The Original Me

I remember in those early days of my Christian walk how preoccupied I was with what Jesus did and my desire to emulate His works. I got all fired up when it came to the healing of the sick. I wanted to see sign and wonders in our midst. I wanted to be as holy and righteous as He was. I wanted to be as good as He was. More than anything I wanted to do what is right, just like I perceived He did.


Now I find to my great amusement that I am more interested in who He was, that is, a perfect example of me. I recognize that He had a different ministry from mine. However, I am filled with the same Spirit as He was. The oneness He spoke about in relation to His Father is an established fact in my life too. I lack nothing compared to Jesus. I am just as righteous and holy. I can say as He did: If you have seen me you have seen my Father. He was a perfect expression of our original design which everyone who has accepted Christ has regained!


Jesus wasn’t an underling. He was so wonderfully full of Himself. There is not even a hint of false humility in how He viewed Himself. I am the way and the truth and the life, He said. What a bold statement! I do only what my Father does, He said at another occasion. No double mindedness in Him. He knew He was a perfect expression or manifestation of God. So am I! He never thought He had two natures that were in opposition to one another. There were no cracks in His understanding of oneness, that some part of Him was not of God – that there was a part of Him that merely was Himself doing all those stupid things we assign to ourselves. No! Everything is God! And this is the mystery: Everything is me as well! Here I am full of myself and at the same time an expression of God! Only God could come up with a scheme like this!


What a fascinating and intriguing Father we have – never afraid to associate Himself with us. What generosity! What humbleness! My father is definitely not ashamed of me! No reason for me to be either. I am, that is, I exist – here I am! I can sense myself with everything I am. I am not afraid of myself. No need to be. I can safely trust all those emotions, desires and thoughts that swell up in me trusting God by faith regarding everything I am, because I am the original me created in His likeness!

Nothingness Supplanted by the Knowledge of God

Scientists have discovered that the universe is expanding. What does the universe supplant when it expands? It supplants nothing. This is nonsense to our minds – it is incomprehensible. Who can imagine nothingness supplanted by something else?

In the same manner our inner universe is ever expanding.  Nothingness is supplanted by an awareness of God who has taken complete possession of us. Fleshy thought patterns inherited from the fall – they are of course nothing – are supplanted by recognition of the indwelling God. We do not understand this either, but we can experience it as we increasingly settle in His rest. This is the mystery revealed: Christ in us. Flesh and blood hasn't revealed this to us - every revelation comes from our Father in heaven. By virtue of that He indwells us heaven is in us. Our spirit is the conduit through which He speak those words almost too grand to utter and which made the religious scold and hate Jesus. In the same manner they will scold and hate us because of our testimony. However, nothingness will ultimately be supplanted by recognition of God as the One who is all in all. As the time draws close towards the consummation of time nothingness will be more and more visible - another paradox - when it is contrasted with the knowledge of God. At last everything which remains is God when the nothingness is done away with.

Sow to the Spirit

Paul wrote to the Galatians: ”For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”


The first man to sow to his own flesh was Adam when he attempted to become like God by eating from the wrong tree. In reality this is the whole enchilada. Anyone who tries to improve himself according to a fixed set of laws, ordinances or whichever system that is based on the tree to knowledge of good and evil is in reality attempting to become like God. The corruption Paul speaks about is the curse that Adam faced after his fatal decision not to believe that he was created in God’s likeness and hence perfect in Him.


God said to Adam: “Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” Ever from the beginning God has said that self-improvement is impossible; the ground is cursed. Attempt to please God by your own efforts and all you will bring forth are thorns and thistles. The thorns and thistles will sting you as condemnation and disappointment in yourself. Slowly but surely you are lead to the end of yourself. When the scripture speaks about carnal minded believers it refers to those who haven’t grasped who they are in Christ through faith, and thus struggle in their own powers to become righteous, that is, meet the standards they believe God has set up for them.


Those who sow to the Spirit are those who have embraced the truth and entered His rest where they rest from their own works. They know who they are in Christ and hence by faith daily experience the powers of the age to come, that is, eternal life.

The One Who Dwells in Me Does His Work

As new creations we can trust all our emotions. We are created in His likeness and thus all of our emotions are made holy and righteous in Him. To classify our emotions in good and bad is one of the enemy’s tricks and a residue from the fleshy mind patterns that were engraved in us when we fed from the tree to knowledge of good and evil. We are made whole and perfect in Christ and since He now lives in us we can accept all our emotions as a manifestation of Him. We do not have to understand all of the emotions that surge to the surface in our soul life. God is mighty to use all of them to His glory or to His purposes. We are never exhorted to question our emotions, but to enter His rest. In His rest there exists merely one reality: Life at its fullest and that includes all our soul reactions. God is our keeper and He has promised that all things work together for good. All things mean all things. No exception! Our spirit center, however, where we are joined one spirit with God is perpetually fixed in Him. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews wrote: “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The word of God is Christ and by virtue of the fact that He lives in us He helps us to discern between what is our calm and peaceful spirit-center and the emotions which so often confuse and confound us. We are who we are by His grace and that includes our soul. As we mature we cease nagging God about fixing us, because by faith we know that we are forever made perfect in Him. I can’t add one iota to His generous work in me. If He wants to change me that is His privilege. Remember what Jesus said; the Father who dwells in me does his works. He still does His works in you and me. You can behold it with your single-eye of faith. Don’t forget that He has accepted and chosen us and included us in His family. Personally, I don’t doubt His choices!

The Man at the Pool

John chapter five recounts Jesus’ encounter with the man who had suffered with a deep-seated and lingering disorder for thirty-eight years. The man had, according to himself, been unable to step into the water as the first person after the angel had stirred the water. Despite that the man didn’t answer Jesus’ direct question when Jesus asked him if he wanted to become well Jesus healed him from his infirmities.


When Jesus met the healed again man in the temple Jesus uttered a most curious thing: “See, you are well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” Here Jesus is talking to a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years unable to do much other than lie by the pool. Not many opportunities to sin when you are in such a condition.


Jesus encounter with the man was brief and they didn’t exchange many words. The text doesn’t mention any particular sin the man indulged in. The key to understand Jesus extortion is, however, found in the man’s answer to Jesus’ initial question: “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.”


The answer discloses two things. Firstly, he trusted in others. Secondly, he trusted in himself. Never does he reveal any reliance on God. To put it differently: He trusted in the flesh and not in God.


We find the origins to this basic sin in the Garden when man became sin since Adam ate from the tree to knowledge of good and evil. We lost our life when we wanted to be like God by our own means, that is, trusting in the flesh. Every other sin the Bible mentions is a result of this basic error.


Thus Paul exclaims that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Not faith in the flesh and our or others abilities, but faith in God’s abilities. It is as simple as this. The Bible says: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Where there is no condemnation there is no sin on account of that those who are in Christ Jesus trust God and live according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. In Christ they have found their life again and can live as whole persons expressing their uniqueness. To understand oneself as a whole and perfect person in Christ requires the kind of faith which says what is impossible for man is possible for God.

