sheryl wrote:Good Morning My Friend!
Indeed, Jo! We can think of our thoughts, and even our feelings as bondage, for they are limited by our personal experiencing, and so we must be open to allowing God to enlarge our box, eventually burning it completely!
Hi Sheryl!
Thus words we find in scripture such as "purging" and "healing". This also suggests that "sin" is not always the out-and-out disobedience to specific commandments which many think it is; but also just not being in complete alignment with God's will. As you have suggested, it is "missing the mark" which prevents our ability to be in alignment. I am beginning to see this in ways and layers I never saw it before.
And yes, nothing is random. Our thoughts are a product of who we presently are. (What we have clothed ourselves in, what is our "I", coming from our experiences, and how we perceived or interpreted them.) And so to unravel self, or deny and crucify self, as our Lord taught and mentored, and as his Apostles taught and also mentored, we must let our thoughts and feelings guide us into revealing our bondage. Remember John 3 - all must come to the Light so that they might see what they think, say and do. So what they think, say, and do, might have the Light of Christ shine upon it, revealing its source in delusions and lies.
My gosh, since EVERYTHING is a pattern, why wouldn't we each as individuals need to be crucified in order for our "self" to be COMPLETELY in alignment with Father's will? What a simple concept! Yet, what a hard road to traverse to get to the core of its simplicity. Whoa!! So even Prophets, use simpler words to describe the ultimate meaning of what they want to share. If a Prophet were to say that we all need to be crucified, instead of using the words they are inspired to use to help us get started, we would most likely never listen to what they were trying to share.
So do I!
And yes, this is God enlarging our box,
Awesome!!!
Indeed we have paradigms of reasoning that make it challenging for us at times to move in new directions in understanding.
What comes to mind is to share:
He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
but Christ is all and in all.
The picture that scripture gives us is that all things are in Christ and Christ is in all things, so right away we have an image of Christ that frees us from thinking of a singular body or personality.
Well, I didn't get that until just now.....and how many times have I read it? I can't even count the number......sigh....but I got it NOW!!!! And, may I say, WOW???!!!!! I mean I knew that we all have the light of Christ within us; I knew He was the Creator; etc., but I hadn't seen this aspect where this distinction should also be a part of my understanding.
Christ, though he incarnated as Jesus, is beyond our understanding. And so if all is in Christ and all is Christ, then this includes the planets and the stars For any of this to make sense, we have to stop thinking of God over there and creation over here. Creation unfolded from God, a telling of this unfolding and the levels of unfolding being told in Genesis 1.
Oh my gosh, Sheryl!!!!!! And here my own understanding has just experienced a major unfolding while I am reading your gifted ability to use words.
Oh there will be new understandings beyond our comprehension to even imagine now!
Our language seems so trite in attempting to express something so incredible!!
What you are expressing here is tied into a thought shared below.
The Greek word translated as word in the English is actually logos. We do not have an English word alone that describes logos, which originated in Greek philosophy in 600 B. C. to designate the divine reason or plan which coordinates a changing universe.
Every time John says 'word' in our bibles he is actually saying logos. This greek word also forms all our - ology words: biology, psychology, etc. Logos or Word thus is all knowledge, all reason, including all science, all religious writings and expressions, all philosophy. Anything that man can reason and think was with God, was God in the beginning. So you see that it is not what we think that is the problem, but that what we think is limited, in a box.
Indeed! Well said!!!
So just imagine all knowledge and reason and logic within all creation was contained in one man - Jesus. So indeed, sister Jo, Jesus was more than what we call 'Torah'. The Torah was the Word, but a limited expression of the Word, all that the children of Israel could receive at the time. And the Bible is the Word, but not all the Word, for the Word also includes how creation was put together, all science, how man functions and thinks, all philosophy. Everything that we can perceive, all things visible and invisible, is the word.
For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
So are you getting a better idea of what Christ is? :)
And I thought He was awesome before!
Perhaps what was shared above will add to your contemplations?
Now THAT is an understatement!!!!! (underquestion??!!!)
What we are able to understand and receive of God's Truth is dependent on a few things. One until God's Truth unfolds on the physical level, it does not exist yet on the physical level and so cannot be described or talked about in human terms. And so as we evolve and can receive more, more of God's Truth can be seen and understood on a physical level. Yes Jesus was Logos in full, but what of Logos that could be revealed was then limited. But we can through his spoken (recorded) Word and through the Holy Spirit, connect with the energy or Truth behind Jesus' words, and bring down a greater understanding than man could before us. Because we have evolved, meaning more play has occurred, more potential realized, on the physical plane so there is more truth that can be received, understood and manifested. Remember, Jesus said his disciples would do greater works than he? Because they would be able to bring more of Spirit and Truth into this world than he was able.
This is why we cannot get stuck in specific doctrines, saying this is Truth, for Truth is constantly evolving or advancing here in the physical. Thus we must worship in Spirit and Truth, not in fixed doctrines and theologies.
This is so interesting; and I agree. I think there is a misunderstanding about ancient mankind. Many people think they were not very intelligent. However, I think they may have actually been more intelligent if for no other reason than they did not have the benefit of the cumulative and naturally advancing knowledge being passed down to them from generation to generation that we have today. Yet they survived just fine. Ignorance should never be confused with intelligence.
If a group is led by an Apostle, the Apostle connects directly with Christ, meaning they embody Logos as well, and so their teachings will constantly grow and evolve, as more and more is able to come in.
It is like trying to keep up with a tornado, in following the teachings of our Apostle, they are constantly growing and growing and getting deeper and deeper.
So far, during the history of mankind, I cannot see where more than just a few at a time would be able to understand this. If it HAS been made manifest in large numbers, their records do not appear to be available to the general public. This seems appropriate, though, as testified by mankind's history. For Biblical evidence of this, I would point to how the Apostles wrote letters to various groups of church members and explain to them that they were not yet ready for more.
Remember what Jesus said: The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Logos does not have a fixed beginning nor end, nor a fixed in between. It is constantly moving.
Yes, and quite telling and also beautiful at the same time.
Shalom, my friend.
jo