This is a continuation of my thoughts on the divine breath. I was so taken back by God as he unveiled the following to me over a sermon and video from Rob Bell pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan. So I continued on a did a little more research using the Net Bible. If you have not used this tool it is awesome to look at the Greek words and definitions. Enjoy for it brought tears to my eyes and how good the Lord is to me.
DEFINITION and Greek translation the English word LORD= yeh-ho-vaw' (it is the sound when we breath try it say it slow a few times:)
Spirit in Greek is the word Pneuma who’s root word is Pneo which is defined as; to breathe.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And after he said this he breathed his last.
John 20:20-22 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
The lyrics from the song : This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
This is the air I breathe
Your holy presence
Living in me
When we breathe each other “in” we are experiencing God’s life giving force, His spirit that is living in us, in every breath we take. In the act of making love of sharing this intimate time of connection, the pure love of God is strong and evident. The breathing of each others spirit ties our hearts and souls together which makes us one with God sharing in His life given force which is pure “love”. This breathe (God’s Love) is linked to directly to our sexuality or better put our complete intimacy with Him. This is why a sex act without love violates the spirit inflicting wounds at the deepest sense of our lives. Rape incest, pornography, lust, and sex for the sake of sex are all acts outside of Love and rob ourselves of God’s breath and in the true sense leaves us empty inside when done.
GOD DOES GIVE and TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Kids: "We Are At War!"
There is an unseen world that exists around and within us. A world inhabited by God, the author and Father of all creation, His son Jesus the Christ, His Holy Spirit, angels, and demons. There is an order to this unseen world, just like in the seen world we inhabit. There is war in the unseen world, just like in our world. There are times of peace, but where there is free will, there is good and evil, and where there is good and evil, and there will always be war. There is only one created being that can and does exist in both worlds; us. Humans. We are souls who “temporarily have physicality”. Our primary state of existence is not our present physical state, but our future spiritual state. The knowledge of the eternal existence of our souls is a primary instruction for living out our physical existence. If we truly believe that God exists and that we have both physical and spiritual natures, then we will live and love differently than someone who believes in only the physical, being slaves to our appetites and emotions. Differently too from an animal who understands only the physical and reacts in fear and instinct to the world around it.
As Christians we believe in this dual nature of mankind and that God, through His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit seeks out His elect and speaks to us through the scriptures, through His creation, through our hearts and through other people. God speaks to us in joy and pain, life and death, work and play. The gentle wind of His Spirit. The peace which surpasses all understanding. A kind word spoken or written at just the right time. He speaks to us in silence. The silence that requires of us faith, "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."The silence that calms our hearts and minds to sense His presence deep within our own souls.
Now our biggest challenge as parents is not teaching about Jesus, but teaching of this "unseen world" inhabited by a triune God: The creator, the savior and the counselor. But also inhabited by messengers and warriors, princes and dragons all locked in battle for the elusive, eternal souls of man. If a child can believe and understand that this seeming fantasy, this mythology, is true, real and urgent, then all of a sudden the entire landscape of their lives will be transformed and the quest for hearing God's voice changes from an "ought" and "should" to a "need" and "want". Knowing the savior becomes a soul-searching need to find our king rather than a story told for fifteen minutes after crafts on Sunday before brunch. The world fits with this story.
The world can be understood through this story. This story is bigger than us. Bigger than our comprehension. Bigger than science. Bigger than the grandest ideas of history. Unless our kids understand the whole story; the hard parts and easy parts, the logic and paradox, the difficulties of faith and free-will, good and evil, pain and fear they will never be fully committed. They need to know where and how they fit into this TRUE story, and what they will be up against, who they are following and why. They need to be taught how to follow Jesus, how to pursue Him, how to be with him and how hear the Father's voice like He did. Only then will they be prepared to do the will of The Father which is the purpose of all of creation. Only then will they truly, truly believe.
Notes and Ideas:
We have grown so accustom to seeing and hearing evil that we dismiss it as a normal part of life.