The Totality of God's Grace

We are commissioned to proclaim the totality of God’s grace. Any trace of law, self effort, self reliance or behavior modification is eradicated from our message. We speak Christ and Him crucified, and we encourage everyone with ears to hear to take that leap of faith to where we see God only, that is, our Father manifested in human flesh. Our faith is a divine faith. It is the quality of faith which has its origin in Christ and which Jesus wondered whether He would find when He returned to the earth. Our identity is firmly fixed in the fact that Christ lives in us.


It is only from this vantage point that verses like this makes any sense: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Tess 5:16-18).


The beauty and simplicity of our message is completely at odds with the world. We died when we disappeared in Christ at the cross. We are resurrected and ascended with Him and placed in the heavenly realms. As vessels, once dead, on account of the spirit of error who occupied us, we are now made alive by the Spirit of God who has joined Himself one spirit with us. That is our righteousness, our justification, our holiness and our sanctification. More than that: As genuine sons He has granted us to have life in ourselves (John 5:26).


Ezekiel was given to foresee the complete and whole transformation that takes place in those who enter into the cross: “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.” (Ez 36:26) This is a done deal. His love doesn’t transform us by virtue of that we are already transformed, but it persuades us to increasingly enter this reality of completeness, and when we do fleshy patterns melt away and the new creation in revealed in increasing measure. In other words: God reveals Christ in us (Gal 1:16).


When we through faith have seen the magnitude of the cross its radiance irrevocably fills our entire vision and we can’t refrain from speaking about what we have seen and heard. The totality of God grace has captured and enchanted us, and this is the gospel that we proclaim.

Faith Imitation

The author of the epistle to the Hebrews admonishes his readers to imitate the faith of their leaders, those who spoke to them the word of God (Hebr 13:7). This is the kind of faith which is awoken when a person goes through what many call the dark nights of the soul. Paul elaborates on this in his first chapter in his second letter to the Corinthians when he observes that the perils he and his friends went through was to make them not rely on themselves, but on God who raises the dead. When the illusion about independent self is burned off what remains in a mature faith in God who can do all things in and through us.


On the day the Lord made the covenant with Abraham, our father of faith, a deep sleep fell on Abraham. Dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Before Abraham could enter a perfect rest from all his works he first had to go through his own dark nights of the soul experience there in the desert. While Abraham was fast asleep resting from his works God made the covenant with Jesus Christ, who represented Abraham and his seed. In making the covenant with God Abraham learned not to rely on himself, but on God who is mighty to accomplish everything He has promised Abraham and his descendants of faith. In the midst of our travails God reminds us about His promises and encourages and comforts us, like He did to Abraham. We are not responsible or accountable to observe the covenant terms. The covenant was cut between God and Jesus, and Jesus has met all the requisites.

The Camel and the Eye of the Needle

I was reminiscing about my life the other day. What stood out at this particular occasion was all the pain I have had to endure and have gone through. It struck me that I have been slowly and deliberately crushed. Somehow I was reminded of Job’s fortune. How he as a perfectly righteous man saw the greater picture through what he suffered.


I was like a camel which couldn’t go through the eye of the needle. I believed I was rich. I was too full of myself to pass through. God’s intention was obviously to squeeze me through that tiny gap. In order to accomplish His goal this camel had to be diminished until there was nothing left. Then I quite easily passed through the eye of the needle.


It is in God we live, move and have our being so in reality I was on the inside with everything I am from the outset. However, my consciousness was on the outside gauging and assessing everything from that viewpoint. I saw God and life as a set of properties. God was full of love, mercy and unfortunately angry if I messed up. Life was defined by other properties, for instance sin, obedience, disobedience and how to become holy. That was all I could see from the outside. Those lists of properties are of course almost inexhaustible if we prefer to walk down that road.


On the inside, however, I am not anymore so preoccupied with properties. I am in the middle of a river which simply runs. I am a part of the working God, as Fynn in his book “Mister God, This is Anna” so wonderfully expresses. As a part of the functioning God I am in the midst of the whirlwind we call life. God doesn’t gauge and assess life. He just lives it. That’s all.

A Sea of Glass Mixed with Fire

When the book of Revelation speaks about a sea of glass mixed with fire (15:2) it is alluding to the new creation in Christ who is joined one spirit with God. The sea of glass is our inner spirit tranquility which is mixed with pure love. We are both calmness and a burning flame. Only in the kingdom of God can contrasts like this coexist and make sense.


Our God, who is all in all, has established His kingdom in people like you and me. The One who is in complete control has endowed us with a faith faculty which when practiced see through to the core of all things where it finds the eternal One. The core is infinite and unchangeable. In the midst of our travails and our fluctuating emotions our spirit center is thus like a sea of glass.


God is a consuming fire. His love burns like an eternal flame. To John it was shown like a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In us life blossoms by virtue of the river which every moment refreshes us, and what we have we pass on because God cannot deny Himself. Our righteousness is clear as crystal. It can never be questioned because a gift from God will always prevail and speak truth.


The kingdom of God established in man connotes a new order of things and thus the following passage has come into effect: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”


We speak a word of faith and calls things that are not as though they were which means that the eternal truths do already exist even though we do not see them with our natural eyes. We call on them and in God’s time they will be manifested to His glory. We are transformed. We are who we are. We are living temples. We are everything in Him. We are eternally changed. When the truth dawns upon us we cease striving to become something we already are, and in the core of all things we recognize that there is no more death or mourning or crying or pain since we are complete in Him.

Freedom in Love - Slaves of Love

To freedom Christ has liberated us. It is the freedom to follow the flow of love which originates in God’s heart. Jesus said from the outset: “I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” He was not coerced or manipulated or pushed to sacrifice Himself for the sake of mankind. Love compelled Him, and love makes it a delight to follow the laws of God. Love rises up within as a joyful and pulling desire and it is a delight to follow its drifts.


Love is a law in itself. It is not constrained by human edifices, whether it is manmade traditions, structures or how we perceive church should be. The flow of love will even decide how we spend our money, or to who or which organizations we donate them. Whenever it is a joy to give we know it is love that is moving us to bless someone or something with our means.


It is love that compels us to do the things we do. We are slaves of its desires which well up in us. We are not slaves in that old sense of the word. The level we now operate from is light years apart from when we were slaves of the old master whose lies and tricks and manipulations made us do the things we did not want to do, or the things that never brought us any gratification. When the joy of love moves us we maneuver in quite a different realm.


The old master used outer realities to coerce us or lure us to do his will – the lusts of the eyes. That was before we received our new heart where God’s law dwells. Now we are moved by the inner realities of the Spirit, and when we know that we have gotten a new heart we trust those joyful inclinations that now govern our lives.


God said: “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours.” A desire wells up and we follow its delightful promptings. Wherever it leads us is the place which the sole of our foot treads. Since we are driven by the power of love we are not stopped by setbacks or obstacles. Love compels us to never give up; it spurs us on until the reward is ours.


