Spiritcode

Matrix 1

Romans 8:22. For we know that all of creation is experiencing the struggle of bringing something to birth together with us up to this very time 23. And not only they, but we too, who experience the initial phases of the transforming work of the Spirit – we too are agonizing deeply within, waiting for the full and final experience of being God’s mature children, which is the absolute transformation of our bodies from mortality to immortality. (Manifestation of the sons of God)

MATRIX – A matrix is an environment that provides a system or surrounding substance in which something is brought to birth, grows and develops. (e.g. an egg)

g2836. koilia; (“hollow”); a cavity - The matrix; figuratively, the heart, belly, womb. 

The concept of Matrix can be applied to a cultural, ideological, social, or political environment in which something develops. Each man-made matrix will have a set of constant processes, resources and goals to achieve its final expression.

WE ARE ENGAGED IN A SPIRITUAL MATRIX – THE UNIVERSAL MATRIX OF GOD.

The Father sends Jesus the Son into humanity (John 3:16), bringing God into human form. Then the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit into all mankind for Jesus to be formed in us as the New Creation. We cooperate with the Holy Spirit in this transformation by faith, transcending the Old Creation and being partners with him in bringing forth the New Creation.

Galatians 4:19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,

1John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

ESSENTIAL CONSTANTS OF THE SPIRITUAL MATRIX

Father always sending Jesus. 

Holy Spirit always bringing us into God’s presence.

The yearning of Holy Spirit to lift us above the Old Creation.

The struggle of our soul in emotionally detaching from afflictive circumstances.

The victory of faith in overcoming (transcending) the matrix of absence – entering the rest.

Why should Paul have to pray the prayer of Galatians 4:19? 

It is because he is contributing to this spiritual matrix of the formation of Christ within others. He exercises loving faith in his partnership with the Holy Spirit for this purpose. He knows that he is part of a much larger system of transformation and bringing to birth of the will of God for humanity, on a much larger scale than his own immediate interests. 

Romans 8:22. For we know that all of creation is experiencing the struggle of bringing something to birth together with us up to this very time 23. And not only they, but we too, who experience the initial phases of the transforming work of the Spirit – we too are agonizing deeply within, waiting for the full and final experience of being God’s mature children, which is the absolute transformation of our bodies from mortality to immortality.

Paul had an intimate participation in this mystery (Colossians 1:26).

Every situation that we experience is used by God to call forth our faith in God’s working all things together for the bringing to pass of this overall purpose. To engage the matrix of presence prayer all we need do is include the lives and circumstances of those we have on our hearts to pray for. That prayer is simply a constant consciousness of a supernatural activity, an energy of the highest possible order that we are involved with. We are then included in the Holy Spirit matrix of the bringing to birth and forming of the life of Christ in people. Everything in that matrix works together (synergizes) to bring about God’s good will and purpose. When we bump into the hard edges of life that is the signal to turn that random thing into Purpose. If we think we can make random things comply with our purpose we remain disillusioned.  

Romans 8:28. And so we can be assured that everything that happens in our lives will be divinely contrived to bring about His greatest benefit for us, who love God, and who accept the invitation to be part of his will for our lives.

29. For he knew beforehand and predetermined all of us who can now be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the family firstborn among a multitude of brothers and sisters. 

 

Path of presence - Breaking free

BREAKING FREE

Romans 7:18 For now I fully realize that within that dwelling place of my imperfect humanity there is nothing of any lasting virtue at all. My true self intends to act with the purest of motive and intention, but when it comes to living it out, the capacity just isn’t there.

19 For the good that I keep telling myself I am going to do I simply do not do, but the wrong things I have no intention of doing I just keep on allowing to happen.

20 Now if I just keep on doing what my true self admits as being wrong, then it can’t be the real me that’s doing that but some basically inferior disposition that I was born with.

21 So I have discovered a hard and fast predetermined principle, that whenever I decide to do something good, this basically inferior creature demands its equal voting rights. 

22 For I feel wonderful in my deepest innermost self about doing good and virtuous things that please God, 

23 But then I see another agenda at work in my attitudes that outsmarts the straightforward way I want to think and it begins to approve improper behavior.

24 What warped and distorted creatures we mortal beings are! Who can rescue us from this deadly impasse of disorder?

25 I thank God that Jesus Christ has become the rescuer and the rectifier of our human predicament by joining our innermost self to his innermost self. So now I can know I am pleasing and delighting God in my spiritual mind and heart while the other old mindset still tries to make its own arrangements.

