Bless the Space Betweeen

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore, May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul. As the wind loves to call things to dance, May your gravity by lightened by grace. Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth, May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect. As water takes whatever shape it is in, So free may you be about who you become. As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said, May your sense of irony bring perspective. As time remains free of all that it frames, May your mind stay clear of all it names. May your prayer of listening deepen enough to hear in the depths the laughter of God.

John O’Donohue (from “To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings”) with thanks to Philomena Ewin

A major part of the intrigue and mystery of God are “the spaces between” us. Our lives are full of divine spaces, pauses, and yes, even gaps. But do we take note of them? The “space between” often contains nuggets of wisdom, understanding and prophetic clarity. But it falls to us to mine them, to seek them out! King David was especially seasoned in taking note of “the space between”.

1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" 4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. 5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and 6 my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon--from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. 8 By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me-- a prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:1-8 NIV)

Panting, thirsting, searching, anguishing, pouring out, hoping, longing, questioning, and deep calling to deep are some of how we enter into the “divine mystery” of learning from “the space between” us. It is in the “in between” that we hear the laughter and intimate affection of God for us.

We always have the choice to experience our walk with Jesus in the ‘safe’ place of logic and intellect; never acknowledging the relational intrigue of “the space between”. But know that you will miss the greater parts of how he wants to be known and enjoyed by you. What are some of these “in between spaces”?

For me, they are the ‘nuggets’ of grace and intimacy that I seem to experience best in my “inner journey”. The space between perceived rejection and passionate acceptance in the beloved, hurt or offence and sweet forgiveness, lukewarm spirituality and blazing first-love, relational barriers and ‘risky’ love, timid unbelief and childlike faith, terrorizing fears and perfect fearless love, separation and reconciliation, faith to faith and glory to glory.

In the serendipitous, sacred ‘spaces’ we can more fully enter into the joy of our Salvation. "God wants to increase the level of your smiling and your laughter. The blessing in Numbers 6 about the presence of God says that He lifts up the light of His countenance upon you. That’s the best description of a smile that I’ve ever heard!" Graham Cooke

The glory of man is to enjoy God forever. Ron Ross

  

Shout Grace to It!

There are days when I feel I have gone as far as I can in this journey of following Jesus. At those moments all I can see before me is a mountain so high and sheer, I can't even imagine getting over it! The daunting task of getting over one more issue or through one more problematic failure sucks the spiritual wind out of me. It is then I find it easier to trust anything but the miracle of grace. Why?

It's not that I don't believe in grace at all. I do. I believe in grace a lot. Did you hear that? 'I believe in grace a lot.' The deadly problem; at those seeming insurmountable faith crisis moments, I believe in grace a lot! I don't believe in grace alone! The religious flesh raises it's ugly head in my soul and whispers to my delicate belief system; you need to 'do' something to add to the work of Christ. Jesus almost finished the work of salvation? Except, it is not that obvious--it's like the snake in the garden, planting the tiniest seed of doubt. And what do I do? I agree with  his lie. If only for a fleeting moment, I entertain doubt. And in so doing; I have the audacity to call into question the integrity of the finished work of Jesus! "Faith's only function is to receive what grace offers." John Stott

Grace is not grace until we are absolutely convinced that we can add nothing to it. We are helpless and hopeless apart from Grace alone! The  moment we do anything to fix, alter or change ourself or others, we step out of the wide open space of grace and return to a demanding, rigid taskmaster of rule and law keeping. And we immediately return to a wearying merry-go-round of striving for God's approval. It gets worse! We then turn our backs on the precious freedom grace alone empowers. 

The Old Testament prophet Zerubbabel has a word that helps me gain and keep grace perspective. "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the Lord of hosts. 7 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" ' " Zechariah 4: 6-7 (NKJV) Grace is not a whispering matter. No! It is a shouting matter. Yes, shout grace to your mountain! Our daily, moment by moment walk with Jesus is never about our might, resolve, or good intentions. And it is never more complicated than trusting in his Spirit to unfold the grace of God before us. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Ephesians 2:8 We contribute nothing!

Shout this message of grace to your life; "Christ redeemed (me) us from the self-defeating, cursed life (of spiritual and moral performance) by absorbing it completely into himself." (Galatians 3:13 MSG) Say NO to the rules and lists. Say NO to slavery and performance. Shout Grace to all of your life! Once and for all; "Your hearts should be strengthened by God's grace, not by obeying rules." (Hebrews 13:9 NASB) Was his invitation to grace, Come to me, all you who are doing good on your own? Nope! Totally and conclusively the exact opposite. 

Saturate your heart with the following: "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30, MSG) Trust Jesus. Let his grace happen. Stop performing for him, no more striving for his affection and approval. Because of great grace, you already have both. Go ahead; you can immediately and always stretch yourself out in the hammock of grace. You can rest now.