When we were kids we had the time of our lives in the kindergarten. Now, however, those childish games hold no appeal to us. We by and by enroll to higher education and are fascinated and intrigued by what our inner teacher teaches us, and we are attracted to those who have joined the same course as us. Love matures us, it brings us to the outermost expanses of the kingdom and it has given us back our true humanity.


Love has its own agenda. It defies man’s expectations and it blows wherever it wants. At one point we are engrossed in one particular thing. At the next spell something else consumes us. To the world we might be perceived as unpredictable, or even as wine drinkers and gluttons. Love, abundance of life and freedom are inseparable. They dance hand in hand in an eternal display of joy. We cannot help ourselves: we are captivated and enchanted by the rhythm.

We Give What We Have

Peter said to the crippled man at the temple gate: What I have I give to you. It is the same Peter who denied Christ at three occasions not very long before, who then obviously hadn’t any inner resources to draw from. Now he stands in front of the crippled man with boldness and confidence uttering words that would have been unheard of before the cross. Peter’s transformation is stunning.


What was it Peter gave to the crippled man? To put it bluntly: Peter gave the man God. The Old Testament temple is a type or shadow telling of the human temples to come - temples not made from stone. When Salomon consecrated the temple God took possession of it and swallowed it up in Himself. Every nook and cranny was filled up with His presence. In like manner our human temples are consecrated by Jesus. We irrevocably are filled up with God whether we know it or not.


From Pentecost onwards this has become a common experience for mankind. Everywhere people are accepting Christ and are filled up with God, in fact to the degree that is runs over. Peter in this sense is in no way unique. Wherever we go we give what we have, that is, God. We make deposits of Him everywhere, and whenever we make a deposit someone is affected. Our deposits are like those ointment cloths Peter left behind and which brought healing to many.


Sometimes we witness God in action through us, and crippled are empowered to walk in broad daylight. At other times there are no explicit proofs of the effect of our deposits. What perhaps most of us struggle with is this feeling that God hasn’t taken possession of us and that we thus have nothing to offer. But, we are faith people and our inner witness, the Spirit, corroborates with our faith so that our boldness and confidence is always on the increase.


Peter gave what he had by faith and so do we. We assume by faith that wherever we are we deposit God spontaneously because He has swallowed us up. When or how what He has disseminated through us will blossom isn’t our business. All we do is trusting that we manifest Him wherever we go and leave the rest to Him. What we have is the infinite God who has created the heavens and the earth, and through the union with Him that is what we give, and it is marvelous in our eyes.

And There Was Evening And There Was Morning

And the word went forth like this: And there was evening, and there was morning. God doesn’t work during the darkness of the night. He is the Father of lights and His works are undertaken in light. You cannot find this light outside yourself. Outside you is the impenetrable darkness of reason and appearances. The darkness will not provide you with the answers you seek. Nothing is created in the darkness. The light and the wonders of your existence dwell in the center of your being. From here His light permeates your entire being and you walk in the light as He is light. There in the center everything He has freely given you is waiting for the appointed time to be unfolded in light. Each manifestation of Him a natural consequence of what took place the day before. The six days are for Him to do His work. You are created for the Sabbath where you rest from your works in Christ. The light is holy and righteous. Thus you are holy and righteous since the light now originates in and emanates from you. It is not your works that define your status. You are indentified by which Spirit who is in you. If you are in Christ then the Spirit of light, God’s Spirit, the Spirit of truth has transformed you into light and truth. As light and truth you have emerged as a true son and you trust and assert your I. Without your I you are merely an indistinct shadow in the void. Your I is what gives you form and your distinct expression as light.

In the Cool of the Day

God walked among Eve and Adam in the midst of the garden in the cool of the day. His presence wasn’t unassuming, but it wasn’t threatening or obtrusive in any way. It was more like a pleasant breeze that cools you down after a warm and strenuous day. Eve and Adam didn’t know what shame was, so despite their nakedness they were attracted to this amiable and loving presence with whom they could share they hearts.


The Fall changed everything. It wasn’t God that changed. It was man. Man’s nakedness suddenly became a distress and an annoyance in his own eyes. He was so bothered by the fact that he hadn’t anything to offer God that that crippling sensation of shame completely prostrated him. Even worse, he felt so devastatingly unclean compared to the radiant holiness of God. Shame efficiently put up a barrier where before there had been a silent torrent of love flowing between the two lovers. Shame made man hide from God, and wherever there is shame man hides from the only source which can remove shame.


Ever since that day there has been a burning desire in God’s heart to see the intimacy of the Garden restored. In Christ the objective was achieved. In Christ there is no shame. As we move further and further into this mystery of Him being in us and we in Him we find our nakedness again. Nakedness in Him connotes that our original potential is restored to express Him as sons and daughters, as His beloved heirs in a world that is craving for redemption.


When the relationship is restored God walks in the midst of our lives like a cool breeze which gingerly caress our cheeks with affection and love. As the Spirit removes those last residues of shame in our outlook and the last clouds, which have obstructed our vision, evaporate we see that we are perpetually intertwined with Him and that we are the Garden which now blossoms with a lush exuberance that is spectacular in its radiance and beauty.

My First Book

I am very proud to announce that my first book now is published. It consists of my best blog articles so far. You can order the book by following this link: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/lonekheir

Artwork by Jessica Robertson. Introductions by DeeDee Winter, Steve McVey, John Lynch and Fred Pruitt.

We Are the Light of the World

There is an eternal outflow of light from God. It expels darkness wherever its rays penetrate. Every man who is joined one Spirit with the Father through the redemption in Jesus Christ is also an eternal outflow of light. In our ignorance we thought that we had to become light, to let our light shine brighter and more radiantly through a change of behavior. In Christ we are the light of the world and we are placed on a hill so that our light is seen by all who have eyes to see.


The question about sin always raises its ugly head in this context. Won’t sin extinguish our light? That is a question children in Christ ask, and the answer we give them is no! An adult in Christ has no consciousness of sin because he not only believe, but knows, that a once and for all sacrifice for sin has made the sin issue void and of no interest. His only concern is life in its many facets. Thus, he like Jesus exerts his right to forgive anyone his sin. Our mission is reconciliation and not sin. The light in us compels us to implore people on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled with God.


But, don’t we have flaws and shortcomings that obstruct the light? No! Those are the cracks in the jar which the light finds its way through. If God has declared us perfect in His Son, then we are perfect. As adults we have advanced past that level where we were preoccupied with our flaws. We have put that change me, do me better attitude behind us. It isn’t about us anymore, but Christ and those He loves. The light in us finds those He has given us. They are caught in our spotlight, and the darkness in and around them is expelled by the heavenly rays. We see this happen by our inner eye, that is, faith!

No Wrath

Before we have been led by the Spirit backwards to the void we still have residues of separation in our mindsets and this illusion generates another illusion regarding God’s wrath. We repeatedly find this theme in the old testament when an unredeemed people fears God’s wrath at every corner. From Adam’s fall and onward separation from God was how the chosen people viewed their existence, and as a consequence they dreaded God and His wrath.


