My Conversation with God, or, The Gospel According to God: the Other Language and the Divine Process
The verbal portion of my conversation with God was brief:
"You are Glorious God," I said. "I am a mudman. Whatever you want me to do, that I will do." In utter and sincere humility, I shut up and waited.
He replied, "Remember this, and it is all right."
"All right," I rehearsed. "It's okay?" Forgiveness. Twenty-five years of offense forgotten, wiped away. Cleared! I’d been accepted by God! I cannot describe the sensation of joy and relief brought by knowing forgiveness and acceptance by God. Yes, the sensation was like living waters rising up from the depths of my bowels. There were emotions of life in my heart - joy, love, adoration, gratitude, thanksgiving and praise all commingled and rose up in a flood to spill out of my mouth in a language I did not know. My mouth worked on its own as the flood reached it. I did not do anything to move my jaw or direct my lips--no exertion of control or effort. I simply observed my mouth speaking. The Big Guy could and did control it. Motor direction came directly from him to the muscles of my mouth, and I was convinced: he is in control.
Note, though, that between my initial dismay at finding myself rejected by God and this final acceptance, God had given me a rather lengthy and revealing VISUAL explanation of what was going on. I had seen myself on a path in a channel; a block I could not identify or get past; a body formed from mud and given life; my becoming the man and entering amnesia; the man's stupidity and self-lordship; my rebellious life and the path to forgiveness. This illustrative explanation was visual and experiential. The only words spoken were my own thoughts. God spoke in pictures, for he SHOWS what he means. There is something to the old axiom: "A picture is worth a thousand words." The language of the Bible is not Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek; it is PICTURES. God is economical: "To the point, it is comparable to this." Picture stories. For words we forget. Pictures, not so much. The question is not just what do the words say, but what is the picture we SEE through the words?
And words we misunderstand. My present dilemma: God said quite distinctly, "Remember this, and it is all right." What did he mean by "this"? If there is anything I have learned in the last forty-three years, it is that we misread, misinterpret, and misunderstand what God means by what he says. But only about 100% of the time; the rest we are clear on. If we are thinking, we are wrong. We only broach truth when HE is thinking revelation and illumination to our minds. Which gives me pause as to what he meant by "this."
When God said, "Remember this," I assumed he meant the juxtaposition I had just alluded to in "You are Glorious God. I am a mudman." I am thinking now that he might have meant the bigger picture, "this" being the whole event of that prayer besides its obvious conclusion. That is, the prayer for the gift of tongues (incidental objective) had been EFFECTIVE. I had nailed the process. Got the pattern and the practice of it right. "Remember THIS: you came to God; you focused your intent; you floated, as it were, into mind; you humbled yourself; you forgave your previously existing world; you submitted your desire back to God; you believed with gratitude your new state; you waited. Everything you need and desire to save you from whatever condition you find yourself in--all right-ness--is here. Remember this Divine Process, and it is, always, all right." I.e., the big, overall "this" I had just gone through, including his being Glorious God and my being a mudman, is to be remembered to make everything "all right" to manifest.
A later update:
I am still pretty certain that God was telling me to remember my humble position. I try in a later post to explain that while we are indeed God, we are sent into this humble position to become improved, to become better at being what we are.
"You are Glorious God," I said. "I am a mudman. Whatever you want me to do, that I will do." In utter and sincere humility, I shut up and waited.
He replied, "Remember this, and it is all right."
"All right," I rehearsed. "It's okay?" Forgiveness. Twenty-five years of offense forgotten, wiped away. Cleared! I’d been accepted by God! I cannot describe the sensation of joy and relief brought by knowing forgiveness and acceptance by God. Yes, the sensation was like living waters rising up from the depths of my bowels. There were emotions of life in my heart - joy, love, adoration, gratitude, thanksgiving and praise all commingled and rose up in a flood to spill out of my mouth in a language I did not know. My mouth worked on its own as the flood reached it. I did not do anything to move my jaw or direct my lips--no exertion of control or effort. I simply observed my mouth speaking. The Big Guy could and did control it. Motor direction came directly from him to the muscles of my mouth, and I was convinced: he is in control.
Note, though, that between my initial dismay at finding myself rejected by God and this final acceptance, God had given me a rather lengthy and revealing VISUAL explanation of what was going on. I had seen myself on a path in a channel; a block I could not identify or get past; a body formed from mud and given life; my becoming the man and entering amnesia; the man's stupidity and self-lordship; my rebellious life and the path to forgiveness. This illustrative explanation was visual and experiential. The only words spoken were my own thoughts. God spoke in pictures, for he SHOWS what he means. There is something to the old axiom: "A picture is worth a thousand words." The language of the Bible is not Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek; it is PICTURES. God is economical: "To the point, it is comparable to this." Picture stories. For words we forget. Pictures, not so much. The question is not just what do the words say, but what is the picture we SEE through the words?
And words we misunderstand. My present dilemma: God said quite distinctly, "Remember this, and it is all right." What did he mean by "this"? If there is anything I have learned in the last forty-three years, it is that we misread, misinterpret, and misunderstand what God means by what he says. But only about 100% of the time; the rest we are clear on. If we are thinking, we are wrong. We only broach truth when HE is thinking revelation and illumination to our minds. Which gives me pause as to what he meant by "this."
When God said, "Remember this," I assumed he meant the juxtaposition I had just alluded to in "You are Glorious God. I am a mudman." I am thinking now that he might have meant the bigger picture, "this" being the whole event of that prayer besides its obvious conclusion. That is, the prayer for the gift of tongues (incidental objective) had been EFFECTIVE. I had nailed the process. Got the pattern and the practice of it right. "Remember THIS: you came to God; you focused your intent; you floated, as it were, into mind; you humbled yourself; you forgave your previously existing world; you submitted your desire back to God; you believed with gratitude your new state; you waited. Everything you need and desire to save you from whatever condition you find yourself in--all right-ness--is here. Remember this Divine Process, and it is, always, all right." I.e., the big, overall "this" I had just gone through, including his being Glorious God and my being a mudman, is to be remembered to make everything "all right" to manifest.
A later update:
I am still pretty certain that God was telling me to remember my humble position. I try in a later post to explain that while we are indeed God, we are sent into this humble position to become improved, to become better at being what we are.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
1:52 AM
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