CHAPTER 8

1. So there is a ‘not guilty for being a flawed human’ verdict upon every human being who knows what Jesus Christ has done for humanity and who takes this on as the way to live life.

2. Because the Spirit principle of sharing life together with Jesus in his divine existence sets me free from being trapped in the cycle of sin and its deathly consequences.

3. The law could not achieve this result because of what our limited humanity could achieve. But God sent his own son who lived with Him perfectly within this limited capacity of humanity, breaking for all time the hold that this death-lock had always held upon mankind.

4. So that the right living that the law commanded could now flow freely from us as well who live a shared life together with Jesus in his divinity instead of a life isolated by its own limited human condition

Path of presence - Transcendent life

AGE OF ADAM

Humanity was created in the image of God but of a lower order than God (Hebrews 2:7) and with many limitations so it was and is and always will be unable to live AS God. However it can rise to astonishing acts of love and compassion, but sink to atrocious depths of violence, fear and corruption.

Built into this being was the capacity to live with a blind notion that God was absent from its life. That is why Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God.

So their disobedience and their loss of innocence expressed what humanity was always destined to express in its falling short of the glory of God. After that act of falling short the essential humanity remained the same as always but with a new consciousness of darkness and an obsession with its separated self that could go in any twisted pathway it might choose. And it did.

AGE OF ISRAEL

God took a nation and blessed it incredibly by giving it wise and purposeful commandments that would offer it the wisdom and insight and encouragement to walk a straight path and to reflect something of the disposition of God as close as a limited humanity could do. Israel did not take what was on offer and like Adam it also lived a life as though God was not present, even rejecting the presence of the promised Messiah when he arrived.

AGE OF JESUS

Jesus was God and man and lived fully in the conscious communion and flow of the life of his father through the Holy Spirit that was resident within him. He lived AS God within that very same old humanity of Adam and Israel without being blinded. Jesus transcended his humanity and took it to a cross of death so that we too could transcend our humanity and take it to our cross. That has always been the destiny of that old humanity, what the Bible calls the OLD MAN. 2 Corinthians 5:14If one man died for all then all were dead…

AGE OF THE SPIRIT

Jesus was raised from the dead and all humanity was given the opportunity to receive that resurrection life from the Holy Spirit on and from the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17). This was the birth of a new humanity. The Bible calls this the NEW MAN. We are all invited to put off  (or transcend) the OLD humanity, that we still carry with us, like Jesus did. We are all invited to put on the NEW humanity by living in a new mindset of an ever present consciousness of the presence of God with us (Emmanuel). That is transcendence into true Being.

The OLD humanity could never be ‘fixed up’, or evolve into a perfect being that can live as God would. And while Godly Commandments of loving relationships and forgiveness, and well-managed psychotherapy can enhance moral and emotional functionality, there is no going forward to a state of compete wholeness for the OLD humanity. The OLD humanity can only be ‘transcended’ by shifting from an ordinary life awareness to a spiritual awareness through the practice of the presence of God by faith, and by constant correction of the straying from the wellspring of LIFE in the spirit.

Ephesians 2:1-6 God’s own life force has now been activated in you, lifting you out of the deathly void of self-absorption and self- gratification 

2. which you once shared with the rest of humanity. We were driven by the desperate self serving attitudes and values of this world that are energized by the power of the prince of darkness, who still holds sway over people who don’t believe and who don’t know any better. 

3. Once we were all trapped in that way of life, compelled to do whatever our mental and emotional and physical wants and needs demanded of us. Our entire disposition was one of being herded along with everybody else in a torrent of intense feelings that focused us in on ourselves.

4. But God, whose entire disposition is one of overflowing goodness and kindness and love toward us

5. Supernaturally activated the life of his son Jesus into our beings while we were still stuck in our self-absorption and not even looking in his direction. (God’s goodness planned and implemented your salvation)

6. Father gave us a place in heaven and a shared life with Jesus, which is available for anyone to experience. 

7. And in this coming age it will be displayed for all to see the extravagance of his loving goodness and kindness to us that transcends all else through what Jesus did in becoming one of us. (CAV)

Path of purpose - Two way test

PUT TO THE TEST

Numbers 14:21 But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it. But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.

