakes in fear of God.

…….No one gets away from God.

and yet…God’s characteristic way of working is in quietness and through prayer, not in noise and size; forces that quietly split my heart, like a plant splitting the pavement.

God doesn’t lose His temper. He’s powerful but it’s a patient power. Still, no one gets by with anything. Sooner or later everyone pays. (Nahum 1)

It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then He picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. Now God has us where He wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! (Eph. 2)

It was when Jesus calmed the storm, healed people and raised the dead that the disciples began to realize the unthinkable; that this was GOD with us. Jesus didn’t pray to God, as a prophet would, to ask Him to calm the storm , He said the word and did it Himself. The winds and waves obeyed Him instantly. Healing power didn’t just flow through Him; He was the healing power. It flowed from Him at just a touch. His power wasn’t something He possessed it was something He was. This man who loved the disciples and enjoyed them and embraced them with all of their faults, was God! This changed everything for them as they experienced the love of God in the person of Jesus. It changes everything for us too.

The humbling revelation is that God speaks and His voice is like thunder and yet He also whispers in our hearts. He has made a way to show us the depth of His love for us, in Jesus Christ, the man who was God. Your part, your choice, is to let Him love you and then to trust His love. That is our only way of participating in what God is doing—by learning to receive. He does everything else in and through us as we trust and obey.

Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that. (Eph 5)

Don’t take any of this for granted. Amazing and impossible as it seems, God lives on earth in and through His own dear children whom he loves. His Kingdom is here and it supersedes all the kingdoms of the world. Pavements are being split, hearts are being changed, and one day everything will be brought together and summed up in Him (Christ). Everything in deepest heaven and everything on planet earth. (Eph. 1) This is God’s long-range plan.

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Jeremiah 31:33-34 NLT

As I was reading these verses this week, it struck me; I love it that God is now within intimately writing on my heart and renewing my mind with understanding, but what about the second half of this promise? The Lord says that in the new covenant we will not need to tell our neighbors and relatives that they ‘should know the Lord’ because they will know him already. I don’t see this all around me, do you? I see people, even Christians, aching to know God deeply without realizing what the ache is. In fact my life’s focus through Visionwriters has actually become helping people realize that they can and should know God more deeply … to eliminate from their world the ache of a silent God…

So I asked the Lord about this, why do we see and enjoy the first half of this promise but not the second half? Why do we still need to tell others that they should know the Lord?

This turned out, of course, to be one of those faulty, illogical questions.

Father pointed out to me that this isn’t a promise; it’s a COVENANT. I haven’t done deep study on the meaning of covenant, but I know that covenant goes both ways. When we enter the new covenant, we exchange our very lives. We ‘die’ to the old life and are born again spiritually, in union with Christ. That’s what happens in the spiritual realm when we enter the new covenant, even though we don’t understand it all at the time.

These are facts.

Oswald Chambers says: “When a person is born again from above, the life of the Son of God IS born in him, and he can either starve or nourish that life.”

Whether we starve or nourish that life, doesn’t alter the fact that if we have entered this covenant, God is writing Himself on our hearts and minds and we do know Him. That was His side of the covenant, and He is keeping it. Believe this.

Our side of this new covenant is, not to sacrifice the life of an animal anymore as in the old covenant, or even to keep all the rules, but now we give Him our very lives. We surrender our old identity and let it go to receive and recognize our new life in union with His Life. No more external sacrifices and performance, now its internal surrender and obedience. No more trying to become perfect by our own human effort, now it’s admitting our weaknesses and receiving His Spirit. (see Gal 3:3)

This new covenant far exceeds the old. This new covenant changes your very identity so that ALL who enter it DO know Him deep within.

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You ARE controlled by the Spirit IF you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) Rom 8:9 NLT

If God lives in you, He does control you, if you have entered the new covenant, you do know God, by union.

So what remains to be done? Of course, it’s just something to SEE! We must believe and cultivate this. We have an uncultivated friendship with God. He is there, we are His children, we must embark on the learning curve. We remove the ‘veil’ by turning to see God at every opportunity, by paying attention to what He is saying within, through His word, to what He is writing on our hearts and minds. He will teach us who we are and Who He is and we will discover that He has absorbed us into His Life and we now flow as one.