"With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all." (Acts 4:33 WEB) Great grace is on you. "God's promise (of great grace) arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it." (Romans 4:16 MSG)

"Grace is God loving, God stooping, God coming to the rescue, God giving himself generously in and through Jesus Christ." John Stott Live each day in the grip of His loving grace! Jesus, the following song captures my heart! You and your grace are beautiful! Ron Ross

http://youtu.be/JiXZYiyB1L4

Knowing Steadfast Love

Ron Ross

If this is all we ever really know it is more than enough for all of life's experiences! "Yet, this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to and end, they are new every morning!"

Are we tapping into the flow of living water that is in our innermost being-if so, all things will forever be fresh and new. The stale will be sweetened by the presence of Jesus! He says, behold, I make all things new! Ron Ross

http://youtu.be/JP8isf9PVz4
One Thing Remains....Jesus Culture(Lyrics)
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One Thing Remains....Jesus Culture(Lyrics)

One Thing Remains....Jesus Culture(Lyrics)

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One Thing Remains....Jesus Culture(Lyrics)

Heart's Flooded With the Light of Jesus

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11) 

Hey, somebody turn the lights on, it's dark up in here!  Faith sees the light with your heart when all your eyes see is darkness. Faith also lifts the fog of doubt and dissipates the mist hanging on from unresolved "stuff" of the past. The faith of Christ; lived from the inside out, turns on the lights and continually adjusts the eyes and ears of the heart. With our spiritual lights on we can see from Jesus' perspective. His vantage point is always definitive and pregnant with purpose, hope and destiny! Ron Ross

http://youtu.be/3GkBaXle3r4

Read by The Word

The Bible: when we read it, "it" reads us! Here are a few of the ways through which God's Word reads us.

1. It reveals the hidden things, issues shrouded in shame and doubt, blind-spots seen by other's, but only seen by us as Jesus reveals them and brings them to the light. The Bible is The Word made flesh, in and through us! 'The whole person is is thoroughly exposed to his scrutinizing gaze. Every creature's original form is on record in the Word.' (Heb. 4:13, The Mirror)

2. It reveals the presence of Jesus in our 'Kardia' (the sanctuary of our new covenant heart). It thrills our spirit man and soul with the awesome gift that 'Christ in us' by the gift of Holy Spirit really is! "I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." (Ezekiel 36:25-27) And: John 7:37-39 "On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

3. It interprets where we are in our journey. 'I have said all this to help you realize the tremendous importance of the message you have heard. Become totally engaged in its meaning and thus you will never drift away (the Word: an anchor for our very soul) from its influence and appeal...no one can afford to underestimate and be blase about this final message; a salvation of such magnificent proportions!'

4. It is a wellspring of hope and faith. 'This message that God spoke to us in Christ is the most life giving and dynamic influence in us, cutting like a surgeon's scalpel, sharper than a soldier's sword, piercing to the deepest core of human conscience to the dividing of soul and spirit; ending the dominance of the sense realm (the sark-eating from the tree of the knowledge and/or leaning on our own understanding: see Genesis 1 and Proverbs 3:5-6) and its neutralizing effect upon the human spirit. In this way man's spirit is freed to become the ruling influence again in thoughts and intentions of the (new Covenant heart-see Ezekiel 36) of the heart. The scrutiny of this word detects every possible disease, discerning the body's deepest secrets where join and marrow meet.

5. It leads us into a life of humility and childlike faith. The moment we cease from our own efforts to justify ourselves, by yielding to the integrity of the message that announces the success of the Cross, God's Word is triggered into action. What God spoke to us in son-ship (the incarnation), radiates His Image and Likeness in our redeemed innocence. (Heb. 1:1-3) This Word powerfully penetrates and impacts our whole being; body, soul and spirit.

6. It is the essence of Christ-like relationships. Ephesians 2:11-19, The Message. "But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways 12 had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. 13 Now because of Christ - dying that death, shedding that blood - you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything. 14 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. 15 He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody. 16 Christ brought us together through his death on the Cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. 17 Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. 18 He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. 19 That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all - irrespective of how we got here - in what he is building."

"In every religion and philosophy, word remains word-religion remains a theory and philosophy remains a guess. But in Jesus Christ, the Word is made flesh, reality is revealed-God's thought is concluded in human life." Andre Rabe

In the grip of the Word made flesh! Ron

The further He leads me into shared Son-ship in Him the more I lose my way back to the past! And the only begotten Son of God-Jesus, leads me into His certain and eternally secured future. "Behold, I make all things new!" "Now we all with new understanding see ourselves in him as in a mirror; thus we are changed from an inferior mindset to the revealed opinion of our true Origin." (2 Corinthians 3:18) By beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror we discover our true intended original glory restored! Origin begets new origin and continuously creates a NEW and LIVING WAY in bringing many Sons to glory!