This paradox the physical world and its issues are just hard tangible version of what is going in the spiritual realm. However, we must fight the spiritual war much different than how we fight in the physical world. Jesus spent much of his ministry teaching us how he fought the physical world with spiritual weapons of love, forgiveness, truth, repentance, healing, casting out demons, and most importantly asking the Father for instructions our supreme commander.
Hearing God’s voice and will for us is an absolute if we are to be true followers of Christ. My life is now: I HAVE to talk to God. I HAVE to know what my next orders are! I HAVE to be trained. I HAVE to be reprimanded by the LORD. I HAVE to be healed of my battle wounds. I HAVE to follow Jesus for God sent his One and Only SON to teach us reality of being warriors for God and for the SAKE of building/defending his Kingdom.
Thank you to my great friend PH for being a such a source of the light for me helping me write this so clearly.
As Christians we believe in this dual nature of mankind and that God, through His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit seeks out His elect and speaks to us through the scriptures, through His creation, through our hearts and through other people. God speaks to us in joy and pain, life and death, work and play. The gentle wind of His Spirit. The peace which surpasses all understanding. A kind word spoken or written at just the right time. He speaks to us in silence. The silence that requires of us faith, "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."The silence that calms our hearts and minds to sense His presence deep within our own souls.
Now our biggest challenge as parents is not teaching about Jesus, but teaching of this "unseen world" inhabited by a triune God: The creator, the savior and the counselor. But also inhabited by messengers and warriors, princes and dragons all locked in battle for the elusive, eternal souls of man. If a child can believe and understand that this seeming fantasy, this mythology, is true, real and urgent, then all of a sudden the entire landscape of their lives will be transformed and the quest for hearing God's voice changes from an "ought" and "should" to a "need" and "want". Knowing the savior becomes a soul-searching need to find our king rather than a story told for fifteen minutes after crafts on Sunday before brunch. The world fits with this story.
The world can be understood through this story. This story is bigger than us. Bigger than our comprehension. Bigger than science. Bigger than the grandest ideas of history. Unless our kids understand the whole story; the hard parts and easy parts, the logic and paradox, the difficulties of faith and free-will, good and evil, pain and fear they will never be fully committed. They need to know where and how they fit into this TRUE story, and what they will be up against, who they are following and why. They need to be taught how to follow Jesus, how to pursue Him, how to be with him and how hear the Father's voice like He did. Only then will they be prepared to do the will of The Father which is the purpose of all of creation. Only then will they truly, truly believe.
Notes and Ideas:
We have grown so accustom to seeing and hearing evil that we dismiss it as a normal part of life.
This paradox the physical world and its issues are just hard tangible version of what is going in the spiritual realm. However, we must fight the spiritual war much different than how we fight in the physical world. Jesus spent much of his ministry teaching us how he fought the physical world with spiritual weapons of love, forgiveness, truth, repentance, healing, casting out demons, and most importantly asking the Father for instructions our supreme commander.
Hearing God’s voice and will for us is an absolute if we are to be true followers of Christ. My life is now: I HAVE to talk to God. I HAVE to know what my next orders are! I HAVE to be trained. I HAVE to be reprimanded by the LORD. I HAVE to be healed of my battle wounds. I HAVE to follow Jesus for God sent his One and Only SON to teach us reality of being warriors for God and for the SAKE of building/defending his Kingdom.
Thank you to my great friend PH for being a such a source of the light for me helping me write this so clearly.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
A Sense of Heaven
There is a phenomenon that God lets us experience that give us a taste of what our senses will experience in heaven. This overwhelmingly intoxicating experience is truly a divine gift. This experience starts with gaining a deep sense of intimacy with each other. Really opening our hearts to each other becoming totally vulnerable, totally connected, totally naked, a place where there are no secrets.
We begin settle into a very holy place. A place where the heavens meet this awful world. God comes to meet us with his unsurpassed Love. Here He lets us experience co-creating with Him in this divine act of totally coming together. As our talks deepen we feel drawn to touch each other, we begin to kiss. Our lips touch softly we look into each other’s eyes wanting to know each other’s soul secrets. In this closeness the world around us disappears, we have arrived in this place where our souls and hearts can join together that rib God removed to make Eve is replaced and we are made whole once again.