For His Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God’s children. (Rom 8:16)

So I don’t need to tell you to know Him if you are ‘born again’; you do know Him. Cultivate it: He is always speaking to you. Recognize Him. He says,

“I devise creative ways to reveal Myself to you and I rejoice when you are attentive.”

Offering

by Kelly Minter

Words that used to intimidate, setting standards I couldn’t meet, are becoming joyful promises of wellness!  Light is dawning in my heart and soul. True understanding is taking the place of reason…year-by-year, day-by-day, moment-by-moment.

How can this be? How does it happen?

Slowly, like the blooming of a flower from a seed. Little-by-little as we wait creatively and expectantly for it to unfold, attentive to the process. Sometimes via growth spurts and sometimes in the midst of seeming dormancy.

“And we have the prophetic word made firmer still. You will do well to pay close attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dismal (squalid and dark) place, until the day breaks through the gloom and the Morning Star rises (comes into being) in your hearts.” 2 Pet 1:19 Amp

It’s simple, through it all PAY CLOSE ATTENTION to His Word, LISTEN to Him…… and the Morning Star (Christ) will rise in your heart!

It will take time, and we must trust Him through the various seasons of growth, even those when it seems we wait in vain, because His promise is sure:

Those who have received the Holy Spirit progressively recognize, understand and become better acquainted with the gifts teachings and revelations so freely and lavishly bestowed on us by God. The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate God’s gifts of divine favor and blessing! We have the mind of Christ and do hold the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart!

(my paraphrase from 1 Cor. 2:12-16 Amplified)

Understanding doesn’t happen all at once, nor in a few months or years, but progressively, becoming brighter and brighter like the dawn. It continues throughout a lifetime if we will continue to pay attention:

to His Word; our water

to Him; our nourishment

to seeking first His Kingdom; our focus

to every moment and every event our lives; our awareness.

We don’t have to make the Kingdom seed grow:

“Jesus also said, ‘The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens. The earth produces the crops on its own. First a leaf blade pushes through, then the heads of wheat are formed, and finally the grain ripens.’”     Mark 4:26

The farmer merely waters and weeds and pays attention, and the crops grow from the seeds that contain everything within them. The Kingdom of God is like that. God’s Seed is planted in our hearts. We nurture it by paying attention and watching it grow.

Thomas Merton writes:

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul—germs of spiritual vitality coming to rest imperceptibly in the minds and wills of men. Most of these unnumbered seeds perish and are lost, because men are not prepared to receive them. For such seeds as these cannot spring up anywhere except in the good soil of freedom, spontaneity and love.

Father has bedded us down in freedom, spontaneity and love, He has lavished it upon us. Will you see it? If you keep paying attention, you will.  No hurry.

In my journal Father said:

“Attention is all that’s required, an awareness of each moment and of My Presence will help you to receive Life correctly—as a medium of growth and not as something to try and control and manipulate to suit you.”

We must receive life as a medium of growth where our heart’s cry is “Father, glorify Your name,” rather than “Father, save me.”

When this becomes the cry of your heart, barren platitudes will eventually come alive to you. Words that used to feel like law, will feel like grace. Obedience will flow from love. You will discover that you were made for this; for glorifying God, for housing the life of God within you, for resting in the endless joy of knowing Him.

“Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:2

]]> http://www.visionwriters.com/blogs/saras-blog/spiritual-growth/feed 2 http://www.visionwriters.com/blogs/jaques-blog/a-vision-of-god%e2%80%94the-promise-of-the-spirit http://www.visionwriters.com/blogs/jaques-blog/a-vision-of-god%e2%80%94the-promise-of-the-spirit#comments Thu, 20 May 2010 16:52:41 +0000 Jaque http://www.visionwriters.com/?p=1570 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. Gal 3:14 (NIV)

Yesterday I pondered this verse and thought, what is the promise of the Spirit?  Then I thought, the promise is that we would receive the Holy Spirit…the promise of the Spirit, for isn’t that what Jesus promised before He ascended?