When we as mature people recognize our nothingness we find that our lives have been hidden in Christ all along, and there in the void we find our lives again in Him as an everlasting outflow of light. More than that, we discover that the idea about God’s wrath was another of those tricks of the enemy, but which the Spirit has used with great efficiency so that we can come to end of ourselves. The Spirit has led us backward to our origin where we find no wrath. When the illusion about separation evaporates the illusion about God’s wrath is made void and nothing.


We have come to the point which the scriptures call before the foundation of the earth. At this point the lamb was slain and God wrath evaporated. To us this point in time is now. Every now is thus before the foundation of the earth. In the temporal realm the cross is the focal point which stretches both backward and forward in time. Before the foundation of the earth can’t be expressed with words or understood in terms of time. It is in the same manner as He is, the great I AM, and we are in the eternal. Eternally bound to Him in love and a part of Him we find that our wrath was an illusion as well. The eternal outpouring of light and love is the sole and only reality. Finally we know what Jesus meant when He spoke about a peace that transcends understanding.

In the Beginning

In front of Pilate Jesus said that His kingdom wasn’t of this world. This is a kingdom which government is found inside humans created in the likeness of God. In order to understand this kingdom we have to return to the beginning where everything was void and silent. The Spirit is hovering over this nothingness which we all have to return to or be led back to before His creative forces can be unleashed in us.


Our return to the beginning is marked by frustrations, sufferings and failures. That is the only way our self activity and noise can be extinguished. We all initially thought that Christianity was all about moving fast towards some goal God had set up for us. The faster we got there the better Christians we were, and the more God would be pleased with us. We thought it was about becoming something or someone. That is was about doing the right things, having the right motivation, the right attitude. We thought we should imitate Jesus. We spoke a lot about love, but couldn’t quite find it within ourselves.


However, Christianity is about moving slowly to the beginning where we ultimately recognize our nothingness and become still. In the stillness God is moving, and we in this stillness recognize His mighty power within which created the heavens and earth. It dawns upon us that there is no separation between us and Him. He is in us presenting Himself to the world through each unique seed.


We all have the capacity for thinking, and we have a consciousness. To us it seems like our mental activity takes place somewhere on the inside of our bodies. However, we cannot pinpoint its exact location. It seems, though, as it is confined inside our flesh. But, what if we didn’t have any flesh? Where would our thinking and consciousness be then? It would just float unimpeded in the void. This is the place where we are linked to God, who is all in all, and who in His great wisdom decided to contain His all-ness or omnipresence in humans like you and me. When we return to the beginning, to the void, to our nothingness we find God and His kingdom within and all is well.

Kissed on the Inside

We have all wondered about what the difference is between human love and God’s love. The scriptures tell us that God is love. It isn’t something He has. It is something He is. That simple fact transcends our understanding. What many of us try to do in order to understand God’s quality of love is that we attempt to explain it with human words and definitions. However, the Bible says that the world is deceived by the evil one so our ideas of love will be heavy influenced with his ideas of love, which really isn’t love.


The plain fact is that humans love from the outside. This is demonstrated by how we kiss the outside, and we all know what feelings and sensations that arouses. God, however, kisses the inside. We only know a person from the outside. The outside is what we see and perceive regarding a person. In addition we perhaps know something about a person from what she or he has told us. We have a very limited knowledge about what stirs a person and the inner processes that shape that person’s conduct and outlook.


God knows all those things. He knows the depths of our being. Our history is intimately known by Him. He knows perfectly well what stirs and motivates us. The patterns of behavior and thinking that make a person are all familiar to Him. We would easily be tempted to say that He loves us despite all His encompassing knowledge about us. It is so convenient to disparage our worth and our being when we marvel at His love. The truth is that we are created in His likeness. Thus we have the potential to understand His love. Moreover, we have the potential to love like He does.


Jesus was an example of us, that is, what is possible when flesh and Spirit is intertwined in a union where oneness with God is an established reality. To love like God is not a self improvement program, but life that flows from a person that is indwelled by God. If God is love so are we. Only faith can appropriate this amazing wonder.


To be kissed on the inside is such a new and unfortunately alien experience for us that it takes a huge job from the Spirit to convince us about what God is doing in our lives. He kisses our history, our thinking, our incentives, our inner person, yes, everything that we are. It is a perpetual love feast. His kisses find all those spots that hurt and confuse us. His kisses untangle those knots that make us cringe in fear and despair. Even when all those deceptions which have kept us in bondage all our lives are stamped out He continues to kiss us.

Naming the Animals and All Creation

The letter kills but the Spirit gives life, Paul wrote. The scripture is filled with words. Each word uniquely composed of letters and words arranged in such a way that we glean some meaning from the text we study. When we read the words we merely see a framework of something. The words aren’t the thing itself. They render us with a sensation of being on the outside peeking in. Words are simply a framework we attempt to climb. But, the framework isn’t meant for climbing, so we repeatedly fall down.


When we have hit the ground a sufficient number of times we begin to wonder whether perhaps there is something beyond, or within the framework, in other words; that we aren’t to climb to the top. On the inside Jesus is calling out: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” We begin to hear His voice, at first dimly but it becomes more and more exigent, and we sense that we are about to cross a threshold where no climbing is necessary.


One day the Spirit pushes us through and we are suddenly faced with another reality. We even find that Jesus wasn’t on the inside. He was on the outside. When we opened the door and let Him in the words we before perceived as outside us, are now us. They are an integral part of our being. We are the words. They are letters written on hearts of flesh. Before we let Him in the words pulled and pushed us. They tried to control and dictate our lives. Many a time when we failed to follow their commands we had that metallic taste of loss in our mouth, and it tasted like death.


Enchanted by the words, since we believed they were the final thing, we even exerted their powers on others. We tried to control our world with words. The letters didn’t just kill us, we used them to kill others as well. They are a lethal weapon in the wrong hands. In the right hands those letters kill that ingrained resolution which states that we can do it. The Spirit sometimes uses letters to purify, to turn metal into gold, to renew minds.


As Christ is formed in us we behold with increasingly clarity that we are the words. We are above and beyond the written words in a realm so utterly beautiful that words fail to describe it. The written words were just the door in. We are now the master of the words and they have to obey our commands, that is, they are expressed in a spontaneous living that is not defined by words because life is expressed by the Spirit within who is restrained by nothing except love.


Everything is reversed compared to Adam. Initially he defined the words when he named all the animals and all living creatures. Figuratively speaking we appreciate that he was the words, he lived the words, he gave them meaning beyond themselves. After the fall he was separated from the word, and the words defined his life and him. That is our starting point; always defined by words. Then we cross the river and we give the words meaning and definition by our being since they are us.