What was a mystery is now revealed..."the mystery in a nutshell is just this. Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God's glory. It's that simple." (Colossians 1:27, Msg) Any sincere student of classical music would sensitively seek to capture and interpret the piece, so as not to distract from the original sound of the composition. To form an accurate conclusion in the study of our origin would involve a peering over the Creator's shoulder as it were, in order to gaze through his eyes and marvel at his anticipation from his unique perspective.

 E. Stanley Jones said something like this, 'Jesus did not walk on water to 'do' a miracle! All of creation ( wind, water and wave) came rushing to support their Creator as He walked in perfect Son-ship. Creation will rush to support us as well the more we walk in Son-ship! Signs will follow and we will wonder why we waited so long to become fully alive, in-carnate in him! 

"The incarnation celebrates the fact that the destiny of the Word was not the page but tangible human life! The Word of truth accurately preserves God's original idea in the resonance of our hearts" Francois du Toit.  Dis-chord, dis-harmony and dissonance is any life attempted apart from Jesus. Set your heart-gaze on the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus!

The Future Glory

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,^[a] including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope^[b] for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

"All of creation waits in eager anticipation for the manifestation of the Sons of God!" "Father, it's time, display the bright splendor of your Son." Will you join the revolution of the Jesus movement?

In the grip of becoming, Ron

http://youtu.be/GOWkX3ymM2Y

"Suddenly the invisible eternal Word takes on visible form! The Incarnation! In him, and now confirmed in us! The most accurate tangible display of God's eternal thought finds expression in human life! The Word became a human being; we are his address; he resides in us! He captivates our gaze! The glory we see there is not a religious replica; he is the authentic begotten Son." (John 1:14, The Mirror)

He is the one and only begotten by the Father and not by the flesh; in Him we recognize our true beginning and authentic being. Only Grace can communicate truth with such complete and absolute authority! Imagine the enormity of eternity in His sameness before time was; and we were there in him all along! (adapted from Hebrews 13, The Mirror) In every religion and philosophy, word remains word-religion remains a theory and philosophy remains a guess. But in Jesus Christ, the Word is made flesh, reality is revealed-God's thought is concluded in human life. Andre Rabe

"This is final; I have deleted the record of your sins and misdeeds. I no longer recall them. (Nothing in God's reference of man, reminds him of sin.) Sins were dealt with in such a thorough manner that no further offerings would ever again be required. Nothing that we can personally (give) or sacrifice could add further virtue to our innocence (in him)...We are free to approach him with absolute confidence, fully persuaded in our hearts that nothing can any longer separate us from him. We are invited to draw near now. We are thoroughly cleansed, inside and out, with no trace of sin's stains on our conscience or conduct. The sprinkled blood (of Jesus finished work on Calvary's Cross) purges our inner-thought patterns; our bodies also are bathed in clean water. Our conversation echoes his persuasion; his faithfulness backs his promises." (Heb. 10:17-23, The Mirror)

"Father, the time has come; reveal the bright splendor of your Son." John 17:1 (So)"Take your lead from Jesus. He is your reference to the most complete life. In him yesterday is confirmed today and today mirrors tomorrow. What God spoke to us in Christ is as relevant now as it was in the prophetic past and will always be in the eternal future! (Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever; there is a history to our salvation that carries more authority and relevance than anything that ever happened in our past, or anything present in time or still to happen in the future." (adapted from Hebrews 13, The Mirror)

"What further ground can there possibly be to condemn man? In My death I faced and paid for your judgment; in My resurrection I declares your innocence; the implications cannot be undone! I now occupies the highest seat of authority as the executive of your redemption in the throne room of God. (adapted from Romans 8:34, The Mirror)

"I will remember my song in the night; I will meditate with my heart, And my spirit ponders...I will meditate on all Your work And muse on your deeds...Finally, brothers, whatever is true,whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." These eloquent admonitions and declarations were not simply thoughtless words; rather, they were what shaped the very lives of David, the Psalmist and Paul the Apostle. May you remember, meditate upon, ponder, muse and think intentionally out of the wellspring of the My mind in you!

Finally, this is the song in my heart for all of you this first morning of 2013. You have unlimited, unhindered, un-encumbered, un-ending intimate access to that special and one-of-a-kind place to My heart like never before..."Behold, I make all things NEW!" This is most true with the joy of our special relationship. Have I told you how much I love, delight, rejoice and dance over you? You are and always will be my and favorite one! Jesus

http://youtu.be/sY0Vz8fvIhE