PURPOSE OF THE TESTING

The ‘Ten times’ testing started at the Red Sea and ended two years later at Kadesh Barnea when the ten spies brought a negative report about entering the land. It was after that occasion that the forty years of going round in circles began for a whole generation. That generation never got to where they were going.

Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

TESTS TEACH US TO REST

At that time a generation had to die off for another generation to enter the land – a generation of faith. The trials are about that generation complaining about what they did not have instead of being thankful for what they did have.

The whole idea of the Old Testament was to demonstrate that we could not do what only God could do - even keep the commandments. They broke the first and second and third commandments before they even got them.

That is not to put us to shame but to promise us his good will of doing for us by His Spirit what we also could not do. The promised Land was to be a place of rest and blessing for God’s people.

Each one of us has us an internal generation of independence in our heart that has to die off, an attitude of complaining instead of thanksgiving, in order to enter our territory of rest and blessing.

Hebrews 3:8 don't turn a deaf ear as in ‘the bitter uprising’, that time of wilderness testing! Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors refused to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked, oh, so provoked. I said, "They'll never keep their minds on God; they refuse to walk down my road." Exasperated, I vowed, "They'll never get where they're going, never be able to sit down and rest

Hebrews 4:2 For good news has come to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they did not have faith to rest in it. But we who have believed enter that rest.

The journey is into the heart of rest. That is the territory - the land. The good news is we have entered the rest of faith. The only thing that keeps us out is the negative emotional activity of unbelief. The good news is that we get humbled so that we can realize we cannot live independently from God. 

The next piece of good news is that we get tested so that we can be reminded of our reactions and face reality and not our emotional delusions.

The third piece of good news is that we can know what is in our hearts and not just in our head. We can rest and hope in the miracle working power of a good and loving God. Not a bad journey.

All of this has been promised to us in the New Covenant. 

Ezekiel 36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a soft heart. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My ways, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.

Pathway of love - Caleb confidence and care

GOD ALLOWS A MOSES GENERATION TO SPY OUT THE LAND

Numbers 13:28 The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified (Hebron). Worse yet, we even saw descendants of the Nephilim giants (the Anakim giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers … Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land-- now. We can do it.

GOD ADDRESSES THE MOSES GENERATION

Numbers 14:30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land, which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your children, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised.

GOD SENDS THE JOSHUA GENERATION INTO THE LAND

Joshua 14:6 The people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite spoke: "You'll remember what God said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me back at Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of God sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought back an honest and accurate report. My companions who went with me discouraged the people, but I stuck to my guns, totally with God, my God. That was the day that Moses solemnly promised, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, you and your children's, forever. Yes, you have lived totally for God.' Now look at me: God has kept me alive, as he promised. It is now forty- five years since God spoke this word to Moses, years in which Israel wandered in the wilderness. And here I am today, eighty- five years old! I'm as strong as I was the day Moses sent me out. I'm as strong as ever in battle, whether coming or going. So give me this mountain that God promised me. You yourself heard the report, that the Anakim giants were there with their great fortress cities. If God goes with me, I will drive them out, just as God said."Joshua blessed him. He gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite still today, because he gave himself totally to God, the God of Israel. The name of Hebron used to be Kiriath Arba, named after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim giants.

And the land had rest from war.

Hebron was the city in the valley of Eschol where Joshua and Caleb brought back the huge branch full of grapes so big that it needed the two of them to carry it. The word ‘Hebron’ means to include and join together. Hebron was the home of Abraham where the three angels appeared to he and Sarah. It was where Sarah was buried, and the wives of Isaac and Jacob. It was the royal residence of David where he was anointed king.

There was a move of God’s Spirit forty years ago and there is a move of God’s Spirit touching another generation today, a Joshua generation. These are people in their forties down to people in the twenties and below, the so called X generation and Y generation, along with millennials. Here is the same Spirit of God but with a different expression from the one forty years ago with a previous generation – Less about denominational differences and fine points of doctrinal debate. It is more about faith that works by love and grace. It is more devotional, more diverse, more inclusive, and less judgmental. Walls of partition and separation are vanishing globally… 

The Caleb generation has seen the fruit. They have tasted it and had faith to defeat giants. They still want that mountain. They are not just about survival. The Caleb generation can go back in and recover a fruitful Hebron – the place of inclusion and joining together with a fresh generation that has suffered through a world of chaos and confusion. The Caleb generation can pray and encourage them through. They have different challenges, different giants. We can do it together.The Caleb generation can take on spiritual giants over our cities and regions with confidence and courage and without fuss – like David took on Goliath, also a Nephilim giant, but he knew God was with him and for him. 