Love Your Neighbor As Yourself

Love your neighbor as yourself, has been one of those major stumbling blocks in my life. I knew what the commandment demanded from me, but I was utterly helpless in fulfilling it. One day I saw that it said that I couldn’t love my neighbor more than I could love myself. A life in condemnation and failure isn’t of much help if you are to love yourself. This whole scheme seemed more like an endless loop of misery than something that was possible to attain. I guess this was how the Israelites felt when they wandered in circles in the wilderness.


Love your neighbor as yourself is in fact a double commandment where love your neighbor hinges on love yourself. Self love and self acceptance is a prerequisite for the other. If we view this commandment from an outer perspective it soon becomes a burden to big for us to carry on our shoulders. The secret of fulfilling of Jesus’ seemingly impossible demand is found on a completely different level.


We read that Jesus was perfected through what He suffered. The ultimate goal of everything God does is to make sure that Christ is formed in us, so that we can be transformed to His image. This implies a process where we ultimately come to the end of ourselves and appreciate our nothingness, where we as Jesus say that we can do nothing of ourselves. We kick out, or more precisely; in a joint operation with the Spirit we kick out, any residues of self-reliance and any desires to make things happen of our own accord. We arrive at the spot where we become still and acknowledge that God is God. That illusion of independent self is once and for all shattered.


Abraham was also perfected through what he suffered. Of old age, when his loins were empty, when he had encountered his own nothingness God could plant the seed in Sara which brought forth Isaac, who was a fruit of the Spirit with eternal repercussions. From his line Jesus was born. However, the seed could not be planted before Abraham’s nothingness was amalgamated with faith. Through what he suffered Abraham was empowered to see beyond himself and see God only, as the one who would and could accomplish His will in and through Abraham.


When Abraham initially saw his nothingness and coupled it with what God had promised him he bordered on the verge of bitterness and cynicism. God, however, continued to remind Abraham about His promise and thus slowly but surely fuelled Abraham’s faith until Abraham recognized that in his nothingness was the seed to supernatural greatness in God. In his nothingness he found his true life, the abundant life of faith.


We all receive the same invitation as Abraham, to leave everything behind and find a place where we can set up our tent and be met by our God who through our nothingness can conceive the boy, that is, the righteous deeds that are everlasting in their effect. Like Abraham we are not guaranteed in our lifetime to see the multitude of seeds from the one seed.


As Lot we all ran when it began to rain sulfur and fire upon us. From the horizon we could behold the smoking ruins of our self righteous works or attempts thereof. Free from any obligations to perform, reliant on God only we have discovered our nothingness. In this nothingness we are wholly His responsibility and we say as Jesus: I only do what I see my Father is doing. We even say as Paul: By His grace I am what I am. The nothingness is our freedom. No need to pretend anymore. When it now dawns upon me that I am accepted and loved by God as His unique creation I can love myself without reservation and from the new heart flows love to my neighbor in the manner God see most fit for my neighbor’s eternal destiny.

His Second Coming

This is how Lucas depicts Jesus’ ascension: “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.”Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”


In John chapter 16 Jesus tells the disciples, “in a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” When Jesus used the phrase “in a little while” He obviously meant a period of days. We know that is a fact regarding His ascension. Since He uses the same phrase about His return He meant that after a period of days they would see Him again.


In the last chapter of his Gospel John writes that Jesus showed Himself three times to the disciples after His resurrection. It wasn’t a ghost they saw but a real person in flesh and blood as witnessed in particular by Thomas when he was offered to put his hand into Jesus’ side.


When the two men in white said that Jesus would come back in the same way as the disciples had seen Him go into heaven they meant that Jesus would return in flesh. He had ascended in the flesh and He would return in the flesh. The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah. They missed His coming, and are thus still waiting. Large parts of Christianity are still waiting for Jesus’ second coming. As the Jews they have missed the event, because Jesus has indeed returned in the flesh after a little while as He promised.


The Jews missed Jesus because they couldn’t fathom that He would be born as a poor unnoticed child in a manger. They thought He would come with flashing lights, great pageantry and ethereal splendor. Christianity has missed Jesus second coming because they cannot fathom that He has returned as you and me who are quite ordinary persons in the flesh. We are that manger where Jesus is born again and again. Paul puts it like this: “To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”


In the book of revelation John writes: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” In the literature we find a myriad of imaginative attempts at explaining this verse. Notably that all will see Him has puzzled many a commentator. However, if Jesus has returned in a host of born again Christians this passage suddenly makes a lot of sense.


There are passages in the Bible which allude to that there will be an additional second coming beyond the one discussed in this brief article. However, this particular event is hidden from me, so all I can say is: time will show.

We are Both - That is our Glory

Legalism is a system of living whereby we try to make spiritual progress or gain by following a system of rules or ordinances. The fundamental idea is to try to make ourselves presentable to God by doing right. We find this concept in all religions, Christianity is no exception. Paul said in one of his epistles that we no longer know Jesus after the flesh. This is the antidote to legalism. When we know a so called spiritual leader merely after the flesh we immediately begin to wish to emulate that person’s behavior, thinking and attitudes. This is the principal motivation behind legalism; man imitating man, or man attempting to please a distant God.


The other extreme is those spiritual systems which emphasize the spiritual dimension only. One of their favorite assertions is that the material world merely is an illusion, that the only reality is the spiritual. Today’s New Age movement in many ways belongs to this branch of the religious world. However, if we are to find the right balance we cannot exclude the flesh, that is, our soul and bodies. Jesus came in the flesh as a real person. We thus cannot ditch our own flesh. Fred Pruitt puts it like this: “He was flesh and blood real, which is why it is the real and actual sacrifice of His Body and His shed blood can be efficacious in our lives. We can know our humanity filled with God and doing His will by us, only because we have been shown another humanity which was/is just the same. We MUST keep the human side, and not toss it out in favor of a Spirit-side only.”


John writes in the first chapter of his gospel: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” It was spirit manifested in flesh that enabled the disciples to behold Jesus’ glory. As sons of the Most High we are also spirits manifested in flesh, and that is our glory. If we exclude any of those attributes we have left true Christianity and are an easy prey to aberrations. The Spirit was the basis of Jesus’ life, works, thoughts and attitudes. That was His rest and that is our rest. A Spirit led life isn’t about imitation, because “the wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” The Spirit-flesh dimension encourages us to acknowledge that life is about diversity, different gifts and personalities, different paths and uniqueness.


To know Jesus no longer after the flesh is to recognize that there was/is an additional dimension to His life which we also are partakers of. Fred Pruitt writes: “Jesus only walked out as a parable what was already true in the Spirit, from the way and manner in which He lived and walked, to the Cross which is a real space-time event on earth, but which cut across all divisions between time and eternity and bridged the gap. We must have them both, not one or the other. We live in time and eternity, and in Christ become “masters” of both. Boehme said we have in a sense two eyes, one which sees forward into eternity, and the other which sees backward into time. One who has overcome will understand this and live it.”


