Going Silent
Going silent is now my favorite practice. The thought realm seems to emphasize quantity over quality and so my spiritual practice is to downsize. Mind chatter cheapens my soul and thwarts my quiet fellowship with the mind of Christ. It is a spiritual risk but I’m challenging my own perceptions, opinions, interpretations, and even discernments (accurate or inaccurate, it doesn’t matter). I am again resisting the urge to be understood by others (including myself). If I feel misrepresented, misjudged, or like I’m on the receiving end of a sniper attack my practice is to go silent...
Read MoreIt’s Up to Him
I am here in New Mexico and that is enough. The rest remains in the hands of the One who generates real emotion and passion. I expect more from Him than what I know cannot come from me. I won’t limit my expectations in an effort to avoid disappointment. I shift my focus and cast off restraint when it comes to looking to God to do abundantly above and beyond all I could ask or think. It”s not up to me to make this “move” meaningful. We moved on a desire and trust it to make room for a new revelation of Christ. Desire carves out space for Him to rush into. ...
Read MoreUmbrella
A million negative thoughts and feelings can come to beat me down but as I “go silent” they pass on by. I don’t have to go where thoughts want to lead me and I don’t have to feel what they want me to feel. Dismissing thoughts is like standing under a see-through umbrella; the negative thoughts rain down like bird droppings; they hit and splatter, but they’re not actually landing on me. I may still flinch when I see one coming, but as long as I stay under the umbrella I’m safe and unsullied. If I abandon the umbrella and connect with a negative thought then I run...
Read MoreHis Winnowing Fork
I baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: whose winnowing fork [fan] is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:11-12 (KJV) FAN: A two-fold instrument used for winnowing grain. One fan is like a fork used to throw the grain to the wind so the chaff may be blown away: the other fan is used to produce wind when the air is too calm (so the...
Read MoreBalance
Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them— obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Romans 8:5-6 (TMB) When I start thinking it’s up to me to make something happen I get obsessed with measuring my own moral muscle. I am now repeatedly instructed to trust His action within me. Without a doubt, obsession with...
Read MoreFor Love or Money?
Living from the head instead of the heart will blind me to who I am and what I want to do in life. There are dozens of roles to play, duties to perform, or jobs to work to earn money; and the mind will easily justify forsaking what I want in lieu of the money I could make at jobs I dislike. Discontent and unrest are born if the desires of the heart are sacrificed for money. What good is money without joy? What good is money if the “real me” isn’t present to use it? Taking a job that frustrates my being will generate grief and conflict. If my vocation is not in harmony...
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