I was just thinking about a quote that I once read.  It went something like this, “The truth that sets you free is the truth that you are free.”  That quote was a “wow moment” quote for me.  I don’t know about you, but I can really get myself in a bind (of fear) sometime by not knowing just how free in Christ that I really am.

Just think about it.  The Bible says, in John 14:6, that “Jesus is the way, the Truth, and the life.”  It also says in John 8:32 that “…you shall know the truth, and it is the truth that will set you free.”  Ok, if Jesus the Christ lives in me, then I am one with Him, just like when you stir the egg into the batter, it is not coming out, it is one with the batter.  Now because I am one with Him, then everything that He is, I AM.  So that makes the truth a part of me.  If He is the truth, then I am the truth, so I should only be speaking the truth, which is His word.  The truth is that He is free, He is freedom!  Praise God, I am free! 

If we really know this to be true, then the words that we speak should be just as powerful as when Jesus spoke.  Wow!

So what are we free to do?  We are free to love just like our God loves. We are free to love God, ourselves, and others.  We are free to speak His word.  We are free to speak, and know that our words have power!  So, be careful little mouth what you say!

But, just like John 8:32 says, “…you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free”, you have to know the truth.   Do we really know the truth/ the Christ?  Do we really know what all that entails?   All that the Father has is mine!  I am the righteousness of God in Christ, I am accepted in the beloved, what He is IAM!

This also means that we are to be thinking His thoughts, not limiting, carnal mind thoughts.  Think on whatsoever things are true, honest, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praise worthy.  Think the “I can” thoughts.  The “I can do all things through Christ”  thoughts!

I Peter 1:13 says, “gird up the loins of your mind.”  Ephesians 6:14 says, “having your loins girt up with truth.”   Truth is the only girdle that sets us free instead of binding us up!

We are free to be what God created, and called us to do, and do it in love!

I was just thinking about tomorrow, April 22.  Tomorrow is Earth Day 2009.  Now this special day has been around since the 1970’s, but just in the last few years did anyone seem to be familiar with Earth Day, and what it stood for. 

Tomorrow is also my wedding anniversary, and it is a friend’s birthday.  So you can see why it is a day for me to remember, and be thinking about.  I will probably have to remind my husband about all three.

Anyway, back to Earth Day.  I was thinking about what I could do to take care of this wonderful earth that God gave us.  I will probably plant some flowers, and trees.  Now I am not much into recycling, so I had to put some thought into that.  Then it came to me.  I will recycle some plastic, not bottles, but CREDIT CARDS! 

I have been working at paying off my credit cards, and I thought this is it.  I can cut them up, and use them for guitar picks, or shred them, and make tooth picks!  You know this is not a bad idea.  This maybe one of the best things that I can do for Mother Earth, and for me (my earthen vessel/earth body), to get me out of debt.

Well, think about if you try recycling your credit cards this year, it could be your best Earth Day ever.  I know that it would be a good anniversary present for my husband.  He would love it if I stopped using my “plastic”!

I may have to plant the flowers, and trees first, and then I will ease into the plastic recycling.  We all have to start somewhere!

Truly, the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.  God has given us this wonderful place to live, and He wants us to be good stewards.

I was just thinking about a lot of things today. Here are some of my random thoughts.

I Cor. 13:12 says, “we see through a glass darkly”, so we must not see what’s really there, which is God’s perfection.

Have you ever noticed that we sometimes relate more to our thoughts about someone and not actually to that someone?

Proverbs 3:6 says, “in all your ways acknowledge Him.” I think that means to be conscious at all times of God everywhere, and in everything. Also, to be conscious that everything comes from God. If God was in the “burning” bush, then He must be in the fire, or even be the fire. That’s why the three Hebrew children came through the fire without being burned. It’s just all God, isn’t it?

I’m thinking that what we have to overcome to get healthy, wealthy, wise & successful is to overcome everyone telling us to stay average like them, be fearful, and don’t dare to be different. Also, we probably should not focus on the things of this world, but to seek God first, and put our focus on Him and His kingdom. That’s hard to do when things seem to be in your face bad, but that is all the more reason to do it. It is not easy to dare to be different, but after all God did say that we were a peculiar people. (Easier said than done???)

Don’t come into God’s presence with a “poor me” attitude, because God sees us as complete. He is just waiting on me to realize that I am already complete in Him.

I heard my husband say, ‘Romans says the strength of sin is the law’. I believe he is right.

If we need or fear people, or both, that does not make for a true relationship. What do you think?

We complain because something happened or didn’t happen, so we then say we can’t be ourselves until certain things do happen or stop happening. I believe that makes us “victims”.

If the verse, “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” is true, then why do I still have “want” in my life. Maybe I have not really made Him my shepherd, or sought Him first???

Seems to me that I have some strange, but good thoughts today, It must be because it is raining outside. Yea! Thank you God that it IS raining outside today!!!

I was just thinking about beginnings, actually about “new” beginnings, about starting over again.   In John 1:1 it says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’

Now if God is omnipresent, that means He was here yesterday, and He is here “now”, and He will be here with us forever, and be everywhere we are at all times.

OK, if God is the Word, and in the beginning was the Word, then that makes God equal to “beginning”.  And God is a NOW GOD, so I can have “new beginnings” at any “now moment”.