The resurrected Christ manifested Himself to the disciples and Thomas in particular. Jesus was so real in the flesh that he challenged Thomas to put his hand into His side. He showed Thomas His hands. Jesus said: “Stop doubting and believe!” Then Thomas exclaimed:”My Lord and my God!”

The Damascus Road

There on the road to Damascus Saul met the resurrected Christ. He had heard about Jesus and His earthly service. As most Pharisees He believed Jesus was an imposter. Vehemently Saul persecuted those following the way. Even though Saul most likely hadn’t met Jesus he knew him according to the flesh. How he perceived Jesus and His ministry was merely one-dimensional, and Saul hadn’t much regard for this in many ways ordinary person’s claims of being the savior of the world.


The only way to know the resurrected Christ is by becoming blind to knowing Jesus only after the flesh. Blind to the earthly realities Saul’s inner eyes were opened to grasp the enormity of the cross. In his blindness he could acquaint the invisible Christ. The Saul whose whole life had been engrossed in the outer things became Paul who led a life from inner realities. Fixed in the inner realities of the spiritual world he regained his vision so that he could influence the outer world.


The loss of sight also denotes our utter helplessness in our encounter with Christ. We have nothing to offer except our lives through which He can reach out to a world that believe it is seeing, but is truly blind. Until we have become blind to the outer world we have no proper vision. It is when we become blind that we become seers. As seers we recognize our nothingness and His superior abilities to live the life we all are created to be partakers of.


At the Damascus road we all get our new name. The name that has been a part of our self consciousness to this point is declared void and of no effect when we meet Christ. Our new name comes into effect when we are baptized into Christ. It severed our strings to the past and all those old lies which have kept us in bondage and without hope in this world. It denotes a completely new direction, and it accentuates our new standing as new creations with hope for the future.


When Saul encountered Jesus a light from heaven flashed around him. The Spirit opens our eyes so that we are enabled to see Jesus in a new light. Seeing Jesus merely after the flesh causes us to want to emulate His deeds and attitudes without acknowledging the Spirit dimension of His life. He is both flesh and spirit, and so are we; flesh made perfect by the Spirit. Flesh is spirit manifested and that is our glory.

The Unconscious Activity of Breathing

There is a sound in our bodies. We seldom hear it. A multitude of operations take place in every corner of this amazing vessel, most of the time without any of us giving it much attention. Our hearts beat with a regular rhythm which changes automatically in accordance with our level of activity. Almost unconsciously we feed our bodies with its most important ingredient in order to stay alive. Oxygen passes our mouths and noses and finds its way to the lungs without any conscious effort on our part. It is when we become conscious of our breath and try to control it that trouble arises.


There is a profound and stunningly beautiful greeting from God encapsulated in our bodies’ effortless and quiet running. God’s main purpose is to conform a host of sons to the image of Jesus Christ. He has told us so through amongst others Paul. We are not quite sure how this rationale is attained within us. However, it is when we begin to control and tamper with the process that trouble arises.


One of our favorites in order to accelerate the process is making huge efforts at doing right. A process which runs smoothly when we are unconscious about it comes to an abrupt halt when we start tinkering with it. Try to control your breath every moment during the day and I guarantee you that a restful unconscious life upholding torrent becomes a living nightmare. The exact same outcome is guaranteed when we begin to control our growth.


Scientists have made huge efforts towards explaining our body. Despite their labors most of its processes are a mystery to mankind. We have gained some knowledge about what it needs in order to run properly. In Christian terms we know that faith is imperative for those God initiated supernatural processes within us to run smoothly. I have faith in my body. I believe it will perform all of its life-upholding process, and thus I do not give it much thought. Without my conscious knowing or interference my body executes all its tasks effortlessly.


Faith is the ingredient that keeps me alive. If I began tampering with my body’s processes I would soon be a dead man. Thus, on a different level faith says that I am filled with all the fullness of God. Faith says that I cannot sin. Faith states that I am conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Faith says that Christ is formed in me. I believe in God’s abilities to make all this happen and I therefore do not have to take thought to see His goals accomplished in me. I am at restful ease when it comes to my body, and the Spirit encourages me to be at restful ease when it comes to His processes in, through and as me.


The Christ life simply is. Many days I do my stuff almost in a state of oblivion. I run through the day not giving God much thought, to an even lesser degree I am conscious that I am Christ in my form. The union with God is so wonderfully expressed through this and my light shines so radiantly that the angels behold this mystery with amazed silence. The idyll is broken when I become self conscious and begin to scrutinize an incentive, a thought or an act. A temptation to lead me into an illusion of separation has entered the garden. God is faithful, however, and reminds me about those truths that boost my faith, and peace is again restored in the temple.


God has created us to be conformed to the image of Christ. Not copies, but images. Image in this context means uniqueness and individuality. And it is this uniqueness and individuality that God wants to have a intimate relationship with. So of course when I speak about a state of oblivion above that merely is a figure of speech to get a point across. I enjoy my Father so much that most of the time I am very aware of His existence, His love and His presence in my life. I enjoy Him and He enjoys me.

Walk on Waters

When Jesus walked on the water it was not only a demonstration that God is above and can operate outside the physical laws. It is a statement that God is far greater than any physical law. But, as with most stories in the Bible there is much more to this incident than what meets the eye. God is spirit and manifests Himself in the natural, and thus when the Spirit utilizes figures in the natural to prove a point there is irrevocably a spiritual dimension to this that only can be appreciated through revelation.


When Jesus annuls the physical laws by walking on the water He also states that He is above the moral laws as recorded in the commandments. In Him they are canceled and He is above and outside their domain. Thus He is a law in Himself, spontaneously expressing God, who is love, in His physical body. He is like the wind that blows wherever it pleases. It is constrained by nothing, and blows in every direction the Spirit instigates always confusing and confounding those who live by appearances like Peter when he couldn’t fathom and resisted that Jesus had to die at the cross.


Walking on the water Jesus beckons and calls every one of us to join Him. The power of the outer laws is indeed so authoritative that it is only when we are in Him that we are out of their insisting reach. In Him we are set free from any law that is operative in the natural realm. Immediately we fix the gaze at ourselves and our own abilities we begin to sink. As the water begins to envelope us and we can sense how it presses in from every direction we are again subject to the all the laws which threaten to drag us down into the black abyss of captivity and death.


We have now tasted both; captivity and liberty, and as Peter we prefer the sensation of being unlimited. Therefore in our distress we call out for Jesus. The Spirit has taken us through both these extremes to teach us the wonders of the heavenly life and that it is not in our powers to sustain this life. It is only attainable in our union with Christ where we rest from our own abilities after the Spirit has taught us the futility of trusting our own efforts.


Many of us have had those dreams where we are freed from the natural laws and fly through the air in amazed wonder. Deep down in every one of us there is a yearning to experience the supernatural, freed from every inhibiting circumstance. In Christ we begin to manifest our dream. When we recognize that we are in Him everything is now possible. We can do nothing of ourselves, but in Him we are far above the limitations of human law. In Him weakness is turned into strength. Span your wings and fly, says the Spirit.