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. John 16:12-15 (NIV)

It’s the Holy Spirit who gives Life.  I like being alive; I don’t want to just live my life rehearsing what happened in the past or memorizing Scripture; I want to live Life.  So God rewarded me with the Holy Spirit; certainly the reward is to all who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).  Hey, there is nothing more to ask for because there is nothing more to want!  The promise of the Spirit—yeah!

Lord, you said, “see, I lay before you life and death, the blessing and the curse, therefore choose Life.”  It’s your Life that we want Lord, so be our Life, okay? Okay, so when the Spirit comes what did He come to do?

Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; John 16:7-9 (NIV) (Emphasis mine)

The Holy Spirit is here to reveal God “with us” in Jesus Christ so that we will believe in Him—in other words to reveal Jesus the Christ living in us through the Spirit, by faith.  Jesus, the actual vision of God; Yes!  Jesus, the revelation of God and of the Life we live now through Him.  Jesus is the place we ground ourselves when we are interested in living Life!  No longer do we even want to try and imagine what our lives could be like; instead we want to live Life and experience it on His terms.  Jesus is not some idea about God; He is the one who keeps us attentive to how God defines Life.  Satan likes to get us excited about thinking and acting for God to the point that we detach from relational intimacy and surrender.  Anyway, he gets us to substitute our godlike egos for the Holy Spirit and to act “for” God rather than “from” Him and thus earn Satan’s applause.  Jesus offers shape, energy and vision to our lives.  He is the vision of God.  Jesus is an actual person who lived at a datable time in a land that grew flowers, vegetables and weeds; Jesus who traveled cities that had mountains, trees, and wildlife, the likes of which are still on earth today, was a solid personality who drank the water, ate the fish and brought God out into the open where we can see Him.  We no longer have to guess what God is like.  Jesus, the incarnation of God is the one making God’s word “personal” to us.  He comforts, heals, forgives, loves and causes God to come alive within us.  By shaking our irrational thinking that we can know God apart from Him, He makes us realize that apart from Jesus, God is just another concept or idea that breaks down as quickly as our egos decide to shape Him into yet another concept or idea.  Jesus saves us from wasting our lives on illusions and cheap thrills.  He enables us to take God and ourselves seriously so that we know who He is and who we are in Him.  He keeps us in God’s love so that we live our lives in our own circles of influence, talking–crying—laughing with friends and family, praying with the grocery store clerk, reading stories to our children, planting flowers, cooking meals, hiring people, training teenagers how to manage their money, touching the sick, lifting a heavy load for our neighbor and surrendering to God right here, right now.  Jesus is the one who makes us know for sure that God “IS” and that His reward is the promise of the Spirit.

Lord Jesus, your Life is manifested and made real to us by the Holy Spirit—the one who makes us know that we know Christ IS our Life! And the more real Christ becomes in us as us, the more we see and know that we are like Him! You make us know that the life we used to live and call “life” was no life at all.  You open the eyes of our understanding.  We get it!  Only through Jesus Christ do we know Life as our very own life.  Thank you for quickening our mortal eyes, bones and flesh to see it, walk it out, and live it on earth today, right here, right now.

Jesus said, “”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15 (NAB) So the first thing is “If you love me…”  It’s easy to obey if we love Him.  We don’t have to study obedience or try to conjure it up for if we love Him, we effortlessly obey. If we love Him obedience just IS.

The key to loving Him is in holding the vision of Him.

…and 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. Mark 12:30 (ASV)

Abandoning our attention to Him, the value and amount of concern given to others comes easily. Then any person may state his or her request or opinion and we habitually ask, “Lord, what do you think?”  We desire nothing less than God’s opinion in every matter because we love Him, and of course we know that He is not separate from us.

