A BIG Piece of the Puzzle!

My mind is overflowing with amazing teaching lately!  Just when I sit to ponder, I begin to unravel it and it leads to even more "Ah HA!" amazing moments. 

It's the "Mind of Christ" - seems He is breaking it out everywhere lately in a huge way!  So, doing, doing, doing - this is the way so much of the church has been taught that they bring change to a hungry world that needs Jesus.  Actually, it's a lie - doing is not the end all be all to all in Christ.  Doing may be a wonderful by-product - but it is not actual "Life in Christ".  Life in Christ is intimate communion with Him that leads to everything in your life being lived through the lense of His eyes.  It's a mind set and lifestyle.  Those things can never be things you just do - they are what you are.

So, how does that look?  In the bible, God talks about how He will write His law upon the hearts of men and women and they will no longer teach each other to know the Lord - they shall all know Him.  This is in both Jeremiah and repeated again in Hebrews.

After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."—Jeremiah 31:33–34 

This is what is happening with those seeking to know God Himself.  They are finding Him.  He is placing His law in their inward parts, written in their hearts so that they are His people - it's an outflow of knowing Him - not having to be taught or teach. 

What an amazing time to be alive in the Earth and to KNOW God!  So thankful - praying relationship with Him just spreads and grows! Amen.

Story Writers

Are you a story writer? Oh, I don't mean someone who writes down stories for publication or even someone good at telling stories, though people who have those talents may also have this type of "story writing" going on.  Though it can be positive, this kind of "story writing" can also be a real problem that I and people like me run into all the time. While I can't speak for everyone, I'm fairly sure most people have dealt with their own "story writing" issues at some time or other.

You ever send someone an e-mail or leave a phone message and don't hear back from them for awhile and the first thought that comes to your head is, "Did I do something or say something that offended them?"  Then, more time goes by and you write up in your mind a whole scenario of how they must be angry with you or are certainly unhappy with you over something? Or, you meet up with someone, have a discussion, walk away and think, "Man, I blew that!  They must think I'm a complete idiot". And the tape of it plays over and over and over and over in your mind? Or, worse yet - you go through a humiliating situation with someone and say in your head, "Well, I'll never be able to have a good relationship with that person again". And, you write off any possibilities.  That's the kind of story writing I'm talking about, where you - with little or flimsy information - write a whole negative story out in your head and pretty much operate from it as the truth.  The stories we write may have no or some teeny shred of fact, but are typically so blown out of proportion or grossly flawed that they completely discount reality or better yet the real potential for amazingly over the top good things to happen.

I'm well acquainted with this.  All of the above and more have occupied my mind at times.  But, I'm discovering I don't have to listen to stories like these anymore or be a party to writing them in my mind.  I have new stories to write with the mind of Christ.  The new stories are much better - they are on the basis of what Jesus says.  I love His stories because they are soo good and most of all - they are true.

So now - I'm choosing, every time I hear a negative story start up, to say, "What do you say about it Jesus?".  Then, I listen for His answer.  I have scriptures that sometimes jump out, but I also hear His words at times in my mind or receive His peace like a soft blanket wrapped round me.  For instance, when I have not had a response from someone for some time and I start to hear the negative story begin - now I ask Jesus.  He says He has not given me a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.  I really rest in that (seeing Jesus' smile over me) and have joy and compassion towards myself and the person.  Then the story is always full of mercy and love and believing the best.  And, it's ended up that people I thought I had lost relationship with due to difficult circumstances - when I listen to Jesus - relationship is actually not only restored, but improved to better than before!  That's just so Jesus!  He's always more than too good to be true - He is Good and He is Truth and He's writing the story of my life!  With Him in it, it's only ever the best!