Siti In Serenity

Dan,

You said "He is all - ALL - within your own wonderful being." "God is not JUST the imagination within us; He is all that we are." The verse that came to me was, "Love the Lord your God with All your heart, with All your soul, with All you strength" (Deut.6:5). I think about what that means for me, and what needs to be changed for that to be.

Another verse that came to me...and often does, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God" (Phil.2:5-6).

These verses are very powerful and I take them seriously as I think and meditate on them much throughout the day. In doing so as a habit, my mind/thoughts are more controlled in the direction of prayer for myself, individuals/situations rather than judgements or negative thinking.

There are a couple of Bible studies I attend each week. In these sessions people have questions about what they read, some don’t understand what they are reading...others do and share their insights, which is what interests me. Often times there are "open doors" for response or further discussion. It’s in these settings that I notice changes in me in how I respond and what my attitudes are towards people, when I apply the verses above.

I have no responsibilities except myself and the property I have and live on. My main priority is God's Word, for that allows me to have the life I live. So, two Bible studies a week and a daily gathering of coffee mates in the early hours of the morning.

I really feel that reading His word, Neville’s work and your blogs are important to me...not just to be read but be doing, put "into practice" thinking/pondering/praying. That is how things of this world or rather my negative thoughts about it get pushed out of my being...overcoming my flesh if you will. I can sleep well at night and stay healthy fasting 1-2 days week, eat clean to live.

I threw the tv out many years ago. I do not allow the world in through a box to tell - me - a - vision, only God has that position/privilege. You can get the "gist" of what you need to know of this world for the purpose of prayer/Imagining.

I did mention the veil...I have been a missionary in other lands as well where I experienced God making visible and invisible as He wishes.

With each passing day, week, month and year, it’s my continued desire to live and dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Utilizing my mind to love my neighbor as myself...may be that sounds too much like "Brother Lawrence," but I don’t lead a monastic life as traditional thinking goes.

I read your post of May 1, 2008 where you said "It is about God becoming into this dimension, generating his likeness in this 'body' of his. This 'body' is his image in the process of becoming like him." "God speaks to us in images...the Word is an image." You also said, "Biblically correct thinking is thinking like God, as God, with purpose and expectation of effect." That is what I do each evening before bed and each morning when I wake up. I use the scriptures twice a day that you mentioned in your post of November 18,2019, those scripture for maintaining well being.

This is how I live/create with God’s Word most of eight hour day. Perhaps that is too limited or disciplined for people to do, but for me it works to see and feel the results of being content in my "skin," not being on any medications or having a calendar with medical appointments. Doing what I do is how I perceive "God becoming in this dimension."

The bottom line to all this for me is faith...daily submitting to his word with all and persistent regardless of what my flesh thinks or wants. Ups and downs I have but less frequent.

I can hear what my dad used to say: "Do you have the 'guts' to believe THAT?"

Siti

PS: Forgive me if I seem to wander off the trail. There is so much to say regarding your question and could go into part 2,...however, I usually write when the 'urge'/spirit hits. I have never written anything like this before; responding to your blog post...it is all new to me. Recently, a person whom I have known years ago reconnected, and from time to time we write back and forth. I like the idea of responding to your posts when the urge strikes, that is comfortable for me.
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And I for one, Siti, cannot thank you enough for writing this and all your other comments. You remind me of Victor Alexander's translation of Matthew 6:11-12, even 13, from the ancient Aramaic:

11. "Give us the bread for our daily need.
12. "And leave us serene, just as we also allowed others serenity.
13. "And do not pass us through trial, except separate us from the evil one.

That, and, "...might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). What He came for is what you've got. "Nice life if you can get it, and you can get it if you try."

And thank you for Philippians 2:5 and 6. Made me realize I have been misreading it for almost five decades:

5. Contemplate this within yourselves, just as Christ,
6. Who was in the likeness of God, did not think it a sin that He did not assume God's manner,

Wow!! I always read it as the human being Jesus not thinking it a sin to consider Himself equal with God. It was just the opposite -- the pre-incarnate 'Christ' Jesus not thinking it a sin to NOT consider Himself equal with God, "Except He reduced himself and consecrated himself to be a servant and was born in the likeness of human beings" (v. 7). The God-of-the-Gap on this side now. It was the invasion of the Gap Guy! Now here we are as humans. Thank God He did what He came to do.