This is not sex but making love, big difference. As we continue to kiss and breath we notice something different. Each breath through our nose and mouth draws in something peculiar yet familiar. It's not a smell but a stream of energy which when processed through our lungs and nose enlivens our connection to each other drawing us deeper into each others souls and hearts. It is so powerful it makes each of our physical bodies sing with an aliveness. Again its not a scent but an energy, a force. It give us what I call love fuel it fans the fires deep within each of us. The energy is so strong at times I think it will suffocate me.
This must be what heaven will do to our senses upon the death of our bodies. Maybe this is a brief glimpse of what eternity with Him will be like, so intense, so beautiful, so good, so amazing, so worth all the pain of this world. May you breath each other in, may you experience the Love of God in Worshiping Him through this gift.
We begin settle into a very holy place. A place where the heavens meet this awful world. God comes to meet us with his unsurpassed Love. Here He lets us experience co-creating with Him in this divine act of totally coming together. As our talks deepen we feel drawn to touch each other, we begin to kiss. Our lips touch softly we look into each other’s eyes wanting to know each other’s soul secrets. In this closeness the world around us disappears, we have arrived in this place where our souls and hearts can join together that rib God removed to make Eve is replaced and we are made whole once again.
This is not sex but making love, big difference. As we continue to kiss and breath we notice something different. Each breath through our nose and mouth draws in something peculiar yet familiar. It's not a smell but a stream of energy which when processed through our lungs and nose enlivens our connection to each other drawing us deeper into each others souls and hearts. It is so powerful it makes each of our physical bodies sing with an aliveness. Again its not a scent but an energy, a force. It give us what I call love fuel it fans the fires deep within each of us. The energy is so strong at times I think it will suffocate me.
This must be what heaven will do to our senses upon the death of our bodies. Maybe this is a brief glimpse of what eternity with Him will be like, so intense, so beautiful, so good, so amazing, so worth all the pain of this world. May you breath each other in, may you experience the Love of God in Worshiping Him through this gift.
Where I am at today!
A letter to a friend this week reads:
All is well in the war over my heart and the hearts of my family and friends. I still listen to both Piper and Boyd. I enjoy the two points of view. I love Greg Boyd for his view of the Warrior Jesus who came to save us and show us how to fight the real battle for our hearts and how evil so is present in our lives. I love John Piper for his solid theology and reverence. I don’t get too caught up in any one preacher. My faith is not based upon any preacher, pastor or priest. These are men with their own beliefs and take on God’s word. I find little comfort in religion or denominational churchs. I find my relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit much more grounded in the Word and in talking, praying and watching God at work in my life and in those around me. Life to me now is much different; it is all Spiritual, it is all about evil and good(love) nothing in between. I don’t DO Christianity, I walk with God and try to do what he ask me to do. I try to live like Christ somehow and read how he said to do life, to do life from the heart and build his kingdom. I find no value in rational thinking, I find value in love. Where that takes me I have not a clue I just try to live differently as did Jesus.
In Service for God!
All is well in the war over my heart and the hearts of my family and friends. I still listen to both Piper and Boyd. I enjoy the two points of view. I love Greg Boyd for his view of the Warrior Jesus who came to save us and show us how to fight the real battle for our hearts and how evil so is present in our lives. I love John Piper for his solid theology and reverence. I don’t get too caught up in any one preacher. My faith is not based upon any preacher, pastor or priest. These are men with their own beliefs and take on God’s word. I find little comfort in religion or denominational churchs. I find my relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit much more grounded in the Word and in talking, praying and watching God at work in my life and in those around me. Life to me now is much different; it is all Spiritual, it is all about evil and good(love) nothing in between. I don’t DO Christianity, I walk with God and try to do what he ask me to do. I try to live like Christ somehow and read how he said to do life, to do life from the heart and build his kingdom. I find no value in rational thinking, I find value in love. Where that takes me I have not a clue I just try to live differently as did Jesus.