…keep yourselves in the love of God  Jude 1:21 (ASV)

Is my ear so keen that I easily hear the whisper of the Spirit and know His direction for my life? Do I know that I know what Love wants in this instance or that? Do I understand that in being made one with Him I am His love in action?  It is mine to listen, for the Spirit seldom if ever shouts.  His is the still small voice speaking through my conscience (we are one in love) and my soul offers the response: “Lord, I am delighted to obey you in this matter.”  And with my response, viola!  Here—right here—He is!  Knowing that He is, I love Him passionately and I attentively keep ‘me’ in His love.  I am no longer seeking but never finding as is the case with so many inside and outside the church who struggle in the illusion of separation.

It’s in loving Him that we find Him, and in finding Him we know how He first loved us.  Here in loving Him we grasp the reward.  Him—the One for whom we lay down our lives. Never again do we struggle with the word obedience, for it is His promise effortlessly enjoyed by His keeping ‘through us’ the very first command.

The difficulty I then endured to get her alone to make my confession was part of the angst in my dream.  When I wanted to confess, it seemed almost impossible to access the one necessary to do so.  I pursued and pursued and finally managed to get her alone, but yet not alone.  There was another woman by her side who I knew agreed with her suspicions, so I decided to confess to both of them.  (Two witnesses)  I confessed; “I’m wrong and you’re right.  I did it.  Do with me as you will.”  To my surprise the response of them both was grace, grace and more grace.  They forgave immediately and expressed amazing gladness at my confession.  “But,” my neighbor said, “You still need to pay for the meat and butter.”  “Gladly,” I replied, and headed for my car to retrieve my checkbook.  Arriving at my car I noticed a wad of crumpled white meat paper in the back seat—a wad of “evidence” of the crimes I had committed.  With meat blood and butter stains all over the paper it was my new most immediate concern, so instead of getting my checkbook I took the “evidence” so I could quickly dispose of it.  As I did so two (evil) men from the meat plant saw me trying to hide the evidence, and I intuitively knew they wanted to confiscate it and kill me.  I began to run as they chased.  (Don’t you just hate ‘running from the chase’ dreams?)  As I ran my feet began to lift off the ground and very soon I was flying.  Then I knew they couldn’t catch me, for they hadn’t enough Life in them to do so.  As I flew over plush and beautiful meadows God’s voice rose from within.  “Jaque, drop the evidence.”  “But” I argued back, “Lord, if I drop it, it will clutter the earth.”  Again the voice rose, “Jaque, you are completely forgiven; drop the evidence.”   I dropped it and watched as it disintegrated into thin air.  It was no more.  It was “as if” it had never existed.  I awakened with a tremendous feeling of exhilaration and freedom.

This dream is an example of how God preaches Good News in night seasons.  I who had sinned and confessed was completely forgiven “as if” I’d never sinned.  What good would it do to carry the evidence into my “high” life and allow others to accuse or threaten me with it?  When God forgives it is a complete and final work…if we but receive it that way.  No evil can catch or kill us once we’ve entered God’s kingdom, for here in His “Highlands” we rise above earthly, devilish and evil accusations. Yes, in the world but flying above it, we are not “of” it anymore.  What can man do to us? God is for us and has proven it in Christ’s atonement and forgiveness.  We are, however, responsible to pay for the meat and the butter, you know, things we use to sustain our bodies, and this is a good thing.  The fact that my checkbook was in the car is a sign that I didn’t “need” to steal the food but must have enjoyed sin for the moment just to see if I could get away with it.  Nobody gets away with sin; it may seem sweet for a moment but a vision of God causes us to take flight as nothing else can.  Well, I’m firmly planted now and headed for my checkbook!

He’s used this book not only to start some amazingly wonderful conversations amongst my children and me, but also between Him and me. Even while reading it aloud to them, it seems as if He is speaking the words to me. When Aslan, the Lion that represents Him in the story, speaks I hear the Lord speaking to my heart.

The story centers on the boy Digory (who is the Magician’s nephew) and his London neighbor and friend Polly. They are sent to another world via some magic rings given to them by Digory’s Uncle Andrew and end up discovering the land of Charn, home to the evil Queen Jadis (also known as the Witch). While escaping from the desolate Charn, Digory’s impulsive actions end up allowing the Witch to return to our world along with him and Polly. They are then faced with the predicament of how to get her out of our world and back into her own, before her vicious schemes to take over and rule the world are allowed to manifest.

