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 other night I had a dream that, at first, disturbed me very much.  I was stealing and stock piling meat and butter, and my next door neighbor intuitively knew “I” was doing it.  She worked for the meat plant and her suspicions were true, but it didn’t matter to me.  I insistently denied all accusations. (Sounds like a sinner to me).  Again I found another opportunity to steal more meat and butter, and again, she came pointedly looking me in the eye and saying, “You did it” and “I” know you did.”  I awakened very disturbed and prayed, “Lord, why am I even having a dream like this?”  When I fell back to sleep the dream continued.  Remorse hit; I felt so bad about lying that I decided to find my neighbor and confess my sin, even though it would mostly likely mean a jail sentence.

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!

Recently I’ve been digging for health answers, and after much exploration learned that I need to get some dentistry done.  I admit it; I didn’t expect to find the answer in dentistry, but that’s where God put my answer.  Well, I don’t “have to” know what I think I know or intercept God with “reason;” mine is only to accept the gem I found in this field. So off I go to another state to see a very special dentist.  Please keep me in your prayers–I’ll be back later to update you.

Gems to you,

Jaque

To journalize is to enter the prophetic with God. Hearing the voice of God is
the heritage of every disciple of Christ. Journalizing is a tool that connects the written word of God (the Bible) with the word that is written on your heart (Christ) in order to make Him a living reality to you. It takes the word and makes it applicable, teaching, comforting, correcting, and confirming in the middle of life’s situations.

“Paul puts his finger on the thing that dims the spiritual life more than any other: timidity.  If I had one gift to give myself and others, I would unhesitatingly give courage.  For more people grow dim and need rekindling of the divine gift through lack of courage than through any other thing.  First of all, the courage to take from God what He offers.  That is the supreme courage: to pay the price and take the gift.  That takes courage, for it shifts the whole basis of life from self-sufficiency to God-sufficiency.  Then the next step: the courage to face up to the world with this appropriated gift of God and to believe that this and this alone will meet every need–and to say so, even when men are pathetically trying unworkable ways.”

“To pay the price and take the gift.”  To me that means to swallow my pride and take the gift.”

In the Character of God course one of the attributes we study is God’s goodness.  I believe we are afraid to believe God is as good as He is.  Yes, it takes courage to believe in His goodness.  If we used the faith and courage He gives to believe, I think we would see a lot more miracles occurring in our daily lives and others watching the church with gaping mouths…and being drawn to Jesus.

“We never receive a complete knowledge through mere research, with our minds.  Knowledge of God comes through our hearts—the windows of our souls.”

That immediately reminded me of Malachi Chapter 3, where God promises, see “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Mal 3:10 (AMP)

The windows of heaven—the windows of our souls—blessings the size of which we don’t have room enough to receive.  The mind can’t comprehend it, but the heart can.  Oswald goes on, “During the Boxer uprising in China, a lady I knew learned of the murder of her husband and two of her children.  Their bodies were found beheaded and mutilated.  After this astounding catastrophe she testified:  “I could not pray, have faith, or lay hold of God.  But my heart knew Him and no matter how this tragedy seemed to contradict so many things, I rejoiced in Him.”

Wow.  After my husband Chuck passed away I too experienced what it meant to rejoice in God without prayer, faith or feeling of God. I saw that my faith wasn’t in my faith, my hope wasn’t in my hope, nor was my confidence in my confidence.  Everything I had was in God.  I knew Him by heart and rejoiced.

Even now blessings are poured out in abundance and beyond any mental ability to fathom how my glorious God accomplishes this. But the one thing I know by heart: God is God.  Not joy.  Not peace.  Just God.

And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours. 1 John 5:14-15 (MSG)

Jaque, I desire truth in the inward parts.  I desire that you know the truth by heart (that your heart knows the truth).  All who belong to Me know My will.  “And God wills that all men should be saved.” Do I therefore will salvation for all?  Yes.  But you know not all are or will be saved.  “And He healed them all.”  Do I therefore will that all be healed?  Yes.  But you know that not all are or will be healed.  So does the outcome of those who are not saved or healed change My will?