The Junction

One day we come to a junction in our lives. We are purposely led there by the Spirit. The issue we are confronted with is a faith issue. The Bible says that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It asserts that there is a rest for God’s people where they rest from their own works. John even states that a person born of God cannot sin. However, we are daily perplexed by life in the sense that we experience condemnation, we struggle to please God and we try to avoid committing sins. It becomes quite clear to us that our experiences contradict the scriptures. When that is the case there obviously must be something missing in our understanding. We have reached the junction.


The Spirit has caught us in a dilemma, and He states that there is only one solution; we have to make a leap of faith into the mystery. Paul writes that there is a mystery which has been hidden from ages and generations, but now is revealed to the saints; Christ in you. He writes to the Galatians that it pleased God to reveal His Son in Paul. He continues to say that Christ lives in Him, and he even states that when the churches of Judea heard that he who once persecuted the church now preached the faith they glorified God in Paul. He says that the gospel he preaches is not man’s gospel. There obviously is a man’s gospel which is contrary to the gospel Paul preached. So before we make the leap and enter into the mystery we obviously have been under influence of man’s gospel. A gospel that causes confusion and is accursed since it keeps the saints in bondage.


It begins to dawn upon us that if all the above mentioned is the case then we must somehow be Christ in our form, that we are partakers of divine nature. This is the secret, the solution to our predicament. Completely taken over by God we are new creations, and we begin to see that our main problem has been those thought patterns that have insisted that there is a separation between us and God; He there and me over here. However, if we are one spirit with Him there is no separation and we are rightly gods. Our rest means that we have entered the seventh day; the day when the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. United with God and settled with Him on the seventh day we are complete and perfected once and for all, simply because all is finished. When we have a consciousness of sin our mindset is separation and we believe that we live in one of the other six days of work. If we believe so we obviously believe in an illusion, because He has finished the work. There is nothing we can add.


Remember that when you accepted Christ you were firmly placed on the seventh day with God, resting from all your works. Our main problem is that we haven’t discovered this actuality yet. So in reality we struggle in vain when we think we aren’t placed there. Remember, we cannot add a single thing to His work. All our efforts are therefore just wind.


At the junction the Spirit urges us to make that leap of faith which settles us on the seventh day in our consciousnesses, where we align faith with facts.

Comfort for Broken Hearts

When God is pursuing you with His love He never asks those tricky and humiliating questions regarding your past such as; How did this happen? Why did you do that? Why on earth would you do such a thing? Rather, He asks those questions which sole purpose are to make you feel comfortable in His presence. They often go like this: How are you? How’s your day been? Can I help you in any way? You know that I love you? We are talking about those questions which make you feel at ease and which convey His unconditional love towards you. Unconditional love is concerned with you and your heart’s condition.


God’s main business is those inward things. He wants to heal your heart, your inner man. That is the place where those most hurting wounds are; the pain or fear or insecurity which in a way renders you as a crippling emotionally speaking. A healed and redeemed heart is the greatest miracle there is. We know from the scriptures that Jesus had a magnificent healing ministry. He often healed all those who came to Him. Those miracles as they are recorded in the gospels deal mainly with the outer man, that is, bodily ailments. We construe those incidents accordingly, and thus when we read that Jesus promised that we would do greater miracles than Him we begin to pray for those who are sick. Unfortunately, our most frequent experience is that nothing happens and we thus easily become disillusioned.


Why does the gospels seemingly merely record outer healings? Isn’t it because those miracles get our attention? They create a desire in us to deliver people from their ailments. And it is easier to depict the effects of an outer healing than an inner healing. An objective reality is much more convenient to describe than the subjective surrealism of a complex inner world. As we mature we grow from outer perception to inner perception and we begin to appreciate that in reality everything is about that inner world. Our bodies are merely our temporarily abodes which are predestined to decay as we are waiting for our final liberation. Our heart, however, is eternal. When we move from outer to inner we rapidly acknowledge that we do greater miracles than Jesus since His love in us ministers love and healing to others in a grand scale.


There is no doubt in my mind that God in His grace still delivers people from diseases and ailments. However, we also find ample evidence that good people die from for instance cancer far too early despite the fact that they are subject to intense prayer. However, it seems as the spiritual law which states that when the seed falls into the ground and die this single seed gives life to many is still very potent. Jesus was a prime example regarding the effects of this law. The literature is also full of examples which confirms that God is greater than our afflictions and can turn everything into something good for many. “The tortures occur”, CS Lewis wrote, “If they are unnecessary, then there is no God, or a bad one. If there is a good God, then these tortures are necessary for no even moderately good Being could possibly inflict or permit them if they weren’t”

Bond Servants

There are depths to the Genesis account which are quite amazing. Sometimes it seems as there are layers like a onion which the Spirit peels away as He finds edifying. Some are given to see this and others are given to see that. One fascinating aspect that I have been allowed to ponder lately is seeing Eve as a type of the human race and Adam as a type of Christ. Adam is in a odd way both a type of Christ and not a type of Christ. In one sentence he is and in the next he is not. When he is not he is merely that old Adam who seemingly messed everything up. We like to think that he is at fault. In a way he is, but from a different perspective without his disobedience we still would have been children spiritually speaking. I think his fall was inevitable in order to bring forth a succession of sons who are conscious of all aspects of life.


Let us first examine Eve as a type of the human race and Adam as a type of Christ. We notice that Eve was the first to eat of the forbidden tree. Adam was by her side all along. Due to his love towards her and that he couldn’t stand the thought of losing her he also partook of the tree. That was the only way that Jesus could save us. He had to become a man and partake in our world. More than that; he had to taste the death that were our destiny. So Adam eating of the forbidden fruit in a way foreshadows Jesus atoning death on our behalf. Jesus and the Father love us so highly that Jesus has stood by our side all along. He has been so unwilling to lose us that He was willing to taste the same fruit as we all taste; death. The sting of sin is death, and Jesus became sin for us.


Genesis 3:16 states that our desire shall be for our husband. Here we are Eve again, the woman who becomes pregnant with the children of her husband. The record further says that in pain we shall bring forth our children when our husband is that old Adam. His seed in us causes us to struggle in pain when we attempt to do right. We find that we fail miserably and the consequence is a soul wrenching condemnation. It should be quite clear thus that when we die from our husband and is free to marry another we are redeemed from that former curse, and childbearing becomes a restful expression of our new husband, which is Christ.


If we despite this continue to struggle after our marriage with Christ it merely is an indication of us being taken through the wilderness until that illusion about separation is done away with. We became one with Christ the day we accepted Him, but somehow our minds haven’t quite grasped this tremendous fact so we continue to struggle erroneously thinking that being a bond-servant of Christ is based on the same terms as when we were bond-servants under our old master. Being a bond-servant of Christ denotes an absolutely different quality of life compared to the life under that old Adam. Christ’s will is our will. His abundant life is our abundant life. His freedom is our freedom. More than that; since there is no separation we are Him in our form, each of us expressing Him in our uniqueness so that the total becomes His body in this world.