When opportunity strikes and Digory and Polly attempt to get Jadis back to her own world, they end up in an entirely new land, one that is just beginning to form, with the Witch and the blithering and pathetic Uncle Andrew in tow. They hear and see life blossoming before their eyes; trees going from sprouts to full size in a matter of minutes, full grown animals emerging from the ground, beautiful sunsets and an inexplicable music filling the air. The Witch and the Uncle immediately hate the land; the music from the Voice is annoying, they can’t understand the beauty in the sunsets, and when the Witch throws a piece of lampstand (at Aslan’s head) she had previously gained from our world for use as weapon and it grows into a whole new functioning lampstand, the Uncle’s first thought is how he could capitalize on that magic.

All along in the story, we are made aware that Digory’s mother is very sick, on her death bed even. He is constantly thinking about her, and wishes more than anything that he could find a cure for her. When he meets Aslan and sees His power in calling forth the sun and the stars and how the animals revere and love Him immediately, it seems to Digory that this is where he will find the remedy. He pursues Aslan to ask Him for a cure for His mother. Aslan does not answer that question but instead questions Digory on how the Witch was allowed into His beautiful new world within its first few hours of life. Digory tells Him the truth immediately, knowing that somehow Aslan already knew the truth. Aslan then tells Digory of His plan to protect Narnia from the evil that has penetrated it, by planting a tree that the Witch will not dare go near. Digory is to be sent on a mission to get the seed for this tree, from a far away garden.

During this conversation, Digory is unable to look at Aslan in the eyes, until a crucial moment in the story takes place. In his despair he finally looks up at the Lion’s face and asks if He can or will give Digory something to cure his mother. The story reads, What he saw surprised him as much as anything in his whole life. For the tawny face was bent down near his own and (wonder of wonders) great shining tears stood in the Lion’s eyes. They were such big, bright tears compared with Digory’s own that for a moment he felt as if the Lion must really be sorrier about his Mother than he was himself. ‘My son, my son,’ said Aslan. ‘I know. Grief is great. Only you and I in this land know that yet. Let us be good to one another.’

Digory is soon off on the adventure to get the apple seed of redemption and protection. He doesn’t make it in one day, and has no food with him. He is quite hungry when he arrives in the garden. On the way in, he can’t seem to make much sense out of the engraving on the gate:

Come in by the gold gates or not at all,

Take of my fruit for others or forbear,

For those who steal or those who climb my wall

Shall find their heart’s desire and find despair.

After smelling the apple, it is harder than he imagined resisting the temptation to pick one for himself to eat. He goes through a process of justification, self-explaining why it might be alright to take one. After all, he had obeyed the command to get an apple for others like the gate seemed to suggest and Aslan asked. Would be wrong to taste one? To take one for himself, too? Then the Witch shows up.

I’ll break here for a minute from the story synopsis to explain that this next point in the story is what has touched me the most, the place where I have heard the Lord speaking to my heart; an echo of what He has been gently and persistently teaching me for the last few years. It’s been necessary for me to give you (or if you’ve read this story, remind you of) the history of Digory and his desires, along with his limited viewpoint and impulsive actions, so that you understand that I am Digory, and that my life is a story of His plans for my redemption, today and forever.

From the time I began to breathe, I have been told lies such as the Witch is about to tell Digory. Since the dawn of time in the wonderfully beautiful God-breathed land that has been given to us, evil has been attempting to convince us that our Father is holding out on us. I have been told all in one breath that I don’t need Him, and even if I did He wouldn’t have me.

‘Foolish boy,” said the Witch. ‘Why do you run from me? I mean you no harm. If you do not stop and listen to me now, you will miss some knowledge that would have made you happy all your life.’

‘Well, I don’t want to hear it, thanks,’ said Digory. But he did.