Pathway of love - Good gift of a good life

Love and miracles was about answered prayer because it was in the flow of God’s love to us and our love towards one another. John wrote ‘we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we … do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And … that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another’. (1John 3:20)

There were other instances of prayer that Jesus encouraged the disciples to be confident about being answered, because they were prayers that harmonised with God’s ‘heart’s desire’ for the GOOD LIFE of Jesus given through the goodness of the Father to his own children. That GOOD LIFE is His inner goodness – in the realm of the spirit. We are encouraged to pray confidently for others that way. This is faith that works through love. 

John encouraged that this boundless confidence was because it was the prayer of love and faith for others and not just for self.

WHAT ABOUT PRAYER FOR SELF?

Personal prayer for ourselves does not require that we love others, but we are encouraged to bring our needs before him. This is CONFIDENCE in his goodness.

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We are also encouraged to come to God to ask for wisdom and to ask for grace to help in times of need, and to ask for comfort.

We CAN ALSO BE CONFIDENT that a Heavenly Father will give his good gift of the GOOD LIFE to any child that asks – and that good LIFE is The Holy Spirit. 

Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!

ASKING AMISS

But it means we also need to know that we are not ‘asking amiss’ … 

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your own desires. 

This calls into focus what we see as being the ‘good life’. For if we seek first just the good life only in the material realm, we can invite anxiety and conflict and the loss of inner reality in the spiritual realm.  The prayer that is in God’s will concerning our circumstances and material needs is quite clear:

1Thessalonians 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

WHAT WERE GOD’S GOOD GIFTS TO THE OLD TESTAMENT WORLD? 

Acts 14:16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.

WHAT ABOUT THESE MATERIAL BLESSINGS TODAY?

Seek first the spiritual realm, kingdom, world, AND WE CAN BE CONFIDENT that the material needs of this world will fall into line. 

Luke 12:29 And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.

Paul’s prayers for us.  Ephesians 1:15-23 -  For our eyes to be enlightened  - And Gal 4:19 - for Christ to be formed in us 

Pathway of love - Love and miracles

WHERE DO ANSWERED PRAYERS AND MIRACLES COME FROM?

Living in the land of God’s love means that at any one given moment a creative miracle is happening in your world. Living in the land of conflict and judgment will starve your world of miracles. It blinds us to love and interrupts the flow of love – it deflects the miracle of God's love at work. 

1John 3.11 For ‘this’ is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (Luke 10:27 ’ and ‘ your neighbor as yourself).

One way of stopping the flow of love is the ‘as Yourself’ problem.

TRANSCENDENT LOVE

1John 3:19 And by ‘this’ we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns (shames blames and accuses) us, God transcends (WBC) our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn (shame blame and accuse) us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another.

This word ‘condemns’ is only used in one other place in the Bible – when Paul shamed and blamed and accused Peter of separating himself from the  Gentile Christians at Antioch (Galatians 2:11). It was about judgment and ‘unlove’ – darkness instead of light. This speaks to us of our internal conflict and how to have it healed. We need to see the ‘wrapping’ of our darkness honestly (and courageously) but God can transcend it – that is how we stay confident in our hearts. God’s transcendent light blasts through our wispy darkness and our willing spirit releases faith that works (miracles) through love.

LOVE ALIGNS WITH THE WILL OF GOD.  (WILL = DESIRE) 

There is no magic here or mechanical formulas, just two wills (heart desires) in the alignment of love. 

1John 5:14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will (heart desire), He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.

We were created in the light of God’s love, and consciousness of the flow of love is being faithful to our eternal origin and divine source. Our original need (request) is that we be loved – and our original desire is that we love. This original desire must begin to bud and grow.

God’s love desire sweeps up our emerging love desire and aligns it with his supernatural ‘miracle of love’ outcomes. 

John 15:7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

We abide and He will provide.

Pathway of love - Love's pure light

1John 1:5 This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there's not a trace of darkness in him

John 1:4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it  (‘take it to itself ’- Phil 3:12) 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.

WHAT IS THE DARKNESS?

It is the territory (shadowy ‘glass darkly’ self) in which the human spirit wraps itself. This causes our spirit to resist ‘taking to itself’ love’s pure light - the light-life of Holy Spirit (Psalm 104:2 ... He wraps Himself in light…). The human spirit wants to own its own territory (which belongs to God) and keep it separate from Him. 

