JUST BEING WITH GOD
16/01/21 17:21
Easter is about the death of death and the resurrection of life. The difference in being spiritually alive rather than dormant is the difference between living in religion with God and being one with God.
Religion is not an end in itself and when it is, what we get may not be God or ourselves.
Prayer need not be the rigmarole it has sometimes been made out to be. In the new covenant prayer is less what we do and more a state of mind and a state of being one with God. In the new testament age everything is being one with God in Christ.
HEALED LIVES, HEALED LAND
The prophetic appeal, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land,” is just as relevant now as it ever was.
GREATER THAN
But we do have an advantage and this advantage is huge. It is the advantage Jesus was referring to when Jesus stated that anyone in the days following His ministry is greater than John the Baptist. Greater not in terms of sacrifice but greater in privilege and inheritance. Jesus was speaking of union with God.
THE DIFFERENCE
God was near people in the old testament and intimate with some. But He was interwoven into the being of none of them. Not like He can be with any of us. This is what Jesus was getting at when He said, ‘On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you’ John 14.20 NIV.
By realising this and agreeing with it we have it. This is our inheritance and our reality. Our responsibility is to live in it. This is not some formulaic ‘doing.’ It’s a case of being in in the relationship in which God has gifted and positioned you.
SEEK HIS FACE
Richard Rohr writes, “Prayer is actually setting out a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is get tuned to receive the always present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance and a capacity for mutuality (Matthew 7:7–11). The Sender is absolutely and always present and broadcasting.” (1)
JOYFUL INTERACTION
By living in the grace of our constant acceptance and knowing that we are Father’s delight, we are able to delight in the unfolding adventure of our lives, live in our true selves without building a false self of external accretions, and delight in aspects of the good that still remain in the valley of the shadow of death.
EYES THAT SEE
In the disruption of covid 19 we are seeing some amazing signs of grace and love.
We are talking of our ability to discern the glory of God in what still remains a distorted creation. In being ourselves as sons of God we are able to impart new creation life to dead things and demonstrate this spirit and life as signs of the age to come.
(1) Rohr, Richard. The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (pp. 101-102). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.