‘I know what errand you have come on,’ continued the Witch. ‘For it was I who was close beside you in the woods last night and heard all your counsels. You have plucked fruit in the garden yonder. You have it in your pocket now. And you are going to carry it back, untasted, to the Lion; for him to eat, for him to use. You simpleton! Do you know what the fruit is? I will tell you. It is the apple of youth, the apple of life. I know, for I have tasted it; and I feel already such changes in myself that I know I shall never grow old or die. Eat it, Boy, eat it; and you and I will both live forever and be king and queen of this whole world – or of your world, if we decide to go back there.’

‘No thanks,’ said Digory, ‘I don’t know that I care much about living on and on after everyone I know is dead. I’d rather live an ordinary time and die and go to Heaven.’

Good for Digory! But, just wait….that Witch isn’t done yet. Can you identify? When it comes to the obvious tactics of our adversary, such as having power or riches, I can most times detect it. But, what about those other deep-rooted, less obvious, maybe even ‘more acceptable’ fears regarding our children, our parents, our health, the peace and joy that seems to be ‘out there’- unattainable, or the bottom line question of our worth and purpose as beings in this world? Are we good enough? Can we really trust that our Father cares as much, even more, than we do?

‘But what about this Mother of yours whom you pretend to love so?’

‘What’s she got to do with it?’ said Digory.

‘Do you not see, Fool,(how is that she calls him names and still sounds convincing?) that one bite of that apple would heal her? You have it in your pocket. We are here by ourselves, and the Lion is far away. (He’s really not all-knowing…) Use your Magic and go back to your own world. A minute later you can be at your Mother’s bedside, giving her the fruit. Five minutes later you will see the color coming back to her face. She will tell you the pain is gone. Soon she will tell you she feels stronger. Then she will fall asleep-think of that; hours of sweet natural sleep, without pain, without drugs. Next day everyone will be saying how wonderfully she has recovered. (Thanks to you, by the way.) Soon she will be quite well again. All will be well again. (You will have fixed what Aslan doesn’t care about.) Your home will be happy again. You will be like other boys.’ (You will have made yourself good enough.) (Parentheses mine)

Digory, through much difficulty finally tells the Witch to stuff it, and leaves with the apple, and only the one apple, to take to Aslan. He makes it back in one day, and in a beautiful scene I imagine being hard for the author to describe with words, presents the apple to the Lion.

‘Well done. Well done, son of Adam. For this fruit you have hungered and thirsted and wept. No hand but yours shall sow the seed of the Tree that is to be the protection of Narnia. Throw the apple toward the river bank where the ground is soft.’

From here, a large tree grows in a short amount of time, and the new King and Queen, Frank and Helen, are crowned. Next, comes the scene that shows exactly how redemptive and loving our Father really is.  First, let’s recap. Aslan never condemns Digory for his sin, he simply gives him opportunity to confess it. Being in the Lion’s presence, Digory wanted to tell the truth. He wanted purity, because he was in Purity’s presence. After confessing his sin, Aslan then immediately gives Digory the opportunity for redemption. Digory must trust Him, trust that He will sustain him through his journey, and then he must obey.

When he does trust and obey, Aslan gives him the thing he was originally after, a cure for his mother. He allows him to pick an apple off of the Tree. But Aslan doesn’t award this to Digory until Digory understands that it had to be in the right way, at the right time. Aslan explains that if Digory had taken the apple outside of His will, it would have allowed his mother to live, even physically healthy. But, she would have been miserable, and would have even one day said that she would have rather have died from the disease.

I have a habit of taking apples from trees before the Lord has asked me to do so. He’s always working, and teaching me to trust him on this journey and then obey. Once that understanding is in place, then often he’ll give me the thing I sought before. But, once I understand that He is all I need, and that His will and timing are perfect, it wouldn’t even matter if He didn’t give me what I originally sought. If it’s not from Him, I don’t want it anyway.

Lord, you are amazingly wonderful. I trust you. I trust that you are always working and that you are loving and good. I also trust that you are a God that cannot be compared with any other thing. You are splendorous, and awesome. You are intimate and caring. Teach me today Lord, what it is I want to take from the tree before you’ve asked me to, anything I am looking at before You. Thank-you Father for your plan of redemption. Thank-you for saving me from death.