WOW!  So if I messed up before, I can start all over now!  Of course I may have to reap what I have sowed in the past; but I can start all over, and do things differently this time.

Now, remember you cannot put new wine into old wine skins, or new patches upon old garments without them looking patched.  In other words you cannot take with you into a new beginning any part of the old man ( your past, old ways of thinking, actions, fears, etc.)  If you want things to be different in your life, you have to do something different.

I think God wants to take us all to a new level of faith and awareness.  Let’s start thinking, believing, and seeing things the way God does, and know that God is not a God of fear.

I’m thinking that if we do this we are in for some great new beginnings NOW!   Remember, if you want different results, you probably need to do things differently, and by differently, I mean God’s way, not just a new idea from some person.  Just because it worked for them, it may not for you.  Get your own word.  God may tell you to do it the same way, but make sure it is what God wants for you.

In other words, get your own direction, and inspiration from the Christ “in you”!

Albert Einstein said, “The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men.”  Proverbs tells us that as we think in our hearts so are we (you are & have what you think).

Make the changes NOW.  Start all over NOW.  If  that doesn’t work, start over again!!!  You are never to young, or to old, just do it!

Welcome!  I am glad that you are reading my blog, and listening to my thoughts today.  I hope that you don’t find my content to be unusual;  but for the last several months I have encountered much sickness, and/or death all around me.  I guess this is why, when I was at the book store one day, I sat down beside a book called “Why Your Life Sucks”.  Now this is probably not a book that I would have picked out myself.  I don’t even know what category this book would be in; but I found it to be very interesting.  It got me to thinking.  The following is an excerpt:

“The purpose of life is not to arrive safely at death.  It is to live so well that death or the fear of it cannot remove your JOY.  It is to have such a good time that you don’t even notice death when it comes.  You just close your eyes in one room and wake up in another.

We have heard so many fear-based pitches about what happens after death that we spend much of our life resisting it.  Some of the horror stories have not scared the hell out of us; they have scared hell into us.  You can become so preoccupied with the afterlife that you miss the DURING LIFE ( your now).  If you have ever watched someone die a natural death, the experience can be very illuminating, even beautiful.   The whole process can be very natural and well-orchestrated, and I realize death can be an exercise of deep wisdom.  The process is not horrible, but liberating.  We all know how to do what we need to do when we need to do it, and death is no exception.

Of course, we all want to live long, happy lives, and there is no reason to glorify death, or go looking for it.  We have a purpose here, and we shall fulfill it.    During our life we need give death no more attention than to bless it as a natural evolution of our life cycle, and use its reality to inspire us to spend our time on earth well.

Every great spiritual teaching has confirmed that death is not the end of life;  it is simply a transition to another state of consciousness.  The Twenty-Third Psalm affirms, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”  The operative word here is “shadow.”  The appearance of death is but a momentary obstruction of the light.  Although clouds may obscure our vision of the sun, the sun is still there.  And while death seems to come between us and life, it does not;  it simply takes us by the hand, and leads us to another room in a great mansion.  Where could you land, but in the arms of God?

Death has power over you only if you fight it.  You cannot worship death (by your fear of it), and enjoy a glorious life.  Any belief of loss gives reality to the illusion of death, and bestows a blood sacrifice at its dark altar.  In truth, everything that leaves your life creates a space for something new to enter.  And what has gone is recycled to show up in a new form, and serve elsewhere.  Loved ones who die do not go very far at all;  they are just on the other side of a curtain (veil).

I do not feel sorry for people who have died; I know they are in a good place.  I feel sorry for the people left behind.  They mourn not for the deceased, but for themselves.  Yet, if they recognized that life is eternal,l and not limited to a physical body, their grief would give way to deep solace.  Of course it is natural to feel sad when a loved one leaves, and it is not healthy to try to squash, or deny feelings of grief.  Let yourself feel what you need to feel, then let the healing power of love lift you to freedom.  Your beloved has set out on a great adventure.

You, too, are on a magnificent adventure.  Where it ends up is not as important as where you are in it. (I personally think both are important).   If you are true to yourself as you go, you will arrive at a place that is true to you.  Your destination is more meaningful for the route you choose to get there.  You can take the well traveled path or colorful side roads.  In the end, the only thing that matters is that you follow your own path.  In the teaching of Don Juan, a Yaqui Indian mentor,  taught that there are just two paths of life:  the path with heart, and the path without heart.  If you choose the path with heart, when you come to its end, you will bless your  life.  If you follow the path without heart, when you come to the  end, you will curse what you have done. 

At every moment you are choosing a path with or without heart (to me that means with or without God/Christ/love).  No one knows your path with heart better than you do.   If you are true to your visions, dreams, and values, your life will shine.  If you deny them, your life will suck.  In the end, the power lies in your own hands.”

So, I was just thinking, that it sounds to me like we need to “live” our lives, and live in the now.  Live knowing that we are one with God;  that we are the righteousness of God in Christ;  and that we are accepted in the beloved.  God is good – therefore, life is good.  CHOOSE you this day whom you will serve. Aas for me, and my house, (my earthen vessel, my temple of the Holy Spirit) I will (choose to) serve the Lord!

Make wise choices!

I have eternal life, so I am just going to look to Jesus, and live!!!  I shall live a healthy, happy, joyful, Christ centered life, no matter what!  And I pray that you do, too!

 

Think good thoughts – Brenda!