I deliberately haven’t posted the rest of the journal.  Just from the question I’m wondering what your answer would be if He posed it to you? If it doesn’t change His will why do things happen as they do?  If you think it means His will is not to save and heal all, why do you think so?

Today while reading the assignment from my daily Bible planner the following passage stood out so I paused and waited for Him to inform me:

Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.”

John 6:43-46 The Message

I enjoy it when little gradations stand out: We’re not in charge.  Okay, I assent; I know that—but now something deeper.  We are sooo not in charge; we literally have little to do with our own salvation. All we can do, by His grace, is recognize Him doing something in us! He draws us; otherwise our coming is false, pretended, or produced by some ego pressure in us to impress or perform.  But when He is mightily at work within us, He gets us ready to be personally taught by Him.  At last we know that we know we are taught personally by Jesus Christ Himself.  We are personally in on it. We get it first hand by seeing with our own eyes and hearing with our own ears. What a promise to those who believe.  He said; you can see me.  We can see Him!  “And when we see Him we’ll be like Him.” Hunker down and get hold of that!

One only is the Lawgiver and Judge Who is able to save and to destroy [the One Who has the absolute power of life and death]. [But you] who are you that [you presume to] pass judgment on your neighbor? Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money. Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]. You ought instead to say, If the Lord is willing, we shall live and we shall do this or that [thing]. But as it is, you boast [falsely] in your presumption and your self-conceit. All such boasting is wrong. So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

James 4:12-17 (AMP)

Lord, why was it NOT in your will that man study the difference between good and evil in the Garden of Eden?

Jaque, because the mind that studies differences is endlessly polarized by doing so.  There is no escaping duality when the mind uses its perceptions to judge and condemn.  Your heart, on the other hand, always knows what is right; it holds My answer and never needs to study what is naturally organic to it.  The mind, on the other hand, can never know true goodness.

So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

Jaque, those who don’t follow their hearts will invariably produce evil.  Presumption is evil.  “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a city and spend a year there and carry on our business and make money.” To state a thing will be “thus and so” without having your true ‘heart’ invested in it is presumption, or sin.  The heart guided by love never tries to manipulate tomorrow; it just is.

So Lord, if I feel my heart condemning me is it because it is dominated by my mind?

Yes.  Before you were enlightened in new birth your heart indicated evil in that it was dominated by Satan’s mind from the fall.  Satan used lies to usurp Adam’s God-indwelt heart, stealing his prize inheritance; every person since, in losing heart dominance, lost possession of the Promised Land.  Salvation is the recovery of your heart Jaque; it is Me getting you back where you belong.  Every time you repent you return from mind dominance to heart recovery.   When the mind is in ascension you feel driven to ‘figure out’ the difference between good and evil.  You can easily recognize these times because you feel pushed, condemned and captive to the tyranny of guilt.  Heart recovery is the release (letting go) of mind domination; here you are free to simply “be” the love that you are.  So you see Jaque, there’s never anything to “figure out.”  You know My will by abiding in My tangible, very present love.

Then what is the purpose of the mind?

The mind is good for doing physical calculations, but it cannot provide answers for the heart.  It provides the heart a means of expression; it is the servant of the heart.    The heart is above calculation, intellectualism, and even ethics.   What is doesn’t have to ‘figure out’ what it is.  Jaque, love never fails because it is content to simply BE what it is. So remember; your heart guides your conscience by love, and love is the place of knowing that you know.

One more question please Lord: what is the result of mind dominance, and what is the result of heart dominance?

Mind dominance will eventually destroy the immune system. Love dominance can reverse the damage. Grace, grace, and more grace to you Jaque.  Renew your mind in truth and reverse the damage.  How?  Follow My word; FOLLOW YOUR HEART.