In Service for God!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Sex Part II: A Divine Rejoining
Do we not experience a profound deep sense of a rejoining when having sex/making love to a women? This all came to me in what Moses and Jesus taught us about “becoming one flesh”. Moses explains this to us in the creation story in the Bible.
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:19-24 NIV)
Jesus reaffirmed Moses in Matthew 19:4-6
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (NIV)
In the act of sexually worshiping each other we get to experience the rejoining of that missing piece that God withdrew from each on of us men. As we unite our flesh in this pure act of worshiping our creator, God lets us go back to how he created us in the beginning, taking a piece of Adam(us men) to create Eve(you women). Making love to each other gives us the opportunity for a moment to replace the missing piece within us, thus completing what was once lost long ago. We get to relive part of God’s creation story in the intimate act of sex. Ths missing piece may be the root of our internal sexual drive not only to create new life but to replace this missing piece. How else do we describe where this urge or need comes from? We don’t know what drives us so passionately and strongly but this need/urge does not go away until we have been reunited with our own Eve, who holds our missing piece. Our hearts long for each other to dive deeply into the purely intimate sexual act of rejoining and becoming one again with each other. For God wants this union to be a special one, one out of love, commitment, and joy.
This rejoining is so deep, it does produce laughter but brings on a feeling of holiness, of gratitude, and amazement or better put ecstasy that something so wonderful could feel this good. Webster’s dictionary defines ecstasy as “rapture from the contemplation of divine things”. Don’t you think our divine creator God wants us to have a divine contemplation of the eternal life with Him? Maybe it’s through this uniting of our hearts in the act of sex that God whispers into our hearts this secret that not many of us fail to hear. Once you have really listened to Him and have heard the secret you so would love to tell everyone, but you just cannot find the human words to express it to the next person. It is such a big secret God wants us to keep it safe within the context of marriage and not to share it with just a random person. It is so deep and profound, to share it with an acquaintance or friend would be reducing sex to a physical act of pleasure much like drinking a glass of water when you’re thirsty. Is not sex so so much more than just satisfying a bodily function or control need? See Part I: A Divine Gift
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man." 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:19-24 NIV)
Jesus reaffirmed Moses in Matthew 19:4-6
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (NIV)
In the act of sexually worshiping each other we get to experience the rejoining of that missing piece that God withdrew from each on of us men. As we unite our flesh in this pure act of worshiping our creator, God lets us go back to how he created us in the beginning, taking a piece of Adam(us men) to create Eve(you women). Making love to each other gives us the opportunity for a moment to replace the missing piece within us, thus completing what was once lost long ago. We get to relive part of God’s creation story in the intimate act of sex. Ths missing piece may be the root of our internal sexual drive not only to create new life but to replace this missing piece. How else do we describe where this urge or need comes from? We don’t know what drives us so passionately and strongly but this need/urge does not go away until we have been reunited with our own Eve, who holds our missing piece. Our hearts long for each other to dive deeply into the purely intimate sexual act of rejoining and becoming one again with each other. For God wants this union to be a special one, one out of love, commitment, and joy.
This rejoining is so deep, it does produce laughter but brings on a feeling of holiness, of gratitude, and amazement or better put ecstasy that something so wonderful could feel this good. Webster’s dictionary defines ecstasy as “rapture from the contemplation of divine things”. Don’t you think our divine creator God wants us to have a divine contemplation of the eternal life with Him? Maybe it’s through this uniting of our hearts in the act of sex that God whispers into our hearts this secret that not many of us fail to hear. Once you have really listened to Him and have heard the secret you so would love to tell everyone, but you just cannot find the human words to express it to the next person. It is such a big secret God wants us to keep it safe within the context of marriage and not to share it with just a random person. It is so deep and profound, to share it with an acquaintance or friend would be reducing sex to a physical act of pleasure much like drinking a glass of water when you’re thirsty. Is not sex so so much more than just satisfying a bodily function or control need? See Part I: A Divine Gift
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