“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.

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.

I’ve always craved a reckless faith, say, like Abraham’s or Joseph’s or Paul’s, and I’ve wondered; what would a reckless faith look like in my life?

All we need is to look to Jesus for the answer.  The one who had reckless faith unparalleled by any of the others says in Matthew we are not to worry.  How?; by never taking thought.  If we would have reckless faith we need to see how Jesus abstained from worry.

We worry because we like to use our brains to handle problems.  We are actually obsessed with “thinking about” the future.  We think we can handle things better if we think about what “might” happen in the future right now.  And if we don’t worry we feel like we’re not doing anything about the fates awaiting us. We actually create many negative possibilities with our worry.  What if a terrorist attack annihilates us?  What if this economy eliminates my job and my family ends up frozen under a bridge? The scenarios are endless; I’m sure you could add a litany all your own. How much time do we waste in worrying about tomorrow?  If I could retrieve all the time wasted on worry I think I might live a few more decades.

Why do we think worry accomplishes anything?  And why does Romans 12:2 tell us to make a living sacrifice of our faculties (or minds) to God in order to be completely transformed by the renewing of our minds?

The more we think the more we sink.  We become paralyzed by our brains and can’t act as we’d like to.  We’ve stuck ourselves in the muck and the mire over and over and still we keep trying to un-stick our selves by thinking!  Are we insane?  Are we deluded and deceived?  Do we believe a lie?  You bet we do.  Hook, line and sinker we worry ourselves sick…I mean literally SICK by taking thought.  Thoughts produce chemicals in our brains that can actually produce the conditions we fear.  What if the terrorists don’t annihilate us? We don’t need them to; we will annihilate ourselves with worry.  And Satan knows this.

Jesus isn’t making a suggestion with “take no thought;” He’s giving an imperative.

Let’s look at how He overcame the Lie with the Truth.  Jesus wasn’t born with a full knowledge of the truth.  He was born one-hundred-percent human.  He had the Old Testament as a plumb line to guide His thoughts.  He learned the Old Testament like any other Hebrew.  He memorized it, heard it in the synagogue, and because of the work of the Holy Spirit in Him He understood what He read better than any rabbi.  In the Old Covenant He read about Moses who asked God what His name was. “I AM WHO I AM.” He was saying, “Moses, you bring me a problem, I AM.  You have a need, I AM.  You want peace, I AM.  You need water, I AM.  Imagine God saying I AM followed by a blank space you fill in.  Jesus noticed how David picked up on this.  When David felt lonely and abandoned he turned to his covenant God and said, “The I AM is my Shepherd.” David filled in the blanks.  When he felt helpless he said, “The I AM is my strength” and so on.    The need is proof that the supply was here in “I AM” long before the need was known.

Reckless faith is “not taking thought,” for when we are thinking our way through problems we do not believe.  Believing is resting.  “Labor to enter My rest.”  Hebrews 4:13.  Our labor is to stop thinking and trust God! If we are trying to believe, murmuring Scriptures to ourselves, praying loudly, etc., we are trying too hard.  Belief rests in complete trust, just like a child.  Jesus was childlike, for in abandonment to I AM He had nothing but thanks left to give God.

Jesus didn’t deny problems; He just didn’t think of problems as being the final state of anything.  He saw problems as a necessary part of getting somewhere.  He didn’t put His faith in the problem because He didn’t believe the problem had the power to accomplish anything.  Thus, He never worried.  He recklessly put His faith in I AM, for I AM existed before the problem did.  Jesus gave thanks in everything.

Before Lazarus was raised Jesus prayed, “thank you that you always hear me” John 11:42.  Jesus prayed “thank you” prayers instead of “help!” prayers.  He saw how supply always precedes need.

During this time I am preparing to cleave to a new husband while letting go of everything I’ve  formerly known and loved.  I’m letting go of home, history and even identity as I’ve formerly known it.  The future is unknownness–always.

As seasons change and the ground shakes beneath our feet it is good to remember: We don’t need to know.  We don’t need to absorb and take everything in.  We already know.  The earth is quaking but we need to rest.  How?  By abiding in the present moment.  The loving arms of God are holding us right now. Now is home; in reality we have no other home.  Now is faith.  Now is the substance of everything we need to take in.  The Holy Spirit inspired me to write in my journal:   “Jaque, you only need Me; that’s all.  Simple.  I am your future and your exceeding great reward. In Me you are free of every care.  Remember, I AM.  You have the Spirit of love, power and a sound mind.  Abide in My love.  Keep yourself in the love of God.  Though everything shakes around you, you shall enjoy the kind of peace that passes understanding.”

Good words…important to remember.

I believe His anger is about what we can’t see and therefore don’t believe. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, and we let him have the whole store because we don’t see to believe. “Open the eyes of their hearts Lord…” Righteous tears. Yeah. Glorious. Righteous anger. Powerful.

“Hey Lord, you can’t raise up a person who has been dead for four days.” Well, all I can say is I was dead for years but now I’m alive–really alive. I love what Jesus said to Mary. “You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life.”

Jesus came to my tomb and asked me to walk away from my heavy grave clothes. Little by little they fell, and they’re still falling away as my eyes are opened. Now I’m watching the fabulous glory of God unfold day after day after day. But this isn’t just so I can see; I hope the skeptics are watching and learning to believe.