(1 Corinthians 6:19) So we must take to ourselves our Oneness with Him and we must own that. (That is God’s idea of who we are!). Why does this darkness not take to itself the light of the life of Jesus?

It fears exposure…Light exposes darkness and brings it into crisis. 

THE CRISIS (Judgement)

John 3:19 "This is the crisis we're in: God-Light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure (To the shadowy self). (Evil = painful, harmful, sorrowful, troubled, conflicting and futile activities) But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work (lifestyle) can be seen for the God- work (lifestyle) it is. (We learn to love the light!)

THE ENLIGHTENMENT  1650 – 1800  The human spirit misuses its brilliance. (Luke 11:34 Matthew 6:22)

The Enlightenment came after the Renaissance which lasted for about 300 years and which included the reformation, the printing press, Shakespeare and The King James Bible. With the Enlightenment European politics, philosophy, science and communications challenged all traditional authority and the human spirit embraced the mindset of perfecting humanity through rational thought. The Enlightenment produced inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French and Industrial Revolutions marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline. Atheism and deism were born. Hello darkness - Good-bye God!

ROMANTICISM 1770 – 1850 (disruptive and counter enlightenment)

This was the passionate belief in the freedom of the human spirit (not under God) and individual creativity, and one’s own unique, inner vision (Which of course is a journey with a loving God!), and the disregard of any "external" voice of Church, State, public opinion, family, and cultural traditions. Fierce nationalistic cultures arise and diverse Christian denominations. Meanwhile spiritual awakenings occurred.

MODERNISM 20th century

Titanic, WW1, WW2, Wars Wars Wars. People realize the reality of an uncertain world - So make it new make it big and make it work – Including Church. A Self-consciousness explosion - Extroverts rule with false confidence. Pop psychology, Pop art, pop everything. Unprecedented Global power games. Super powers project their solid and invincible posture. Meanwhile there are great moves of God.

POST MODERNISM  - Now - From confidence to confusion – defiance to delusion – solid to fluid. The bubbles all burst. Language is fluid, obscure, and often meaningless. Political correctness abounds, Confusion regarding gender, marriage, moral values. The Internet information explosion. Wars become undefined terrorism. The fallout is a calamity of fear and confusion. Church struggles to find itself.

THE AWAKENING

The painful exposure is happening out there, now, and we cannot keep pace with all the darkness that is being exposed. It is happening for a reason.

The suffering leads to the crisis of awakening love’s pure light, so that the human spirit can take God’s life back to itself. Amazing love - Amazing grace.

Pathway of love - Fair and Just

Our spirit feeds its truth to our soul and our soul expresses that, whether from our human spirit with its mix of acquired truth and experience, or with our spirit joined by faith to God’s Spirit and infused with his love and compassion. Our body feeds its sense experiences to our soul and our soul expresses them. (Seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feeling etc.). Proverbs 17:22 

Our spirit joined by faith to God’s Spirit bestows well-being to its soul (and body) in the embrace of God’s love. It can even rise above affliction to say ‘It is well with my soul’.

FAIR OR UNFAIR

The human spirit seeks to establish its own soul’s well being by gaining self-advantage and self-satisfaction and by contesting unfairness against itself. That is not all bad but it can lead to an overemphasis on self-sufficiency. The human spirit would grit its teeth on the following Scripture;

John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

The world would say that it is quite unfair to set a goal for anybody to decrease. But Paul did not see this as being unfair because his spirit joined to Holy Spirit transcended that negative emotion of unfairness and disadvantage. 

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “ My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Paul knew that God’s love is the truth that infuses God’s Spirit into our eternal spirit through Jesus, whereby we can say ‘It is well with my soul’. God’s love makes our soul feel cared for and carefree (Luke 6:23). 

JUST OR UNJUST

The world’s version of being fair gets confused with the real meaning of being just. The Bible does not say that God is ‘fair’ (ever! - MFL). It says that God is just, but to most people he seems to be not fair. God’s love for all of us, can seem unfair because we think some people don’t deserve it, including ourselves a lot of the time! But that love for ALL of us IS just 

The word for ‘just’ is the same as ‘righteous’ – the ‘right thing’. God’s love is God’s ‘right thing to do’ and he cannot do otherwise because he is love. To ‘not love’ for God would be ‘not right’ for God, ‘not just’. 