As unredeemed men and women we didn’t know that we were someone’s spouses or bond-servants. We thought we were free agents operating as independent units. It isn’t until the Spirit opens our inner eyes that we become aware of our true standing, and we for the first time begin to see how things really are. Paradoxically, that is a part of the liberation process towards maturity and inner peace. You see, God has been with you all along. He has never turned His glance away from you. He loves you so intensely that He has completely identified with your falls and failures so that you could come out, of what has seemed like a mess to you, like a whole person knowing beyond a shadow of doubt that He is fond of you, and that you are His beloved child. He has never turned His back on you. You might have thought or felt that He wasn’t there when things were dark. But, there He was all along partaking in your unique life with everything He is; Himself.

The Spirit is a Rebel

When the Spirit has led you through the wilderness and conditioned you through that experience so that you are receptive for the revelations which follow and which will cause an end to your self efforts and establish you in the union with God, He will keenly guard your new standing in Christ. Every time someone attempts to subject you to laws, that is, outer ordinances such as should, ought to, should not etc you will sense something rise within you. The sensation can most closely be likened to defiance. In the beginning we are perhaps too well behaved to let the Rebel have His way. However, as He trains us we begin to recognize this rebellious sensation as Him. As an effect we adamantly refuse to let anyone rob from us our freedom in Christ regardless of who that tries to impose their moralistic outlook upon us. The Spirit is the Spirit of truth and freedom, and He lives within every believer making sure that we become rebels as well, insurrectionists that shake the religious world.

Nothing is a Waste

After Mary surprisingly turned up and anointed Jesus with expensive ointment as recorded in John 12 the disciples raised their voices and thought it a waste. Why not rather have sold the ointment and given the money to the poor, they objected.


I personally know very talented and gifted Christians (in reality we all are very talented and gifted) who are either unemployed or just are home and thus from a human perspective seemingly are wasting their lives. Their surroundings might be accusing them of laziness or listlessness. In addition to being subject to those well meaning person’s ideas of a productive life many of them also have to struggle with condemnation or sentiments that are challenging their self-esteem because they somehow seems out of the loop.


This idea of waste also comes into play in regard to ministry. Large parts of Christianity have some preconceived notions when it comes to ministry and how we are to serve in a church or a denomination. When we for some reason fall outside these confines we are regarded as wasting our talents or something in that direction. The main goal in most Christianity is to see people saved. That is a noble goal. However, we have too long seen this as an ordinance and not a promise.


Mary’s offer drew attention to Christ. You have given yourself to Christ as a fragrant ointment, and by that offer you are drawing people to Christ often without you being consciously aware of this most wonderful and astounding fact. That is how a supernatural promise plays out. While you are resting in Him with your unique personality He makes Himself known to the world through you. It isn’t something you can control. He does it perfectly both through your negatives and your positives.


My friend, when you have come to Christ nothing in your life is a waste. Everything you do, don’t do or are is an expensive ointment in God’s eyes. You are a blessing to Him regardless of your circumstances. Don’t listen to those who say your life would be more of a blessing if you just would give yourself to the poor, that is, whatever cause they find worthy or imagine need your support.

Water Separated From Water

When the waters were separated in Genesis 1 the material realm with its qualities was separated from the infinite and eternal spiritual realm. Time, space and distance became prominent realities for a fallen mankind. We perceived ourselves mainly as temporal beings in a temporal realm. Thus death became an enemy, because in a limited temporal realm death denotes an inevitable end.


We were like those proverbial fishes that only know their environment as a three dimensional world of water. Only when the fish sees the light penetrate the surface of its limited world it gets an idea of something beyond its experiences. Or if someone or something ripples the calm surface of the water the fish might come to understand that there is something which it cannot explain on the other side of what it thought was the border of its limited world.


In a finite world everything can be measured, gauged and counted according to the laws of this realm. A Christian keeps score on his sins and his good deeds since he has this faulty notion that the laws of his well known universe also are applicable to the spiritual realm. However, even though he lives in a temporal world he is not of it. He belongs to the waters above the expanse where everything is eternal and infinite. Counting and assessing are completely at odds with a unlimited spiritual world. How are we to count or judge in an infinite eternal dimension? It becomes utterly meaningless. It is impossible. Hence, as Paul stated, we no longer judge according to the flesh.


A new and better covenant is in effect where all those things that we formerly put our trust in are history. They are obsolete. Something better has been revealed through Jesus Christ. The Spirit patiently transfers our consciousnesses from a limited worldview to an eternal sphere where everything must be judged in accordance with this reality, that is, it must be spiritually discerned.


As an eternal infinite being we no longer are subject to the laws of this world as we know it. How are we to assess our lives in this wonderful realm where everything there is, is an eternal now? Since God’s infinite love is encapsulated in every now we encounter, we are liberated beings in an infinite dimension. Everything is merged into this now where we just are. Thus nothing is counted against us. It is utterly impossible to count or keep any scores. That is why there is no condemnation in this realm where life originates and flows as an eternal river of love.


The god of this world operates within the confines of the limited realm. He counts, judges and assesses in accordance with the laws which are operative in a three dimensional world. Every believer who hasn’t abandoned this world’s moralistic and ethic sentiments is thus easily deceived and influenced by his lies. His weapons of condemnation are only effective in relation to a consciousness that is stuck in appearances.


The Spirit is rippling the surface of our known world so that we by faith can take the leap and penetrate the expanse and enter the waters above where we come to know who we truly are as citizens of two worlds. The material world is truly good when it is amalgamated with the truth from above.

The Inner Garden

One evening not long ago the Spirit suddenly said to me with a smile: “Adam was placed in the garden.” He didn’t have to say more. My curiosity was aroused, which He of course was well aware of. Day after day I pondered what He meant by those six each by them self rather innocent words. In human terms I might occasionally come out as quite clever. However, when it comes to spiritual things I am more or less brain-dead. So I simply couldn’t fathom what He meant. When I came to the end of my own reasoning I began to ask if He could be so courteous to reveal His little secret to me. I thought it fair that if He had said A He also should say B. Despite several requests He remained quiet. However, He has taught me over the years to be patient knowing that He will answer in His time, which I of course counted on in this case as well.


Today I asked again wondering if He was ready to share His wisdom with me. It is perhaps more precise to assume that He lingered until I was ready. This is what He said: “Now the garden is placed in you.” Interesting, don’t you think? The first Adam was placed in the garden. That is an outer thing in the same manner as the law is an outer thing. Well, if the garden is in me, everything is now internalized. I am in other words a law in myself. Spontaneously and effortlessly I now meet the standards of the law since they are an integral part of my new nature. If I am not mistaken He also added: “In the outer garden there were two trees. In the inner garden there is only one tree; the tree of life.” Since there is only one tree, a type of Christ, I cannot go wrong. It is utterly impossible for me to repeat Adam’s mistake. I think we can safely and without being in the risk of exaggerating call this eternal security.