WIRED FOR ADVANTAGE 

Let us look at just one aspect of our body’s sense experience feeding our soul emotionally, and affecting our bodies physically. It is our brain. Our brain responds to life experiences that are perceived to be good or bad (tree of knowledge). The brain then produces hormones and neurotransmitters that cause our soul to express these good or bad experiences emotionally. These chemicals and hormones likewise have an effect on our body for good or for bad. 

Proverbs 17:22 A cheerful heart/spirit is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength

Our minds are not conscious of this, but our brain releases cortisol, the stress hormone, when we do not get a ‘fair go’ or are disadvantaged in any situation. It makes us alert, keeps us awake and self-confident. Our brain also releases serotonin, the mood elevator, when we do get a ‘fair go’ or are an advantage. It relaxes us and we become carefree and unstressed. So guess what we get set up for in a competitive world! The problem is that advantage is tentative so we stress to regain or maintain it – enter cortisol. We might blame the cortisol on a nasty world with lots of nasty people out to get us, but we were creatively wired for this arrangement for our human survival. Faith in God’s love for us in our spirit outworks the gracious balance of these hormones in our ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ body and soul. 

THE BRAIN CHEMISTRY

Cortisol levels normally fluctuate in a daily rhythm, but we need our adrenals to produce more cortisol in order to stay alert and at ‘high revs’ in response to stress, and not be disadvantaged. But we also need our cortisol levels to normalize ASAP following a stressful event. Unfortunately in our current high-stress culture, the stress response can get activated so often that the body does not always have a chance to return to normal. This can lead to an imbalance of circulating cortisol which potentially affects our health and well being. It adversely affects our blood pressure, our immune response, blood sugar levels, heart and circulation, sleep, anti inflammatory response, and the increase of visceral fat deposits.

Serotonin has been proven to affect mood and enhance positive social behavior, help digestion, promote sleep and memory function, and combat stress and depression (the ‘downward spiral’). Serotonin levels can be optimized not only through medication, but also physically through diet and exercise and light and spaciousness. But the best way is for it to be optimized emotionally through genuine care and comfort, so that a ‘carefree/cared for loop’ is activated – the ‘well with my soul’ state of being. That is God’s love infusing our spirit.

It is all about how much am I being conscious of God’s love for me. It is not ‘am I rid of all my weaknesses’? Or have all the hardships ceased, and has this world started being ‘fair’ to me?

THE JUST WAY

We have to align ourselves with the real and objective ‘right thing’ of God and not our subjective ‘fair thing’ of our human spiritual instinct. 

THE HEALING OUTCOME

It doesn’t matter how old we are, the right thing of God’s love and compassion restores the years. We have to get our spirit infused with the Spirit of God to set our minds and hearts and bodies in the harmony and blessing of God’s good love towards us.

Pathway of love - Loyal love

Lamentations 3:17 I've forgotten what the good life is like. I said to myself, "This is it. I'm finished. God is a lost cause." I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the ‘taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—the feeling of hitting the bottom. 

COMMENT

I’m re-living the past – I’ve forgotten the good life - forgotten God - but I’ve not forgotten the trouble! So I have no hope.

But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God's loyal love couldn't have run out, his merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great is your faithfulness!

I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

COMMENT

I’m still thinking of the past but I’m remembering God’s loyal love – His merciful love – His faithfulness – I’m declaring my faithfulness – He is my only hope!

God proves to be good to the one who passionately waits, to the one who diligently seeks. It's a good thing to quietly hope, quietly hope for help from God. It's a good thing when you're young to stick it out through the hard times.

When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence.

Bow in prayer. Don't ask questions: Wait for hope to appear.

Don't run from trouble. Take it full-face. The "worst" is never the worst.

COMMENT

I’m entering the present into Presence Prayer. I’m finding God’s goodness in waiting and in enduring. I’m entering silence and stillness. I’m facing the reality with hope. I’m waiting for that inner change that changes how I see it all.

Why? Because the Master won't ever walk out and fail to return. If he works severely, he also works tenderly. His stockpiles of loyal love are immense. He takes no pleasure in making life hard, in throwing roadblocks in the way:You came close when I called out. You said, 'It's going to be all right.' you brought me back alive! God, you saw the wrongs heaped on me. "You took my side, Master.

COMMENT

Faith is blooming in the NOW, and His immense love is expanding within me. Peace and assurance come. God is with me and for me. I’m thanking Him for my future.